DEVELOPMENTAL RANGE OF REFLECTIVE JUDGMENT - THE EFFECT OF CONTEXTUALSUPPORT AND PRACTICE ON DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE

In this study of K. W Fischer's (1980) skill theory and the developmen t of reflective judgment (K. S. Kitchener & P. M. King, 1981),156 stud ents, 14-28 years old, were tested. Two thirds responded to the Reflec tive Judgment Interview (RJI) and the Prototypic Reflective Judgment I nterview (PRJI) twice, with the 2 administrations approximately 2 week s apart. The remaining one third were tested at 2-week intervals only on the RJI. The PRJI was designed to provide support for optimal level reflective judgment responses, whereas the RJI measured functional le vel. Ss scored significantly higher on the PRJI than they did on the R JI at both testings, and there was a significant age effect on both me asures. Age differences on the 2 measures could not be statistically a ccounted for by a measure of verbal ability. The PRJI data also provid ed evidence for spurts in development between ages 18 and 20 and betwe en ages 23 and 25-26.