Aimed at adult education practitioners engaged in graduate study, this book draws on the field of developmental psychology to provide new insights into the critical connections between experience and learning in adult education and training. Chapter 1 introduces the role of psychological development in adult learning, investment of "self" in learning, and link between social and personal development. Chapter 2 reviews adults' performance on standard intelligence tests and explores the distinctly adult qualities of intelligence. Chapter 3 documents the literature on practical intelligence, tacit knowledge, and expertise. Chapter 4 reviews theories of the life course. Chapter 5 outlines ways social and historical influences shape the life course and the presence of these influences in adult education theories and practices. Chapter 6 examines the nature of personal autonomy, its status as a developmental phenomenon, educational strategies to promote it, and its limits within a given social context. Chapter 7 looks at the various ways in which adult educators have attempted to incorporate experiences into learning and the way in which the self interprets and endows experience with meaning. Chapter 8 explores the political and psychological dimensions of the teaching role and the need for a teacher to develop an identity or posture. Chapter 9 poses the question, what does it mean to have a developmental perspective on teaching. Contains 224 references and an index. (YLB)