ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that general systems theory constitutes a metatheory, the principles of which are drawn upon by a range of other theories, including family therapies, ecological systems theory, dynamic systems theory and critical state theory. Systems thinking provides a challenge to the positivism of traditional developmental psychology, but there is now an established strong focus on the application of systems theories to the study of children and the family. Systems thinking has also given a new prominence to the role of culture in human development, as no longer a mere backdrop, but as part of the very fabric of human development, operating in a co-constructive fashion. Systems thinking has played a part in promoting the idea of embodied cognition that cognition is not a brain-only phenomenon, but extends into the body and beyond, into the technological and cultural worlds of the individual.
