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The Limitations of Concepts in Developmental Psychology
- Merrill-Palmer Quarterly
- Wayne State University Press
- Volume 50, Number 3, July 2004
- pp. 291-298
- 10.1353/mpq.2004.0019
- Article
- Additional Information
Many concepts in developmental psychology are inferred or confirmed from very particular experimental or naturalistic observations but investigators often generalize their validity to a broad domain of situations. This permissiveness is affecting progress. This paper provides examples of this error and criticizes the tendency to award essences to predicates representing psychological processes.