ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the principles of change developed in some different knowledge domains. Discussions of development and personality often represent change processes primarily in terms of what happens rather than why it happens. Genetic material is the means of retaining and transmitting the fruits of evolutionary processes to future generations, and individual organisms are the carriers of genes and the means of reproduction. Evolutionary theory has added important new emphases on the relationships between social group living and evolutionary processes. Evolutionary theory and biological disciplines such as genetics, embryology, and developmental biology provide two elaborate and empirically supported models concerning change and development of all kinds of living systems. Scientific advances have made possible much more sophisticated study of genetic processes through cell biology. A change in one set of components and functions is likely to directly or indirectly affect the entire organization through mutual causal processes.
