Understanding the complex dynamics of human stability and change
pp. 209-224
in: Leendert Mos (ed), Recent trends in theoretical psychology, Berlin, Springer, 1988Abstract
Faced with the inherent complexity of changes in human development over time, psychologists have sought relatively simple laws and theories to try to make sense out of the flux of human behavior in a changing world. The search for simple laws may be based upon their desire to emulate the physical sciences, as exemplified in the orderly domain of Newtonian physics. However, such a desire for simple universal laws "as in physics' may be outmoded; the physical sciences have changed in recent years. Physics has gone beyond Newtonian laws for the study of equilibrium in closed systems to explore the complex dynamics of irreversible phenomena in open systems where linear explanations break down and complex structural changes can occur. This paper presents a model for conceptualizing the processes of complex changes over time based upon the theory of irreversible phenomena in the physical sciences developed by Ilya Prigogine, Grégoire Nicolis and their colleagues. The reader is invited to suspend traditional ways of viewing change and development and embark on an exploration of the usefulness of some alternative mathematical and theoretical perspectives which are based upon recent theory and research in the physical sciences. The overall goal is to present a way of conceptualizing and exploring highly complex developmental phenomena without oversimplifying the complex nature of the processes of behavioral changes over time in the real world.