Dynamic Development of Thinking, Feeling, and Acting

Abstract

Models of psychological development have taken a relational turn. From this view, human psychological development is an integrative, dynamic, emergent, and coactive process. It is integrative in the sense that psychological processes never operate in isolation of each other. There is no such thing as a purely cognitive, emotional, or behavioral act. Any given instance of psychological activity necessarily involves the structured integration of multiple component psychological systems. Despite their organization, psychological structures are dynamic processes rather than fixed states. Their structure varies as a function of person, task, time, context, emotional state, culture, and many other variables. Psychological development is coactive in the sense that novel psychological structures emerge over time as a product of the dynamic interplay between and among elements of a hierarchically nested person ←→ environment system. In this chapter, we show how integrated structures of thinking, feeling, and action arise in both real and developmental time through complex coactions that occur between biological, psychological, and sociocultural processes. Drawing on a theory of the dynamic development of skills, the discussion first addresses the coactive nature of sensorimotor‐affective development in infancy. It then illustrates alternative trajectories in the coactive development of integrative structures of moral thinking, feeling, and acting as they occur within particular moral domains and social contexts. We complete the chapter with an analysis of how integrative psychological structures undergo microdevelopment in real time as a result of processes that occur between individuals in joint interaction.

It Seems Like Déjà Vu All Over Again: A (Friendly) Rejoinder

“…Professor Perlman (2015) observes that the emphasis on RDS metatheory may herald the end of a focus on grand theories of human development (e.g., Piaget, 1970). We agree and, in turn, we would point out that RDS metatheory provides "design criteria" for more content-specific models of developmental processes, for example, as may be involved in positive human development (e.g., , thinking, feeling, and skill development (Mascolo & Fischer, 2015), moral development (Turiel, 2015), and agency (Sokol, Hammond, Kuebli, & Sweetman, 2015). Thus, in a "developmental science funnel," that has at its wide end paradigmatic and metatheoretical constructs, and at its narrow end theory-derived and methodologically rigorous data, the models associated with RDS metatheory constitute midrange theories.…”

Interactive Contributions of Attribution Biases and Emotional Intensity to Child–Friend Interaction Quality During Preadolescence

“…A second, alternate view is based on functionalist theories of emotion that emphasize emotions as critical to motivating goal-directed behavior (Magai & McFadden, 1995;Saarni, Mumme, & Campos, 1998). Consistent with this viewpoint, dynamic coactions of emotion and cognition generate and organize individuals' behaviors during social interactions (Mascolo & Fischer, 2015). Specifically, individuals continually appraise how well their concerns are met and attribute why concern-promoting or violating events occur.…”

“…Second, we assessed study children's EI as reported by teachers at Grade 4 as a moderator of the associations between study children's attribution biases and child-friend interaction quality. Based on prior theoretical (e.g., Frijda, 1986;Lemerise & Arsenio, 2000;Mascolo & Fischer, 2015) and empirical (e.g., Burgess et al, 2006;Laible et al, 2014;Orobio de Castro et al, 2002;Runions & Keating, 2010) work, we hypothesized that (a) study children's more hostile versus benign attribution bias would be associated with higher levels of negative childfriend interaction and lower levels of positive child-friend interaction, and (b) EI would moderate these associations, such that they would be stronger among study children who had higher levels of EI.…”

Tacitní znalosti v metaforách studentky učitelství

“…Při samotném výzkumu se zaměřujeme především na projevy tacitních znalostí v oblasti myšlení, přesto v definici uvádíme také další typy projevů tak, aby byla co nejkomplexnější. Oblasti jednání a prožívání považujeme za neoddělitelně provázané s kognicí (Mascolo & Fischer, 2010), protože mentální procesy jsou utvářeny nejen "procesy v mozku, ale i jejich kombinací s širší tělesnou strukturou (se senzomotorickým systémem)" (Rowlands, 2010, s. 53).…”