en stage. Piaget contends that this general knowledge is actively constructed by the individual who, in constructing this knowledge, lives the process of his or her development. Piaget had actually started out to analyze the meaning and origin of intelligence, and he defined intelligence as the totality of behavioral coordinations that characterize behavior at a certain stage of development. For Piaget, intelligence was the behavioral analogue of a biological organ which regulates the organism's behavioral exchange with the environment, an interaction that constitutes behavior and that involves the process of discovery discussed previously. All adaptive behavior in this conception implies some knowing in the form of at least minimal knowledge of the environment. Another way of phrasing this is offered by Furth: Evolutionary development proceeds in a manner of an organizing totality, not in the sense of an outside influence or purpose that pulls from ahead, or a drive that pushes from behind, but as a regulating factor that is intrinsic to the unfolding of evolutionary organizations. Erikson's approach is a psychosocial theory of development which describes a series of eight stages in the development of the individual throughout life. This is based on the interaction of biological, psychological, and social processes, and it is the interaction of these processes that accounts for the "psycho" (inner) "social" (external) character of development. The stages are described by Erikson as psychosocial "crises," and the reason for this is that they are intended to represent periods when the individual is particularly sensitive or vulnerable to certain developmental issues. Each of the crisis stages is described by Erikson in terms of its positive outcome or strength "versus" its negative outcome or weakness, and the relative degree to which the resolution of each crisis can be considered favorable or unfavorable serves as one factor determini...
