Developmental Science and the Holistic Approach

Lars R. Bergman, Robert B. Cairns, Lars-Goran Nilsson, Lars Nystedt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780805833744
• eBook ISBN: 9781135665715
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Psychology

This book is the outcome of a symposium where leading researchers, mainly in developmental psychology, came together to discuss the implications of the emerging developmental science and the holistic approach. In doing this, the authors wanted to honor a distinguished colleague, David Magnusson, and his career-long contributions to this field.

The purpose of the book is to discuss the profound implications for developmental science of the holistic paradigm, especially with regard to the individual development within psychology. Against the background of their own empirical, theoretical, or methodological research, the authors have tried to identify what is needed for the developmental theory and methods within this paradigm and discuss possibilities and limitations in relation to conventional approaches.

PART I
INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1
Introduction

Lars R.Bergman
Stockholm University

Robert B.Cairns
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Lars-Göran Nilsson
Stockholm University

Lars Nystedt
Stockholm University

During recent years a new developmental science has emerged, stressing a cross-scientific perspective and the need for taking into account a broad range of factors for explaining various forms of individual development. This view is outlined by Robert Cairns (chap. 4), who with colleagues founded the Carolina Center for Developmental Science as the first center in the world with the explicit purpose of advancing developmental science. The major research paradigm for developmental science is the holistic, interactional view in which the individual is seen as an organized whole, functioning and developing as a totality. The most forceful proponent of this view is David Magnusson, who for decades has been advocating it and carrying out research in this vein at the Stockholm Laboratory for Developmental Science. His own presentation of the holistic, interactional paradigm is given in chapter 3.

The holistically oriented material presented here is partly in contrast to the ordinary variable-oriented research that is often confined to a specific area and where one usually studies linear relations between operating factors. Taking the holistic-interactional paradigm seriously when carrying out research on individual development has implications for theory, research strategy and design, and choice of quantitative approach (both with regard to measurement and statistical method). Various facets of these implications are outlined in the chapters to follow.

This does not imply that we believe standard variable-oriented research to be misplaced or without value. It can be motivated by very commonsense and practical considerations. Often realizing that development in principle is a complex dynamic system where interactions abound it is still believed that seriously taking this into account is so difficult it is better to start with simple parts—finding out basic relationships with standard methods and then building from that. Within this paradigm, a sophisticated research methodology is also available for experimenting, testing (linear) statistical models, meta analysis, and so on.

However, as is expounded in the following chapters, the variable-oriented position just discussed has a more limited ground than is now widely thought. The three main reasons for this follow:

1. There are potential dangers in forming conclusions about individual development based on a conventional linear variable-oriented approach. Important interactions may be completely missed, even to the extent that one may not find the basic mechanisms according to which the studied system as a whole functions. These interactions may not even be captured by the accumulation of studies of specific aspects undertaken in this way. It can be like trying to understand the meaning of a picture by analyzing its small parts separately. On the other hand, if interactions are taken seriously within such a variable-oriented approach, things tend to become very complicated. Cronbach (1975) even used the metaphor of entering a hall of mirrors when pursuing it.

2. There now exists a theoretical paradigm sufficiently well worked out to serve as the basis for a new type of holistically oriented approach (see chaps. 3 and 4).

3. There is an increase in the availability of useful research methods for undertaking a holistic approach. Although, admittedly, there are still many important methodological problems unsolved, we at least now have a tool chest of research strategies and statistical and mathematical models with proven usefulness. This is exemplified in many chapters in this book and a partial overview is given in chapter 9. We also have great hopes of exciting developments coming from the mathematical study of complex systems, as pointed out in chapter 5.

There are many reasons for seriously considering pursuing developmental science from a holistic-interactional perspective. Our goal here is to introduce the theoretical perspectives and a variety of methodological approaches, as well as providing a number of empirical examples of research along these lines that hopefully will provide new ideas.

