Post-Formal Stages of Cognitive Development

Introduction

Good places to start

Marchand, H. (2002). Some reflections on post-formal thought. Genetic Epistemologist, 29 (3).

Books

Must-read books - original sources, commentaries and collections

Alexander, C. and Langer, E. (eds) (1990). Higher Stages of Human Development. New York: Oxford University Press.

Basseches, M. (1984). Dialectical Thinking and Adult Development. New York: Ablex.

Commons, M.L., Armon, C., Kohlberg, L., Richards, F., Grotzer, T. and Sinnott, J. (eds) (1990). Adult Development: vol. 2. Models. Methods in the Study of Adolescent and Adult Thought. New York: Praeger.

Commons, M.L., Richards, F.A & Armon, C. (eds.) (1984). Beyond Formal Operations: Vol.I. Late adolescent and adult cognitive development. New York: Praeger.

Commons, M.L., Sinnott, J., Richards, F. & Armon, C. (1989) (eds.). Adult Development: Vol.1: Comparisons and applications of adolescent and adult development models. Westport: Praeger.

Demick, J., & Andreoletti, C. (eds.) (2002). Handbook of Adult Development. New York: Plenum.

Piaget, J. (1980b). Les Formes Élémentaires de la Dialectique. Paris, Editions Gallimard.

Robinson, R.J. (2002). The History of Human Reason. Prometheus Research Group: www.prometheus.org.uk.

Papers

Key papers & discussions

Arlin, P.K. (1975). Cognitive development in adulthood: a fifth stage? Developmental Psychology, 11, 5: 602–606.

Basseches, M. (1980). Dialectical schemata: a framework for the empirical study of the development of dialectical thinking. Human Development, 23, 400 - 421.

Bruner, J.S. (1959). Inhelder and Piaget’s 'The Growth of Logical Thinking': a psychologist’s viewpoint. British Journal of Psychology, 50, 363-370.

Buck-Morss, S. , ‘Piaget, Adorno and the possibilities of dialectical operations’, in Silverman, H.J. (ed.) (1980). Piaget, Philosophy and the Human Sciences. Brighton: Harvester.1980: 103–143.

Commons, M.L., Goodheart, E.A ., Bresette, L.M., Bauer, N.F., Farrell, E.W., McCarthy, K.G., Danaher, D.L., Richards, F.A ., Ellis, J.B., O’Brien, A . M., Rodriguez, J.A . & Schraeder, D. (1995). Formal, Systematic, and Metasystematic operations with a balance-beam task series: a reply to Kallio’s claim of no distinct systematic stage. Journal of Adult Development, 2, 3, 193-199.

Commons, M.L., & Richards, F.A. (1984). Applying the general model of hierarchical complexity. In Commons et al. (1984).

Commons, M. L. & Richards, F. A. (2002). Four postformal stages. In J. Demick (Ed.), Handbook of adult development. New York: Plenum.

Commons, M., Richards, F. and Kuhn, D. (eds) (1982). Systematic and metasystematic reasoning: a case for levels of reasoning beyond Piaget’s stage of formal operations. Child Development, 53: 1058–1069.

Commons, M., Trudeau, E.J., Stein, S.A., Richards, F.A., & Krause, S.R. (1998). Hierarchical complexity of tasks shows the existence of developmental stages. Developmental Review, 18, 237-278.

Dawson, T. L. (2002). New tools, new insights: Kohlberg's moral reasoning stages revisited. International Journal of Behavior Development, 26, 154-166.

Fakouri, M.E. (1976). Cognitive development in adulthood: a fifth stage?: A critique. Developmental Psychology, 12, 472.

Fischer, K. W., & Pruyne, E. (2002). Reflective thinking in adulthood: Development, variation, and consolidation. In J. Demick & C. Andreoletti (eds.), Handbook of Adult Development (pp. 169-197). New York: Plenum.

Fischer, K. W., Yan, Z., & Stewart, J. (in press). Adult cognitive development: Dynamics in the developmental web. In J. Valsiner & K. Connolly (eds.), Handbook of Developmental Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Gruber, H., & Vonèche, J. (1976). Réflexions sur les opérations formelles de la pensée. Archives de Psychologie, 44, 45-75.

Kallio,E. (1995). Systematic reasoning: formal or postformal cognition? Journal of Adult Development, 2, 3, 187-192.

Kallio, E., & Helkama, K. (1991). Formal operations and postformal reasoning: A replication. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 32(1), 18-21.

Kitchener, K.S. & Brenner, H. (1990). Wisdom and reflective judgment: Knowing in the face of uncertainty. In R. Sternberg (ed.), Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins and Development (pp.212-229). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kohlberg, L. (1990). Which postformal levels are stages? In Commons et al. (1990: 263-268)

Kramer, D.A. (1983). Post-formal operations? A need for further conceptualization. Human Development, 26, 91- 105.

Labouvie-Vief, G. (1980). Beyond formal operations: Uses and limits of pure logic in life-span development. Human Development, 23, 114-146.

Labouvie-Vief, G. (1990). Wisdom as integrated thought: Historical and developmental perspectives. In R. Sternberg (ed.), Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins and Development (pp. 52-83). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Labouvie-Vief, G. (1992). A neo-Piagetian perspective on adult cognitive development. In R. Sternberg & C. Berg (eds.), Intellectual development (pp.197-228). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Marchand, H. (2002). Some reflections on post-formal thought. Genetic Epistemologist, 29 (3).

Piaget, J. (1970-1972). Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. Human Development, 15, 1-12.

Riegel, K.F. (1973). Dialectical operations: the final period of cognitive development. Human Development, 16: 346–370.

Riegel, K.F. (1975). Towards a dialectical theory of development. Human Development, 18: 50–64.

Riegel, K. (1976). The dialectics of human development. American Psychologist, 31, 689-700.

Riegel, K. (1978). Psychology and the future. American Psychologist, 33, 631-647.

Sinnott, J. (1981). The theory of relativity: a metatheory for development. Human Development, 24, 293-311.

Sinnott, J.D. (1991). Limits to problem solving; emotion, intention, goal, clarity, health, and others factors in postformal thought. In J.D. Sinnott & J.C. Cavanaugh (eds.), Bridging paradigms: Positive Development in Adulthood and Cognitive Aging. N.Y. Praeger.

Sinnott, J.D. (1993). Yes, it's worth the trouble! Unique contributions from everyday cognition studies. In J. M. Puckett & H. Reese (eds.), Mechanisms of Everyday Cognition (pp. 73-95). N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Journals

Journals that regularly carry valuable papers on this topic

Journal of Adult Development

Websites

Websites worth knowing about

DARE Association

Model of Hierarchical Complexity