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The Good Life A Longitudinal Study of Adult Value Reasoning
Abstract
Philosophers and social critics have promoted different conceptions of the good human life for some 2000 years. Such philosophical conceptions always included, or relied entirely on models of good psychological functioning or mental health. In contrast, psychologists have only recently entered the debate about the Good Life. It was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that theorists such as Baldwin (1906), James (1890), Freud (1961), Horney (1937), and Erikson (1963) began to articulate models of mental and psychological health. These models can be understood as attempts to define (in part) a good human life. Contemporary television and song lyrics reveal an interest in the nature a good human life. Yet, many believe that there are as many conceptions of the Good Life as there are persons who seek it (e.g., Nosick, 1974; Rawls, 1971). The findings of this study, however, indicate that although the sources of our conceptions differ widely across time and culture, the number of actual views of the Good Life may be finite. Moreover, despite the 2000 years that passed between ancient philosophers and early psychologists, these groups, too, produced some strikingly similar ideas about the Good Life. Further, there is also dramatic similarity between the Good Life concepts of many philosophers and the work of contemporary developmental psychologists. Finally, the results presented here demonstrate that educated adults, who have studied neither philosophy nor psychology, also construct sim-iliar good life concepts. This study provides a general, developmental model of value reasoning about the Good Life and presents empirical findings from a 13-year study of young and older adults.
... These contributions are summarised in Table 1. Dynamic Skill Theory (Fischer, 1980;Fischer & Bidell, 2006), formal axioms of hierarchical complexity , the Lectical Scale and the Lectical Assessment System (Dawson, 2022b;Dawson-Tunik, 2006) Sound psychometric properties and hard stage requirements have been demonstrated in scores awarded at the scale of whole complexity levels e.g., Dawson et al. (2005) Whether similar properties are demonstrated in scores at a lower level of granularity than whole complexity levels Ego development theory (Cook-Greuter, 1999;Loevinger, 1976;Torbert, 2013), formal axioms of hierarchical complexity , and the ego development scoring system e.g., General measurement properties have been extensively evaluated including factor structures, and various types of reliability and validity e.g., Loevinger (1979) -Greuter, 1999), formal axioms of hierarchical complexity , and the ego development scoring system (Cook-Greuter, 1999) Ego development theory consistently espouses that its stages are hierarchically integrated and that ego development scores are a reflection of hierarchical complexity (amongst various other constructs) (Cook-Greuter, 1999;Fisher et al., 1987;Loevinger, 1976) Ego development theory (Cook-Greuter, 1999;Loevinger, 1976), formal axioms of hierarchical complexity , scoring exemplars from the ego development scoring system (Cook-Greuter, 1999;, the Lectical Assessment System (Dawson, 2022b;Dawson-Tunik, 2006) -Greuter, 1999;Loevinger, 1976;Torbert, 2013), formal axioms of hierarchical complexity , the ego development scoring system e.g., Leader complexity and related theoretical models e.g., Lord et al. (2011), the Lectical Scale (Dawson, 2022b;Dawson-Tunik, 2006), and the Computerised Lectical Assessment System (Dawson & Wilson, 2004) Some conceptual reasons and empirical evidence to suggest that leaders' reasoning skills may not satisfy the task demands of their roles e.g., Kegan (1994), Dawson and Stein (2004b) Whether the hierarchical complexity of leaders' reasoning skills satisfies the task demands of their roles at multiple management layers Dynamic skill theory (Fischer, 1980;Fischer & Bidell, 2006), Piagetian conceptions of disequilibration and reflective abstraction (Piaget, 2000), the Lectical Scale (Dawson, 2022b;Dawson-Tunik, 2006), and the Computerised Lectical Assessment System (Dawson & Wilson, 2004) Some evidence suggests that growth in hierarchical complexity occurs in the general adult population (Armon & Dawson, 2002;Commons & Davidson, 2015). Growth may occur in naturalistic settings and given exposure to specific types of interventions Stages of adult development may play a fundamental role in shaping the ways that reality is perceived (Cook-Greuter, 1999;Loevinger, 1976;Torbert, 2004) and the way that knowledge is constructed (Commons et al., 1998;Fischer & Bidell, 2006;Piaget, 1952). ...
