Higher Stages of Human Development: Perspectives on Adult Growth - Hardcover

9780195034837: Higher Stages of Human Development: Perspectives on Adult Growth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019503483X ISBN 13: 9780195034837

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1990

Can significant advances in development occur after adolescence? What are the highest possible states or stages of human development and how can they be realized? These and related critical issues are addressed in this volume by leading researchers and theorists in adult development. How we conceive of the endpoint, or highest state of development is crucial because it shapes our understanding of the direction, possibilities, and mechanisms of human growth. Even a decade ago, most psychologists believed that qualitative advances in development did not occur after adolescence. Based on recent research on adults, however, psychologists now question whether growth of fundamental human capacities necessarily culminates prior to adulthood. This new volume explores a variety of endpoints beyond the ordinarily proposed limits of human development. In addition to describing advanced forms of cognitive functioning , contributors also discuss other domains integral to adult growth--including affective, moral, self, and consciousness development.

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About the Author:

Charles N. Alexander is at Maharishi International University. Ellen Langer is at Harvard University.

Review:

"The range of Higher Stages of Human Development is unrivaled--in procedure from experiment to Transcendental Meditation, in commitment from mildly polished Piaget to elaborate theoretical structures of adult cognition. . .in age from the first decade to the ninth. Throughout, the richly
talented authors present their controversial and contemporary opinion zestfully and with a wonderful variety that catches exactly the tenor of adult development in our time." --William Kessen, Ph.D., Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology, Yale University

"This book situates itself at an important new frontier of contemporary psychological research and . . .opens new doors. . . .Some of the most able and creative psychologists of our time here propose programs and frameworks that will considerably enlarge the scope of our vision and our work in
developmental psychology. They look past the age of 15, at the structure and sequences of the life course. They consider human development in cognitive, personalistic, social, ethical, and spiritual terms. . . .What is most interesting about the book, in my opinion, is that it opens up a new order
of discussion of what it means for people to "grow" and "develop" psychologically." --Sheldon H. White, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Harvard University

"In these times of rapid technological change, when economic survival demands a capacity for sustained learning and growth, psychologists who study human development have found themselves working with theories that end with adolescence. In this volume, Alexander and Langer assemble a dozen
chapters by leading psychologists to fill this important gap in their theoretical landscape. . .the diversity of their views will challenge the reader's own flexibility and capacity for growth." --George A. Miller, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Princeton University

"With the publication of this book, a new perspective on human development is encouraged, a perspective that views development as a lifelong process of change. As scholars expert in studying developmental processes question, "What are the highest forms of human development?" they begin to
take more seriously the changes in the second half of life. This book is a preview of what developmental psychology will be considering in the next century. . . .The considerations are important for science, people, and society." --James E. Birren, Ph.D., Director, Boron Center for Gerontological
Research, UCLA School of Medicine

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