Examples of process theories include evolution by natural selection, continental drift and the nitrogen cycle.
[2] Evolutionary process theories explain change in a population through variation, selection and retention—much like biological evolution.
In a dialectic process theory, “stability and change are explained by reference to the balance of power between opposing entities” (p. 517).
In a teleological process theory, an agent “constructs an envisioned end state, takes action to reach it and monitors the progress” (p. 518).
In a lifecycle process theory, “the trajectory to the final end state is prefigured and requires a particular historical sequence of events” (p. 515); that is, change always conforms to the same series of activities, stages, phases, like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly.