A dynamical model of proximal development: Multiple implementations

Abstract

Dynamical systems are quite important in psychological research as virtually all psychological processes occur in time. In this chapter we show how to implement a dynamical model of proximal development using a spreadsheet, R and C++. We discuss strengths and weakness of each approach. Using a spreadsheet or a statistical software such as R make these approaches palatable both for people with background in economics and psychology; on the other hand, using C++ provides better efficiency at the cost of requiring some more competencies. Last but not least, all the approaches we propose use free and open source software.