Through Target 4.7 of SDG4 on 'quality education', Agenda 2030 invites governments to take ownership of progress towards ensuring 'Education for Sustainable Development' (ESD) becomes embedded into all levels of education. However, conceptual analysis suggests an ongoing blindspot related to the significance of systems literacy in fostering the…

In this article, Peter Molenaar responds to three commentaries (this issue) on his article, "An Interpretation of Part of Gilbert Gottlieb's Legacy: Developmental Systems Theory Contra Developmental Behavior Genetics." He addresses aspects of relational developmental systems (RDS) mentioned and questions raised in each of the…

The concepts and paradigms "development", "evolution", and "developmental behavior genetics" target, in their statements, populations. The laws of genetics and evolution are supposed to apply to every single case in a population. It can be counted among the major contributions of Gottlieb (1992, 1995) to have pointed…

When truly spectacular events occur in the performing arts or in team sports, when the sets of artists or athletes respectively creating these events are discussed, a common phrase used in America to explain the "good fortune" that was involved in such unique occurrences is that "the stars aligned." In this commentary on:…

Molenaar's (2015) article concerns Developmental Systems Theory (DST) in relation to behavior genetics and he presents implications of DST for empirical research, especially the need for subject-specific studies. In this commentary, the article is discussed from a broader developmental science perspective, particularly regarded through the lens of…

The main theme of this paper concerns the persistent critique of Gilbert Gottlieb on developmental behavior genetics and my reactions to this critique, the latter changing from rejection to complete acceptation. Concise characterizations of developmental behavior genetics, developmental systems theory (to which Gottlieb made essential…

Hunger, thirst and satiety have an enormous influence on cognition, behavior and development, yet we often take for granted that they are simply inborn or innate. Converging data and theory from both comparative and human domains, however, supports the conclusion that the phenomena hunger, thirst and satiety are not innate but rather emerge…

This paper is in memory of Esther Thelen, who passed away while President of the Society for Research in Child Development. A survey of Esther Thelen's career reveals a trajectory from early work on simple movements like stepping, to the study of goal-directed reaching, to work on the embodiment of cognition, and, ultimately, to a grand theory of…

Gilbert Gottlieb's formative role in establishing a science of experimental behavioral embryology is described. His experimental program on the development of species identification served as a model for developmental psychobiologists seeking alternatives to the nature-nurture dichotomies prevalent in the 20th century. Two of the major concepts…

This issue's special section on canalization of behavioral development is introduced. In the special section, an invited paper by Gilbert Gottlieb, adopts a systems approach that stresses the complex interaction of genes, behavior, and environment. Several comments on the Gottlieb paper are also included. (BC)

Educational and political issues involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of a social/behavioral component are discussed, and a model for instructional design using a systems approach is outlined. The system model is applied specifically to the pharmacy school structure, resources, and curriculum. (MSE)

The behaving organism is described as a system with internal motivational and memory components which guide the actions of external input and output components. The organism actively shapes its environment by using its output to control its input from the environment. Output is a function of the psychological forces, topographic memory, and input…

Discusses the history of the hierarchical epigenetic systems view as applied to human development and offers examples of its implementation. Notes the agreement by many authors that the multilevel systems view is the right model for developmental psychology in both human and animal studies. (BC)

Applies a systems approach to the development of expressive and communicative action of infants in the first year of life. Hypothesizes that the systems approach (which integrates expressive and communicative actions with other elements of the infant's physiology, cognition, behavior, and social environment) will explain previously unexplained…