Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) is predicated on a theory of causality. According to Ellis (1962), beliefs regarding an event, and not the event itself, cause emotional reactions. Mentally healthy persons practice this reational theory of causality. Neurotic persons accept an irrational theory of causality based on coincidental or correlational…

A review is presented of studies which examine the psychological predictors of successful adult performance, or life skill success. Scholastic achievement is generally regarded as an ineffective predictor of successful life performance. It is suggested that factors such as ego maturity and personal competence (developmental psychological…

Three developmental approaches to teacher education are examined in an effort to determine a coherent theoretical framework of criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of education programs. The first is discussed in terms of the development in a teacher of concern for student achievement and increasing willingness to be flexible in adapting new…

Substantial evidence exists in both popular and professional literature which suggests that some adults, male and female, will experience what has been variously labeled as a "mid-life crisis" or "mid-life depression." Research provides evidence that the lifespan can be conceptualized as a series of transitions from one status or situation to…

The creative oral language elicited from 45 preoperational and 40 concrete operational first grade students was analyzed to study the relationship between cognitive development and the types of case relationships produced. Each child's language was analyzed for eight noun/verb relationships, including state, process, action, experience, location,…

Developmental behaviors are listed for children from birth to 6 years for gross motor, fine motor, self help, expressive and receptive language, psycho/social, and cognitive skills. Skills are broken down into 6-month intervals for the first year, and 1-year intervals from age 1 to 6. (CL)

The Speech Communication Association's National Project on Speech Communication Competencies yielded a developmental perspective of functional communication, from which implications for lifelong learning can be derived. The project resulted in the following contributions: a definition of communication competence; a description of the child as a…

The manual presents sequences of skills designed for use as guides to teaching/learning objectives and as a basis for evaluating and recording special education students' progress. It is explained that the goal of the first level of objectives (sequenced in this document) is to enable the student to function at a motor/psychomotor state of…

This study was designed to assess and compare the roles of intelligence and moral judgment in relation to patterns of behavior in temptation situations. Six Resistance to Temptation (RTT) tasks were administered to 106 sixth grade students. One year later, four Kohlberg Moral Judgment (MJ) tasks were administered to 100 of the same subjects. IQ…

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of empirical knowledge about adult development and learning. It is addressed to practitioners in the helping professions who help adults adapt, learn, and grow. The handbook begins with an examination of the concept of adult development and a discussion of persons (practitioners) who facilitate adult…

Sullivan's Ethical Reasoning Scale contains three dilemmas with response pairs representing Kohlberg's stages of moral development. In Kohlberg's first three stages, goodness is equated with lack of punishment, usefulness, and approval, respectively. Good is seen as conformity to rule and ruler in stage four, and stage five comprises…

This article discusses the challenge mathematics educators face in deciding what and how mathematics is to be taught, and offers some suggestions for teachers of young children based on Piaget's developmental theory of mathematics. Piaget's cognitive stages are briefly described and the concrete stage, which spans the age range included in early…

This report is the initial overall summary of a comprehensive analysis of children's logical concept attainments and memoric abilities and deals exclusively with the initial and second year's assessment data. The focal point for this normative investigation is the concrete operations period spanning the years of middle childhood. The measurement…

This review of developmental psychology research points out that in many areas, research has not (and, in some cases, cannot) answer complex questions relating to child development. The author surveys research dealing with disadvantaged and minority group children whose achievement seems to lag behind other children. She questions whether this…

Forty students, grades 4 and 8, were given match-to-sample tests on Western art, to gauge their ability to recognize paintings by the same artist. Eighth-graders performed reliably better than fourth-graders, and their matching justifications were more advanced. Prior artistic experiences improved style sensitivity. (SJL)