Wobbles, humps and sudden jumps …

1. Wobbles, humps and sudden jumps.Views and methods in the study of developmental transitions and variabilityPaul van GeertUniversity of Groningen wobbles, humps and sudden jumps

2. Wobbles, humps and sudden jumps … • Exploring developmental transitions … • In the context of a personal and somewhat unorthodox view on • The nature of psychological variables • The phenomena that we should pay attention to • Based on the belief that • Behavior must be explained by contextualist and dynamic theory • The individual person should be the focus of our analyses wobbles, humps and sudden jumps

3. Wobbles, humps and sudden jumps … • We will have to address fundamental theoretical and methodological issues • I shall discuss transitions over time but also transitions over descriptive dimensions (categorization) • And will occasionally address issues such as the color of socks, the nature of our data sets, curve fitting and why we should not always be afraid of disagreement among observers… wobbles, humps and sudden jumps

4. Transitions … wobbles, humps and sudden jumps

5. Transitions (1 of 3) • A passage from one state, stage or place to another … • A movement, development or evolution from one form, stage or style to another… • Assumptions • The passage lasts shorter than the stages (…) themselves • The stages are stable … wobbles, humps and sudden jumps - transitions

6. Transitions (2 of 3) • Classical stage theories (Piaget) • Stage transitions • Are stages real? • Piaget was more interested in the problem of the construction of novelty • Novelty: transition from old to new • How can something new arise from something old in development? • 1970ies: It cannot: it must be there in advance (Chomsky, Fodor) • 1990ies:Dynamic systems theory: self-organization and spontaneous increase in complexity wobbles, humps and sudden jumps - transitions

7. Transitions (3 of 3) • The basic form of transitions • Catastrophy theory: elementary discontinuities (van der Maas and Molenaar) • Mechanisms to explain transitions • Vygotsky • Microgenetic studies (Siegler, Kuhn, Granott, Fischer, …) • Dynamic systems theory (Thelen & Smith, vG) • Dynamic skill theory (Fischer) • Distributed and situated cognition Common theme Dynamic, time-based, process-oriented nature of psychological phenomena wobbles, humps and sudden jumps - transitions