Identifies and discusses general issues pertaining to research on social and personality aspects of adult cognitive development. Organizes comments around the concepts of selection and generalization. Suggests that concern with nature and effects of selection can help researchers in aging more efficiently and effectively design studies, analyze…

Views development of social cognition in adulthood as multidimensional and domain-based. Asserts that social cognitive understanding represents development of interpersonal and intrapersonal domains of knowledge and that social cognitive skills of adulthood cannot be based solely on emergent formal operational abilities or logical-mathematical…

Considers relationships of dialectical thinking to formal operational thought; general conceptions of cognitive structure to understanding thinking across specific domains; motivational and cognitive competence factors in adult reasoning; and contextualistic and dialectical conceptions of social intelligence. Outlines structural-developmental…

Makes three points to address central issues in synthesis of cognitive, social, and emotional domains. Recommends thinking in stage terms as well as in contextual terms, clarifying levels in which questions are posed, and operating in a systems theory framework to make sense of social cognitive behavior. Suggests that individuals co-create social…

Introduces five papers by presenting a rationale for examining personality and social factors in relation to intellectual aging. Argues that identification of links between personality, social, and cognitive factors may be useful for explaining and predicting variations in the course of intellectual aging. Recommends collaboration among…

Argues that cognition must be understood in context of real-life adaptation, making social cognition an important area of investigation. Advocates unified theoretical approach to encompass child and adult social-cognitive development and presents life-span model synthesizing work from child and adult social-cognitive literatures. Presents seven…

Discusses adaptive cognitive changes in adulthood from perspectives of adult cognitive development and social cognition theory. Proposes interface between the two disciplines. Applies post-formal literature on cognitive development to area of attributional processes. Discusses implications changes in attributional processes may have for cognitive…

Considers adult cognitive growth within the social domain. Draws from Plato's writings and from current views to argue that in order to understand how the educational process is to be of use to adult learners, researchers must determine the kinds of cognitive processes most suited to the learner's stage of life. (Author/NB)