Contributions of the specificity principle to theory, research, and application in the study of human development: A view of the issues

Abstract As articulated by Marc H. Bornstein, the Specificity Principle explains that specific outcomes in human development always involve coaction of specific individuals at specific times in specific places through specific processes. The articles in this Special Issue document contributions to developmental science through theory-predicated and methodologically rigorous and innovative research framed by the Specificity Principle. These articles illuminate some of the many ways in which the Specificity Principle improves research and applications aimed at advancing positive human development. The Specificity Principle encompasses diverse individuals, ontogenetic and historical periods, as well as national and cultural boundaries. It provides a regulative tenet that contrasts with nomothetic and/or variable-centered approaches to human development. It brings systematicity to the idiographic approach to human ontogeny by identifying individual and contextual conditions that promote specificity versus commonality in human development. As documented by the articles and commentary included in this Special Issue, the Specificity Principle underscores the ways in which each person can thrive across time and place and so enables developmental scientists to comprehensively describe, explain, predict, and enhance human development.