Document Type
Article
Peer Reviewed
1
Publication Date
7-15-2009
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Child Development Perspectives
Volume
3
NLM Title Abbreviation
Child Dev Perspect
DOI
10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00081.x
PubMed ID
19784383
Abstract
The nativist-empiricist debate and the nativist commitment to the idea of core knowledge and endowments that exist without relevant postnatal experience continue to distract attention from the reality of developmental systems. The developmental systems approach embraces the concept of epigenesis, that is, the view that development emerges via cascades of interactions across multiple levels of causation, from genes to environments. This view is rooted in a broader interpretation of experience and an appreciation for the nonobvious nature of development. We illustrate this systems approach with examples from studies of imprinting, spatial cognition, and language development, revealing the inadequacies of the nativist-empiricist debate and the inconvenient truths of development. Developmental scientists should no longer abide the nativist-empiricist debate and nativists’ ungrounded focus on origins. Rather, the future lies in grounding our science in contemporary theory and developmental process.
Keywords
developmental systems, nativism, empiricism, imprinting, spatial cognition, language development
Published Article/Book Citation
The definitive version was published in Child Development Perspectives, 3:2 (2009), pp.79-87. DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00081.x
Rights
Author Posting. Copyright © the Authors, 2009. Journal Compilation © 2009 Society for Research in Child Development. This is the authors' version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Wiley-Blackwell for personal use, not for redistribution.
Response to the commentaries
URL
http://ir.uiowa.edu/delta_center_pubs/1