Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

4-25-2025

Keywords

developmental psychology, Dynamic Systems Theory, systems

Disciplines

Developmental Psychology

Abstract

Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) is a broad, versatile framework used to investigate a variety of questions concerning the world and the systems that make it up. As applied to developmental psychology, DST views the human person as a system made up of and acting within other systems. Systems are any set of functions or behaviors that work together to influence, or be influenced by, other functions and behaviors. A system can be defined at various levels – cognitive processes, the human person, societies – but all systems change and shift over time. This shifting and changing often occurs within similar sets of constraints, so the patterns that emerge from the systems are often predictable. In the case of human development, human beings develop within constraints that are particular to our species (i.e., human beings have two arms and two legs, large brains relative to other species, and live in social groups).

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