Moral identity research to date has largely failed to provide evidence for developmental trends in moral identity, presumably because of restrictions in the age range of studies and the use of moral identity measures that are insensitive to age-related change. The present study investigated moral identity motivation across a broad age range (14-65…

Experiencing the moral emotions of gratitude and moral elevation are responses to witnessing virtuous deeds of others. Both emotions have been found to share similar features and behavioral consequences, including the stimulation of personal development. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions indicates that gratitude and elevation…

The current study examined whether relationships also influence personality trait development during middle and older adulthood, focusing on the individual's perception of support from the relationship partner. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (n = 20,422; mean age = 65.9 years), we examined the longitudinal relationships between…

The study was conducted to explore the impact of parenting styles of adolescents on their self-determination and personal growth. The data was collected from 300 adults evenly divided by gender, aged 23-38 years. To measure the parenting styles, level of self-determination and personal growth, the Caregivers Practices Report, Self Determination…

Adults learning to navigate to a hidden goal within an enclosed space have been found to prefer information provided by the distal cues of an environment, as opposed to proximal landmarks within the environment. Studies with children, however, have shown that 5- or 7-year-olds do not display any preference toward distal or proximal cues during…

Laypersons and experts believe that wisdom is cultivated through a diverse range of positive and negative life experiences. Yet, not all individuals with life experience are wise. We propose that one possible determinant of growth in wisdom from life experience is self-reflection. In a life span sample of adults (N = 94) ranging from 26 to 92…

This study used longitudinal data to examine the effects of spousal illness on depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older married individuals and the extent to which the adverse effects of illness in a spouse were mitigated by 2 psychological resources, mastery and self-esteem. Using 1,704 married participants who were 51 years of age on…

The idea that individual behavior is the result of society's influence on individual self-concept beliefs reflects more than a century of theory and research. Therefore, this study focuses on self-concept as a construct of primordial human characteristics such as emotion, aspiration, love, conflict, anger, jealousy, contradiction, guilt, and…

Dell, Burger, and Svec (1997) proposed that the proportion of speech errors classified as anticipations (e.g., "moot and mouth") can be predicted solely from the overall error rate, such that the greater the error rate, the lower the anticipatory proportion (AP) of errors. We report a study examining whether this effect applies to changes in error…

A study was undertaken to determine which types of verbal humor are preferred by children and to discover how well adults can predict what children will perceive as humorous. Fifteen adults (education students, parents, and teachers) were asked to rate 25 jokes on a four point scale ranging from not funny at all and not very funny to kind of funny…

An age-dependent answer-selection sequence of answers on multiple-choice tests suggested by previous studies was supported using statistical rather than clinical means. Results with 2,810 students aged 88 months through 241 months given a reading comprehension test twice during a 5-month interval support the systematically connected age-dependent…