By using videotape to make information exchange a cooperative activity, villagers become agents of solutions. The power of videotape as a force for human development rests with its capacity to extend people's responsibility over their lives by giving them access to experiences of others like themselves. (JOW)

Adult learning potential refers to our total learning capacities. It includes cognitive and affective learning as well as intuitive and reflective learning. It does not refer just to formal education (which accounts for only a small portion of our learning), but rather all learning for living, especially learning how we manage our lives. Adult…

Argues that an "as-if" mode of making sense of the world is an important characteristic of human development across all age groups. Illustrates the role of as-if functioning in adults following loss of a loved one, maintaining that self-reorganization centers on the grave as a physical and symbolic entity and the deceased as an…

Maintains that Josephs (1998) identifies a new and significant research question: how individuals relate to loved one's death through an imaginary dialog created in an "as-if" manner. Discusses the issues of how adults' as-if activities are related to children's pretend play and how such dialogs might transform the self over time.…

This paper outlines a research program that seeks to develop strategies for facilitating creative development through paradigmatic transformation. The Mobius Ring is used as a metaphor for intuition and intellect cyclically feeding each other, and a continuum of modes of thought evolving from "Becoming" to "Being" is outlined. These strategies can…

Reviews Josephs's (1998) article connecting play as a discourse in metaphorical transformations with narrative and identity development, focusing on using narrative as a discourse of accounting for self and others in space and time and the role of self-thematization, death, and play in development. Concludes that Josephs advocates the cancellation…

The struggle for a positive self-image in the gay community has been keynoted by confrontations between gays and the censuring public, and by their own introspection. Since the risks demanded by self disclosure are greater for gays than for heterosexuals, a nonsupportive environment may force a strategy of nondisclosure on gays. This often…

This article discusses the use of personal narrative in social science research and in helping individuals with learning difficulties renegotiate their sense of identity. One woman's story of her life is used to illustrate the corrosive effects of institutionalization in identity formation. (Contains references.) (DB)

Summaries of arguments given in the literature both for and against the use of verbal-traditional psychotherapy with mentally retarded individuals is presented. Much research examines process variables in therapy as an approach. Feedback variables are crucial. Results of a research study in which therapy groups composed of mentally retarded adults…

Various education theories are examined to explain the child's need for a Mediated Learning Experience (MLE), an interaction with another human who interprets the world. Five criteria of MLEs are described, and types of deprivation and their results are discussed. (MJB)

This article explores the advancement of gifted girls in the past 25 years and argues that the problem of underachievement of talented females continues to exist. The diversity of gifted women's creativity, their need to engage in meaningful work, and their need to balance work and family is discussed. (Contains references.) (CR)

Managers have an obvious interest in motivation, yet there are few connections between the needs of the manager and research on motivation theory and system building. Motivation can be defined as the degree to which an individual wants and chooses to engage in certain specified behaviors. This definition assumes that motivation is an individual…

Young children have a sense of timelessness, while adults tend to be concerned about clock time. Adults who learn to experience timelessness again often feel a sense of inner and outer unity. The possibility that appreciation of the fine arts can create a feeling of timelessness is another reason for the value of fine arts education. (PP)

Professional life planning means taking a self-directed, systematic approach to professional renewal. To engage in professional life planning (or self-directed professional development) is to take greater control of one's life. Four major actions comprise the essence of professional life planning; they are self-assessment of professional strengths…

Metaphysics is a necessary point of departure to build a comprehensive understanding of the nature of adult and adulthood at a deeper philosophical level. A group of philosophers representing the school of German Classical Idealism remain highly influential in building elaborate arguments on the nature of self and reality that may assist adult…