Lifespan Developmental Systems

Ellen A. Skinner, trained as a lifespan developmentalist, is a leading expert on the development of children’s motivation, coping, and academic identity in school. She is a Professor of Human Development and Chair of the Psychology Department at Portland State University. Thomas A. Kindermann is a lifespan developmental psychologist and Professor in the Psychology Department at Portland State University. He is a leading expert on children’s peer affiliations in school and how they can foster or undermine children’s academic development. Andrew J. Mashburn, a Professor of Developmental Psychology at Portland State University, is a leading expert on the transition to kindergarten. He conducts research to describe, explain, and promote young children’s school readiness and long-term academic success.

Preface: Welcome to the Journey

1 Getting Straight on the Goals of Developmental Science

LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENTAL SYSTEMS META-THEORIES

Section I: How Are Unexamined Assumptions Shaping Developmental Science?

2 "Understanding" Theories: Why It’s Important and How to Do It

3 Dueling Theories of Attachment and Why They Are Fighting

4 Uncovering Assumptions We Hold about Human Development

5 Is Human Development a Tree, a Machine, a Butterfly, or a Dance?

6 Contrasting Meta-theories: Friends or Enemies?

Section II: How Can Contextual Approaches Enrich Our Understanding of Development?

7 Lifespan Developmental Paradigm Shift: Developing People in Changing Contexts

8 Ecological Revolutions: Alive and Well and Living in Multi-level Partially Nested Contexts

9 The Bioecological Model Reinvented: Proximal Processes as the Engines of Development

10 Transactional Dialectical Advice: Qualitative Shifts and the Ice Cream Cone in a Can

Section III: What More Does a Lifespan Developmental Systems Perspective Have to Offer?

11 Relational Developmental Systems Meta-theories: Walking with Complementarities

12 Nonlinear Dynamic Systems Meta-theories: Much Convergence but Still Feuding?

13 Putting It All Together I: The Big Developmental Systems Ideas of Levels and Engines

14 Putting It All Together II: The Big Developmental Systems Idea of Dynamics

LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENTAL SYSTEMS METHODOLOGIES

Section IV: What Tools Can We Use to Study Developmental Systems? Description

15 The Assumptions in Your Hammer: How Meta-theories Shape Methods and Vice Versa

16 Adding Development to Designs: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal, and Cross-sequential Designs

17 Crossing Developmental Boundaries I: Sampling Equivalence and Selection

18 Crossing Developmental Boundaries II: Measurement Equivalence and "Developmentally-friendly" Conceptualizations

Section V: What Tools Can We Use to Study Developmental Systems? Explanation

19 Building a Time Machine I: Lab and Field Experimental Designs

20 Building a Time Machine II: Naturalistic Designs and Causal Inferences

21 Looking under the Hood I: Proximal Processes and Sequential Observations

22 Looking under the Hood II: Intra-individual Time Series, Episodes, and Trajectories

23 Whole Persons in Complex Contexts: Person-centered Approaches

Section VI: What Tools Can We Use to Study Developmental Systems? Optimization

24 Developing Contexts: Weather, Co-adaptation, and Attunement

25 Developing Brains: Experience and Neuroplasticity

26 Developing Individuals: Transformations and Branching Cascades

27 Multiple Lines of Sight: Converging Operations and Open Minds

Afterword: The Journey Continues

Index