Full Description
Bolstered by advances in the mathematical understanding of nonlinear systems, developmental science is currently enjoying a renaissance of focus on the dynamics of human intellectual, psychological, and socioemotional development. Static, mechanistically-oriented treatments of human development are increasingly giving way to dynamic, process-oriented treatments that are thoroughly grounded in the embodied and embedded activities of individuals in time and context. But what exactly does it mean to conceptualize development in terms of its dynamics? And how does today's study of developmental dynamics advance beyond prior classical (Piaget, Werner, Waddington) considerations of developmental process? This volume brings together a group of internationally renowned experts to highlight and critically evaluate key conceptual and investigative innovations in the 21st century study of developmental dynamics, organized around the vantage points of four prominent dynamics orientations in developmental science—dynamic systems, ecological, enactive, and interactivist perspectives. This publication is an essential read for developmental scientists and to any psychologists who are seriously committed to elucidating processes of change in human functioning.
