New Perspectives on the Adult: An Argument for Lifelong Education

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Abstract
English Through a review of selected, recent research on adult cognitive development this article sets out to challenge the assumption that adulthood is a non‐developmental period of life. The social‐historical and psychological bases for the assumption of non‐development are traced to provide an explanation for why this assumption, and others which are closely related, have been challenged by approaches which embody fundamentally different research questions. The first task for those who challenged the traditional model of adults and adulthood was one of formulating not only different questions but also more sophisticated research designs. Three types of inter‐related research have emerged as a consequence; and when taken together, the results of these approaches suggest that adulthood is potentially a very important developmental period of life. The implications derived from these results lead to an empirically based argument for lifelong educational opportunities and the reformulation of education objectives within a life span perspective.