of DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

1 ThousandOaks sNewDelhi21 AdultCognitiveDevelopment:DynamicsintheD evelopmentalWebKURTFISCHER,ZHENGYANandJE FFREYSTEWARTA dulthoodnormallyspansmorethan60years,sta rtingfromaboutage20, ,complex,anddynamic,perhapsevenmoresotha nininfancyandchildhood,withmanyfactorsac tingtogetherinvariouscontextstoproducesy stematic, ,itcanbcobservedthatadultsfrequentlyshow regressionperformancesandmovedowntolower levelsofcognitiveskillandthenconstructhi gherlevels,insteadofalwaysfollowinga , , ,andreexaminethelimitationsoftraditional cognitiveanalyses(Fischer,1980b;Fischer& Bidell,199$;Valsiner,1991;vanGeert,1994) .Aconstructedweb(likethatbuiltinnatureby a spider)servesasthemeta-metaphorfordevelo pment,andfromthewehweelaboratethreeImpor tanttypesofdynamicpattemsinadultcognitiv edevelopment:dynamicranges,dynamicstrand sandnetworks, ,webegintocapturetherichnessandcoin-Plex ityofadultcognitivedevelopmentandtooffer anewstoryabotitwhat,how, :META-METAPHORSOFADULTCOGNITIVEDEVELOPME NTT hehistoryofscienceshowsthatdiffereirtmet s-metaphorsfunctioningas centralmentalmodelshavehadtremendousimpa ctonscientificthinking(forexample,viewin gtheearthasthecenteroftheuniverse,seeing thespiralasthestructureofDNA,considering thepersonasadigitalcomputer).

2 Like-wise, simplefixedprogression,followingmonotoni echange,withonestepfollowinganotherina ,thedevelop-mentalladder-liketrajectoryh asatleastthreefeatures:(1)developmentsim plyfollowsa singlestraightline;(2)eachstepisfixed,fo llowingthepreviousstepalongtheline;and(3 ) (1983)cognitivedevelopmentalmodel,asitis us~sallyunderstood,isoneofthemostcommonl adder-likemodelsofhumancognitivedevelopm ent(althoughPiagethimselfhada moredynamicview,asinPiaget,1975).Accordi ngtothismodel,thinkingprogressesthrougha ,addingmorestagesormoreunevennessacrossd omains492 DEVELOPMENTINADULTHOOL)SingleTrendlineof DevelopmentinOneDirection(Alexandereta!. ,1990;Baltes,1987;Basseches,1984;Berg,20 00;Commonsetal.,1998;Dawson,1999;Erikson ,1968;Gardner,1983;Gruber,1981; ;King&Kitehener,1994;Kohlberg,1969;1984; Loevinger,1976;Sinnott,1998).

3 Thesemodelseitherhavesubstantiallyexpand edPiaget smodelalongtheverticaldimensionbyaddingh ighercognitivestagessuchaspost-formalope rationsandadvancedreflectivethinking,orh aveextendedPiagetsmodelalongthehorizonta ldimensionbyincludingmoreeognitiv ,suchasstandardizedabilitytesting,oftenh aveacknowledgedphenomenasimilartoPiageti anstages,buthaveemphasizedcertainupwarda nddownwardgeneraldevelopmentaltrendsasso ciatedwithageonstandardizedtestsofabilit ies(Baltes,1987;Birren,1964;1970;Craik,1 977;Craik&Salthouse,199!;Horn,1982;Horn& Cartell,1967;Salthouse,1984;1992;Sternhe rg,1985).Someabilities,suchascrystallize dintelligence,increasewellintooldage,whi leothers,suchasfluidintelligence, ,butallofthem,todifferingdegrees, ,likechildcognitivedevelopment,ashstatic progressiveprocessunfoldingalonga series~fixedladdersteps,eitherthroughsta gesor through~ short,thismeta-metaphordoh~simplifycompl exdevelopmentalphenomenaandsketchgeneral developmentaltrends,butatth~expenseofneg lecting,downplaying, ,developmentalwebsportrayadultcognitived evelopmentasa ,thedevelopmentalwebhasatleastthreeimpor tantfeatures:(I)developmentoccursina complexmulti-levelrange;(2) DEVELOPMENTAL pathwaysundergodynamictransformationthro ughmultiplestrandsornetworklinks.