... However, relatively few studies have used longitudinal methods to examine the processes which can strengthen these skills. The longitudinal cognitive-developmental literature has tracked change in hierarchical complexity over long timescales e.g., Armon and Dawson (2002). However, most of this literature is conducted on the general adult population rather than leadership populations, and it evaluates naturalistic trajectories of growth rather than how it might occur given exposure to specific developmental catalysts. ...
... Armon and Dawson conducted two longitudinal studies on approximately 30 adults (Armon & Dawson, 2002). Adults participated in two cognitive-developmental interviews focused on their conceptions of the good life and moral reasoning. ...
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The 21st century is characterised by high levels of complexity. In order to influence organisational outcomes, leaders must enact leadership processes while contending with these complex conditions. This thesis aims to contribute to theory, empirical research, and practice pertaining to leaders’ ability to navigate organisational complexity. This aim was underpinned by three research questions which were addressed by four empirical studies.
Studies 1 and 2 address the first research question, which focuses on whether cognitive-developmental scores awarded by the Lectical Assessment System™ (LAS) and ego development scores awarded by the ego development scoring system, satisfy Kohlberg’s hard stage requirements (which define the primary form of complexity considered in this thesis). Hard stage requirements specify that developmental stages must be unidimensional, invariantly sequenced, qualitatively distinct, structured wholes, and hierarchically integrated. Hard stage requirements were operationalised for psychometric evaluation via the unidimensional Rasch model. Cognitive-developmental scores were provisionally demonstrated to satisfy all hard stage requirements. Ego development scores were demonstrated to satisfy the requirement of invariant sequence. However, they violated most other requirements even though they were tested on different samples and through various analytical procedures. Ego development scores seem to reflect a cumulative form of development that is more strongly related to the number of perspectives taken or unique words employed by test-takers. There are three potential implications. First, findings may suggest that one of the main theoretical postulates of cognitive-developmental theory has been successfully operationalised for the purpose of measurement. However, this does not appear to be the case for ego development. Second, findings may suggest that cognitive-developmental scores, but not ego development scores, may legitimately be used to make inferences about leaders’ ability to navigate complexity. Third, there are implications which are peculiar to cognitive and ego development, respectively.
Study 3 addresses the second research question, which focuses on whether the hierarchical complexity of leaders’ reasoning skills satisfies the task demands of their roles. Findings suggest a statistically significant increase in the hierarchical complexity of reasoning skills from mid-leaders to upper leaders to senior leaders but not from senior leaders to executive leaders. Findings also suggest a significant complexity gap between leaders’ reasoning skills and the task demands of their roles, particularly for senior and executive-level leaders.
Study 4 addresses the third research question, which focuses on whether the hierarchical complexity of leaders’ reasoning skills develops during participation in various leader development programs. Findings suggest leaders develop their reasoning skills, even though direct causal attributions could not be made. The rate of development appears to increase with more frequent and formative use of cognitive-developmental assessments but not with increased contact time. Given the size of the complexity gap and the rate at which hierarchical complexity appears to develop, leader development may need to be augmented by collective leadership development processes to reduce the impact of the complexity gap in individuals.
... Scores from the LAS correlate with several domain-specific scoring systems. These include significant relationships between the LAS and Kohlberg's moral measures of development (Kohlberg & Hersh, 1977), Armon's measures of reasoning (Armon & Dawson, 2002) and Perry's (1999) intellectual development scheme demonstrating high convergent validity. LAS scores have also been shown to correlate with higher 360-degree peer rating, and the average scores of high-level managers are higher than that of lower level managers providing some evidence of predictive validity (Dawson, n.d.). ...
