What is a developmental mechanism? What is developmental change?

Do you need a PhD to get a PhD? An odd question, no doubt, but unless you were born yesterday or under a rock, you've likely noticed that applicants for PhD programs are becoming increasingly more competitive. For example, whereas in the past it would be uncommon to encounter an applicant with one or more publications, these days this seems to be the rule rather than the exception. We open the episode by talking about this phenomenon and why it might be unhealthy for the field. We also talk about what could be done to fix it.

We then transition to the main segment to talk about a recent paper by Deon, published in Developmental Review, about "developmental mechanisms". We talk about what they are, about how to study developmental mechanisms, and about what is meant by "developmental change".

Links

Benton, D. T. (2022). The Elusive “Developmental Mechanism”: What they are and how to study and test them. Developmental Review, 65, 101034. Link to paper