ENHANCING ADULT LEARNING IN AGING STUDIES

The legacy of social work/gerontology education arises from the "training" of good employees for a particular job. As the professionalization of the occupation occurred, a greater proportion of faculty encouraged social work students to become partners in the learning process, rather than subjects to be trained. However, adult learning in formal settings, for the most part, remains instructor designed and directed. With a grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York City, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is preparing social work education for the aging of American society. It is therefore, an opportune time to recognize that it is not only what we teach but also how we make the educational environment for adults more learner-centered that will broaden the agenda of the CSWE initiative.     

Mindfulness and Intelligence: A Comparison

The theory of mindfulness (Langer, 1989a) shares with some current theories of intelligence an emphasis on the importance of cognitive flexibility. The mindfulness approach to cognitive flexibility differs from the intelligence approach in its conception of the relation between individuals and their environment. Intelligence theory employs a criterion of optimal fit between individual and environment. Mindfulness theory emphasizes that individuals may always define their relation to their environment in several ways. We examine the historical background of this difference between mindfulness and intelligence and find that (a) the concept of intelligence is embedded in a theory of correspondence that has been inherited from the 19th century; (b) current intelligence theories continue to focus on thought as adaptively corresponding to external reality; (c) despite apparent differences between unidimensional and multidimensional approaches to intelligence, common reliance on a criterion of optimal fit engenders more similarity than difference; (d) this similarity prolongs the detrimental effects of intelligence theories on self-perception, perception of others, and the educational process. Mindfulness theory rejects an evaluative standard that is external to the individual's capacity to give meaning to experience. We examine mindful enhancement of personal control and the educational process, and contrast this with the limitations of an intelligence approach.