The purpose of this literature review was to develop the profound living concept through a synthesis of themes extracted from scholarly literature. The problem encountered was a lack of theory and depth in the concept of profound living. The methods used in this study were a thorough literature review in which concepts were extracted from related…

Should unique adult higher education programs be preserved and even championed, or should such programs succumb to the pressures of the day and get folded into more conventional higher education? This essay argues that, in addressing such vital questions, we need to become more aware of the relationship between human development and college study,…

Shadow work may result in increased awareness and emotional and behavioral changes that influence the quality of life in the adult student. Using a semi-clinical, semi-structured, qualitative interview with 20 adult learners, this study investigated the role of shadow work following Kegan and Lahey's (2009) Immunity to Change (ITC) process in…

The advent of the so-called "post-literacy" era imposes on an individual the need to master not only various verbal, but also visual, artistic and scientific languages that have been developed in modern culture, which requires an adult to constantly improve their general educational and cultural level and to constantly struggle against…

As individuals and adult educators we consistently face an array of what seem to be increasingly complex challenges. These run the gamut from battling poverty and illness with their deleterious and deadly effects, to acquiring literacy and workplace competencies and to building expertise in communication, collaboration and innovation. And we live…

An aspect of an undergraduate psychology course on adult development was the preparation of case records on adults who consented to be studied. Participants (1) developed their abilities to observe and accurately record adult behavior across a variety of ages and contexts; (2) withheld judgments about behavior when evidence was lacking; (3)…

This paper describes the activities of a course on adult development. The course intended to sensitize participants to the theories and reality of adulthood and aging by introducing them to selected literature on adult development and to the preparation of case records and mastery of activities that permit an analysis of the adult's world. The…

Engineering educators are often not familiar with the theories and research findings of educational psychology, adult development, curriculum design, and instruction design. Even the published research in engineering/computing education does not sufficiently leverage this body of knowledge. Often in the educational reports and recommendations by…

Recasts the role of normalization as "spiritual regeneration," looking to the unleashing of new intellectual powers and the child's emancipation from typical deviations. Suggests the adult may become normalized by experiencing normality in children and thereby developing a lifetime spiritual orientation based on the revelation of the…

While research has examined the salient effect of fathers in child development, little attention has focused on the effect of the infant on the father. The impact of fatherhood on normative male development was investigated in a twofold manner. First, to assess the extent to which the birth experience and actual parenthood produced differing…

Becoming a mother-in-law is a challenging task but one which has received little serious attention from theorists and researchers. In Family Life Cycle developmental theory, this stage has been referred to as a post-parenting phase. In Family and Couple Developmental Theory, emphasis is placed on the need of the individual or couple to separate…

Recurrent themes in the stories that young adults tell about their best friends and lovers and possible connections between levels of ego development and the ways that young adults talk about their closest relationships were explored using data from the Young Adult Development Project at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Luborsky's Core…

Psychologists have often observed an underlying pattern or theme in the accounts that individuals give of their lives. To test a humanistic-existential approach to human development, 48 women were interviewed with the Loss and Transcendence (L/T) Life History Form. The L/T Life Theme is expressed in two ways: the expanded version includes the…

This study was conducted to investigate the sources of meaningful events across the lifespan. Both a quantitative approach and a qualitative approach were used to examine whether or not different measures reflected different domains of meaning and purpose. Subjects were 215 men and women, were classified in five developmental groupings: young…

This document traces theoretical developments in the psychology of aging during the last 50 years. The concept of theory is discussed as well as the bringing together of theories to form a model. After summarizing the early beginnings of American interest in aging, the work of major theoreticians is explored including Hall (senescence), Thorndike…