... These studies (Dawson, 2001(Dawson, , 2002(Dawson, , 2003(Dawson, , 2004Dawson, Xie, & Wilson, 2003;Dawson-Tunik, Commons, & Wilson, 2005) report correlation coefficients of > 84% between the scores obtained from the HCSS and scores obtained from other instruments. These instruments include Armon and Dawson (2002) Good ...
... Scoring System (Armon & Dawson, 2002), Kohlberg's Standard Issue Scoring System (Colby & Kohlberg, 1987;Kohlberg & Hersh, 1977), King and Kitchener's (1994) reflective judgment stages, and Perry's (1999) Intellectual Positions. These studies demonstrated the utility of the MCH as a way of evaluating hierarchical stage of performance. ...
This research addressed the problem that currently there is no adult developmentally informed pre-engagement diagnosis instrument for change efforts available. Jaques’s (1996, 2002; Jaques & Clement, 1994) Requisite Organization theory was used as design approach for the creation of such a tool. This study aimed to describe what is involved in creating an instrument for assessing the individual stage of performance on select change effort tasks and for designing a set of guidelines to support consultants and change agents using the diagnostic results.
Based on an action learning approach, an attempt was made to answer a set of research questions that focused on developing a developmentally informed pre-engagement diagnosis for change efforts and relevant use guidelines. To answer these questions, first, a task analysis was conducted to identify essential task domains. Next, it was necessary to learn how to score complexity based on the Model of Hierarchical Complexity (MHC). Third, it was essential to investigate what is involved in writing context specific vignettes. Finally, it was necessary to consider how RO theory could be used to develop a set of preliminary use guidelines.
Detailed descriptions are provided for each step of the process used for creating a partial prototype of a developmentally informed pre-engagement diagnosis instrument and a set of preliminary use guidelines. Included are descriptions of the task analysis process, the domain setting process, the vignette, the hierarchical task item development process, and the use guidelines development process. Difficulties encountered and insights gained from each of these process steps are presented. Finally, process specific suggestions are provided for researchers interested in forwarding this research agenda.
This research is significant in that it is the first attempt to develop an instrument for evaluating an individual’s stage of performance for essential task domains to match in-house resources to change efforts. Further, this study illustrates the complexity and resources required to develop a developmentally informed instrument based on the MHC. Finally, the finding put forth in this study will support further research aimed at understanding the influence of task domain stage of performance on change efforts.
... It becomes apparent, therefore, that even the experience of pleasure may be an egotranscendent exercise for adults. These developmental trends are also in accordance with Armon and Dawson's (2003) stages of value reasoning about the good life, which suggests that, as age progresses, individuals move away from hedonistic parasitism (How can others benefit me?) and toward a paradoxical enmeshment of (self-oriented) autonomy and (other-oriented) community (How can I benefit others?). Our findings are also in accordance with Elkind's (1967) work on adolescent egocentrism and McAdams' work on generativity in adulthood (McAdams, de St. Aubin, & Logan, 1993). ...
... Conversely, the five developmental progressions may just be different interpretations of the same phenomenon, as is apparent in one boy's fantastical, extreme, ego-centric, hedonistic, and conceptual response, I want to be carefree and lead a life with no obstacles. A final noteworthy point about developmental progressions in good life conceptualizations is that, much like cross-cultural similarities in the five overarching constituents of the good life, there is a strong concurrence between the transitions identified in the present study and findings from other cultures (Armon & Dawson, 2003). ...
... Similar to cross-cultural similarities in the overarching constituents of the good life, we also identified five overlapping developmental progressions which are largely in accordance with Armon and Dawson's (2003) model of value reasoning which they developed based on their work with American samples: It begins in early childhood with an egocentric conception of the Good Life derived primarily from pleasure-seeking fantasy (e.g., "The Good Life is having my birthday party every day") and culminates with a complex conception of the good that encompasses complex criteria, including a preeminent societal dimension (. . . To be good, it must move the society forward in some way). ...
