William G. Perry

William G. Perry, Jr. (b. 1913, Paris; d. January 12, 1998) [ [http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/05.27/mm.perry.html Memorial Minute: William Graves Perry Jr ] ] was a well-known educational psychologist whose work focused on the development of people during their college years. His work was very influential in the field of student development. He was a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and founder and longtime director of the Bureau of Study Counsel.

At Harvard University, he developed his theory of the intellectual and cognitive development of college-age students through a 15-year study during the 1950s and 1960s. He published his work in 1970 as "Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years".

The Perry scheme is a model for understanding how college students “come to know, the theories and beliefs they hold about knowing, and the manner in which such epistemological premises are a part of and an influence on the cognitive processes of thinking and reasoning” (Hofer and Pintrich, 1997, p. 88). Perry (1970) proposed college students pass through a predictable sequence of stages of epistemological growth. Since 1970 further research on epistemological beliefs and reasoning has refined, extended and adapted Perry’s developmental sequence (Knefelkamp and Slepitza, 1978; King, Kitchener, Davidson, Parker and Wood, 1983; Ryan, 1984; Moore, 1989). The assumption “that personal epistemology is unidimensional and develops in a fixed progression of stages” has been challenged (Schommer, 1990, p. 498). Nevertheless, Perry’s seminal work continues to function as the primary reference point for the discussion on epistemological growth in the adult learner.

The Perry scheme addresses issues distinct from those commonly discussed under the rubric of “critical thinking.” Critical thinking can be understood as the ability to weigh evidence, examine arguments, and construct rational bases for beliefs, but it also includes self-examination of reasoning processes (i.e., metacognition) to evaluate their appropriateness and effectiveness (Bruning, 1994). However, Perry’s scheme speaks to epistemic issues underlying critical thinking: students’ assumptions concerning the nature and acquisition of knowledge (or truth).

Fundamental to the Perry scheme is a student’s nine-stage progression from dualist to relativist epistemologies. Learners move from viewing truth in absolute terms of Right and Wrong (obtained from “Good” or “Bad” Authorities) to recognizing multiple, conflicting versions of “truth” representing legitimate alternatives. Significantly, the intent of the original research was “a purely descriptive formulation of students’ experience,” rather than a “prescriptive program intended to ‘get’ students to develop” (Perry, 1981, p. 107). The Perry scheme of epistemic development becomes prescriptive when teaching and curriculum are “optimally designed to invite, encourage, challenge, and support students in such development” (Perry, 1981, p. 107). The nine positions of the Perry scheme can be grouped into three broader categories, which Perry (1981) identified as: 1) dualism modified (or dualism + multiplicity), 2) relativism discovered, and 3) commitments in relativism developed.

Knefelkamp and Slepitza (1978) saw the Perry Scheme as a general process model providing a descriptive framework for viewing the development of an individual’s reasoning about many aspects of the world. They applied the scheme (with apparent success) to the development of an individual’s thinking about career planning.

Further reading

*Perry, William G., Jr. (1970), Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme. (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.) 0787941182
*Perry, William G., Jr. (1981), "Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning", in Arthur W. Chickering and Associates, The Modern American College (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass): 76-116.

References

http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/ugraddean/theory.html

Basseches, M. (1978). Beyond closed-system problem-solving: A study of metasystematic aspects of mature thought. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University.

Bendixen, L. D. (1998). A phenomenological study of epistemic doubt. Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska.

Broughton, J. (1975). The development of natural epistemology in adolescence and adulthood. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University.

Bruning, R. H. (1994). The college classroom from the perspective of cognitive psychology. In K. W. Prichard & R. M. Sawyer (Eds.), Handbook of college teaching. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Hofer, B. K. and Pintrich, P. R. (1997, Spring). The development of epistemological theories: Beliefs about knowledge and knowing and their relation to learning. Review of Educational Research, 67 (1), 88-140.

King, P. M. and Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing reflective judgment: Understanding and promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

King, P., Kitchener, K. S., Davison, M. L., Parker, C. A. and Wood, P. L. (1983). The justification of beliefs in young adults: A longitudinal study. Human Development, 26, 106-116.

Knefelkamp, L. L. and Slepitza, R. (1978). A cognitive-development model of career development: An adaptation of the Perry scheme. In C. A. Parker (Ed.), Encouraging Development in college students. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.

Kuhn, D. (1991). The skills of argument. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Labouvie-Vief, G. (1984). Logic and self-regulation from youth to maturity: A model. In M. L. Commons, F. A. Richards, & C. Armon (Eds.), Beyond formal operations: Late adolescent and adult cognitive development (pp. 158-179). New York: Praeger.

Moore, W. S. (1989). The learning environment preferences: Exploring the construct validity of an objective measure of the Perry scheme of intellectual development. Journal of College Student Development, 30, 504-514.

Moore, W. S. (1994). The Perry schema. In K. W. Prichard & R. M. Sawyer (Eds.), Handbook of college teaching. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Perry, W. G. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Perry, W. G. (1981). Cognitive and ethical growth: The making of meaning. In A. W. Chickering & Assoc. (Eds.), The modern American college (pp. 76-116). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ryan, M. P. (1984). Monitoring text comprehension: Individual differences in epistemological standards. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 248-258.

Schommer, M. (1990). Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(3), 498-504.