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Rob McNamara's Blog I remember doing my first graduate lecture on the further reaches of adult development close to fifteen years ago. I stood up in front of a classroom of people, all whom were older than me, and began my lecture. It was an intense ride. Me, I was too busy attending to the conceptual distinctions in my own mind. Instead of feeling my own anxiety and uncertainty, I chose to attend rigorously to the sharp and nuanced distinctions in my conceptual world. I share this brief flashback for one reason: I was profoundly wrong in one of my orientations. Today, every lecture I give on adult development comes with a caveat. That usually gets people’s attention. After all, it’s not common for an expert on adult development to tell you that their theories may have negative impacts on happiness and overall well being. While development itself does generally lead to richer, more rewarding lives, when it primarily unfolds as cognitive or intellectual development, things tend to take a turn for the worse.

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