Scholars and laypersons conceptualize the good life similarly; however, good life conceptualizations vary systematically across different groups of people. The objective of the present study, therefore, was to qualitatively explore developmental trends in Indians’ conceptualizations of the good life. Adolescents, young adults, and adults responded to an open-ended questionnaire on conceptualizations of the good life. Constant comparison analysis of the responses yielded 5 overarching constituents of the good life, namely: an ideal self, a pleasant life, fulfilling relationships, achievement, and a better world. Developmental progressions in conceptualizations of the good life and individual differences in motivational orientation were identified. Together, the findings hint at cross-cultural similarities, developmentally accorded variations, and individual differences in conceptualizations of the good life.
... p < . 05), a result that is unsurprising in the context of developmental psychology, where similar relationships have been reported (Armon, 1984a(Armon, , 1984bArmon & Dawson, 2000. Second, I predicted that this pattern-commonly called the law of initial values (LIV; Wilder, 1957) in other disciplines-would extend into cross-construct relations; that is, Lectical intercept would also be negatively related to taking, seeking, and coordination slopes. ...
... For example, recent Lectical growth makes subsequent growth, particularly over the short-term, less probable and smaller in magnitude. A similar pattern is reported in longitudinal research on other structural developmental constructs (Armon, 1984a(Armon, , 1984bKing, Kitchener, Davison, Parker, & Wood, 1983;Armon & Dawson, 2000. Although speculative, similar logic may also apply to the other scores. ...
Problem: A range of developmental models have been applied in research on leader development. Such applications often advocate “whole” person approaches to leader growth. They seek to expand social, cognitive, and behavioral capacities, and often reference perspective taking. Many of these approaches define developmental levels in terms of specific content, ideas, and domain-specific capacities. In some models, people are said to be at a given level because they demonstrate a certain kind of perspective taking, and they are also expected to demonstrate that kind of perspective taking because they are at a given level. This circularity largely prevents the investigation of how different capacities change together (or not) over time.
Purpose: Using an approach that avoids this kind of circularity it was possible to examine perspectival skills and developmental level independently. I tested three hypotheses about the relationship between change in developmental level and change in perspective taking, seeking, and coordination. It was predicted that these constructs would exhibit patterns of synchronous and asynchronous change, with the former being most prominent.
Method: The sample consisted of 598 civil leaders who completed a developmental assessment called the LecticalTM Decision Making Assessment (LMDA) up to 4 times over a 9-month leadership development program. The LDMAs yielded separate scores for Lectical level—a domain-general index of hierarchical complexity—and perspective taking, seeking, and coordination. Perspective taking and seeking scores were disaggregated into component scores for salience, accessibility, and sophistication. Ten scores were analyzed with Latent growth modeling techniques. Four types of models were fit to these data: (a) Univariate latent growth curve models, (b) multivariate parallel process models, (c) univariate latent difference scores models, and (d) bivariate latent difference scores models.
Results: All hypotheses were partially confirmed. Change trajectories for most scores were non linear, characterized by dips and spurts. The rate of change in perspective scores was not related to rate of change for Lectical score or initial Lectical score. Initial Lectical score was positively related to initial perspective scores. Lectical score was a leading indicator of subsequent change in seeking and seeking salience. Lectical change positively impacted seeking change, whereas Lectical score positively impacted seeking salience change.
Conclusions: The relationship between change in these constructs is more complex than typically portrayed. Evidence suggests that these variables change more independently of each other than claimed in earlier research. Patterns of asynchronous change were three times more common than synchronous change, and Lectical score predicted change in only some aspects of perspectival capacity.Implications for theory, method, and pedagogy, along with study limitations and avenues for future research are discussed.
