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Theory and South African developmental psychology research and literature

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Pre-print version of:
Macleod, C. (2009). Theory and South African developmental psychology
research and literature. In J. Watts, K. Cockcroft & N. Duncan (Eds,).
Developmental Psychology 2nd ed. (pp. 619-638). Cape Town: UCT Press.

CHAPTER

Theory and South African developmental

psychology research and literature
Catriona Macleod
In this chapter we shall examine the theoretical assumptions that drive
developmental psychology research and literature in South Africa.

The basic underlying models utilised in developmental research may be

described as (a) mechanistic; (b) organismic; (c) contextual and (d) social
constructionist. A description of the fundamental premises of each of these
will be followed by examples of research that utilise the particular approach.
In the discussion, some of the controversies that plague developmental
psychology research will be highlighted.

??.1 Introduction
The questions that form the basis for this chapter are:
• What are the theoretical frameworks utilised by South African
researchers and authors in developmental psychology?
• How are these theories put to work to highlight issues in people’s
lives in the South African context?
• What are some of the criticisms that could be levelled at the
theories used?
These questions are important in the light of the dominance of Euro-American
research in our textbooks and many developmental psychology courses.

It must be made clear from the outset, however, that this chapter is not
intended as a comprehensive review of developmental psychology research
and literature in South Africa, for two reasons. Firstly, putting boundaries
around what counts as developmental psychology, and what does not, proves
to be difficult. For example, collecting research on children only is not
satisfactory, given the life-span developmental theories. Focussing on work
that specifically studies individual development is also not adequate, given the
emphasis on the meso-, exo- and chrono-systems of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979)
approach. Asking the questions ‘Which studies concerning children,
adolescents, adults, and the aged are relevant, and which not?’ and ‘Which
studies on the family, the school, race, class, cultural issues etc. are relevant
and which not?’ becomes a tedious, and perhaps not very useful task.
Secondly, researchers in South Africa, contrary to popular belief, are relatively
prolific. Collating and summarising all the research in developmental
psychology (whatever the boundaries decided upon) exceeds our current
scope. In this chapter, therefore, we shall take a broad view of the field in the
last fifteen years, discussing the main theoretical trends and illustrating each
with examples of research or theoretical writing.

In structuring this chapter I have utilised Overton and Reese’s (1973, cited in
Widdershoven 1997) distinction between mechanistic and organismic
models of development as well as Lerner’s (1986) and Widdershoven’s (1997)
extension of this to the contextual and narrative models respectively.

In 1973, Overton and Reese identified two basic metaphors or models that
underlay developmental psychology theorising of the time. What they meant
by this is that all the theories of human development could broadly be divided
into two categories in terms of their underlying philosophical assumptions
about the nature of development and the nature of the developing person.
These two categories they called mechanistic and organismic (more detail
concerning what is meant by each of these is supplied in the relevant sections
below). In response to further developments in the field, Lerner (1986)
introduced a further category, the contextual model. At a later stage,
Widdershoven (1997) discusses a narrative approach to developmental
psychology. Although Widdershoven (1997) introduces an important new
element to the broad understanding of the basic models underlying
developmental theorising, his use of the word ‘narrative’ is underinclusive.
Narrative theory is just one approach within many broadly identified with the
social constructionist movement in psychology. Thus, for the fourth model
we shall propose a social constructionist model.

A number of controversies have plagued work in developmental psychology

from its inception. These are usually posed in the form of dualisms: nature
versus nurture; continuity versus discontinuity; universality versus relativism;
activity versus passivity; risk versus resilience. The questions evolving from
these controversies essentially are: To what extent is human development
owing to biological/hereditary forces or to environmental and social
influences? Is human development an additive process that occurs gradually
and continuously, or are there a series of abrupt changes in which the person
is elevated to a new and more advanced level of functioning? To what extent
do developmental sequences apply to all ‘normal’ people in all cultures, and to
what extent do specific cultural or sub-cultural factors affect development?
Are children active in determining the outcome of their development or are
they passive recipients of environmental and genetic influences? Are all
children exposed to difficult circumstances vulnerable or at risk for developing
problems or do some cope well without being negatively affected? These
controversies have been debated in the literature for some time now. Many
times, however, a researcher may merely assume one or the other position.
In this chapter we shall delineate how some of these controversies have been
taken up in the South African literature.

??.2 Mechanistic approaches

In mechanistic approaches human development is seen as a collection of
elements, each of which can be causally explained (much like the working of
a machine). Events are seen as causally related to prior events and under
the same set of circumstances, equal causes will have equal effects. Humans
are seen as passive in that they develop as a result of outside influences.
Development is continuous, with change happening gradually as new
elements (such as new behaviour patterns) are added or subtracted.
Behaviourism, with its emphasis on learning theory, represents the most
striking example of a mechanistic approach.

Morojele’s (1997) discussion of adolescent use and abuse of alcohol provides

an example of a mechanistic approach. He discusses Ajzen’s theory of
planned behaviour, which is based on a rational decision-making model of
behaviour referred to as the theory of reasoned action. He modifies an
illustrating diagram from Ajzen & Madden (1986, cited in Morojele 1997),
which is reproduced below. Each box represents a discrete, identifiable
attribute or the interaction of two attributes (outcome beliefs, intention to
perform the behaviour etc.). The arrows are indicative of causal (one-way)
relationships between these discrete elements.

FIGURE 1 HERE

Similarly, Panday, Reddy, Ruiter, Bergstrom and de Vries (2007) use an

extension of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the I-Change Model, to
investigate factors relating to smoking amongst young people of different
‘ethnic’ groups. Non-smoking was found to be related to a positive attitude to
non-smoking, social influences supportive of non-smoking, good levels of self-
efficacy, intention not to smoke, and low levels of depressive mood and risk
behaviour.

