Theoretical Perspectives on Development and the Environment

A Paper in Memory of Joachim F. Wohlwill

Abstract

This paper attempts to develop one of the four themes presented in what may have been Professor Joachim Friedrich Wohlwill's last public talk, his commentary on "Contributions of the Physical Environment to Children's Development" presented at the 1986 meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development in Baltimore. The paper focuses on the integration of theoretical models from other fields and conceptual domains to understanding human development in the environment. In particular, an attempt is made to expand on his suggestions about interactional, contextual, and transactional theories by doing a comparative analysis of eight variations on these theoretical perspectives. The essential characteristics of these positions are outlined, and relevant studies, findings, and remaining research questions are presented as examples of each position. These perspectives are related to some of Professor Wohlwill's writings, including his 1980 Signpost paper in Human Development and the unpublished commentary presented at the 1986 meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development.

In the spirit of a Festschrift, I would like to try to amplify some themes that cut through the late Professor Joachim Friedrich Wohlwill's work on development and the environment. He discussed these themes in one of his last public talks, his commentary on "Contributions of the Physical Environment to Children's Development" presented at the 1986 meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) in Baltimore. The commentary, illuminating as always, unfortunately was unpublished. While this paper is not a review of his work, it is dedicated to him in the attempt to develop one central theme in his later writings. In his 1986 SRCD commentary, Professor Wohlwill discussed four issues. The first issue was the nature of the differentiation between social and physical environments, where he argued that treating the environment ascontext may lead to more and better theoretical and practical opportunities than treating the environment asstimulus. This was a radical departure from some of his earlier work (e.g., Wohlwill, 1966). Second, he discussed one of the social variables - age. Using age as a marker variable, he asked which aspects of the physical environment are more salient for child development at different ages, and how does this evolve with time and with development? Third, Professor Wohlwill discussed setting differences - how the child encounters, interacts with, and uses different aspects of the physical environment in different spatial settings. Lastly, he talked about the integration of theoretical models from other scientific and philosophic domains to understanding the influences of the physical environment on human development. I had looked forward to doing a book with him about different theoretical perspectives on development and the environment. This paper will focus, therefore, on the fourth of his themes, that of different theoretical models for understanding the confluence of development and the environment. This theme was a central theme in his work and was first introduced in his 1980 "Signpost" paper on the confluence of environmental and development psychology (Wohlwill, 1980). In particular, I will compare and contrast eight slightly different theoretical perspectives for investigating and explaining development and the environment. But first, a short comment on the nature of theory both for investigating and explaining phenomena.