How conceptually unified is the dynamic systems approach to the study of psychological development?

Child Development Perspectives

Volumn 5, Issue 4, 2011, Pages 286-290

  Witherington, David C ^a   Margett, Tessa E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO   (United States)

Author keywords

Conceptualization; Dichotomies; Dynamic systems; Ontology; Process

Indexed keywords

EID: 80855138278     PISSN: 17508592     EISSN: 17508606     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00211.x     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. Adolph, K. E., Eppler, M. A., & Gibson, E. J. (1993). Development of perception of affordances. In C. Rovee-Collier & L. P. Lipsitt (Eds.), Advances in infancy research (Vol. 8, pp. 51-98). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
2. Beek, P. J., Hopkins, B., & Molenaar, P. C. M. (1993). Complex systems approaches to the development of action. In G. J. P. Savelsbergh (Ed.), The development of coordination in infancy (pp. 497-515). North Holland, Netherlands: Elsevier Science.
3. Fischer, K. W., & Bidell, T. R. (1998). Dynamic development of psychological structures in action and thought. In W. Damon (Series Ed.) & R. M. Lerner (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (5th ed., pp. 467-561). New York: Wiley.
4. Fischer, K. W., & Bidell, T. R. (2006). Dynamic development of action and thought. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.) & R. M. Lerner (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 313-399). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
5. Fogel, A. (2011). Theoretical and applied dynamic systems research in developmental science. Child Development Perspectives, 5, 267-272.
6. Fogel, A., King, B. J., & Shanker, S. G., Eds. (2008). Human development in the twenty-first century: Visionary ideas from systems scientists. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
7. Fogel, A., Nwokah, E., Dedo, J. Y., Messinger, D., Dickson, K. L., Matusov, E., et al. (1992). Social process theory of emotion: A dynamic systems approach. Social Development, 1, 122-142.
8. Furth, H. G. (1969). Piaget and knowledge: Theoretical foundations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
9. Gibson, E. J. (1982). The concept of affordances in development: The renascence of functionalism. In W. A. Collins (Ed.), The Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology: Vol. 15, The concept of development (pp. 55-81). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
10. Gibson, E. J., & Pick, A. D. (2000). An ecological approach to perceptual learning and development. New York: Oxford University Press.
11. Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
12. Hollenstein, T. (2011). Twenty years of dynamic systems approaches to development: Significant contributions, challenges, and future directions. Child Development Perspectives, 5, 256-259.
13. Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
14. Lewis, M. D. (2000b). Emotional self-organization at three time scales. In M. D. Lewis & I. Granic (Eds.), Emotion, development, and self-organization: Dynamic systems approaches to emotional development (pp. 37-69). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
15. Lewis, M. D. (2011). Dynamic systems approaches: Cool enough? Hot enough? Child Development Perspectives, 5, 279-285.
16. Lewis, M. D., & Ferrari, M. (2001). Cognitive-emotional self-organization in personality development and personal identity. In H. A. Bosma & E. S. Kunnen (Eds.), Identity and emotion: Development through self-organization (pp. 177-198). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
17. Molenaar, P. C. M., & Raijmakers, M. E. J. (2000). A causal interpretation of Piaget's theory of cognitive development: Reflections on the relationship between epigenesis and nonlinear dynamics. New Ideas in Psychology, 18, 41-55.
18. Oakes, L. M., Newcombe, N. S., & Plumert, J. M. (2009). Are dynamic systems and connectionist approaches an alternative to good old-fashioned cognitive development? In J. P. Spencer, M. S. C. Thomas, & J. L. McClelland (Eds.), Toward a unified theory of development: Connectionism and dynamic systems theory re-considered (pp. 268-284). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
19. Overton, W. F. (1994). Contexts of meaning: The computational and the embodied mind. In W. F. Overton & D. S. Palermo (Eds.), The nature and ontogenesis of meaning (pp. 1-18). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
20. Overton, W. F. (2006). Developmental psychology: Philosophy, concepts, methodology. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.) & R. M. Lerner (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 18-88). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
21. Overton, W. F. (2010). Life-span development: Concepts and issues. In R. M. Lerner (Series Ed.) & W. F. Overton (Vol. Ed.), The handbook of life-span development: Vol. 1. Cognition, biology, and methods (pp. 1-29). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
22. Pepper, S. C. (1942). World hypotheses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
23. Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press.
24. Piaget, J. (1954). The construction of reality in the child. New York: Basic.
25. Reese, H. W., & Overton, W. F. (1970). Models of development and theories of development. In L. R. Goulet & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), Life-span developmental psychology: Theory and research (pp. 115-145). New York: Academic.
26. Spencer, J. P., Corbetta, D., Buchanan, P., Clearfield, M. W., Ulrich, B. D., & Schoner, G. (2006). Moving toward a grand theory of development: In memory of Ester Thelen. Child Development, 77, 1521-1538.
27. Spencer, J. P., Dineva, E., & Schoner, G. (2009). Moving toward a unified theory while valuing the importance of the initial conditions. In J. P. Spencer, M. S. C. Thomas, & J. L. McClelland (Eds.), Toward a unified theory of development: Connectionism and dynamic systems theory re-considered (pp. 354-372). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
28. Spencer, J. P., Perone, S., & Buss, A. T. (2011). Twenty years and going strong: A dynamic systems revolution in motor and cognitive development. Child Development Perspectives, 5, 260-266.
29. Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
30. Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (2006). Dynamic systems theories. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Series Eds.) & R. M. Lerner (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 258-312). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
31. Turvey, M. T., Shaw, R. E., & Mace, W. (1978). Issues in the theory of action: Degrees of freedom, coordinative structures and coalitions. In J. Requin (Ed.), Attention and performance, VII (pp. 557-595). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
32. van der Maas, H. L. J., & Hopkins, B. (1998). Developmental transitions: So what's new? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16, 1-13.
33. van der Maas, H. L., & Molenaar, P. C. (1992). Stagewise cognitive development: An application of catastrophe theory. Psychological Review, 99, 395-417.
34. van der Maas, H. L. J., & Raijmakers, M. E. (2009). Transitions in cognitive development: Prospects and limitations of a neural dynamic approach. In J. P. Spencer, M. S. C. Thomas, & J. L. McClelland (Eds.), Toward a unified theory of development: Connectionism and dynamic systems theory re-considered (pp. 299-312). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35. van Geert, P. (2011). The contribution of complex dynamic systems to development. Child Development Perspectives, 5, 273-278.
36. van Geert, P., & Fischer, K. W. (2009). Dynamic systems and the quest for individual-based models of change and development. In J. P. Spencer, M. S. C. Thomas, & J. L. McClelland (Eds.), Toward a unified theory of development: Connectionism and dynamic systems theory re-considered (pp. 313-336). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
37. van Geert, P., & Steenbeck, H. (2005). Explaining after by before: Basic aspects of a dynamic systems approach to the study of development. Developmental Review, 25, 408-442.
38. Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
39. von Bertalanffy, L. (1968). General systems theory: Foundations, development, applications. New York: George Braziller.
40. Witherington, D. C. (2007). The dynamic systems approach as metatheory for developmental psychology. Human Development, 50, 127-153.
41. Witherington, D. C. (2011). Taking emergence seriously: The centrality of circular causality for dynamic systems approaches to development. Human Development, 54, 66-92.
42. Witherington, D. C., & Margett, T. E. (2009). Systems and dynamic systems: The search for inclusive merger. Human Development, 52, 251-256.