THE NEGLECTED ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN THEORETICAL-MODELS OFCOGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENT

Based on an analysis of the majority of current theories of cognitive development, which are predominantly universal, general and global in nature, the goal of the present study is to underline the significance of inter- and intraindividual differences in the development of two d omains: memory performance and academic achievement. The empirical bas e consists of two long-term longitudinal studies with children between 4 and 12, yrs. The results showed, besides the expected increase in t he level of cognitive competencies, that these increases were by no me ans universal. Rather, large inter- and intraindividual differences we re found for various types of memory tasks as well as for different do mains of scholastic achievement. Furthermore, both academic performanc e and memory performance proved to be fairly stable as early as in ele mentary school period. Stability was the higher the more the acquisiti on of new knowledge defended on prior knowledge rather than on general intellectual abilities. In sum, the results of the two longitudinal s tudies show that it is theoretically necessary and empirically fruitfu l to complement the dominating universal perspective in current theori es of cognitive development by a differential perspective. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.