Evolutionary regularities of the "act of giving" across neo-Piagetian adult development stages and the transformative power of contemplative prayer

Balas Rant, Melita (author)

In times of unpredictability and large-scale socioeconomic changes, we need to bring novel concepts and phenomena like solidarity and the act of giving under the focus of leadership, management, and spirituality studies. In this enclosed paper, we address how the interpretations and expectations of the act of giving evolve across the levels of consciousness, also referred as stages of adult development. We apply neo-Piagetian constructive view on the human development. To unpack these regularities, we use a mixed-method research design. The research findings reveal that the interpretations and expectations of the act of giving evolve across the stages of adult development. They exhibit the tendency to move to less conditional, self-serving, and transactional interpretations and expectations behind the act of giving. Because the movement of the adult across stages (levels of consciousness) is a slow pace process - the paper also explores possible interventions that could make people more prone to the less conditional, self-serving, and transactional act of giving regardless of the stage of development. Thus, we study the impact of contemplative prayer on the change in the interpretations and expectations of the act of giving. The impact of contemplative prayer is such that it seems that a person moves to one stage higher when it comes to the interpretations and expectations behind the act of giving.

• Language: English
• Keywords: interpersonal relationships, charity, ethics, human evolution, democracy, adult development, act of giving, contemplative prayer
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: Str. 519-553
• Numbering: Vol. 76, no. 8
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-147277
• UDC: 177.72
• ISSN on article: 0260-4027
• DOI: 10.1080/02604027.2020.1810537
• COBISS.SI-ID: 29215235
• Publication date in RUL: 28.06.2023

BALAS RANT, Melita, 2020, Evolutionary regularities of the “act of giving” across neo-Piagetian adult development stages and the transformative power of contemplative prayer. World futures [online]. 2020. Vol. 76, no. 8, p. 519–553. [Accessed 26 April 2025]. DOI 10.1080/02604027.2020.1810537. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=147277

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: World futures
• Shortened title: World futures
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0260-4027
• COBISS.SI-ID: 663322

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: medosebni odnosi, dobrodelnost, etika, razvoj človeka, demokracija