A NOTE ON PROCESS-STRUCTURE DISTINCTIONS IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

This chapter discusses process-structure distinctions in developmental psychology. In the division of structure and process, the structure is identified as static and immutable. Clarity can be regained by attending to the time constants with which change occurs in relation to the time constants employed in observing or measuring the system. The structure provides the necessary arrangements for the process to occur upon occasion. All things appear as process or structure, depending on the viewpoint. In describing machines, capable of general action, there arises a separation between the machine and that on which it works—its input and output. In information-processing systems, the distinction is usually termed between program and data. The program plays the role of process—producing the behavior and representing the dynamics. The set of data then plays the role of structure—being inert and static. The program itself is a structure that specifies the dynamics to be carried out.