TY - JOUR

T1 - Skill learning as a concept in life-span developmental psychology

T2 - An action theoretic analysis

AU - Frese, Michael

AU - Stewart, Judith

PY - 1984/1/1

Y1 - 1984/1/1

N2 - An action theoretic account of skill learning and skill use is offered as a useful heuristic for life-span developmental psychology. It is suggested that analyses of the tasks confronting an individual and of the structure of action, as well as of the interplay of these two, have implications for the understanding of development across the life span. In particular, these analyses have implications for the disuse hypothesis, the issue of stability and cross-situalional consistency of behavioral dispositions, the issue of the degree of awareness of action strategies, and the understanding of so-called skill traps. Furthermore, the concept of stage can be conceptualized differently within this framework. Finally, action theory, with its emphasis on the task structure, is able to circumvent the subjectivistic concepts which plague analyses of behavior, without giving up the principle that individuals actively structure their cognitions and their environments. © 1984 S. Karger AG, Basel.

AB - An action theoretic account of skill learning and skill use is offered as a useful heuristic for life-span developmental psychology. It is suggested that analyses of the tasks confronting an individual and of the structure of action, as well as of the interplay of these two, have implications for the understanding of development across the life span. In particular, these analyses have implications for the disuse hypothesis, the issue of stability and cross-situalional consistency of behavioral dispositions, the issue of the degree of awareness of action strategies, and the understanding of so-called skill traps. Furthermore, the concept of stage can be conceptualized differently within this framework. Finally, action theory, with its emphasis on the task structure, is able to circumvent the subjectivistic concepts which plague analyses of behavior, without giving up the principle that individuals actively structure their cognitions and their environments. © 1984 S. Karger AG, Basel.

KW - Action

KW - Action theory

KW - Feedback

KW - Hierarchy

KW - Plan

KW - Regulation skill

KW - Task

KW - Business psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0021118917&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/a981d4a1-b45d-3b5b-af3e-3b2d2e0992ee/

U2 - 10.1159/000272909

DO - 10.1159/000272909

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 6479958

AN - SCOPUS:0021118917

VL - 27

SP - 145

EP - 162

JO - Human Development

JF - Human Development

SN - 0018-716X

IS - 3-4

ER -