... In particular, the use of whole level scoring, in which performances are assigned to a complexity level without distinguishing between periods of transition and consolidation, has been criticized. At present, there appear to be only two published reports in which transitional and consolidated performances have been modeled (Armon and Dawson, 2002;Dawson, 2002b). Interestingly, the analyses presented in these articles revealed developmental patterns like the one idealized in Figure 2, which shows that transitional phases subsume the areas where level mixtures are expected, and are shorter and less prominent than consolidated periods. ...
... The pattern of item estimates in Figures 4 and 5 replicates patterns reported in two previous studies in which both transitional and consolidated performances were modeled (Armon and Dawson, 2002;Dawson, 2002b). They provide additional support for the existence of the developmental discontinuities expected by proponents of a stage theory of devel- Figure 5. Response probabilities for bounce item opment. ...
concepts, a capability identified with the abstract mappings level in Fischer's (1980) developmental sequence of skill (complexity) levels; (3) that many of the conceptual elements of these arguments are formed at the complexity level preceding abstract mappings; and (4) that the difficulty of learning the energy concept is much greater for students who do not demonstrate the ability to construct abstract mappings.
The present chapter is the second of two chapters introducing the primary concepts in the present work. In the previous chapter, I present the cognitive model, in general. In this chapter, I examine in depth one aspect of it, that of the postformal stage of collective intelligence that I have proposed. In addition, I examine the Neo-Eriksonian model that has been posited to develop in parallel with the Neo-Piagetian one. Finally, I switch to the other main aspect of any developmental modeling, that of transition mechanisms.
Thesis (Ph. D. in Education)--University of California, Berkeley, Fall 1998. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-208).
The present authors interpret subjective well-being within the framework of cognitive theories of emotion. A model consisting of 3 recurrent components of expressions of well-being—positive affect, negative affect, and cognition—was compared with 2 variations of models proposed by J. Liang (see record 1985-19079-001 ). Ss included 2 groups of individuals aged 65+ yrs (688 in Sample 1 and 689 in Sample 2) who participated in the Myth and Reality of Aging in America Survey. LISREL analyses were completed on 17 items from the Affect Balance Scale and the Life Satisfaction Index—Form A. All models provided an acceptable fit as indicated by ratios of chi-square to degrees of freedom. (62 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Society and the highest stages of moral development. Politics and the Individual, 4(1), 31-55. In this paper, a discussion of Kohlberg's stage theory of moral development results in a re-definition of Moral Stage 6, Kohlberg's highest stage. Our task here is to construct Moral Stage 6 in a non-arbitrary way that satisfies General Stage Model (Commons & Richards, 1984a) criteria for what constitutes a stage. Moral Stage 6 is found to manifest itself only inter-individually. At this stage, morality is no longer a property of individuals, as it is at earlier stages, but a property of the social enterprise of discourse. This leads to a novel politization of morality and, conversely, to a moralization of politics. Challenging the prevalent relativism in the study of political ideology, a number of researchers have recently applied theories of moral development in this field (Emler, Renwick & Malone, 1983; Habermas, 1979; Rosenberg, 1988a, 1988b; Rosenberg, Ward & Chilton, 1988; Wagner, 1986, 1990; Weinreich-Haste, 1986). Whereas the relativist approach posits that a non-arbitrary, acultural evaluation of political ideologies is impossible, a theory of moral development provides the means for just such an evaluation. It can discover structural commonalities among seemingly unique and diverse political ideologies; it can order political reasoning in a non-relativist sequence; and it can point to possible avenues for the development of political thinking. Modern societies have partially differentiated the political from the moral domain, developing areas of superficially moral-free political pragmatism. This is reflected in the popular distinction between "political" and "moral" questions: pragmatic compromising is considered acceptable in the former but unacceptable in the latter. A key mechanism for creating these relatively moral-free areas of politics is framing the issues in terms of continuous variables, first of all money. Continuous variables invite compromise and take the moral sting out of the issues. The moral difference between alternative tax-hike proposals of 2% and 4% is not obvious, and a compromise is generally welcomed. However, the absence of conspicuous morals in the political sphere of power-play and haggling is possible only on the basis of a widely-shared and unquestioned background belief that such politicking is justified within the given parameters.
