ABSTRACT
Placed in a larger perspective, these relative emphases on the personal versus social construction of identity can be seen as expressions of a broader ``epigenetic systems'' model (see Figure 1) that views human meaning and action as the emergent outcome of a series of hierarchically embedded systems and subsystems (Mascolo, Craig-Bray, & Neimeyer, 1997). In biology, epigenesis stands in contrast to theories that view an organism's structures, behaviors, or capacities as either essential and inborn or as the simple and predictable result of maturational unfolding. Instead, new structures are seen as emerging through the interaction of a multi-leveled organism±environment system, in which the functioning of each constituent feature (e.g., chromosomes) is shaped through transactions of more basic levels (e.g., genes) and higher-order ones (e.g., cell matrices). As applied to human functioning, epigenesis implies that meaning and action emerge from a similarly multi-layered system of systems, which include bio-genetic, personal-agentic, dyadic-relational, and cultural-linguistic levels. Bio-genetic systems refer to all systems below the level of the organismas-agent (genetic, cellular, and organ systems). The personalagentic level refers to functioning of the organism as a personality, having a bounded degree of choice in determining its own development. Dyadic-relational systems emerge out of coactions between two or more individuals (e.g., family systems), which are further nested within larger cultural-linguistic systems of cultural patterns, institutions, discourses, and beliefs.
