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Relationism and relational developmental systems: a paradigm for developmental science in the post-Cartesian era
1Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. overton@temple.edu
Advances in Child Development and Behavior
|July 10, 2013
Summary
The traditional mechanistic paradigm in developmental science is failing. A new relational developmental systems paradigm offers a progressive framework to explain current findings and guide future research.
Area of Science:
- Developmental science
- Evolutionary biology
- Cognitive science
- Sociocultural development
Background:
- The Cartesian-split-mechanistic paradigm has been the dominant framework for developmental science.
- This paradigm has historically guided research in inheritance, evolution, and organismic development.
Observation:
- The Cartesian-split-mechanistic paradigm is increasingly failing as a scientific research program.
- Anomalies and new findings challenge the explanatory power of the traditional framework.
Findings:
- A new paradigm, the relational developmental systems (RDS) paradigm, is proposed.
- This framework utilizes nested metatheories, with relationism and RDS as key components.
- The RDS paradigm offers a more progressive conceptual structure for developmental science.
Implications:
- The RDS paradigm can account for anomalies and emergent findings within developmental science.
- It provides a more robust framework for understanding complex developmental processes.
- This new paradigm is expected to drive future scientific productivity in the field.
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