The mechanistic model can lend itself to treating socio-political issues merely
as variables that should be measured in terms of their impact on the
individual’s development. It is possible, within this model, for the complexities
of these issues to be glossed over. Race, class, gender, ethnicity and so forth
may become homogenised and essentialised through being measured as a
variable.

Some South African authors using this model have, however, attempted to
grapple with contextual and political issues. For example, Panday et al.
(2007, 208), in justifying their use of ethnicity as a variable, state that ‘the
history of Apartheid in SA (sic) means that poverty and inequality continue to
exhibit strong spatial and racial biases … Consequently ethnicity has become
a proxy for social, economic, spatial and cultural differences when these
factors are difficult to estimate’. They found that the strength of the
‘determinants’ of smoking differed amongst ethnic groups. This led them to
call for further research to understand the influence of differing social,
economic and cultural contexts on smoking onset, but also to acknowledge
the political difficulties potentially associated with their research. They
conceded that ‘the history of racial segregation and discrimination in SA
makes recommendations for ethnic-specific school-based programmes
undesirable’ (Panday et al 2007, 215). As we shall see throughout this
chapter, how contextual issues are conceptualised and theorised in
Developmental Psychology is something that needs to be carefully
considered.

??.3 Organismic approaches

In organismic approaches the processes of human development are viewed
as an organised whole. In other words, development is seen as a totality
rather than as a collection of parts. Instead of causal explanations, theorising
centres around the final goal or the function of development (much like the
systems of a living organism). The principles epigenesis and equifinality
apply. Epigenesis refers to the irreducibility of later forms from earlier ones.
In other words, new characteristics emerge at higher levels, making
development discontinuous in nature. Equifinality means that goals may be
reached along different lines. In other words, although tendencies may be
described, predictions may not be made (compare this to the mechanistic
model). Organismic models see the individual as active in the process of
development, with change occurring because of the unfolding of internal
forces. Examples of theories fitting into the organismic model are Freud’s
psychoanalytic theory of development, Piaget’s cognitive-developmental
theory, and Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. In each it is assumed
that, given reasonably optimal conditions, human beings will progress through
invariant, discontinuous stages of development as directed by forces lying
within them.

Turning to South African research, Broom and Doctor’s (1994) analysis of

children’s reading difficulties illustrates some of central premises of the
organismic approach well. They assert that ‘When children are learning to
read, competence at one developmental stage depends on transmission of
information from a previous stage, so impaired development of a previous
stage will affect development of subsequent skills.’ (1994, 219). Development
thus proceeds through the unfolding of series of invariant stages. Each
stage requires the mastery of particular skills (be they emotional, cognitive or
social). Failure to do so has implications for development at a later stage.

This type of stage theorising has a number of implications. The first is that it
allows for the development of tools to measure the appropriateness of a
particular individual’s development as calibrated against the norms of others
in the same developmental stage. For example, Herbst and Huysamen
(2000) report on their development and validation of a set of developmental
scales for what they call ‘environmentally disadvantaged’ pre-school children.
The purpose of the scales is to assess these children’s ‘mastery of selected
cognitive and motor developmental tasks’ (Herbst and Huysamen 2000,19).

The development and use of norm-based tests has been a highly

controversial issue in South African Psychology. A full discussion is not
possible here but, in summary, various questions have been posed. For
example, is it possible for tests to be culture-free or, alternatively, culture-
fair? Should tests that have been standardised on one population group be
used on other groups? Do these tests really measure what they purport to
measure? Are there not too many dangers inherent in the use of tests (e.g.
as in maintaining purported distinctions between races)?

These debates are important because the second implication of stage-like

theorising, which is linked to the first, is that it allows for particular children to
be categorised as developmentally delayed, thereby necessitating
intervention programmes. Broom and Doctor (1994), for example,
recommend in cases of developmental dyslexia (as assessed by the above-
mentioned tests) an intervention programme aimed at the development of
orthographic reading skills. Amod, Cockcroft and Soellaart (2007, 123), in
reporting on a study of the use of the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales
for infants amongst Black South Africans state that ‘The early identification of
delay in infancy and early childhood improves the possibility of intervention’.

One of the potential difficulties with organismic models is that, because of the
emphasis on internal factors, researchers may ignore the political, social,
gendered and cultural context within which development is taking place. This
has certainly been the case in some earlier South African research (see, for
example, Ackerman 1990). However, this type of de-contextualisation is not
necessarily a feature of research that utilises organismic frames. For
example, Swartz (2007, 361), using psychoanalytic theory, argues that the
Oedipal stage is pivotal in terms of children’s awareness of ‘racial differences
and their effects on class, privilege and custom’. She emphasizes the
variability of developmental pathways (recall the principle of equifinality
discussed above) and ‘their construction in powerful social, economic and
political contexts’.

Organismic models that take context into account inevitably bump up against
the universalism versus relativism debate. For example, Tudin, Straker and
Mendolsohn (1994) investigate the relationship between Kohlberg’s stages of
moral development and exposure to political and social complexity amongst a
group of South African university students. They accept Kohlberg’s assertion
that there are universal principles that guide moral reasoning and that there
are basic, invariant developmental stages in moral reasoning, although their
research revolves around the influence of social context on the development
of this moral reasoning. Ferns and Thom (2001, 38), on the other hand,
present their findings in a study on the moral development of white and black
teenagers as ‘evidence against cultural universality in Kohlberg’s theory’.
They argue that the influence of norms and values, parenting styles and
historical and political effects mitigate against a stage-like progression and
identical endpoints of morality.

??.4 Contextual theories and research

In these approaches, human development is theorised in relation to or
transaction with the environment or context. Thus, development is seen as a
dynamic interplay between person and environment. These models allow for
‘both/and’ rather than ‘either/or’ thinking. For example, the individual can be
seen as both active in his/her developmental processes, as well as being
influenced by the environment. How well theories manage to explain the
‘both/and’ of various developmental controversies differs, however, as we
shall see later with the individual versus society debate. In contextual models,
the embeddedness of various systems (the family, the school, ideological
frameworks etc.) is emphasised with change at one level promoting change at
another level.

