The purpose of this paper is to provide a formal three-step explication of a question that has been traditionally viewed as fundamental to developmental theory construction and explanation: Is behavioral development continous or discontinuous, or is it both? First, a preliminary structural definition of behavioral development involving a certain…

This theoretical paper discusses (1) the meaning of the concept of structure, how the concept of structure is used by psychologists, and how the concept can be defined, and (2) the role of the concept "structure" in cognitive development with specific reference to Piaget's vision of intellectual development. The meanings of the term…

The concept of "structure" is discussed in connection with the biological and psychological sciences and shown, through a short historical analysis, to have been subject to imprecise use. The recent "structuralist movement" in the social sciences has also tended to cloud the meaning of structure rather than to clarify it. Using…

The criterion problem in the neoPiagetian cognitive-developmental literature is reviewed. This problem has provoked debate in the context of three empirical questions: concept age norms, concept training effects, and concept invariant sequences. It is argued that only the question of invaniant sequences in same-stage concepts is theoretically…

Studies concerned with the synchronous emergence prediction of Piaget's structures-of-the-whole principle are discussed in conjunction with three groups of concrete-operational skills: (1) transitivity/conservation/class inclusion; (2) double classification/double seriation; and (3) ordinal, cardinal, and natural number concepts. Findings show…

This paper presents a study of the relationship between compensation and conservation in 80 children, ages 5-6. Findings are compared to those of an earlier experiment which was designed to determine whether or not prior knowledge of the compensation rule increases kindergarten children's susceptibility to conservation training experiences. It is…

This report reviews some ostensibly conflicting empirical findings which have been reported in conjunction with Elkind's (1967) conjecture that Piaget's conservation problems tap two distinct concepts. The discrepant findings which report on the order of emergence of identity conservation and equivalence conservation are discussed. An analysis of…