INDIVIDUALITY, CONTEXT, AND THE SEARCH FOR MEANING

A developmental systems approach incorporates clinical perspectives an d offers a background for thinking about some of the ways we do resear ch. Recent advances reveal both research opportunities and needs relat ed to fostering child development in a pluralistic, democratic society . 4 topics are addressed that deal with individuality, context, and th e search for meaning. First, individuality is discussed wherein our ab stract thinking and our quantitative individual differences methods ha ve revealed an urgent need to study the developing person. Second, cla ssification is considered wherein our systematizing efforts reveal a n eed to understand the interplay among classified features of the perso n, as well as the particular methods that underlie our classifications . Third, the experiencing of development is discussed, wherein recent advances have revealed new ways of thinking about an individual's nonc onscious-procedural and practicing-activities in development, as well as those activities that are conscious. Fourth, the issue of values is considered. Values contribute to our doing research, and we also need to acknowledge their importance as the object of developmental study in 4 children. The appreciation of context, of multiple windows of obs ervation, and of our emotional ''centeredness'' as human beings who co mmunicate and cooperate with others are crosscutting themes of the ess ay.