It appears that a contextual approach is currently the most popular in

developmental psychology research in South Africa. Speculations as to why
this should be the case could include: 1) the unique social and political space
that South Africa occupies, 2) the self-inspection that psychology in South
Africa underwent in terms of its contextual relevance in the mid- to late- 1980s
(see, for example, Dawes (1986) and Gilbert (1989) amongst others), and 3)
the development of a relatively (although certainly not dominant) South
African Critical Psychology (cf. Hook, Mkhize, Kiguwa, Collins, Burman &
Parker 2004).

We shall now discuss approaches that fall under the broad banner of
contextual models. The first is a positivist approach. In many respects
positivism may be classed as mechanistic as it isolates various elements and
explores the relationship between them. However, the research I discuss
here all has one key feature, and that is a commitment to understanding the
influence of contextual issues on children’s responses. Other approaches
discussed include a developmental-contextual approach, cultural psychology,
a public health perspective, and a political approach.

??.4.1 Positivist approaches

Much research in South Africa that attempts to understand the relation
between individual children and the environment is premised on positivist
principles. In positivism relevant variables are identified and
operationalised, controls are set up to obviate the influence of extraneous
variables, quantitative data is collected, and statistical tests of probability
are run. In this way it is hoped to gain insight into the influence of the
environment on the child. Importantly, though, the child and the social context
are treated as two distinct realities, ontologically separate while affecting
each other (Dawes & Donald, 1994).

One of the aims of positivism is to build up a cumulative knowledge base that

is objective and based on universal truths. A key concept here is
generalisability, which means that results in one situation will hold true in
another. Barbarin and Richter (2001) and Aase, Meyer and Sagvolden (2006)
provide examples of studies that investigate generalisable developmental
processes or properties.

Barbarin and Richter (2001) test the cross-national generalisability of the

relationship between community violence, poverty and psychological
difficulties in children. They find that, as in the United States, community
danger in South Africa is linked to a variety of psychological problems,
including anxiety, depression, aggression, opposition and low affability in
children, but that socio-economic status is not related to behavioural and
emotional adjustment. Aase, Meyer and Sagvolden (2006) argue for the
dynamic developmental theory of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD), in which it is postulated that ADHD is a neurobiological disorder
caused by dysfunctional dopamine systems. They support their argument
through the replication of findings amongst children in Norway with children in
the Limpopo province of South Africa. The key difference between these two
studies is that Barbarin and Richter (2001) analyse generalisable relationships
between social and individual characteristics (i.e. a contextual approach)
whereas Aase, Meyer and Sagvolden (2006) argue for the generalisability of
internal, biological characteristics.

Positivist research allows for comparative work. This is different to the notion
of generalisability discussed above. Researchers conducting comparative
research are not necessarily interested in establishing universal laws or
truths. They may rather want to provide an in-depth description of two groups
identified as different in some ways and as similar in others. A good example
of this is Liddell’s (1996) research on the interpretations of six pictures by 80
South African and 80 British children in their second and third year of
schooling. Liddell (1996) starts her paper by exploring how pictures may: 1)
provide a bridge into literacy for children, 2) enrich the meaning of texts, 3)
provide contextual information in text, and 4) assist children in retaining
information. She reviews the literature from developed countries in which it is
shown that children follow a predictable developmental sequence in their
picture interpretation skills. But then she asks the question whether the same
patterns ‘manifest themselves in children from homes where literacy skills
amongst parents are poorly developed, where picture books do not exist,
where teacher:child ratios mean that one teacher assists 40 to 50 children in
the classroom, and where children at school are exposed to – at most – four
illustrated readers in a year’ (Liddell 1996, 356). This question is important as
it provides the framework within which the comparative research is located.
Here Liddell (1996) invokes structural-contextual issues, not to explain the
differences noted, but to frame her question. Her results show differences in
the way rural South African and rural British children interpret pictures, as well
as different patterns of change as the two groups progress in school. She
discusses this in the light of the possible different functions of literacy in the
two communities.

One of the greatest achievements of positivist research is the development of

statistical models that allow for prediction. Liddell, Lycett and Gordon (1997)
utilise such a model to predict children’s early school achievement in rural
South African schools. They found that if children master basic elements of
the curriculum and behave in ways that allow them to survive crowded and
under-resourced rural classrooms, they will do well in Grade 2. Mathews,
Aarø, Flisher, Mukoma, Wubs and Schaalma (2008) use structural equation
modelling to predict transition to first sexual intercourse. Factors include
being male, being older, coming from a lower socio-economic status,
intentions to have sexual intercourse, poor self-efficacy in negotiating delayed
sex, intimate partner violence. However, the variables and models used in
making these predictions are not quick or cheap to measure, thereby putting
into question the usefulness of utilising this type of research in wide-spread
programmes.

One of the potential difficulties with positivist research is that too little critical
analysis of how terms are operationalised is entered into by researchers.
For example, Cherian and Malehase (2000) investigate the relationship
between parental control and children’s scholastic achievement. They state
that an ‘objective estimate’ of parental control was obtained via a
questionnaire. The questionnaire items, we are informed, measured ‘parental
order and control of children, parental supervision of daily activities of
children, parental involvement in proper control and supervision of school
tasks, parental time spent on children’s school work, and parental
communication with their children’ (2000, 666). The actual items of the
questionnaire are not provided so we are not able to judge exactly what
questions elicited responses in these various areas. Nevertheless, there is no
indication that the choice of words such as ‘proper control and supervision’,
‘parental order’, ‘parental involvement’ is political, and implies the valuing of
particular parental activities over others. Instead these practices take on the
aspect of naturalness - correct and good parental actions. This point is taken
up by Rose (1989), who points out that scientific and professional descriptions
of good parental practices gain their power by appearing to be universally
valid and natural.