This long‐term study found that moral reasoning as conceptualised by Kohlberg (1981, 1985) can develop into adulthood. Predominantly white, well‐educated, middle‐class participants were interviewed four times at 4‐year intervals (N = 44). Stage development was sequential and continued throughout the life span, although its occurrence decreased with advancing age in a curvilinear fashion. Post‐conventional reasoning was demonstrated by seven adults. Stage of moral reasoning correlated with age strongly in children and moderately in adults, and was moderately correlated with education in all age groups. Additionally, advance in moral reasoning stage was correlated with increase in education in adults. Although no systematic gender differences were found across age groups, men in the younger adult group had significantly higher scores than women.
This article presents (a) a nontechnical explanation of Rasch model "logit" estimates of pediatric functional ability, (b) an illustration of two alternative transformations of logit estimates of functional ability, and (c) a pragmatic solution to the problem of obtaining a functional ability estimate for a zero or perfect performance score. An explanation of logits is offered because their presentation to practitioners in the clinic is often complicated and confusing. The transformations are performed because they remove negative and decimal valued estimates of functioning. The issue of zero and perfect scores is addressed because these are often the scores obtained by the youngest and oldest children in a clinical setting.
This article presents a latent trait model for analyzing data generated by theories of cognitive development that postulate discontinuities. The Saltus model is an extension of the Rasch model for the analysis of dichotomously scored responses. A representation of the model parameters is developed to aid the assessment of first- and second-order discontinuities. The description ends with the application of the model to data sets based on the cognitive development theories of Gagné, Siegler, and van Hiele. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Discusses conceptual and empirical issues concerning the relations between moral reasoning and moral action. Two opposite views of the relations between moral cognition and moral action are described; one is an essentially irrational view that emphasizes need and action tendencies, while the other considers moral functioning as essentially rational. Their contrasting assumptions and implications are clarified. Available empirical literature is reviewed; research relating moral reasoning to delinquency, honesty, altruism, conformity, and other real-life moral behaviors is summarized, with special attention given to problems of design, measurement, and interpretation. Although overall these studies seem to support the cognitive–developmental perspective, this support needs to be qualified and interpreted in each area. At a more general level, the importance of clarifying the meaning of consistency between moral cognition and moral action and the need for a process approach to research in this area are emphasized. (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated the structure and development of causal–experimental thought. 260 Ss (aged 12–16 yrs) were examined by 3 test batteries. The batteries involved items addressing combinatorial, hypothesis handling, experimentation, and model construction abilities. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that these abilities, although distinct from each other, do share a common functional core, and they are organized in a higher order causal–experimental specialized structural system. Rasch scaling indicated that these 4 kinds of abilities follow overlapping developmental trajectories. Saltus modeling suggested that development is continuous rather than discontinuous. Individual differences were found in the rate of acquisition but not in the structure of abilities. A model of synergic developmental causality was proposed to account for this pattern of development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Tested Ss from an ongoing longitudinal study initiated by the present 1st author and colleagues (see record
1974-32073-001) at 2-yr intervals after high school graduation on the Defining Issues Test and other measures of moral thinking (e.g., socio-moral concepts test, political attitudes test) to investigate the relationship of moral-judgment development to formal education. In a 3rd testing 4 yrs after high school, 59 Ss participated; of these, 39 were in a 4th testing 6 yrs later. When Ss were divided into low- and high-education groups, depending on how many years of college they attended, the groups showed increasingly divergent developmental pathways. The high-education group showed increasing gains, and the low-education group showed a leveling off. Years in college added significantly to the predictability of moral judgment in young adulthood, above and beyond that accounted for by initial high school scores on the same moral-judgment measures. Results complement and extend findings from other cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on the relation of formal education to moral judgment. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted a statistical test of Piaget's logico-mathematical model of the stage of formal operational thinking. 150 British secondary school students' performance on 2 measures of formal operational thinking were subjected to Rasch analysis. The measures were H. Wylam and M. Shayer's (1978) pendulum reasoning task and T. G. Bond's (1976) logical operations test. For each test, the underlying ability was inferred as unidimensional, and the 2 sets of data taken together were found to fit the Rasch model. These results comprise empirical evidence for the concept of formal thought and the appropriateness of the Rasch measurement model for Piagetian research. (French & German abstracts) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Quantitative educational research depends on the availability of carefully constructed variables. The construction and use of a variable begin with the idea of a single dimension or line on which students can be compared and along which progress can be monitored. This idea is operationalized by inventing items intended as indicators of this latent variable and using these items to elicit observations from which students’ positions on the variable might be inferred.
