I. dynamic structuralism
October 30, 2008
Both psychological function (the way people act) and psychological structure (the
organization or pattern of activities) are constructive, dynamic and culturally
embedded
Dynamic structuralism is a general approach to development that views psychological
structure as the dynamic organization of self-constructed, socially embedded skills and
activities (actions and thoughts)

This framework, and its tools, applies to both long-term development and
short-term microdevelopment (building of dynamic structures and skills)

Variability is the norm, not the exception

Focuses simultaneously on variability and stability
Psychological structure has been portrayed as static because theorists have confounded
structure with form

Structure: system of relations, which is, by nature, dynamic (since it is in a
constant balance or equilibrium)
o Example: the cellular and tissue-level structure of an orange, which is a
dynamic system that develops then decays

Form: a fixed pattern that can be found in a dynamic system; an abstraction
from structure
o Example: the spherical shape of an orange, which is an abstract
concept, stable in time, that describes one part of the dynamic system

The problem: we have used a static abstraction (form) to describe a dynamic
reality (structure)
This viewpoint tries to analyze behavior in context, which requires two steps

Describe basic structures or organization of activities in context

Characterize how they vary as a function of changes in key dimensions of
person, body, task, context and culture
Developmental range: the spread between competence with high support vs. that with
low support (one’s “best” and “worst” performances, respectively)
All living systems – whether biological, psychological, social – must be:

Organized: specific relations exist among its parts

Dynamic: moving and changing

Agentive: self-regulating and self-organizing, adapting as a consequence of
goal-oriented activity
Development is a constructive web, not a linear ladder

Each branch is a developmental pathway of a particular skill domain

Constructed jointly by several people, not just individual alone
II. dynamic structure
in cognitive and emotional development
October 30, 2008
Dynamic systems models change the way we treat order and variation – rather than
being dichotomized, they are intrinsically related
Dynamic skill: capacity to act in organized way in specific context

People do not have general skills, but, rather skills for a specific context –
playing basketball, knitting, telling stories, negotiating

Built up gradually through practice and extended to new contexts

Orchestrates several systems, such as that of emotion, memory, planning, etc.

Integrated with other skills
o Example: playing basketball also requires running, jumping, etc.

Inter-participating with other skills – cannot always define clear boundaries
o Example of inter-participation: cardiovascular system participates in
functioning of every organ system because every organ system needs
oxygenated blood

Culturally defined

Self-organizing: skills organize and re-organize themselves
Common Ruler for Skill Development – Levels and Tiers – See Fig. 7.3 on pg. 323

Useful for both long-term development and short-term microdevelopment

Levels of hierarchical complexity based on Piaget’s stages but grounded in
empirical research
4 TIERS (reflexes  actions  representations  abstractions)
made of 4 LEVELS each (with every 4th level comprising the 1st level of the next tier)
*this chart describes Tiers 2 – 4 only (the most common verbal levels)
*Ages represent age of emergence of optimal functioning (high support)
Tier
Level
Age
Description
Example
2.
3. Single actions 3 – 4 mo
Actions
4. Mappings
7 – 8 mo
(Sensorimotor)
5. Systems
11 – 13 mo
6. Single
2 years
Thinks in terms of
“A good leader is in
Representations
one attribute
front [of the line]”
3.
7. Mappings
2.5 – 4.5 yr Can link attributes
“A good leader is in
Representations
front so she can show
you the way”
8. Systems
6 – 7 yr
9. Single
Abstractions
10 – 12 yr
10. Mappings
14 – 16 yr
11. Systems
18 – 20 yr
12. Principles
23 – 25 yr
4.
Abstractions
Can describe how
“A good leader is
attributes are related knows where to go, and
in a “system”
knows what to do, and
will show you how”
Can coordinate two “A good leader is
or more “systems”
good with people
to extract a general (because they are fun
and helpful and
quality
friendly)”
Can relate
“A good leader is
good with people,
abstracted
qualities to make
which makes them trust
inferences
her”
Can relate several
“A good leader is
inspiring if she is
abstracted
qualities to
trustworthy and
describe an abstract competent without
system
appearing arrogant”
Three forms of developmental variability explained by dynamic skills

Complexity level – we have different competences in different contexts and
emotional states
o Developmental range: the range of competencies a person shows
depending on context, emotional state, etc.
 Scaffolded level: highest level with scaffolding (coparticipation in task with an expert)
 Optimal level: highest level with high support from someone
else (prompting or modeling)
 Functional level: highest level when doing it on your own

Synchrony (Stages) – stages both do and do not exist
o Idea of “point synchrony” (all of a sudden we “have” a skill and can
use it successfully across all domains) is not supported by data
o Idea of “interval synchrony” (skill emerges across domains within a
relatively short time interval) is seen
 The time interval is shorter for more related situations
 Depends on context, goat, state, support, etc.
 Tend to see stages in high support conditions but
continuous development in low support conditions

