This article focuses on the common and unique contributions of three major life-span theories in addressing improvement/maintenance and reorientation, which represent central processes of coping with major life change and loss. For this purpose, we review and compare the dual-process model of assimilative and accommodative coping, the model of…

The symposium is described as being devoted to the question of whether and to what extent action may constitute a useful paradigm for developmental psychology, where action is understood as voluntary behavior employed by the agent as a means of attaining certain ends. (Author/RH)

Proposes an extension of multivariate, structural analyses for studying organism-environment interactions. Based on characteristics of the assumed feedback mechanisms between behavioral and environmental systems, it appears possible to analyze longitudinally ordered sequences in terms of recursive versus nonrecursive and distal versus proximal…

Views developmental schemes as closed formal depictions of the dialectic which cannot account for their own existential relativity within experience. Shows how the internal logic of a scheme depends on the experimental perspective from which it is posited. Argues for the possibility of constructing a "positional logic" that would relate…

Points out that while some symposium papers pursue a model of the individual mind, others explore the social mind. Argues that concepts of cognitive theory originally based on social existence have been deformed to emphasize the individual as a self-contained entity.(RH)

Summarizes the general perspectives represented in the symposium and attempts to reconcile them by reconstructing a dialog between them. Issues addressed include the intersubjective nature of intentionality, the nature of action theoretical explanations, and the distinctive characteristics of action theory. (RH)

Comments on the potential importance for developmental theory of recent advances in the thermodynamics of "self-organizing" systems by Ilya Prigogine and the Brussels School. Implications of the concepts of classical and modern thermodynamics of structural development for an understanding of psychological evolution and development are…

A general model for recursive-nonrecursive causal networks of factors is outlined. The technical machinery required for operationalizing the model, in terms of analyzing empirical data, is indicated, and some of the more recent multivariate developmental theory is briefly noted in terms of the present model. (CS)

Argues that the reduction of competence models to performance models is countered both by epistemological arguments and by examining the weakness of supposed refutations of Piaget's logical competence model. Points out flaws in Piaget's position. (Author/RH)

An action theoretic account of skill learning and skill use is offered as a useful heuristic for life-span developmental psychology. The version presented is one that is particularly prominent in industrial psychology in the German-speaking countries. (Author/RH)

Discusses the legitimacy of the use of multiple definitions of epigenesis in developmental psychology, and of the modification of biological models to suit developmental psychology. (Author/SS)

This paper defines the concept of the dialectic and places it within the context of a well-defined methodology, i.e. that of organicism, which contrasts markedly with the logical empiricism of much contemporary psychology. The paper then points out the relevance of a dialectical perspective for developmental psychology. (Author/CS)

An examination of the concept of external validity from two theoretical perspectives: a traditional mechanistic approach and a dialectical organismic approach. Examines the theoretical and methodological implications of these perspectives. (BD)

Describes the symposium on action theory presented at the 1983 meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development in Munich. The symposium included reactions to action theory from a variety of theoretical perspectives. (Author/RH)

Models of development and models of memory reflect either a mechanistic or organismic world view. A merger of the information-processing models of memory and qualitative models of development is suggested, and has valuable implications about the possible nature of "locus" of memory development (ST)