The Partial Credit Model (PCM) is a unidimensional model for the analysis of responses recorded in two or more ordered categories. In this sense, the model is designed for the same purpose as several other models in this book, including Samejima’s graded response model (Samejima, 1969). The PCM differs from the graded response model, however, in that it belongs to the Rasch family of models and so shares the distinguishing characteristics of that family: separable person and item parameters, sufficient statistics, and, hence, conjoint additivity. These features enable “specifically objective” comparisons of persons and items (Rasch, 1977) and allow each set of model parameters to be conditioned out of the estimation procedure for the other.
In this paper, the use of several measurement models for the analysis of data arising from learning hierarchies is discussed, and the results of an empirical investigation of the application of an Item Response Theory (IRT) model to a learning hierarchy in subtraction are examined. The analysis confronts the test developer’s original intentions with empirical data through the use of the IRT model, and three ways that the model can be useful in explicating the patterns of empirical results from a learning hierarchy are described.
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When changes in educational or psychological status are being measured, every subject in the sample must be observed on several chronologically successive occasions. In the pursuit of such longitudinal data, traditional researchers have been content to administer only a pre-test and a post-test (thus collecting two waves of data on each subject). More recently, however, methodologists have argued that multiwave data (i.e., more than two waves) must be collected for the effective measurement of change. Multi-wave data allows a suitable mathematical model to be fitted to each of the individual growth records as a way of summarizing the growth of each subject. Subsequent investigations of between-individual differences in growth can then be based on the results of these fits.
In this article, individual growth-modeling permits the reliability of change measurement to be examined. This reliability is shown to depend upon three factors: the magnitude of the inter-individual heterogeneity in true growth, the size of the measurement-error variance, and the number of waves of data that have been collected. The paper demonstrates that dramatic increases in the reliability of change measurement can be achieved by collecting relatively few additional waves of data, a finding that has considerable import for the informed design of longitudinal studies of individual change.
In the 25 or 30 years since she first announced in print her theory of ego development (Loevinger, 1966) and published her first scoring manual (Loevinger & Wessler, 1970; Loevinger, Wessler, & Redmore, 1970), Loevinger has secured for herself an important place in the field of personality. Many would identify as her most valuable contribution the conception of ego development and the delineation of the stages, which helped us to go beyond the fragmentation of trait psychology and to look at personalities as meaningful wholes. Many others would count as her major achievement the construction of the ego development measure, one of the most sophisticated tools that has ever been built for the assessment of personality. As for Loevinger herself, when she has an opportunity to evaluate her work (e.g., Loevinger, 1978), she focuses on an aspect that many of us would surely have disregarded, an aspect that is both more general than ego development and that reaches deeper into the philosophical roots of personality psychology as an empirical discipline. She presents her whole work as a demonstration that theory and measurement cannot be separated from each other, but must form an integral unity and must constantly feed on each other. Her unique contribution, then, consists of the articulation of a method for pursuing that goal, a general strategy for measuring personality that affords the continuous revision and development of the theory on which the measure depends. A similar case is made in the target article, through a review of the steps that led Loevinger to her final method and a comparison of the properties of this method with those of alternative strategies in personality development. This is a masterly and important article.
