Development as a Dynamic System

Today, researchers recognize both consistency and variability in children’s development and want to do a better job of explaining variation. Consequently, a new wave of systems theorists focuses on how children, in interacting with their complex contexts, alter their behavior to attain more advanced functioning. According to this dynamic systems perspective, the child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds form an integrated system that guides mastery of new skills. The system is dynamic, or constantly in motion. A change in any part of it—from brain growth to physical or social surroundings—disrupts the current organism–environment relationship. When this happens, the child actively reorganizes his or her behavior so the various components of the system work together again but in a more complex, effective way