The organismic perspective of human development attempts to explore why people are the way they are (Goldhaber, 2000). Using the organism (Pepper, 1970) or "integrated whole" (Tsoukas, 1994) as its metaphor, the organismic theory is an extension of Gestalt psychology, which views the human being as a synergistic organism (Hall & Lindzey, 1959) that is more than just a collection of parts. Those who view human development through the organismic lens see people as living organisms that actively make choices about how they will react to and control the internal and external forces of their lives and that have inherent growth potential.

Active participants in development

While acknowledging that humans do react to internal (material) and external (efficient) causes, the organismic lens also recognizes material and final causes of human behavior.

• Considering material causes, humans are not just a collection of parts, they are complex organisms that are greater than the sum of their parts.
• Considering final causes, humans have a purpose, there are a direction and a process to development (Goldhaber, 2000; Pepper, 1970).

In short, the organismic lens views the human as a purposeful and active participant in constructing and interpreting his or her world (Lerner, 2002). 

The universality of human development

While organicism may provide a more complete perspective than mechanism for viewing human development (Lerner, 2002), Pepper (1970) says that the organismic perspective is diminished because it does not deal with historic processes and "takes time lightly". In other words, while organicism emphasizes the universality of human development, it does not take into account the contextual influences of individual development.

For example, theories of aging from an organismic perspective view the adult years as a period of decline; however, research shows instead that individual differences increase as adults age depending on factors that had little to do with age, like when and where they are born (Lerner, 2002). In other words, individuals can grow and change throughout life (Brim & Kagan, 1980), which makes development more dynamic than the organismic perspective allows.

Theory through the organismic lens

Theories developed through the organismic lens that will be covered in this section include:

• Freud's Psychodynamic Theory
• Goldstein's organismic theory
• Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental Theory
• Neo-Piagetian perspectives
• Maslow's holistic dynamic hierarchy of needs theory

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