A Developmental Psychobiological Approach to Human Development

Fundamental Concepts and Methods in Developmental Science: A Relational Perspective

“…Unless used in its strict sense (i.e., present at birth), and it rarely is used this way, innate implies that a characteristic is acquired through a split-off encapsulated evolutionary or biological process, independent of experience. But as illustrated in the Greenberg (2014a) and Michel (2014) articles, and as outlined above, developmental psychobiology has already demonstrated that that any characteristic is the outcome of a long and continuous epigenesis entailing embodied activities and actions (experiences), Downloaded by [University of Windsor] at 12:11 19 November 2014 beginning at conception and continuing through prenatal and postnatal phases of development, as well as across the life span. Thus, for example, various action patterns present at birth, including the nascent form of hand-use preference, have a long experiential history, as is nicely demonstrated in detail by Michel in this issue.…”

“…For example, in Michel's (2014) article there is a discussion of gene-by-environment interaction or G x E, where it is understood that the X represents multiple additions and a phenotype is completely decomposable into G factors, E factors, and additive G x E factors. From a relational perspective, however, there are no pure forms and epigenesis is not linear or additive.…”

“…The active organism characterization also affects the meaning of experience, a concept that is central to the Greenberg (2014a) and Michel (2014) articles. The conventional Cartesian meaning of experience is an event or object (stimulus) that is split off from and antecedent to the activity/action of the organism.…”

“…Greenberg (2014a) contributes to this project by exploring several of the central concepts of relational developmental systems, including self-organization, epigenesis, and emergence. Michel's (2014) contribution illustrates the importance of a contemporary relational psychobiological approach, and its attendant empirical consequences, as contrasted with the futile Cartesian splitting of gene and environment. Witherington (2014) issues a critical-and too often ignored-warning that constant ontological and epistemological vigilance is necessary if the new relational science is to avoid regression to stifling Cartesian categories.…”

The Virtue of Gratitude: A Developmental and Cultural Approach

“…There is no single cause that should be sought; as with all human development, multiple, interrelated, factors, working synergistically, need to be studied. This position is not new [see Pepper, 1942 for his discussion of the "contextualist" paradigm], but recent years have seen rich theoretical grounding and compelling empirical evidence supportive of this complex paradigm [Bronfenbrenner, 2001;Lerner & Overton, 2008;Michel, 2014;Overton, 2015;Sameroff & Mackenzie, 2003;Tudge, 2008;Witherington, 2014], perhaps better termed the relational developmental systems paradigm [Lerner, 2015].…”