The middle years of life have been neglected by educational psychology. There is a need for more, better, and better-understood psychological data so that learning can be enhanced in this age group. This issue of "Contemporary Educational Psychology" addresses five relevant questions about adult learning. (Author/RD)

Various approaches to supervision can be grouped into three models categorized as nondirective, collaborative, and directive. Supervisors should recognize stages of professional development and treat teachers as individuals. (Author/MLF)

Focuses on assessing the effects of conflicting discussions within undergraduate dyads consisting of partners at the same or different levels of moral judgment. The experimental procedure consisted of: (1) an Opinion Questionnaire; (2) pretest Kohlberg interviews; (3) assignment to experimental and control conditions; (4) experimental discussion…

Provides an alternative conception of postconventional moral development which fits existing data on late adolescent and adult moral judgment better than Kohlberg's higher stage descriptions. Data is from a longitudinal study of 26 undergraduates at Harvard. (Author/SS)

Critically discusses the premise of Piagetian theory that cognition is based developmentally on sensorimotor coordination, exemplified in circular reactions. (Author/SS)

Kohlberg's developmental theory of moral reasoning postulates a supreme form of moral thinking, Stage Six, based on a principle of justice which provides consistent and universalizable moral judgement. This paper criticizes Kohlberg's formulation on philosophical and psychological grounds. (Author/SJL)

Indicates that object relative (O) clauses are learned after subject relative (S) clauses. Shows that children did not reliably comprehend O-clauses until nine years of age, two years after S-clauses. Suggests the need to attain a level of operational thought before O-clauses can be understood. (RL)

Evaluates the differing perspectives of Kohlberg and Turiel on moral reasoning. Both perspectives use stage displacement models to depict moral development and assume that as ontogenesis proceeds, the role played by earleir acquired moral stages becomes increasingly insignificant in comparison with the role played by more advanced stages. The…

Explores the hypothesis that representation, as measured by object permanence attainment, is the main prerequisite for language acquisition. Differing definitions of representation, differing assumptions about cognitive stages, and differing criteria for assessing cognitive abilities such as object permanence may account for some of the divergent…

Children's drawings of objects about to be moved in space (anticipatory images) were studied in relation to their judgments about Euclidian spatial relations. (SB)

This study was undertaken to investigate (1) the findings of an exploratory study in which the Luquet-Piaget sequence of drawing was tentatively confirmed in children's drawings of a house with a tree behind it, (2) the relationship of house-tree task with selected Piagetian and two psychometric measures, and (3) synchronous development among…

Examined development of ability to inhibit thoughts within free speech by manipulating the content requirements of overt streams-of-consciousness. Investigation with kindergartners, second graders, fifth graders, and adults revealed a developmental improvement in inhibitory ability over the middle-childhood years; results are consistent with…

Three studies examined whether and when preschool children are willing to attribute internal and immanent causes to motion. Found that preschool children were more likely to attribute immanent cause to motion in animals than in artifacts and more likely to attribute human cause to motion in artifacts than in animals. (MDM)

Describes Seiffge-Krenke's summary of research on coping in adolescents as a developmental process. Asserts that overall the summary is enlightening, portraying both advantages and struggles of studying stress and coping from a developmental perspective; book's insights include detailed descriptions of how adolescents perceive and cope with…

Australians (n=226) in one of four stages of a second career (contemplating, choosing a field, implementing, change completed) were compared with 81 nonchangers. Job satisfaction varied as a function of stage. Results supported Super's theory that career changers cycle through the full set of career stages a second time. (SK)