ABSTRACT
T. C. Schneirla (1902-1968) was trained in comparative psychology, receiving a Doctor of Science degree from the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He left Ann Arbor in 1927 to take a position at New York University, and remained on the faculty of that institution until his death. However, beginning in 1943, he also became a member of the staff (starting as an associate curator) of The American Museum of Natural History. His theoretical and empirical work at both NYU and the museum provided developmental science with important conceptual tools for understanding how an integration of multiple-biological through ecologicallevels of organization are integrated within a developmental system that propels an organism across the course of life. As such, Schneirla’s theoretical ideas constituted a foundation for understanding the dynamic fusion of nature and nurture variables in development. Schneirla’s ideas
1. Frame a discussion of probabilistic-epigenetic (or developmental-contextual) ideas about human development.
