Argues that learning is an invariant process best understood from a dialectical perspective which demands that learning be viewed as an interaction between the organism and the environment. This view is contrasted with traditional operant approaches and with a Piagetian approach. (Author/DB)

It is suggested that the complexities entailed in an analysis of life span attachment require consideration of so many interacting variables that a systems approach of some kind is needed for a beginning integration. (MS)

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…

Compares differential and developmental approaches to clinical and developmental problems such as suicide. Contends that abstract model variables (such as suicidal tendency), whose meaning depends on the model in which they function, need a translation between the variable and empirical data. Maintains that practitioners need a model allowing for…

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…

Developmental theories can be augmented by incorporating knowledge about atypical ontogenesis. Examination of individuals with high-risk conditions and psychopathological disorders can shed light on system organization, disorganization, and reorganization. Child maltreatment is examined to illustrate benefits from studying individuals subjected to…

Analyzes suicide in terms of a dynamic model of changes in suicidal tendencies over time. Suggests that minor fluctuations may incite rapid development toward suicide or inhabit suicidality. Notes that this method of analysis and developmental modeling is applicable to other phenomena involving development in complex human behaviors in an open…

Discusses Mishara's use of phrase space analysis to chart the developmental dynamics of suicide. Contends that developmentalists should concern themselves with mental ontology, especially epistemic questions, in order to advance understanding of the development of the human mind. Considers the affinity of interactivism with a dynamic systems…