A Unified Theory of Development, Article Critique Example

Identify a major developmental model, discuss the model strengths and weaknesses. Identify your choice and reasons for your choice in the paper as well.

A developmental model can be considered a framework through which a professional can make a diagnosis or understand a phenomenon of a psychological predisposition. In psychology the terminology is used to describe developmental psychology. However, across disciplines a developmental model encompasses a process. This process is characterized by three distinct components; namely; identifiable state offering an actual description of the stage, its level, phase or process. Next is the shift in state, which describes the change as sudden, progressive, abrupt, or recurrent. Thirdly, is the form of progression classifying developmental patterns as spiral, linear or oscillating (Huston, 2008).

The unified theory of development is one such conceptual framework applied to making diagnoses in the science as well as providing understanding of development patterns. For example, Arnold Sameroff (2010) refers to the model as understanding of nature and nurture within developmental science. The theorist argues that there has been an evolution within the science whereby ascendance of one feature above the other has occurred with specific reference to nature versus nurture as attempts at explaining differences in individual achievements of success and failure in their life course (Sameroff, 2010)

As such, a dialectical approach was advanced to highlight the interconnectivity of individual achievements linking it to nurture verses nature conceptual framework in the unified theory development context. Consequently, this suggests developmental science ought to be interpreted in similarly in explaining specific developmental issues occurring in children. Precisely, this unified theory of development approach is expected to ‘integrate personal change, context, regulation, and representational models of development’ (Sameroff, 2010, p. 6) as an integrated model

Essentially, Sameroff, 2010) took four theoretical models and merged them in designing what he perceived as a unified theory of developments. They are contextual, personal change; regulation and representational. In combining these models the expectation is  for a comprehensive perspective of many parts, wholes, and processes  connecting each part be understood as comprising human development applying either nature or nurture to the evolution (Sameroff, 2010).

Sameroff (2010) contends that including the personal change model as it was previously used was essential to perceiving progression of competencies. This was necessary to monitor the individual’s progress from the sensorimotor infancy functioning of infancy to more intricate cognition stages. These stages are measured as early attachments. They occur with care givers then peers, teachers, and people outside of the home into the world at large (Sameroff, 2010).

In presenting a case for the contextual model combination of unified theoretical model Sameroff (2010) argued that the strength lay in delineating the multiple experience sources which are might enhance or restrain individual development. Growing children he further contended participate in diverse social settings and institutions, which influence their social-psychological development. Meanwhile the regulation model places a dynamic system influence from a person/ context influence since regulation moves from biological to the psychological into social (Sameroff, 2010).

In the representational model a person experiences in the world are timeless as it relates to thought formation. Importantly, they reflect cognitive structures. At this point their experiences follow an encoded pattern and are retrieved to enhance new world interactions with self and others. The greatest strength of the unified model lay in the opportunity to obtain data for five domains at one time. The disadvantaged since they are combined findings are less specific and one component may be is ignored while more emphasis could be placed on another (Lerner,  Easterbrooks & Mistry, 2012).

References

Huston, A. C. (2008). From research to policy and back. Child Development, 79, 1–12. Lerner, R. M., Easterbrooks, A. M., & Mistry, J. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of psychology: Vol.

Developmental psychology (2nd ed.). Editor-in- Chief: I. B. Weiner. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Chapters 1-2 Chapters 1-2

Sameroff, A. (2010). A unified theory of development: A dialectic integration of nature and nurture. Child Development, 81, 6-22.