This is a guide to using Quest. Quest offers a comprehensive test and questionnaire analysis environment by providing a data analyst with access to the most recent developments in Rasch measurement theory, as well as a range of traditional analysis procedures. It includes an easy to use control language with flexible and informative output. Quest can be used to construct and validate variables based on both dichotomous and polychotomous observations. It scores and analyses such instruments as multiple choice tests, Likert type rating scales, short answer items, and partial credit items.
This article reports two studies‐‐a longitudinal investigation of moral judgement and reported moral experience, and an outcome study on the impact of a moral intervention project with adult undergraduate students. In the first study, 29 middle‐class, primarily white, well‐educated adults, ranging in age from 18 to 80 were administered Standard Form Moral Judgment interviews 4 years apart and were asked to describe their own moral events that had occurred. The average moral judgement score on the hypothetical dilemmas was Stage Four. The reasoning in the spontaneously reported moral events was significantly lower, although the two scores were highly correlated. Difference scores between the two were not related to dilemma scores. While there were no significant gender differences in scores on the hypothetical dilemmas, there were in scores on spontaneous‐reported events favouring males. The ethical quality of the reported events could be easily categorised by traditional moral‐philosophic categories. About half the events contained traditional deontic moral content (moral right); the other half contained material defined as the moral good. The context of most events was interpersonal, as opposed to societal. The second study investigated the reported impact on mostly white, middle‐and upper‐class undergraduate students who participated in a mentor programme in an inner‐city high school, a programme designed to impact both moral thinking and moral sentiments (motivation). Thirty‐nine adults, ranging in age from 20 to 57 participated, of which 26 were female and 13 were male. In both short‐ and long‐term follow‐up surveys, most participants reported major changes in their thinking about and motivation to address social justice issues.
A psychometric model called Saltus, which represents the qualitative aspects of hierarchical development in a form applicable to additive measurement, was applied. Both Piaget's theory of cognitive development and Gagne's theory of learning hierarchies were used to establish the common features of hierarchical development: (1) gappiness--the logical construction of the hierarchy which occurs when there is no state between adjacent stages; and (2) rigidity--learning behavior, exhibited by a fixed sequence of progression through stages. Saltus assumes a theory with gappiness expressed through items or tasks, and estimates the rigidity of data, thus testing the hypothesized gappiness. Four experiments tested the Saltus model in elementary school Australian children and with subjects aged 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, and 21 years. Three Piagetian tasks of rule assessment involving proportionality (balance scale, projection of shadows, and a probability task) gave clear evidence of rigidity in the step from the pre-operational stage to the concrete operational stage. The next step, to the formal operational stage, did not show rigidity, although gappiness was evident. The hypothesized existence of a gap to split the concrete operational stage was not supported. The Gagnean data on a subtraction task showed strong rigidity. (Author/GDC)
Relying on developmental studies of reasoning about the good life, a model of moral education that integrates the good and the right is put forth. It is claimed that while Kohlberg's justice reasoning provides a justifiable aim for such curricula, how individuals attribute value will also significantly affect their moral actions. The notion of a ‘critical period’ for moral education during adolescence is also presented.
This book is written as a text for a one semester course introducing students to the foundational issues involved in psychological measurement. It is not intended to compete with traditional textbooks on psychometrics, but rather to supplement them, by bringing to students in a critical way some of the recent advances made in our understanding of measurement by theorists such as S. S. Stevens, P. Suppes and R. D. Luce.
The theory of conjoint measurement shows how non-extensive forms of measurement can be incorporated within a single, neo-traditional conception, one which has number as part of the empirical realm. In this book I have sought to present conjoint measurement as part of such a theory, one consonant with the development of quantitative science and consonant with an empirical realist theory of number. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)