??.4.2 Developmental-contextual perspectives

Developmental-contextual approaches take an overtly both-and perspective.
In other words, researchers attempt to include both individual and social
factors into their theorising, rather than one or the other. For example, in his
discussion on special educational needs, Donald (1994, 151) calls for
‘ecologically sensitive research that clarifies the interactional relationship
between various disabilities and their socially and structurally determined
contexts’.

Stead (1996) utilises a developmental-contextual model to analyse career

development in black adolescents in South Africa. This perspective
emphasises the dynamic interaction between an individual and proximal (e.g.
family, peers) and distal (e.g. economic, sociocultural) contexts. He
discusses career development in black adolescents in relation to education,
the family, the economy, culture (see later discussion under cultural
perspectives) and identity development. Stead (1996, 272) states that the
developmental-contextual approach ‘overcomes (a) an inordinate focus on
either the individual or the individual’s environment and (b) an emphasis on a
unidirectional relationship between the self and context’. However, his
analysis does not make it clear how this is done. Indeed, his discussion
devolves in discussing either the environment (the family, education etc.) or
the individual (identity development) without theorising exactly how one
relates to the other. Merely saying that individual development is influenced
by context is insufficient. This point is important as theorising exactly what the
inter-relationship is between the individual and society is one of the crucial
aspects of a contextual approach. It is on this level that we may start
differentiating between adequate and inadequate contextual (and other)
analyses of development.

This point is clearly illustrated in two papers about related issues - child
neglect and child abuse and their respective effects in terms of child
development. In the first, Du Preez, Naudé and Pretorius (2004) research the
influence of neglect on language development. They found that the neglected
children in their sample had delays in terms of verbal development. They
postulate that this is owing to a lack of interaction and communication
between the parents or caregivers and children. However, exactly how this
external event leads to the internal one is left untheorised. What are the
cognitive, emotional, social and neurological processes involved in moving
from the one to the other?

This kind of careful theorising is evident in a paper by Panzer and Viljoen

(2004). They argue that child neglect and abuse leaves children with an
experience of ‘fright without solution’ (Panzer and Viljoen 2004, 11). The
child’s efforts to elicit help are met with abuse and in order to cope,
disassociation of explicit from implicit processing is required. The detail of
their theorising, which draws on psychoneurology, is relatively complex.
Importantly in this context, however, they engage in careful analysis of how an
external event such as abuse may be detrimental to the neural networks of
individuals.

Another important aspect in contextual theorising is the acknowledgement of

historical effects. Finchilescu and Dawes’ (1998) paper on South African
teenagers’ socio-political orientations following the rapid social change of the
early to mid-1990s is an excellent example of the importance of taking cohort
effects into account. Their work was partially informed by a generational
approach to the study of the influence of political context on human
development. From a generational perspective, particular age brackets will
share a political consciousness, which is shaped by exposure to particular
events occurring during the sensitive developmental period of youth. Thus,
Finchilescu and Dawes (1998) talk of the Resistance cohort, the Negotiation
cohort and the Democracy cohort, referring to people who entered
adolescence prior to 1990, during the time of the political negotiations, and
after the elections of 1994 respectively. Each of these generational cohorts
contains sub-generational units based on the racial groups defined by
apartheid. This approach clearly links contextual issues to historical effects,
effects that are obviously more clearly seen in times of rapid change, but
which should always feature in our thinking about developmental psychology.

??.4.3 Cultural approaches

That there are diverse cultures in South Africa is a probably truism that few
people would dispute. This is reflected in developmental psychology research
where culture features relatively strongly. However, the way in which culture
is conceptualised and the uses to which it is put differs markedly. In the first
place, there is cross-cultural research in which culture is viewed as a
variable that can be separated from other variables, and that can be used in
explanation of observed differences or similarities. Secondly, ‘culture’ is used
as a broadly defining, static and over-arching feature of human existence.
Thirdly, there are those studies that locate themselves within the cultural
psychology tradition. Cultural psychology utilises a dynamic conceptualisation
of culture as social practices and traditions that permeate, transform, and
regulate human behaviour. Cultural psychology thus studies the meaning of
the cultural worlds we inhabit, their historicity and the interpersonal
maintenance of the practices on which they are premised.

Examples of cross-cultural research are the papers by Akande (1999), and

Meyer, Eilertsen, Sundet and Sagvolden (2004). Akande (1999, 171)
conducted a ‘cross-cultural assessment of self-esteem among youth in the
twenty-first century South Africa’. He hypothesised that perceptions of the
self differs from one cultural context to another. He thus compared the
means obtained on the Self-Description-Questionnaire-1 by South African,
Australian, Kenyan, Nigerian, Nepalese and Zimbabwean children. Meyer et
al. (2004) investigated whether the Disruptive Behaviour Disorders rating
scale measures the same constructs in South African as in Western cultures.
They administered the scale to South African children and compared the
results with those found for children in the United States of America and
Europe.

In both of these studies, thus, culture is seen as a variable. An instrument to

measure some characteristic or trait is administered and the results of the
various ‘cultures’ under scrutiny are compared. The difficulty, even from a
positivist perspective, is to separate out culture as a variable from other
variables such as socio-economic status, household size, location (e.g. urban,
rural), and means of subsistence.

