1. Theories of Human Development
Integrative Perspectives
Dale Goldhaer

2. The Value of Theories
 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
pp. 2

3. The Validity of Theories
1. Testability
2. Organization
3. Generativity
4. Precision
pp. 3

4. Deductive vs. Inductive
DEDUCTIVE INDUCTIVE
General General
Observe Interpret
Ask Ask
Test
Test
Analyze
Analyze
Interpret
Observe
Particular Particular
pp. 3

5. The Construction of Theories

6. Three Developmentalists
Worldviews
1. Mechanistic Worldview (metaphor: machine)
2. Organismic Worldview (metaphor: living
organism)
Stephen Pepper
(1961) 3. Contextualist Worldview (metaphor: historical
act)

7. Comparison of Pepper’s Three
World Views
World View Generalizability Types of Level of Analysis
Acceptable
Causes
(Is the data a reflection (What causes us to be (How do the causes
of development for all the way we are?) relate to one another?)
times & in all places?)
Mechanism Universal Efficient, material Reductionist
(How we are)
Organicism Universal Efficient, material, Holistic
(Why we are) formal, final
Contextualism Situation-Specific Efficient, material, Holistic
(What we are) formal
Efficient causes: External to the individual
Material causes: specific, internal components that make up the individual
Formal causes: influence of the interaction of the parts of a system
Final causes: there is a reason development seems unidirectional

8. How We Are – The Mechanist
World View
Chapter 2
Dale Goldhaer

9. Pepper’s Analysis
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
1. Secondary qualities (“epiphenomena”)
 Relateto 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

10. Mechanism as a Development
Perspective
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)

11. The Study of Behavioral Change
from a Mechanistic World View
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

12. Summary of the 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

13. Key Words
 Prediction  Independent
 Stability  Interindividual variability
 Universality
 Linear Relationships
 Reductionist
 Empirical

14. Why We Are – The Organismic
World View
Chapter 3
Dale Goldhaer

15. Pepper’s Analysis
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”
1. 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.

16. Organicism as a Development
Perspective
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
1. 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
1. A directional process
 Development sequence is purposeful/ the purpose is adaptation
 They document development sequence in terms of
developmental stages

17. The Study of Behavioral Change
from a Organismic World View
1. Detailed clinical investigation of the psychological organization
present at a particular time
 Clinical interview
 Correlation techniques
1. 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)

18. Summary of the 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 experiences
5. Development proceeds through a series of syntheses, each
leading to a greater potential for effective adaptation to
life experiences

19. Key Words
 Holistic
 Rational
 Deep structure to uncover
 Non-linear
 Unidirectional
 Interdependent
 Common sequence / stages

20. What We Are – The Contextualist
World View
Chapter 4
Dale Goldhaer

21. Pepper’s Analysis
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
1. 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
1. Contextualism and Context
 Elementscannot be analyzed out of context, because once they are
taken out of context, they no longer have any meaning

22. Contextualism as a Development
Perspective
1. An emphasis on the practical and the immediate
1. Individuals as active meaning makers in social settings
Development is best studied from a systems perspective
Concerned about the relationships among elements in a system
1. The open-ended nature of human development
 No universal principles regulate the maintenance or change of
patterns over time
1. Scientific inquiry as human endeavor

23. The Study of Behavioral Change
from a Contextualist World View
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)

24. Summary of the 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”

25. Key Words
 Holistic
 Unpredictable
 Socio-historical
 No universal claims
 Interdependent
 Subjective individual experience