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The Ontogeny of Information is a
critical intervention in the ongoing and perpetually troubling
nature-nurture debates surrounding human development. Originally
published in 1985, this was a foundational text in what
is now the substantial field of developmental systems theory.
In this revised edition Susan Oyama argues compellingly
that nature and nurture are not alternative influences on
human development but, rather, developmental products and
the developmental processes that produce them.
Information, says Oyama, is thought to reside
in molecules, cells, tissues, and the environment. When
something wondrous occurs in the world, we tend to question
whether the information guiding the transformation was pre-encoded
in the organism or installed through experience or instruction.
Oyama looks beyond this either-or question to focus on the
history of such developments. She shows that what developmental
"information" does depends on what is already
in place and what alternatives are available. She terms
this process "constructive interactionism," whereby
each combination of genes and environmental influences simultaneously
interacts to produce a unique and unpredictable result.
Ontogeny, then, is the result of dynamic and complex interactions
in multileveled developmental systems.
Susan Oyama is Professor of Psychology
at the Jay College of Criminal Justice, as well as in the
Program in Developmental Psychology at the CUNY Graduate
Center.
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