Toward an Organismic Integration Theory

Abstract

Organismic theories in psychology are constructed around two core notions: that behavior is regulated in part by internal structures that are elaborated through experience; and that human beings are by nature active. There is no place where these assumptions are more critical than in the area of development, for as we will see they are essential to an understanding of the ubiquitous phenomenon of children working eagerly and continually to master their internal and external environments.