Dynamical systems theory is becoming more popular in social and developmental science. However, unfamiliarity with dynamical analysis techniques remains an obstacle for developmentalists who would like to quantitatively apply dynamics in their own research. The goal of this article is to address this issue by clearly and simply presenting several…

This paper introduces and exemplifies a qualitative method for studying learning, "microgenetic learning analysis" (MLA), which is aimed jointly at developing theory and at establishing useful empirical results. Among modern methodologies, the focus on theory is somewhat distinctive. We use two strategies to describe MLA. First, we develop a…

This paper poses the following question: When, in spite of knowing that it is wrong, people go on to hurt others, what does this mean for the development of moral agency? We begin by defining moral agency and briefly sketching relations between moral agency and other concepts. We then outline what three extant literatures suggest about this…

This paper discusses the distinct meanings of "internalization" and "interiorization" as ways of rendering intelligible the social constitution of the psychological in a line of research that started with Piaget and extended into a post-Piagetian reformulation of intelligence in successive generations of studies of the relations between social…

In this paper, we combine neurological and developmental evidences in order to differentiate between two levels of sharing: dyadic sharing, virtually present from birth and depending on the activation of shared representation, and triadic sharing, requiring that agents not only share a common representation, but also represent complementary…

This research details the changing ways in which young people of different ages differently warrant the conviction that, notwithstanding evidence of good and bad behaviours, selves can be understood as unified across the various roles and contexts that they occupy. Canadian adolescents and young adults were asked to explain the apparent disunity…

Provides an alternative conception of postconventional moral development which fits existing data on late adolescent and adult moral judgment better than Kohlberg's higher stage descriptions. Data is from a longitudinal study of 26 undergraduates at Harvard. (Author/SS)

Investigates differences between adolescents and older adults in their explanations of linguistic metaphors. Adults displayed a synthesizing, integrative perspective, while adolescents displayed an analytic perspective in their explanation of metaphors. (Author/SS)

Presents a model of cognition and emotion that suggests that feedback between cognition and emotion generates, maintains, and reconfigures interpretations of emotion-eliciting events at micro- and macrodevelopmental time scales and that personality and behavior self-organize in response to fluctuations in perception or cognition and trace…

Determines patterns of differential human development in a longitudinal study of 417 male and 358 female college students ages 18 to 30. Findings suggest individuality in development is associated with significant qualitative individual differences that are best described on a cross-time basis. (BJD)

Reports a two-year longitudinal study of 55 adolescents and young adults who were divided into three groups and given Reflective Judgment Interviews and the Concept Mastery Test to investigate sequentiality of reflective judgment stages. Results indicate support for seven hypothesized shifts in epistemic assumptions over time.(Author/RH)

Discusses the logical discontinuity between object and personal knowledge. Proposes an extension of Piaget's subject-object equilibrium to a dialogic situation between an ego and an alter. Suggests that this structural model provides a scheme by which differences in adulthood between adaptive and maladaptive cognitive change can be clarified.…

Conducted a textual analysis of Darwin's diary version of his observations of his oldest child and the published paper based on these observations to compare the degree to which Darwin identified himself in the two as detached observer or as embodied participant. Found that the embodied, relational vision evident in the diary version was absent…

A dialectical schemata framework was used to interpret, code, and compare 27 interviews on the nature of education with freshmen, seniors and faculty members at a small, highly selective liberal arts college in order to provide a description of the organization of dialectical thinking and its presence in mature thought. (Author/DB)

Five symposium papers evaluate the usefulness of ideas associated with the life-span view for enriching, highlighting, or expanding issues, theory, and research pertinent to change processes during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and for intervention programs during these periods. (Author/MP)