The range of cultural resources distributed along developmental pathways open to young persons as they frame the outlines of their own identities is not fixed, but inevitably varies across historical moments. The young lives most touched by such transitional circumstances arguably belong to those that find themselves growing up in times of…

The dynamic systems (DS) approach has emerged as an influential and potentially unifying metatheory for developmental science. Its central platform--the argument against design--suggests that structure spontaneously and without prescription emerges through self-organization. In one of the most prominent accounts of DS, Thelen and her colleagues…

Examines formal problems in developmental theory of continuity and change, including the question of contradiction in transformation, the fate of early experience in subsequent growth, the distinction between contradiction and ambivalence, and the psychic reality of regression and reorganization. (Author/RH)

In his 1979 "Human Development" article reprinted in this anniversary issue, James Wertsch presented an approach to genetic analysis of the shifting regulation of problem-solving behavior in early childhood. In my reflections on Wertsch's seminal contribution, I discuss ways that subsequent inquiry built upon ideas he elaborated in the…

Examines the intellectual development of the French philosopher, Paul Ricoeur, who from his earliest work on phenomenology and symbolism to his more recent work on problems of language and text, has made significant contributions to both methodology and theory in the human science. (Author)

Attempts to clarify the concept of a whole, distinguishes different types of holism (methodological and metaphysical), and explicates what is believed to be the real underlying issues separating holism and atomism. (MP)

Discusses ontogeny and phylogeny in Piaget's work, differences between Piagetian (constructivist) and Darwinian (selectionist) approaches, and problems associated with transposing conceptual systems from one field to another. (RH)

Argues that the study of the life course is necessarily a historical form of inquiry that demands acknowledgment of narrative structure. Because the data of narration derive from experience, the idea of development can only be placed within the realm of subjectivity. (RH)

Argues that the perception of consequences for missing age-related deadlines might reflect motivational or coping processes rather than actual consequences. Posits that age-related expectations are powerful determinants of how people perceive and evaluate themselves and others and that they play an important role in selecting and pursuing goals.…

Discusses the role of play in development from both cultural-evolutionary and ontogenetic-historical perspectives. These perspectives illuminate how play and imitation are important for the developing individual who is seen as influencing a changing cultural environment. (Author/RH)

An analysis of views of early socialization and sociogenetic theorists will provide a foundation for regarding internalization as a process involving transformations of semiotic material imported from the social world into personally constructed subjective experience. Argues that researchers embracing the sociogenetic tradition should make…

Agrees with the distinction, made by Lawrence and Valsiner in the previous article, between theoretical approaches concerning internalization that view internalization as cultural transmission and internalization as constructive transformation. Concurs with criticisms of these approaches, and questions the need for the notion of internalization in…

Drawing on a model of wisdom that includes components in three domains (personality, cognition, and conation) and across three levels (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal), highlights potential differences in the ways women and men attain and express wisdom; and examines interactive patterns across the components of wisdom. (BC)

Responds to Noam's (PS 524 984) and Cicchetti's (PS 524 985) articles in this issue. Suggests that researchers should turn to the coactions of the internal and the external constraints on development that codetermine performance. States the position that cognitive developmental theory, when sensitized to intra- and interindividual differences,…

Concepts from the logic of modalities are applied to the life cycle to elaborate a new theory of adult and late-life development. Four logical modalities are described, each cognitively and emotionally governing discrete periods of life. It is hypothesized that optimal development in adult life includes explicit awareness of these modalities. (RH)