ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses implications for theory, research, and the application of developmental science. It pays particular attention to implications for applications to policies and programs aimed at enhancing social justice. The chapter provides an overview of the past and the present status of developmental science and describes in some detail the nature and implications of these new foci. The ergodic-theorem-based approach essentially ignored the individuality of development. Drawing on the scholarship of Peter C. M. Molenaar, John R. Nesselroade, and Todd Rose, the chapter explains some of the flaws in such an argument. It argues that contemporary developmental theory is framed by theories derived from relational developmental systems (RDS) metatheory. RDS metatheory emphasizes that change across life occurs through mutually influential relations between individuals and their contexts, represented as individual-context relations.
