This paper shows how an open-ended nonlinear dialectic process can be depicted as a self-linearizing form which reveals transition structures as nodal points of self-reflection. (MS)

This paper builds on Hatano and Inagaki's pioneering work on the role of experience and cultural models in children's biological reasoning. We use a category-based induction task to consider how experience and cultural models shape rural and urban children's patterns of biological reasoning. We discuss the implications of these findings for…

Argues that the status of the concept of equilibration is classified by considering Piagetian theory as a research program in the sense elaborated in 1974 by Lakatos. A pilot study was made to examine the precision and testability of equilibration in Piaget's 1977 model.(Author/RH)

It is argued that the dialectical model of memory development seems more promising than behavoristic, information processing and contextual models. (MS)

The distinction between competence and performance models in psycholinguistics is used to analyze current theory and research strategies in the study of cognitive development. The analysis is used to argue for the construction of performance models of cognitive skills which do not reify the elements of competence models. (Author/SS)

Develops a model of "knowing" and discusses the implications of this model for an understanding of the nature of developmental stages. (BD)

An action theoretic account of skill learning and skill use is offered as a useful heuristic for life-span developmental psychology. The version presented is one that is particularly prominent in industrial psychology in the German-speaking countries. (Author/RH)

This paper defines the concept of the dialectic and places it within the context of a well-defined methodology, i.e. that of organicism, which contrasts markedly with the logical empiricism of much contemporary psychology. The paper then points out the relevance of a dialectical perspective for developmental psychology. (Author/CS)

Describes the symposium on action theory presented at the 1983 meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development in Munich. The symposium included reactions to action theory from a variety of theoretical perspectives. (Author/RH)

Models of development and models of memory reflect either a mechanistic or organismic world view. A merger of the information-processing models of memory and qualitative models of development is suggested, and has valuable implications about the possible nature of "locus" of memory development (ST)

Comments on van Geert's mathematical model of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, in this issue. Supports van Geert's use of a nonlinear model, noting that linear statistical models overlook variability in psychological phenomena. Discusses the time asymmetry in van Geert's model, which does not account for a subject's "developmental…

Discusses the article by Lewis in this issue in the context of complex systems theory. Reviews several concepts of complex systems theory, including self-organization, entropy, phase transitions, stochastic processes, nonlinearity, and attractors. Notes that Lewis highlights the need for psychological models to treat nonlinear processes, chaotic…

Presents a model of cognition and emotion that suggests that feedback between cognition and emotion generates, maintains, and reconfigures interpretations of emotion-eliciting events at micro- and macrodevelopmental time scales and that personality and behavior self-organize in response to fluctuations in perception or cognition and trace…

Several different conceptions of the relationship between learning and development are considered in this article. It is argued that dialectical and ecological developmental orientations might provide a useful basis for synthesizing the contrasting frameworks of the operant, information processing, learning theory, and knowledge acquisition…

Argues that Vygotsky's "zone of proximal development" (ZPD) can be redefined as a nonlinear dynamic model. Presents a mathematical reformulation that generates a variety of developmental patterns and has the capacity to show under which conditions unwanted or unsuccessful developmental paths may occur. Illustrates how this reformulation…