Sequence – number and order of steps in developmental sequences depend on
learning history, cultural background, content domain, context, co-participants
(support) and emotional state
o Two types:
 Large-scale, broad sequences covering long times between steps
 Do not “regress” – once you’ve been concrete operational
on most tasks for many years, you probably won’t revert
back to preoperational
 Small-scale, detailed sequences within particular domains
 Vary dramatically – can regress to much lower level
 Depends on factors mentioned above (learning history,
cultural background, etc.)
Developmental research methods must allow for variation to be detected rather than either forced
– or not forced – into the hypothesized sequence of fixed milestone…
methodology of dynamic structural analysis
Effective research must:

detect variability in development

use variability to detect sources of order in development
Regularities exist on all levels of analysis, but no one regularity applies to all

No legitimate developmental milestones

Only developmental buoys – within a range and affected by various factors
Four important assumptions implicit in research designs assuming static structure

Single-level, single-competence assumption assumes a person functions at a
single cognitive stage and possesses a single competence
o People function at multiple levels concurrently, even within the same
situation

Single-shape assumption assumes each developmental pathway shows
similar shapes
o Shape can differ and even include reversals in direction (decreases)
o Fits and starts especially seen at optimum functioning or when
building a new skill

Single-person assumption assumes people learn individually and sometimes
interact with others
o We are social from birth

Single context assumption assumes it’s better to research one task or one
context
o Should combine multiple tasks and contexts to capture range of levels
Researchers should

Use well-designed clocks and rulers to measure variation
o Need frequent samples

Study several tasks and domains (that index the domain of interest)
o Different results found for, say, “theory of mind,” depending on the
task at hand; therefore, must do broad sampling

Vary assessment conditions
o Assess competencies with varying amounts of social-contextual
support to get picture of developmental range
o Can also vary emotional state, co-participant, familiarity with task

Study diverse sociocultural contexts
o Work with native of culture of interest to develop meaningful research
o Rather than assume something to be universal to all cultures or unique
to only one culture, analyze the source of variation
Models of growth and development

Should be nonlinear, such as dynamic growth models and neural networks
o Many devised in biology for ecology of species interactions and
dynamics of long-term evolution

“Experimental theoretical psychology” – developmental processes
represented as equations and tested in computers to see if it “fits” the theory
o Can simulate quantitative (i.e. complexity level) and qualitative (i.e.
emergence of new stage) growth

Model should reflect the real architecture of the activity it represents

Terminology
o Growth: general term
o Development: systematic increase over long time period
o Learning: short-term increase based on experience

Most growth processes in biology show logistic growth (S-shaped curve)

Connections between growers (components in growth model)
o Hierarchical integration is strongest form of connection
 Each successive step within a strand in developmental web
builds on the previous one
o Competition is a common kind of weak connection in which growth of
one strand interferes with growth of another
o Support: growth in one component promotes growth in another
joining nature and nurture: growth cycles of psychological
and brain activity
Epigenesis: development through qualitative changes, like those from egg and sperm to
fertilized cell, embryo, newborn infant to adult

There is a straightforward correspondence between patterns of epigenesis in
brain and behavior
Principles for understanding growth patterns of brain and behavior

Both developing behaviors and brain activities show clusters of
discontinuities (fits and starts)

Developing behaviors and brain activities that are mostly independent
(behaviorally different domains and localized in different brain regions) show
discontinuities that are approximately concurrent
o So concurrence does not necessarily contradict domain specificity

With each developmental level, a new kind of control system for action
emerges, supported by growth of a new kind of neural network
o After emergence, new system undergoes a long period of
consolidation – tuned gradually

The development of a series of increasingly complex networks and control
systems forms two dynamic cycles: one cycle forming levels and another
cycle of cycles forming tiers
o These are not all-or-none changes, like the traditional conception of a
stage, but, rather, a cascade of growth changes involving a number of
different neural processes – synaptic growth, pruning, etc.
Cycles of reorganization – development takes place in three different grains of detail:
step, level and tier

Step: finest grain of detail; sequence of microdevelopmental steps that re
points along a web’s strand and do not involve discontinuities

Level: intermediate grain; each level is cluster of discontinuities in behavior
and brain activity

Tier: broadest grain; each tier is cycle of four increasingly complex levels
o Development of new tier brings strong discontinuity in brain and
psychological activity
o A new tier requires melding complex systems together to form new
unit; this is probably done by prefrontal cortex
Growth cycles in the brain

EEG measures electrical activity in the cortex
o Power: amount of energy in electrical waves
o Coherence: indicates that two regions have similar EEG wave patterns
(are communicating with each other)

Cycles of EEG coherence match ages of developmental levels
o Leading edge of growth moves in systematic pattern around cortex
o One full cycle for each developmental level
 Right hemisphere connections go from distal to local
 Left hemisphere connections go from local to distal
o SEE FIG. 7.33 on PAGE 389 – it shows the pattern…