The second sense in which culture is used (i.e. as a static, essentialist

feature of human existence) is evidenced in Stead (1996), who discusses
career development in black adolescents (see earlier discussion). In this
paper, Stead seems to see culture as a possession, something that defines
groups of people in definitive sense. Note the following passage:
Whites are generally considered to identify with a Western lifestyle that
emphasizes independence, individuality, self-actualization, and
competitiveness. In this respect they tend to differ from Blacks, who
follow a traditional African lifestyle that emphasizes cooperation; Blacks
tend to be community oriented and be dependent on the wishes of
significant others when making decisions (Stead, 1996, p. 272).
Thus, ‘whites’ equal ‘western’ and ‘blacks’ equal ‘traditional’, with all the
attendant characteristics. The use of the qualifying words ‘generally’ and
‘tend’ does not detract from this equation, as there is no indication of any of
these cultural characteristics as dynamic and fluid.

It is this static and essentialist view of culture that cultural psychology has
attempted to counter, while still maintaining the explanatory power that may
be gained by considering cultural issues in developmental psychology.
Gilbert, Van Vlaenderen & Nkwinti (1995), for example, locate their research
within cultural psychology. They study the role of local knowledge in the
process of socialisation in rural families. They define local knowledge as ‘the
presuppositions used to interpret immediate experience borne out of action in
the local environment’ (p. 229). This conceptualisation illustrates the dynamic
nature of a cultural psychology perspective, in that local knowledge is a
product of day-to-day actions and hence is constantly being constructed and
re-constructed while still having a historicity. Contrast this to the notion of
‘traditional knowledge’, which has the connotation of stasis and preservation.

This theorising of socialisation as a dynamic process allows for a dialectical

understanding of the active versus passive debate. Utilising a combination of
the Vygotskian zone of proximal development (the space between what a
child can do on their own and what they can do with the help of a more
knowledgeable member of the culture) and Geertz’s view of culture as a set of
control mechanisms used for governing behaviour, Gilbert, Van Vlaenderen
and Nkwinti (1995) indicate that socialisation is both a conservative and a
creative process. In other words, it simultaneously structures children’s lives
so that they internalise the available cultural rules and instructions and allows
the space for children to construct their own meaning.

It is when ‘culture’ is invoked that issues of universality and relativism tend to

be raised. Some authors attempt to tread the middle ground, indicating the
relative importance of both universalism and relativism. For example,
Magwaza (1997), in her discussion of child sexual abuse, attempts to
integrate a cultural relativist perspective (i.e. recognising and theorising about
cultural differences in the understanding and practices of sexuality) while at
the same time maintaining moral universalism (i.e. there are particular
benchmarks against which we can judge particular actions such as sexual
abuse as reprehensible). Richter (2002), in her discussion of infant care,
identifies ‘near universals’ in the care and regulation of infants, as proposed
by Bradley and Caldwell (1995, cited in Richter, 2002), these being
sustenance, stimulation, support, structure and surveillance. Nevertheless,
concludes Richter (2002, 129), there is much cultural variation in these
practices:
Across all cultures is a perception of infants as being vulnerable to
hazards that can endanger the infant’s life and jeopardise his or her
development. These hazards take many forms and there is no
question that they are culturally, socially, and economically framed and
expressed.
This assertion is in line with Dawes and Donald’s (1994) suggestion of a
distinction between developmental processes that could be shown to have
universal relevance, and the content and norms of behaviour that may be
culturally specific.

Theorising relativism versus universalism in an integrative manner that avoids

the potential dangers of an ‘either/or’ position requires a dynamic and
historicised view of culture, and an understanding that difference and diversity
are intricately linked to socio-political power relations. There is a very real
danger that attempts at understanding cultural variation may ‘hide an implicit
evolutionism which claims Western culture as top of a pyramid [and in which]
westerners (and Western psychologists) know, and understand the “real”
phenomena’ (Swartz and Rohleder 2008, 543).
??.4.4 Public health approach
Most Euro-American textbooks of developmental psychology assume a
certain basic level of health and hygiene in children. Where issues of physical
health are dealt with, concerns include such factors as exposure to parental
smoke, birth defects, cancer and heart disease (e.g. Santrock 2007). The
health issues that face North American and European children and that affect
their development are very different to those facing the majority of children in
South Africa. For example, in South Africa the under five-year old mortality
rate is 72,1 per 1000 live births, whereas in the United States it is 7. While
10,3% of South African children under the age of 10 are underweight and
21,6% experience stunting, only 2% of American children under the age of 5
are underweight and 1% experience stunting (Dawes, Bray and van der
Merwe 2007; Unicef, n.d.). HIV/Aids obviously forms one of the major health
issues for South African children, with an estimated 5,6% of children between
2and 14 years old being infected with HIV, and an estimated 1 100 000 being
orphaned as a result of HIV (Dawes, Bray and van der Merwe 2007).

Given the above, there is a strong public health focus in many South African
writers’ work in developmental psychology. This acknowledges the fact that
general health issues and children’s development are strongly interconnected.
For example, Richter (2004) provides a thorough review of the psychosocial
impact of HIV/Aids on children’s development and adjustment.

Public health shifts the definition of health away, firstly, from an individual
focus and, secondly, from something attended to by medical practitioners in
clinics and hospitals. Instead, public health ‘targets all points where matter,
energy, and information are exchanged between people and their human,
social, and physical environments, for it is through this exchange that
individual and group health status is determined’ (Butchart & Kruger, 2001, p.
215). Duncan (1997), for example, illustrates how the causes of malnutrition,
a condition linked to poor developmental outcomes, should be located not in
individuals’ shortcomings (e.g. parental ignorance concerning nutrition), but
rather in broader social processes. Combating malnutrition will, according to
Duncan (1997), require broad-ranging interventions, including employment
generation programmes and projects aimed at making diversified nutrition and
basic health facilities available to all.

