Thinking in systems
History matters
In shortTwo children who act the same today may have got there by different paths and need different things.
The idea
In a complex system, the path taken matters. Two children with the same behaviour today may have got there by different paths, and so need different things. And the same situation can be lived differently by someone who has been through it in a hard way before: the system keeps that experience and uses it to predict.
What to try
- Ask when it started and what changed then.
- Remember that reversing the conditions does not always reverse the pattern: the system has learned.
- Give new experiences time to become history too.
The common mistake
Explaining behaviour only by the present, as if the person had no past.
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Short, plain pieces by the researchers and good writers.
The science behind itHow strong the evidence is, the model, videos and references.
How strong the evidence is
A way of thinking A lens for interpreting what a child does, not a rule from trials.
Path dependence and hysteresis: the current state depends on the trajectory, not only on current parameters. In developmental psychopathology, equifinality (different paths, same outcome) and multifinality (same starting point, different outcomes) make it invalid to infer process from a category (Cicchetti and Rogosch, 1996). Formulation requires developmental and contextual history.
More technical books
Development as a dynamic system, not a programme that unfolds.
See on Amazon ›Amazon links are affiliate links: if you buy, Bounded Uncertainty receives a small commission at no cost to you.
References
- Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8(4), 597–600.
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