Theories of Human DevelopmentIntegrative Perspectives

Dale Goldhaer

A means to categorize data, make comparisons, and identify patterns

A way to generalize about specific understandings & recognize links

A basis for decision making A means for predicting future events To define the next question to ask

The Value of Theories

pp. 2

1. Testability2. Organization3. Generativity4. Precision

The Validity of Theories

pp. 3

Deductive vs. Inductive

pp. 3

DEDUCTIVE INDUCTIVE

General

Particular Particular

GeneralObserve

Ask

Test

Analyze

Interpret

Interpret

Ask

Test

Analyze

Observe

The Construction of Theories

Three Developmentalists

Worldviews1. Mechanistic Worldview (metaphor: machine)

2. Organismic Worldview (metaphor: living organism)

3. Contextualist Worldview (metaphor: historical act)

Stephen Pepper (1961)

Efficient causes: External to the individual Material causes: specific, internal components that make up the individualFormal causes: influence of the interaction of the parts of a systemFinal causes: there is a reason development seems unidirectional

Comparison of Pepper’s Three World Views

World View Generalizability

(Is the data a reflection of

development for all times & in all

places?)

Types of Acceptable

Causes(What causes us to be the way we are?)

Level of Analysis

(How do the causes relate to one

another?)

Mechanism(How we are)

Universal Efficient, material

Reductionist

Organicism(Why we are)

Universal Efficient, material, formal, final

Holistic

Contextualism(What we are)

Situation-Specific

Efficient, material, formal

Holistic

How We Are – The Mechanist World View

Chapter 2

Dale Goldhaer

1. Primary qualities (“real events”): Each of the components exist independently of the others, and this

existence can be expressed in precise quantitative terms Each of the elements exist in particular relationship to other elements The components function in an exact quantitative relationship with one

another

2. Secondary qualities (“epiphenomena”) Relate to mental phenomena – sensations, perceptions, feelings,

hopes, and dreams. They are not seen as amendable to scientific analysis and therefore they have no relevance to the efficient operation of the machine

Pepper’s Analysis

1. The separation of observation and behavior (stimuli with responses)

2. The discovery of universal laws (all behavior is regulated by the same factors and comprise the same basic elements)

3. The independence of antecedent conditions (causes of behavior)

4. The integration of human development with other scientific disciplines (unity-of-science position)

Mechanism as a Development Perspective

1. Methods of group data collection: controlled experimental designs to collect behavioral data

2. Methods of group data analysis: Statistical procedure is used to analyze data.

3. Method of single-subject data collection and analysis: Skinnerians prefer single-subject procedure

The Study of Behavioral Change from a Mechanistic

World View

1. Behavior and behavior change are naturally occurring, universal, lawful phenomena

2. It is possible to use objective, neutral empirical research strategies to study these phenomena

3. Behavior and behavioral change are caused by one or more material and/or efficient causes

4. The influence of each efficient and/or material cause can be known independent of all others

5. The process of behavioral change over time is best understood as a quantitative process involving the increasing complexity of a set of basic elements common to all age groups

Summary of the Mechanistic World View

Prediction Stability Universality Linear Relationships Reductionist Empirical

Key Words Independent Interindividual

variability

Why We Are – The Organismic World View

Chapter 3

Dale Goldhaer

1. Development as integrative change For mechanists, change comes when an external force acts upon an object

that is inherently at rest. For organicists, behavioral change is inherent in the living organism rather than externally driven

Both mechanism and contextualism focus on their analyses on observable phenomena, while organicism focuses on what is seen as the underlying process regulating these observable phenomena

Organicists view that development is directional. One can develop but not “undevelop”

2. The Dialectical process Each integration brings the organism that much closer to a theoretical

idealized state in which all fragments are united and harmonized. There is no guarantee that any individual will ever reach his or her

development end point. The only guarantee is directionality.

Pepper’s Analysis

1. A process occurring on a unique plane or level of action Positioning of an abstraction, a psychological plane of action. Nothing

else appears theoretically capable of explaining as well the patterns of behavior and behavioral change that occur over a life span

2. An active process Behavior is reflection of an active process of construction taking place

within an organized set of psychological structures Behavior can never be fully predictable

3. A directional processDevelopment sequence is purposeful/ the purpose is

adaptationThey document development sequence in terms of

developmental stages

Organicism as a Development Perspective

1. Detailed clinical investigation of the psychological organization present at a particular time Clinical interview Correlation techniques

2. Attempts to document one ore more behavioral sequences over some period of time Longitudinal research design (repeated testing, assessment,

and/or observation of one ore more individuals over a period of time)

Cross-sectional design (testing, assessment, and/or observation of different groups of individuals measured at the same time)

Retrospective longitudinal study (gathering information from the past)

The Study of Behavioral Change from a Organismic

World View

1. Development is best understood as a qualitative process involving the progressive, active construction and reconstruction of levels of organization

2. Development is universal, unidirectional process typical of all humans

3. There is an idealized end point toward which all development proceeds

4. Individuals actively meaning to their experiences5. Development proceeds through a series of syntheses,

each leading to a greater potential for effective adaptation to life experiences

Summary of the Organismic World View

Holistic Rational Deep structure to uncover Non-linear Unidirectional Interdependent Common sequence / stages

Key Words

What We Are – The Contextualist World View

Chapter 4

Dale Goldhaer

1. Time and Place Search for meaning is specific to time and place There is a true interdependence between the individual and the

events, because each functions to give meaning to the other

2. Quality and Texture Three aspects to the quality (intuitive wholeness) of a context: spread,

change, and fusion Three aspects to the texture (details and relations that make up

quality) of an event: strands, context, and reference

3. Contextualism and Context Elements cannot be analyzed out of context, because once they are

taken out of context, they no longer have any meaning

Pepper’s Analysis

1. An emphasis on the practical and the immediate

2. Individuals as active meaning makers in social settingsDevelopment is best studied from a systems perspectiveConcerned about the relationships among elements in a system

3. The open-ended nature of human development No universal principles regulate the maintenance or change

of patterns over time

4. Scientific inquiry as human endeavor

Contextualism as a Development Perspective

1. Cohort analysis: To determine the long-term, cumulative impact of the slice of history experienced as a result of a group’s shared experience

2. Pattern analysis: cross-legged panel correlation and factor analysis

3. Ethnographic analysis: prolonged active contact of the ethnographer with a culture (descriptive understanding)

4. Narrative analysis: interpretive understanding of the way people weave life experiences into coherent stories or narratives (recording another’s stories)

The Study of Behavioral Change from a Contextualist

World View

1. Study of human development always reflects the socio-historical perspective of the researcher

2. The meaning of an event is best defined from the perspective of the individual experiencing that event

3. Explanations and interpretations of human development are always situated in and restricted to any particular socio-historical context

4. Human development is an open-ended phenomenon, with no necessary theoretically implied directions, patterns, or limits

5. There is a moral and ethical imperative in the study of human development that is directed toward a “politics of liberation”

Summary of the ContextualistWorld View

Holistic Unpredictable Socio-historical No universal claims Interdependent Subjective individual experience

Key Words