Instead of limiting himself to postulating two discontinuous types of thought, autistic and logical, Piaget studied transitional forms, thereby placing autistic and logical thought on a developmental continuum. Nevertheless, the discovery of transitional forms did not lessen the opposition between the two extremes of autistic and logical thought.…

Describes an early formative period in Piaget's life, in which three themes stand out. First, Piaget was introduced to the concept of "autistic" or nonrational thought. Second, Piaget's philosophical education sensitized him to the role of logic in thought. Third, Piaget's exposure to biological taxonomy alerted him to look for…

In an investigation of the relationship of the logical operations to other developmental sequences, 30 college students were assessed as to logical operational ability and poetic interpretation. The strong relation found between these two abilities supports the theoretically predicted applicability of central, formal reasoning structures to…

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)