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Focuses on belief systems about development throughout adulthood held by young, middle-aged, and old adults. Ss rated an extensive list of person-descriptive adjectives with respect to 3 aspects of developmental increase:(a) the degree to which it is shown over the adult life span,(b) its desirability, and (c) the ages (20 to 90 in decades) at which it is expected to begin (onset age) and end (closing age). There were three major findings:(a) there was much interage consensus in expectations about the nature of adult development,(b) the nature of adult development was perceived to be multidirectional (gains and losses coexist), although the overall conception implied increasing risk of decline and decreasing potential for growth across the adult life span, and (c) older adults held more elaborate conceptions about development throughout adulthood than younger adults.