Developmental Theory
Chapter 2
Novak & Pelaez
The Importance of
Theories
• Organize & bring Coherence to views
• Worldviews – overarching viewpoints
that bias our observations
– Pepper’s Worldviews
• Mechanistic
• Organismic
• Contextualistic (Behavioral Systems Theory)
Novak & Pelaez
Dimensions on Which
Theories Differ
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Structure vs. function
Description vs. explanation
Nature vs. nurture
Continuity vs. discontinuity
Novak & Pelaez
Dimensions on Which
Theories Differ
• Description versus Explanation
– Explanation
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Prediction
Control
Circular Explanations
Reification
Putting the cause inside the child
Behaviors become explanations
e.g., dyslexia; autism
• Real Explanations
– “Under what conditions?” not Why?
Novak & Pelaez
Nature versus Nurture
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False Dichotomy
“How” do nature and nurture interact
Not “How Much?”
Nature & nurture are both a function of
selection by consequences (Skinner)
• Nature & nurture are not causes but
processes and products (Oyama).
Novak & Pelaez
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Judging Developmental
Theories - Nine Criteria
1) Accuracy
2) Clarity
3) Predictability
4) Practicality
5) Internal Consistency
6) Parsimony
7) Testable
8) Productivity
9) Self-SatisfyingNovak & Pelaez
Group Research Designs in
Studying Behavioral
Development
• Cross-sectional
– Problems- Cohort Effects
• Longitudinal
– Problems• Practice Effects
• Selective Attrition
• Sequential – Combination of CrossSectional & Longitudinal
Novak & Pelaez
The problem with using
age as a variable
• Age is an empty variable
• Focus should be on the process
variables that produce behavior and
are correlated with age.
Novak & Pelaez
Behavioral research
methods – Single Subject
Designs
• Functional Analysis- manipulate
variables to see cause-effect
relations.
Novak & Pelaez
Behavioral Research
Designs
• ABAB reversal design
• Multiple-treatments (alternating
treatments) design
• Multiple treatments designs
• Changing Criterion designs
• Combined within & between subjects
designs
Novak & Pelaez
ABehavioral Systems
Approach
Novak & Pelaez
Transaction of 5 Factors
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Genetic-Constitutional Make-up
History of Interactions
Current Physiological Conditions
Current Environmental Conditions
Behavioral Dynamics
Novak & Pelaez
Principles of Dynamical
Systems
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Multiple Determination
Multiple Determination means Equifinality
Models of Development
Nonlinearity
Phase Shifts = Developmental Stages
Coalescent Organization
Selectionism
Behavioral Attractor States
Developmental Trajectories
Novak & Pelaez
Multiple Determinism
• Transaction of 5 Factors
• Sensitivity to Initial Conditions Butterfly Effect
• Leading Parts - Disproportionate
Influence
• “Impossible” to predict outcomes
• Equifinality is the norm
Novak & Pelaez
Equifinality
Point of Equifi nality for Three Individuals
`
With Di fferent Trajectories
20
Moe
Larry
15
Curly
Smiles/
hr.
10
5
0
Time A
Time B
Time C
Novak & Pelaez
Models of Development
Novak & Pelaez
Linear Model
B
A
Novak & Pelaez
Transactional Model
A
B
Novak & Pelaez
Nonlinear Model
X
A
B
A
B
A
Novak & Pelaez
Emergent Properties &
Phase Shifts
• Sudden, nonlinear changes (e.g., A to
X)
• Qualitative Difference
• Result of Coalescent Organization
• Result is “Organized”
• When Universal, called “Stage”
Novak & Pelaez
Coalescent Organization
• Multiple Determinants
• Coming together of all conditions
leads to reorganization of
organism/behavior
Novak & Pelaez
Selectionism: Organization
by Consequences
• Phylogenic Selection – Changes in
species
• Ontogenic Selection – Changes in
individuals (learning)
• Cultural Selection – Changes in
cultures
• Any selection requires variability
Novak & Pelaez
Selectionism - 3
Requirements
• Variability (Response Classes)
• Selection
– Ontogenic - Natural Selection
– Phylogenic - contingencies of learning
• Retention (Physiology)
Novak & Pelaez
Behavioral Attractors
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Organized patterns of behavior
“Soft” (loose) assemblies
Assembled by Consequences
Form (Structure) follows Function
Novak & Pelaez
Developmental
Trajectories
• Behavioral Momentum
• Stability vs. Phase Shifts
Novak & Pelaez
“Behavioral Cusps” not
“Stages”
• Cusps are important new behaviors
that emerge that enable the
development of many other
behaviors. (e.g., walking; reading).
Novak & Pelaez
An Organism-Environment
Model (Horowitz, 1987)
• Organismic Dimension
– Impaired to unimpaired
– Vulnerable to nonvulnerable
• Environment Dimension
– Non-facilitative to facilitative
Novak & Pelaez
The transaction of
organismic & environmental
variables produces
• Developmental Outcome
– Minimal to Optimal
Novak & Pelaez