Adolescents and adults planned a hypothetical unexpected party for a teenager, with
and without planning aids in two studies. Errors were computed for subjects'
planning of the given party task, and for their transformations of the task into one
of their own. In Study 1, when planning aids were provided for all subjects,
adolescents produced plans with no more errors than plans of working adults in the
given party task, but made more errors than working adults when they transformed the
task into one of their own.
In Study 2, retired adults, working adults, and adolescents were assigned to two
conditions (with and without planning aids). Planning aids were effective for all
age groups and planning efficiency was related to the experimental provision of
planning aids, subjects' use of integrated or single-step planning strategies, and
their retrospective evaluations of their plans. Adolescents did not make more errors
than either group of adults, but retired adults made more errors than working adults
regardless of whether plans were analysed as given or following subjects' own plans.
Findings are interpreted in relation to their developmental implications and to the
possibility of assisting older and younger planners to engage in effective
organisation of complex tasks with the presentation of planning aids.
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