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After more than 100 years of interest and study, knowledge transfer remains among the most challenging, contentious, and important issues for both psychology and education. In this article, we review and discuss many of the more important ideas and findings from the existing research and attempt to bridge this body of work with the exciting new research directions suggested by the following articles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The unfolding of individual interests is reconstructed as part of a person's everyday experience in dealing with multiple goals. This is exemplified by referring to how adolescents cope with developmental tasks while striving for their ideal selves. Exploratory interaction with objects of potential interest is regarded as a central element that provides information on the criteria for interestingness and enables selective choices. When exploring an object of potential interest, persons have to take into account other goals that may or may not be conflicting. The basic idea is to foster interest development while minimizing goal conflicts and the resulting problems of diminished experience in the interesting activity or diminished performance in noninteresting but important activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to traditional theories of identity development, exploration of one's potentials and commitment to a coherent set of values, goals, and behaviors are important to healthy identity development. In this article, I examine how the Self-determination Theory framework provides an understanding of motivational processes that influence these identity concepts of exploration and commitment. Specifically, I review evidence that suggests that the concept of basic psychological needs frames the development of identity through processes of intrinsic motivation and internalization and that need support for these processes by important relationship partners may facilitate outcomes, including academic interest, engagement, and achievement, as well as overall well-being. Finally, I provide a glimpse of potential future directions of research, particularly emphasizing the role of need support when identity is in flux (e.g., reactivated exploration either by self-directed or environmentally prompted events) or when challenged by macrolevel social pressures, such as high-stakes testing in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An inductive model is proposed that suggests that support for the development and deepening of interest can be aided by knowledge of identity development. The model suggests that instructional practice would be usefully informed were educators (e.g., teachers, parents, museum curators, counselors) to have information about both the phase of a learner's interest and age-related expectations about their identity development, when working to promote learning of particular disciplinary content. Research describing phases in the development of interest and the age-related challenges and expectations specific to self-representation is reviewed, followed by evidence from the literature that provides preliminary support for the model. Research directions needed to challenge and refine the model follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on and extending existing research, this article proposes a 4-phase model of interest development. The model describes 4 phases in the development and deepening of learner interest: triggered situational interest, maintained situational interest, emerging (less-developed) individual interest, and well-developed individual interest. Affective as well as cognitive factors are considered. Educational implications of the proposed model are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]