Much of the public health debate is framed within the human rights discourse.
Authors draw on documents such as the United Nations Declaration of
Children’s Rights (Duncan, 1997), and the World Health Organisation and
South African government documents on disability rights (Van Niekerk, 1997).
Strong arguments for the recognition of the rights and aspirations of groups
marginalised by developmental psychology and government policy decisions
(such as children with mental handicap – Parekh & Jackson, 1997) are made.
In an edited collection, entitled ‘Monitoring child well-being’ and containing
chapters on a wide range of issues relating to children, a strong rights-based
approach is taken (Dawes, Bray and van der Merwe 2007). The editors
explain that there are three stages of measurement required in this approach.
Firstly, the specification of rights and what the state and others are duty
bound to deliver; secondly, provision through policy and programmes to
deliver these rights; and thirdly, the measurement of child outcomes in relation
to a minimum standards, models of cause and effect, and the opinions of
children and their carers and service providers (Bray and Dawes 2007). Thus
a rights-based approach is intricately linked to advocacy for delivery of
services and interventions, and the evaluation of these services.

The risk versus resilience debate has, mostly, been framed within a public
health discourse. On the risk side of the debate, factors that put children at
risk for the development of particular problems are analysed. This is
frequently done with the aim of prevention (one of the fundamental purposes
of primary health care). The rationale is that if we can identify risk factors,
then we can, perhaps, do something to prevent them. Van der Merwe and
Dawes (2007) take this approach. They review the risk factors for the
development of violent and antisocial behaviour, as well as the developmental
pathways along which violent and antisocial behaviour may manifest itself.
Arguing that interventions need to based on theoretical and empirical
evidence, the authors review the common characteristics of effective violence-
prevention and treatment interventions.

A strictly risk approach was questioned in the mid-80s (Rutter, 1985). Since
then, the idea of resilience in the face of adversity has become popular. The
key reasoning here is that some children, despite difficult circumstances,
manage to cope well and do not develop any problems. For example,
Henderson (2006, 303) argues that ‘too narrow a focus on the vulnerabilities
of AIDS orphans obscures the ways in which they share similar circumstances
with other poor children, as well as the strengths they bring to bear on their
circumstances’.

The resilience thesis has gained a fair amount of credence in South Africa in
the light of the poor socio-economic conditions and the political violence that
characterises many South African children’s young lives. Instead of seeing
children as victims of their circumstances (i.e. at risk for the development of a
range of psycho-social and physical disorders), the resilience hypothesis
allows researchers to emphasise positive aspects of children’s environments
as well as the children’s agency in developing coping mechanisms.

In a similar fashion to the risk approach, researchers have attempted to tease

out the factors that lead to resilience. For example, Kritzas and Grobler
(2005) studied the relationship between resilience amongst teenagers and the
parenting styles they experienced. They used scales that measure sense of
coherence and coping strategies as indicators of resilience, and found that
authoritative parenting (as opposed to permissive or authoritarian parenting)
contributed the most to resilience amongst teenagers. Focussing more
specifically, Van Rensburg and Barnard (2005) found that close family ties, an
internal locus of control, a positive self-concept, a supportive environment,
and positive personality characteristics were associated with resilience to
child sexual molestation.
Again the issue of interventions arises in the resilience literature. Kritzas and
Grobler (2005, 1) belief that their findings have ‘distinct and far-reaching
implications for envisaged interventions’, while Cook and du Toit (2005)
describe the Circles of Care: Community Capacity Building project, an
intervention that is aimed at supporting ‘child and community resilience’.

The issue of resilience has, however, been critiqued by some researchers.

Duncan (1997) points out that the resilience argument has one serious defect
and that is that it could lead to complacency on the part of those in power in
ensuring conditions that promote the optimal development of children.

??.4.5 Socio-political issues

The status of Developmental Psychology in Africa and South Africa has been
a disputed matter. Some time ago, Liddell and Kvalsig (1990) asked whether,
firstly, Developmental Psychology can claim to be neutral in the research that
it conducts and, secondly, whether our research has no impact in the real
world. They argued that South African developmental psychology was used
and, at times, abused in the real world. Later, Nsamenang and Dawes (1998)
argued that Africa has had a number of alien influences imposed upon it, and
that scholars in Developmental Psychology should engage in a ‘liberatory
project’ in which they ‘enter a critical dialogue with external knowledge
systems, in constructing an understanding of child psychological development
on the continent’ (Nsamenang and Dawes 1998, 73). More recently,
Nsamenang (2006, 293) accuses theories of development and intelligence of
mirroring ‘mainstream Euro-American ethnocentrism’.

Given these sorts of concerns, a number of researchers engage directly with

socio-political issues. Stevens and Lockhat (1997) argue that a combination
of Erikson’s psychosocial theory of adolescent development and Bulhan’s
analysis of identity development within oppressed social groups may be used
to analyse the impact of apartheid-capitalism as well as post-apartheid politics
on black adolescent identity development. Owing to a combination of
apartheid-capitalism and the dominance of ‘western’ ideologies in post-
apartheid South Africa, the authors see black adolescents as having few
‘healthy options’ (1997, 253) for identity development.

Richards, Pillay, Mazodze and Govere (2005) embark on a similar project in

investigating the impact of colonial culture on identity formation. They
collected iographies (stories that focus directly on experiences that impact on
identity development) as data. Interestingly, they did not initially intend to
study colonialism, but found that this emphasis emerged in the data presented
by the participants. They discuss a number of themes related to colonialism
and identity formation, formulate these in terms of Bulhan’s analysis of identity
development, and conclude that colonial culture and apartheid had a
damaging effect on their participants’ identity formation.

