We would like to thank the speakers and all participants for a very successful symposium! The handouts for the lectures can be downloaded here.
We made a powerpoint presentation with pictures from the symposium. Download it here.
May 14-15-16, 2007
Dynamic systems theory is an approach that is very well suited to the study of development and it is
increasingly gaining interest and attention within developmental psychology. It provides tools
and methods to study processes of change and stability across development. These tools and
methods relate to principles of model building and simulation, empirical design and statistical
data processing.
According to dynamic systems theory, developing individuals are embedded in a rich
variety of interacting contextual forces that continuously alter the individual's organizational
structure (Granic, Dishion & Hollenstein, 2003). The context is not seen as a static or
independent variable but as being created and shaped by its interactions with individuals.
Therefore, individuals and contexts cannot be conceptualized as dependent and independent
factors, as is the case in most of the classical statistical designs and methods. These
traditional approaches inform us about associations among certain variables across - usually
large - samples of individuals, but they do not give us insight into the mechanisms of
developmental processes, that is into the principles of developmental time evolution. With the
inclusion of time as one of the most important aspects of development and with this the
conceptualization of development as an iterative process, dynamic systems methods provide
tools to capture the non-linear changes and transitions which characterize development. By
doing so, they can make a considerable contribution to our understanding of developmental
processes (Van Geert, 1994; Thelen & Smith, 1994; Van der Maas & Molenaar, 1992).
This symposium offers young researchers in this blooming field a chance to further their knowledge of dynamic systems theory as well as a platform to discuss one another's research. The symposium combines lectures by three leading scholars with a poster session and a workshop in which participants get to learn some of the tools provided by dynamic systems theory under the supervision of the invited speakers.
May 14, 15 and 16, 2007
See programme
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences
Research group Developmental Processes
Heymans Institute, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1
9712 TS Groningen,
The Netherlands
Contact: Marieke Visser
Telephone: +31 (0)50 363??
e-mail: M.Visser@rug.nl