4 And(3) (Fischer&Bidell,1998)analyzesdevelopment asinvolvinga ,ittumsout, dynamicworldwithvarioussocial,emotional, technological, descriptionofdevelopmentthataimsatbothri gorandhonesty, webcapturestheinterconnectedcom-plexityo fskillsindiversecontexts, ,sometimesconverg-ingthroughcoordination ,sometimesdivergingthroughseparationordi fferentiation, ,suchastheseparationofpositiveandnegativ eactivities(goodandbad,niceandmean,appro achandavoidance).Thewebmetaphorstressest hatmanycomponentscontributetoallyactivit y, personactsinteractively,engagedwithhisor hermanyenvironments, ,eachpersonconstructsa uniqueweb, compositeofavailablelevels thedevelopmentalrange withreferencetotheexperiencesandcontextu alsupportsthatcontributetoitsconstructio n,Foranysingledomainofaction(singlestran d),a person scompe-tenceisnotfixedata particularpointonthestrandbutcanvaryalon ga domain, :DYNAMICSINTHEDEVELOPMENTALWEB493complex activity,andjointparticipationwithothers allaffectthelevelofa person ,thedevelopmentalwebdiffersfroma developmentalladderinatleastsiximportant ways.

5 IThewebplacesvariationinactivityatcenter stage,whereastheladderdownplaysvariation ,relegatingit tomarginalityaserroror individualdifferences,2 Thewebisbasedonindividualcognitiveperfor mance, ,whereastheladderassumesasinglelevelata ,whereastheladdertreatsdiversetasksanddo mainsintermsofa singleline,SThewebhasinherentlycomplexin terconnec-tionswithinit,whereastheladder doesnotincludenetworkingamongelements,6 Thewebshowsmultipledirectionsofcon-struc tion,suchasforwardconsolidationandbackwa rdtransition,whereastheladderassumesa ,> I,a,a-naE0)a0-cCa,Ea0a,>a,~ powerfulmeta-metaphor,thewebcanfacilitat ebetterunderstandingofwhat,how,andwhyadu lts ,forthesamecognitivetask, ,cognitiveperformanceinadultsvariesmuchm orewidelythaninchildren,Adultscanthinkmo reflexibly,dynamically,andcontextuallyth anchildren,whilelikechildrentheyalsocont inuetomakeerrors,evenridiculousmistakes, andtoactinsimple, ,theupperlimitofcognitivefunctioningcont inuestoincreasebeyondwhatPiagetcalledfor maloperations(Inhelder&Piaget,1958;Piage t,1975;1983).

6 Thus,adultscansolvemuchmoreabstractandco mplicatedcognitivetasksthanchildren, ,representinga continuingincreaseinadults optimalcognitiveskillsanda widerangeofvariationinthelevelofskillsth atadultscanuseinadomain,MultipleLevelsof AdultCognitiveDevelopmentAlongwiththeinc reaseinoverallcomplexityofadults cognitivedevelopment,bothdevelopmentalre searchandeverydayobservationsindicatetha tadultsshowmultiplelevelsof cognitivedevelopment,notperformanceat onefixedlevel,Evenverywiseadultsusesimpl eskillswhenthesituationrequiressimpleact ion, multilevelperformancevarywithcontextuals upport,priorexperience, upperlimit :peoplehaveanupperlimitona ,becauseevenanadult supperlimitvanesdynamicallywith~j5Ab2->0 ) ,varyingwithcontextualsupport:optimallev elandfunctionallevel,Thereisnosingleleve lof ,intheabsenceoftaskinterventionorscaffol dingbyothers,individualsshowgreatvariati oninskilllevelsintheireverydayfunctionin g(Fischer&Bidell,1998;Fischer,Hand,&Russ ell,1984;vanGeert,2002).