While these sorts of papers are important, there are also potential dangers.
For example, Stevens and Lockhat’s (1997) conclusion rests on an uncritical
usage of Erikson’s theory. They indicate that Erikson’s concept of
adolescence as a psychosocial moratorium (a period in which society allows
adolescents to experiment with various identities) does not apply to the
majority of black adolescents. Furthermore, in choosing between capitulation
and assimilation into the dominant (white) culture versus radicalisation, the
authors see black adolescents as experiencing what Erikson called identity
foreclosure. Instead of problematising the theoretical concepts of
psychosocial moratorium and identity foreclosure as linked to particular socio-
historical circumstances, the authors accept their legitimacy and utilise them
to suggest that there are ‘potentially negative psychological consequences’
(1997, 252) and a ‘long-term impact’ (1997, 253) associated with the lack of a
psychosocial moratorium and with identity foreclosure. The net result is the
(probably unintended) pathologisation of black adolescents. Aware of this
potential, the authors spend some time discussing the debate on risk versus
resilience in South Africa, stating that adolescents should not merely be seen
as victims. However, their own theorising allows for little more, and merely
asserting resilience does not do the trick.

??.5 Social constructionist analyses

Social constructionism is a fairly diverse field and not easily summarised in a
few short sentences. Nevertheless, there are some basic commonalities.
Burr (1995) summarises some of the basic premises as follows:
• A critical stance is taken regarding taken-for-granted knowledge.
Social constructionists question the assumptions made in
psychology and indicate how these are frequently used to serve
particular dominant interests.
• There is an emphasis on the social and historical specificity of
human characteristics and interactions. This links up with the
above point as it highlights that there is nothing fundamental or
necessary in the way that we view things, but rather that our
knowledge of the world is socially and historically constructed.
• Knowledge is viewed as constructed in interactions between
people. Social action and knowledge are intricately linked.
• Binary logic (male/female; active/passive; nature/nurture etc. – see
the above discussion) is rejected and a focus on multiple layers of
difference employed.

Social constructionist work contributes in two ways to the critique of

mainstream developmental psychology. In the first place, the basic
assumptions underlying theorising and research in developmental psychology
itself are questioned. Secondly, the nature of the child, the adolescent, the
mother, and the family (mostly) spoken about in developmental psychology is
called into question.

Examples of the first contribution are to be found Parekh and Jackson (1997)
and Shefer (1997). Parekh and Jackson (1997, 41) argue that ‘children with
mental handicap are subjected to, constrained and marginalised by
psychological developmentalist talk’. They question the assumption that
mental handicap means the same thing for one group as for another, as well
as the prioritisation of the cognitive and intellectual as hallmarks of childhood
development. Shefer (1997) discusses how developmental psychology’s
approach to gender ignores the social, historical and political context of
gendered identity development and presents development from a male
perspective. She uses a social constructionist perspective to analyse how
gender (as a social construction) has an impact on our development from the
moment we are identified as male or female.

Bozalek (1997) provides an example of the second contribution. She shows

how textbooks assume a particular family form (the nuclear family with two,
heterosexual parents) as universal, an assumption she highlights as
erroneous given the lived realities of many South African children and
adolescents. Furthermore, the functional systems perspective of families
dominating textbooks disregards power relations that exist within families.
This allows for wife and child abuse to be seen as symptoms of family
pathology rather than as part of differential power relations based on
discourses surrounding gender and child relations within the family.

Social constructionism is not just about critique, however. An increasingly

popular social constructionist approach in areas such as therapy is narrative
theory. Narrative psychology emphasises the central role of language and
meaning making in the formation and structuring of self, identity and the other
(Crossley, 2000). Laubscher and Klinger (1997) utilise a narrative approach
to explain the development of self-definition or what is more commonly called
personality. They contend that ‘all people are story-tellers and create a
particular story about themselves that defines who they are, that captures
their essential and evolving self’ (1997, 67). They explore how the personal
myth begins in infancy when infants learn about narrative tone – the
qualitative mood or feeling of stories. This tone may permeate the entire life
cycle. Through the use of narrative tone, imagery, theme, mythic characters,
and the contextual ideological setting, we create and re-create our self-
defining myth. Laubscher and Klinger (1997) claim that a narrative approach
to development simultaneously acknowledges individuality and social factors,
thereby overcoming the individual/society divide characteristic of more
traditional theories (see above discussion).

Mkhize and Frizelle (2000) utilise a narrative approach to explicate cultural

and historical issues in career development work. They argue that every
culture develops an indigenous psychology, which they define as the shared
understanding of what it means to be human. The primary vehicles of this
indigenous psychology, they argue, are narrative or cultural tales, passed on
from generation to generation through language, myths, fairy tales, histories
and stories. To develop into a competent member of a society requires
developing an appreciation for and knowledge of the multiple and complex
range of meanings developed by that society over time. This does not imply
narrative determinism, as individuals enter into dialogue with the multiplicity of
voices and perspectives available in context.

As mentioned earlier, the ‘activity versus passivity’ debate is one of the

controversies that inhabits Developmental Psychology. Parkes (2002), using
a social constructionist approach, attempts to overcome what she sees as the
overemphasis in psychological literature on the negative effects on children of
exposure to violence. She concludes from her ethnographic research that
‘children draw creatively on local discourses about punishment and authority,
loyalty and friendship … they construct rules, which are fluid, dynamic,
adjustable, and help them to make sense of the social world around them’
(2002, 69). Parkes (2002) believes that this kind of research that does not
view children as passive victims of violence, but as active social agents may
be useful in the kinds of interventions that are made with respect to
community violence.

??.6 Conclusion
From the above it is clear that a range of theoretical approaches and models
have informed developmental psychology research in South Africa. Two
important questions are: Why is it important to take stock of our theoretical
orientations? Why is it vital that a forum for the discussion of theory in
developmental psychology remains open when there are clearly pressing
issues facing children and adolescents (as well as parents, adults and the
elderly) in South Africa? I hope that the answers to these questions are at
least partially provided in this chapter. But to summarise, the basic
philosophical and theoretical assumptions that we make have implications in
terms of 1) how we view the nature of the developing person; 2) what factors
we consider in our research and how we conceptualise their linkages; 3) the
questions we ask in conducting our research; 4) how we undertake our
research; 5) the usages we envisage for our research; and finally 6) how
interventions in the lives of children, adolescents, and parents proceed. This
latter point is made very strongly in a book edited by Donald, Dawes and
Louw (2000), in which they discuss various community-based programmes
that have attempted to address adversity in children’s lives.

