Navigating human development

This paper sets out to examine the role which affect may have in the understanding of human development. An ecological approach to perception provides a base from which which to discuss issues concerning both the adaptive function of affect as well as the role it plays in events, affordances and attunements. A contextual metaphor is employed to show what typically happens with human interactions. The role of affect in development is explored and a metaphor of “navigation” is put forward as an appropriate means for describing purposive negotiations of whole events.