Barbara J. King

The emergence of a new paradigm in ape language research

In recent years we have seen a dramatic shift, in several different areas of communication studies, from an information-theoretic to a dynamic systems paradigm. In an information processing system, communication, whether between cells, mammals, apes, or humans, is said to occur when one organism encodes information into a signal that is transmitted to another organism that decodes the signal. In a dynamic system, all of the elements are continuously interacting with and changing in respect to one another, and an aggregate pattern emerges from this mutual co-action. Whereas the information-processing paradigm looks at communication as a linear, binary sequence of events, the dynamic systems paradigm looks at the relation between behaviors and how the whole configuration changes over time. One of the most dramatic examples of the significance of shifting from an information processing to a dynamic systems paradigm can be found in the debate over the interpretation of recent advances in ape language research (ALR). To some extent, many of the early ALR studies reinforced the stereotype that animal communication is functional and stimulus bound, precisely because they were based on an information-processing paradigm that promoted a static model of communicative development. But Savage-Rumbaughs recent results with bonobos has introduced an entirely new dimension into this debate. Shifting the terms of the discussion from an information-processing to a dynamic systems paradigm not only highlights the striking differences between Savage-Rumbaughs research and earlier ALR studies, but further, it sheds illuminating light on the factors that underpin the development of communication skills in great apes and humans, and the relationship between communicative development and the development of language.

How can we know the dancer from the dance?: The dynamic nature of African great ape social communication

We argue that dynamic-systems theory (DST) offers researchers a promising alternative to the information-processing framework that has dominated the study of primate social communication. DST rejects a linear view of communication in which a sender transmits a signal to a receiver, who then decodes that signal for its information content. Instead, dynamic-systems theory envisions communication as an intrinsically creative process that unfolds as communicating partners continuously adjust their behaviors to one another. This process of continual adjustment, termed co-regulation, can be identified in the social communication of the African great apes. When researchers study communication in terms of co-regulated social interaction, new insights and research questions emerge that may help anthropologists better understand the nature of the vocal and gestural behaviors of our closest living relatives.

Human development in the twenty-first century : visionary ideas from systems scientists

Preface: the dynamic systems approach to fostering human development Alan Fogel, Barbara J. King and Stuart G. Shanker Part I. Dynamic Relationships between Genetics and Environments: 1. Developmental dynamics: the new view from the life sciences Robert Lickliter 2. Genes, experience and behaviour Timothy D. Johnston 3. How dynamic systems have changed our minds Ken Richardson 4. Individual development as a system of coactions: implications for research and policy Gilbert Gottlieb and Carolyn Tucker Halpern 5. Gene-environment interactions and inter-individual differences in rhesus monkey behavioral and biological development Stephen J. Suomi Part II. The Dynamic System of the Child in the Family: 6. Relationships that support human development Alan Fogel 7. The impact of emotions and the emotional impact of a childs first words Stuart G. Shanker 8. Emotional habits in brain and behaviour: a window on personality development Marc D. Lewis 9. Creating family love: an evolutionary perspective Barbara J. King Part III. The Dynamic System of the Child in Social and Physical Environment: 10. The tempest: anthropology and human development Peter Gow 11. An anthropology of human development: what difference does it make? Christina Toren 12. The social child Tim Ingold 13. Learning about human development from a study of educational failure Gillian Evans 14. Dynamic views of education Lynette Friedrich Cofer 15. Embodied communication in non-human animals Barbara Smuts 16. Children in the living world: why animals matter for childrens development Gail F. Melson Part IV. Dynamic Systems Approaches to Mental Health: 17. A dynamic developmental model of mental health and mental illness Stanley I. Greenspan 18. Dyadic microanalysis of mother-infant communication informs clinical practice Beatrice Beebe and Joseph Jaffe 19. Current problems of Japanese youth: some possible pathways for alleviating these problems from the perspective of dynamic systems theory Alan Fogel and Masatoshi Kawai 20. A different way to help George Downing 21. Why do siblings often turn out very differently? Michael E. Kerr 22. A dynamic systems approach to understanding family and peer relationships: implications for effective interventions with aggressive youth Isabela Granic 23. Prenatal substance exposure and human development Daniel S. Messinger and Barry M. Lester Part V. Conclusions and Outlook: 24. Dynamic systems methods for the life sciences Alan Fogel, Stanley Greenspan, Barbara J. King, Robert Lickliter, Pedro Reygadas, Stuart G. Shanker and Christina Toren.

The emergence of a new paradigm in ape language research: Beyond interactionism

We group the issues raised in the commentaries into five major sections. In the first, section R1, we consider some of the antecedents to dynamic systems (DS) in psychology, biology, anthropology, and primatology and note the key changes that have occurred in DS over the past ten years. Next, in section R2, we explain the ways in which co-regulation differs markedly from interactional synchrony , focusing in particular on the creation of meaning inherent in co-regulated communication. The following section (R3) clarifies the challenge that DS poses to Cartesian assumptions about the nature of communication and contrasts this position with behaviorism. In the next section (R4) we reject the notion that IP and DS may be, in fact, compatible paradigms. Finally, we explain the exciting future we envision for using DS to facilitate consideration of evolutionary questions, particularly those concerning the comparative evolutionary development of socio-emotional dynamics between partners (section R5).

Human Development in the Twenty-First Century: Introduction: Why a dynamic systems approach to fostering human development?

The dynamic systems approach is an emerging interdisciplinary set of principles used by a diverse collection of scientists to help understand the complex world in which we live. The main insight that unites these scientists, despite wide differences in methods and concepts, is a focus on connections and relationships. A relationship between a particular parent and child, for example, is distinguished by the expressions and gestures as well as the words by which they understand each other. A parent’s raised eyebrow might mean ‘‘pay attention,’’ or ‘‘be careful’’ to their child. This small and subtle gesture has meaning to both parent and child because they have worked it out together by repeatedly learning how to understand each other, negotiating their mutual needs and goals. The raised eyebrow represents that whole history of the growth of the relationship. The relationship is a dynamic system because it changes over time (it is dynamic) and because the mutually understood gestures are the result of both people working together to create something that is more than either one of them alone (it is a relationship system). A dynamic system is a relationship that grows over time, has a history, and is more than the simple sum of its parts. A more traditional approach to understanding the world treats the parent and child as separate entities, each of which affects the other. The parent’s eyebrow raise can be understood, in this approach, to affect the child’s behavior, causing the child to pay attention or be careful. This so-called ‘‘linear’’ or ‘‘sequential’’ approach to understanding the world easily leads to principles and policies that assume either the parent or the child is the cause of particular outcomes. Parental behavior is seen in this way to cause children to grow up psychologically wellor mal-adjusted. Or, the blame is placed on the child for being unruly or uncooperative. Policies and public monies are allocated to correct the problems by treating the parent or the child. These policies and programs can’t and don’t work out well for anyone, neither the families they intend to help nor the society they were meant