As noted earlier, the amount of research that is being conducted in South

Africa in the field of Developmental Psychology is, contrary to our perceptions,
relatively large. Many interesting articles have not been featured in the limited
space provided for this chapter. Perhaps we are not there yet, but we
imagine a time when the Developmental Psychology texts to which our
students are exposed can be written off the basis of research and scholarship
produced within South Africa, when the theories and principles we package
for students are ones with which South African researchers have engaged,
utilised in their research or critiqued, when the conclusions we reach about
people’s development are based on local empirical work, and when we are
more likely to draw on African theorising (e.g. Nsamaneng, 2006) and to turn
to the lessons learnt within our own context (see Clacherty and Donald’s
(2007) discussion of the ethical challenges of child participation in research
within southern Africa) than from those generated in a context vastly different
from our own.

??.7 Further readings

There are four excellent South African books of relevance to Developmental
Psychology. The first two provide reviews of research done in a variety of
areas relating to developmental psychology, the third addresses interventions
with children, and the fourth takes a public health approach to child
development. The Human Sciences Research Council has a very active
Child, Youth, Family and Social Development Unit. Many useful publications,
mostly with free download, are available from this unit. The approach is
generally a public health one.

Dawes, A. and Donald, D. (eds) (1994). Childhood and adversity:

psychological perspectives from South African research (pp. 177-199). Cape
Town: David Philip.
De la Rey, C., Duncan, N., Shefer, T. & Van Niekerk, A. (eds) (1997).
Contemporary issues in human development: a South African focus (pp. 7-
24). Johannesburg: International Thomson Publishing.
Donald, D., Dawes, A. & Louw, J. (eds) (2000). Addressing childhood
adversity. Cape Town: David Philip.
Dawes, A., Bray, R. and van der Merwe, A. (2007). Monitoring child well-
being: A Couth African rights-based approach. Cape Town: HSRC Press.

??.8 Critical thinking questions

1). Which of the above-mentioned models provides the most promising
approach to studying developmental psychology in South Africa? What
criteria are you using in forming an answer to the above question?

2). Do you think that South African developmental psychologists should take
an overtly political stance in their work, or do you think that there is a place for
scientific neutrality and objectivity? Is there a middle ground? Do you think
there is a way of integrating the two stances, and if so, how?

3). Do you think that ‘culture’ should be included in our thinking about
developmental psychology? If so, how should it be conceptualised?

4). Imagine yourself as a researcher in developmental psychology in South

Africa. What would your research priorities be? What sort of approach would
you want to take in investigating the issue? What do you think should be
done with the results of your research (i.e. how should they be utilised)?

??.9 Chapter glossary

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: a disorder which is characterised

by attentional problems, impulsivity and hyperactivity.
Cohort: a number of people possessing common characteristics, in particular
being born in a particular year.
Contextual: an approach to the study of psychology that posits that
behaviour must be studied in relation to the context within which it occurs;
interpreting behaviour outside the context is misleading.
Cross-cultural research: an experimental method in which different cultures
are evaluated and compared on different cultural dimensions.
Culture-fair test: a test designed to include a range of elements so that it is
fair to all the cultural groups undertaking the test. In other words, individuals
in the various cultures have an equal chance of scoring according to their
ability or disposition.
Culture-free test: a test designed to be free from cultural bias. Language or
other skills specific to a particular culture are eliminated.
Empirical: based on the collection, analysis and evaluation of data.
Epigenesis: during development new characteristics emerge at various
stages, making development discontinuous in nature.
Equifinality: goals may be reached along different lines.
Essentialist: viewing phenomena (such as culture) as having an absolute
reality, existence or essence.
Extraneous variables: variables that interfere with (i.e. are not central to)
the main relationships being studied.
Generalisability: the ability to judge whether something is applicable to an
entire class or category of people, events or phenomena.
Intrapsychic: of something assumed to arise or take place within the mind (a
psychoanalytic term).
Invariant stages: developmental stages that follow one another; people
progress through the stages in predictable order (i.e. stages are not skipped).
Mean: a measure of central tendency referring to the average, or the sum of
the scores divided by the number of scores.
Mechanistic: a philosophical approach to studying humans that maintains
that all phenomena may be understood in terms of cause and effect, and that
basic universal laws may be established.
Narrative: emphasises the central role of language and meaning making in
the formation and structuring of self, identity and the other.
Norms: statistically speaking, any measure of central tendency that is
representative of a group and which may be used as a basis for comparison
of individual cases.
Ontology: metaphysical inquiry concerned with the question of existence.
Operationalise: give definition to variables and procedures utilised in
research
Organismic: theoretical approaches that emphasise the need to approach
people as a total entity with a multitude of inter-related processes.
Positivist: an approach to science that argues that it is not possible to go
beyond the objective world, and that only those questions that can be
answered from the application of scientific method are valid.
Probability: the calculation of the likelihood of an event occurring using
proportional frequency.
Social constructionist: theoretical approaches that highlight the role of
language in constructing reality.
Validation: The process of determining the correctness of a proposition or
conclusion.
Variables: a property that changes or varies over time or from particular
categories of people to others.

Acknowledgements
Thank you to Tracy Morison for invaluable assistance in gathering the
literature for this chapter and for organising the references.

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 FIGURE 1

Outcome beliefs
X Attitude to the
Outcome behaviour
evaluation

Normative Intention to The behaviour

beliefs Subjective perform the
X norm behaviour
Motivation to
comply

Control beliefs
X Perceived
Perceived power behavioural
of control factor control

Source: Modified from Ajzen & Madden (1986) by Morojele (1997, p. 223)

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