In almost every case, there are predictable stages.

Most individuals attempting to change a complex behavior such as smoking go through several predictable stages, from precontemplation to contemplation to preparation and, finally, to action.

Researchers on group dynamics have identified several, predictable stages through which groups typically move as they form, go about their work, and separate.

He'd gone through the predictable stages.

As they recover, he said, they go through predictable stages, for example recovery of movement, that reflect fundamental aspects of brain organization.

Because human babies also pass through predictable stages of development, he theorized that defects in the brain might be reflected in early movements.

Those who survive the first few days start down the tortuous path of recovery, passing through predictable stages along the way.

A landscape which is eroded by natural water systems will evolve through a series of predictable stages.

Betty Currie may have been a harbinger of another predictable stage in a Washington scandal.

Artificial reefs tend to develop in more or less predictable stages.