The vanishing of the past.

The author examines the more recent attempts to abolish the past in developmental psychology. Contextualistic developmental models, as the one proposed by Michael Lewis, maintain that human behavior and emotions are determined by the present conditions of life rather than by (early) childhood experiences. In his overview of the pertinent research concerning developmental psychology, neuropsychology, and psychology of memory the author illustrates the onesidedness of this approach. He then discusses social tendencies which may contribute to the relativisation of the significance of the past; the constantly increasing speed of modernisation in contemporary societies seems to dissolve the past in that it leads to a general devaluation of experience and to an almost exclusive focus on the there and newer. Theoretical models articulating this trend - inspite of their limited truth value - therefore have the merit to capture the prevailing contemporary mood.