In 1951, when Maria Montessori described the pattern of human development as the Constructive Rhythm of Life, marking each of four chapters or planes of development with an inverted triangle, she colored the first and third planes red to represent their intensity (Grazzini, 1996). These two red triangles are referred to as creative periods and…

Four longitudinal models are used to present a short review of research into adolescent psychosocial development. This review reveals adolescent development to proceed in a regular manner. This process of regular development suggests that it might be possible to uncover rules of intra-individual development. The aim of this paper is to propose a…

In a general sense, psychology is a science that studies human and animal behaviours, and the reasons of these behaviours. The symbolic foundation date of psychology is 1879. In this year, Wilheml Wundt (1832-1920) established a psychology laboratory in Leipzig. Psychology is accepted to have started as a science with the establishment of this…

This introductory summary provides an overview of the content of the special issue entitled "Identity Development Process and Content: Toward an Integrated and Contextualized Science of Identity." The 16 theoretical and empirical articles that comprise this special issue were selected to highlight innovative methodologies, theoretical…

This article will examine specific films that portray events or phenomena of adult learning and development, and how adult learning and development can be explored by studying the lives of the fictional characters in film. It will demonstrate how the use of contemporary film by adult educators and adult learners can enhance insights about people,…

The authors' aim in this article is to stimulate thinking and a new generation of scholarship on how compassion develops over the life span and may be cultivated to improve individual and societal health, well-being, and interpersonal relationships. The authors discuss conceptualizations of compassion, overview research on the development of…

Optimal talent development can only occur when high ability students are willing to take opportunities for growth in a domain and are able to persist when presented with challenges that accompany performance or production at the highest levels. This paper proposes the use of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development to provide a framework…

We discuss the major processes involved in individuals' motivation and self-regulation of goal striving throughout the life course. While much is regulated based on the biological and societal scaffolding of lifespan development, certain challenges for motivation and self-regulation are more substantial and need to be managed by the individual,…

In a remarkably prescient chapter, Bertram Cohler (1982) reimagined the problems and the potentialities of psychological development across the life course as a distinctively human challenge in life narration. This chapter situates Cohler's original vision within the intellectual and scientific matrix of the late 1970s, wherein psychologists…

We explain metacognition as a management of cognitive resources that does not necessitate algorithmic strategies or metarepresentation. When pragmatic, world-directed actions cannot reduce the distance to the goal, agents engage in epistemic action directed at cognition. Such actions often are physical and involve other people, and so are open to…

In this autobiographical journey through life-span developmental theory, the author reflects on her life as a player, embedding it in the context of Erik Erikson and Joan Erikson's stages of human development. The author builds on these basic ideas--theory, storytelling, play, and development--and defines them as simply as possible.

Most teachers in the field of early childhood education pour a great deal of thought, energy, and enthusiasm into what they do. If asked why they invest so much in their profession, they're likely to list a number of reasons: they love children and enjoy being around them; they sincerely care about their welfare; and they feel a sense of pride and…

"The way you make your bed is the way your day will go." The way in which people gather is an extension of the making-the-bed analogy: "The way we gather is the way our school days go." The mindfulness people bring to the little ways they behave with one another sets the tone for the entire organization. When Montessori speaks of allowing the…

The chapter first introduces the concept of emerging adulthood as a period of life that is characterized by instabilities and fluctuations. Then, the role of goal setting and aspirations in individual development during this stage of life is discussed. Following this, seven chapters of the present special issue are introduced, and the ways in…

As always, "what's happening" is a product of what has come before, and the past decade has been one of phenomenal and unprecedented social change, much of it fueled by the explosion in new and powerful technologies available to both adults and children. As the rightful boundaries between the adult world and the child's world have continued to…