The placement of Paul Baltes’ chapter in the introductory section (chap. 2) merits an explanation. It discusses the concept of wisdom. Wisdom can be viewed as a clever integration of various aspects of knowledge, and in this way the holistic perspective is introduced not only as a scientific paradigm but also as a paradigm for private thinking. It is also a nice commentary on and tribute to Magnusson’s thinking and paves the way for his chapter.

The two theoretical chapters, one presenting the holistic paradigm (Magnusson) and the other presenting developmental science (Cairns) have already been mentioned. Together with chapter 5 by Scott Kelso, they constitute the theoretical part of the book. It may at first seem puzzling that Kelso’s chapter appears here and not in the methodological section. The reason for this is that his fairly general presentation of complex systems hooks up so closely to key ideas of the holistic paradigm and gives them a voice through the concepts that Kelso presents. Obviously, his formulations are also of methodological relevance and the success within the natural sciences of modern mathematical models for the study of complex systems and chaos is well known. However, these methodological aspects are not elaborated here because they would demand a technical introduction and considerable space, bringing the book out of focus. Instead, Kelso offers good references for the serious reader to peruse.

The first chapter in the methodological section is by Jerome Kagan (chap. 6). It provides a nice link between theory, method, and empirical research. Starting from a theoretically sophisticated position, including giving consideration to both genes and the environment, Kagan discusses some important substantive research questions related to his own research about the roots of inhibited and uninhibited behavior in small children and the methodological issues these questions raise. For instance, Kagan’s interest in extreme cases reveals the importance of the individual, not only as opposed to averages obliterating important individual differences but also in terms of extremes teaching about the constraints and possibilities of the dynamic systems under study. Kagan also points out that some individuals may follow partly different processes, being not only quantitatively but also qualitatively different. In chapter 7, Robert Hinde presents a sophisticated discussion of theory, method, and empirical research. His chapter is driven by a serious consideration of the holistic perspective and concerns the dialectics of development and social encounter. Hinde also makes a strong case for the importance of considering the dyad as a basic conceptual and analytical unit.

Chapter 8 by John Nesselroade and Paolo Ghisletta—like the remaining chapters in the methodological section—is more purely methodological than the previous ones. It goes even further than Kagans chapter in emphasizing the individual and argues for the importance of studying single individuals in their own right, often using the so-called p-technique. In doing this, these authors demonstrate that holistic, person-oriented problems can be studied using variable-oriented methods, depending on how it is done. A person-oriented standpoint is taken by Lars Bergman (chap. 9). Bergman’s chapter deals with the application of methods suitable for that purpose. He also discusses different interpretations of the concept “type” and how it naturally can be seen within a holistic paradigm and translated into person-oriented research. A person-oriented approach is also discussed by Jack Block (chap. 10), who in the 1970 had already begun his pioneering research for identifying developmental types. But foremost he discusses fundamental conceptual issues in personality research, starting from the importance of recognizing the contamination of scientific thought caused by the “jingle” and “jangle” phenomena.

The last chapter in the methodological section is by Marian Radke Yarrow (chap. 11). Here she forcefully argues for the importance of attending to the growing child’s total context and to bidirectional influences between parents and children. A holistic approach is taken, influenced by Lewin’s and Magnusson’s thinking. Attention should be paid to her discourse on the importance of measurement issues that must be studied in sufficient detail and depth to capture the child as an individual and not as an average.

It is a truism that biological factors are important to consider when explaining individual development—in their own right, in interaction with psychological factors, and as providing a necessary background for all other factors that we want to focus on in human development. In this last situation, biological aspects are like the situational frame of a phenomenon being studied, not much noted but providing constraints for what can and can not occur and in what order.

The first chapter in the section on biological factors is by Gilbert Gottlieb (chap. 12). He shows how genes and environment necessarily cooperate in the construction of organisms; specifically, how genes require environmental and behavioral inputs to function appropriately during individual development. His chapter very appropriately stresses the interaction between genes and the environment and does away with the proposition th...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• PART I INTRODUCTION
• PART II THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
• PART III METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
• PART IV A BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
• PART V PERSONALITY
• PART VI DEVELOPMENTAL PATHS OF ADJUSTMENT
• PART VII SUMMING UP
• Author Index
• Subject Index