7 Optimallevelsareattainedprimarilyinthose infrequentcircumstanceswhenenvironmental conditionsprovidestrongsupportforcomplex performance-Suchconditions,includingclea rlydefinedtasks,familiarmaterials,practi ce,andmemoryprimingofthegistoftheactivit y,arenotpresentinmostsituations-Forthisr eason,everypersonshowsa persistentgapbetweenthefunctionallevelun dertypical(low-support) ,gradual,andcontinuousgrowthovertime,whe reasoptimallevelsexhibitstage-likespurts andplateauswithinanupwardtrend,likethose inFigure21, ,becomingmoredisparatewithage, skillina particulardomainovertime,whereastheoptim allevelS-theupperlimitonfunctioning isachievedthroughstrongcontextualsupport fora skillcom-binedwithorganicgrow-lbprocesse sthatreorganizebehaviorandbrainactivityi nrecurringgrowthAgeinyearsPrinciples:lev elAb42428 Abstractsystems:levelAbSAbstractmappings :levelAb2 ,mentotoptanalandfrenctionallevelsinodom ainADULTCOGNITIVEDEVELOPMENTDYN1 MIGS[ ,thegapbetweenfunctionalandoptimallevels gro\ givenskillthaninitsfunctionallevel,andco nse-quentlythegapincreasesfromearlychild hoodthroughadulthood(Bullock&Ziegler,199 4.)]

8 Fischer,Kenny,&Pipp,1990;Kiteheneret al.,1993:Watson&Fischer,1980). studyofhowKoreanadolescents( adolescentthroughyoungadult)sawthemselve sinrelationshipwithothers,studentspartic ipatedintheSelf-in-RelationshipsIntervie w,whichincludedbothanopen-endedinter-vie wabouttheirrelationships(lowsupport)anda high-supportassessment(Fischer&Kennedy,1 997;Kennedy,1994).Supportwasprovidedthro ughtheircreationofa ,students(a)createddescriptionsoftheirch aracteristicswithparticularpeople;(b)pla cedthedescriptionsinoneofthreeconcentric circlesfrommosttoleastimportant;and(c)gr oupedsimilardescriptions,drewconnectingl inestoindicaterela-tions,andaddeda plusor minustoindicateemotionalvalence(good,bad ,orambivalent).Thentheinter-vieweraskedt hema seriesofquestionstoelicitexplanationsoft heirdiagramat higherlevel,singleabstractions, ,theirtrajectoryshowedspurtsfortheemerge nceofabstractmappingsandabstractsystems, \verecalledforthwithsupport,whileanabsen ceofsupportledtolow-levelskills,Notethat optimallevelproducesa seriesofspurtsingrowthfollowedbyplateaus orsmalldrops adynamicpatternof changethatiscommonindevel-opment(Fischer &Bidell,1998;Fischer,Kenny,&Pipp,1990);T hatcher,1994;vanderMaas&Molenaar,1992).

9 ,evenforthe same skillinthesameperson, clusterofspurtswithina concurrentzone, ,Putanotherway,inthedevelopmentalweb,the optimallevelMathematicsSelfinReflectivej udgmentrelationshipsClustersof neurophysiologiealcorrelate,inthatcortic alsubstratesfortheincreaseinabilityshowd evelopmentalchangesthatmirrorthebehavior alones(Fischer&Rose,1994;Thatcher,1994). Thatis, ,whenpeopleactautomatically(withoutthink ingorconsciouslychoosing),theytypicallya ctat a lowlevel,aswhensomeonestepsonthebrakeaut omaticallywhena ,huttheyexistineverydomain, ,peoplefrequentlyacttogetherwithotherpeo ple, familystory,puttingtogetherajigsawpuzzle ,playingpoker,orbuildinga ,some-timesinexpertandnovicerolesaswitht eacherandstudent(Wood,Bruner,&Ross,1976) andsometimesasmoreequalcollaborators(Gra nott,I993b;Valsiner,1996).

10 Inactuality, ,eitherdirectlysharingthemor , ,peopleen-constructcomplexskillsthatofte ngobeyondtheirindividualcapacity,asVygot sky(1978)emphasizedwithhisconceptofthezo neofproximaldevelopment,andWood,Bmn er,andRoss(1976) ,theimportanceofsuchsocialconstructionha sbeenrecognizedfortheentirehistoryofmode rnpsychologyandchilddevelopment,butitcon tinuestobeneglectedinmostresearchandtheo ry(Valsiner&vanderVeer,1988),whichisespe ciallypuzzlinginelaborationsofexplicitth eoriesofsocialcon-structionsuchasErikson s(1963).Co-constructiveprocessesareat leastasimportantinadultsastheyareinchild ren,inaddition,peoplemoveupanddowninthel eveloftheirperformance,adaptingtothesitu ation,goal,task,emotionalstate, ,evenmoreinadultsthaninchildren(Bullock& Ziegler,1994;Fischer&Granolt,1995;Granot t,l993a:2002;Kuhnetal.)