EPIGENETIC SYSTEMS VIEW OF HUMAN-DEVELOPMENT

The hierarchical epigenetic systems view as applied to human development has a venerable history, beginning with Clarence Luther Herrick's aborted program at the University of Chicago and continuing through the recently established Carolina Consortium on Human Development. Other examples of the implementation of the systems view at the human level are cited. Although the terminology may vary, many authors now agree that the multilevel, epigenetic systems view is the right model (metatheoretical framework) for the scientific pursuit of human developmental psychology, as well as for nonhuman animal studies. The target article (Gottlieb, 1991) extended this viewpoint to events under the skin, thereby completing the bidirectional loop from genes to culture.