Stages of ego development - The Concept We Use as the Basis for Assessing Personality Potential.

Stages of ego development are proposed by developmental psychologist Jane Levinger (1918- 2008) and conceptualize a theory based on Erik Erikson's psychosocial model and the works of Harry Stack Sullivan (1892-1949), which "theorized that the ego matures . and develops through stages throughout life as a result of the dynamic interaction between the inner self and the external environment." [1] Lewinger's theory contributes to a description of ego development that goes beyond the fragmentation of trait psychology and views personality as a meaningful whole. [2]

Levinger describes personality development as a process rather than a thing; [3] it is the frame of reference (or lens) that a person uses to construct and interpret their world. [4] This includes impulse control and character development with interpersonal relationships and cognitive concerns including self-esteem . [5] Sullivan (1958) proposed four levels of "interpersonal maturity and interpersonal integration": impulsive, conformist, conscientious, and autonomous. [6] Building on this initial framework, Levinger developed a developmental model consisting of nine sequential stages, each representing an increasingly complex way of perceiving oneself in relation to the world.

Table 2 provides a brief description of each stage of development, taking into account its influence on the behavioral characteristics of an individual [7,8,9,11,5].

Expanding on Loevinger's ideas, Suzanne Cook-Greuter divides the stages of adult development into conventional and post-conventional phases (Figure 3).

Table 3 provides the distribution of stages identified in four adult populations ranging from 18 to 82 years old, with an average age of 35 to 65 years.

To diagnose the levels, Suzanne Cook-Greuter proposed a diagnostic tool, the Sentence Completion Test, which is essentially a modified and augmented version of the Test from the University of Washington (SCT; Hy & Loevinger, 2020) [11].

This is currently the most rigorously validated, reliable and advanced assessment tool to assess adult development.

While we refer to people as being at a developmental level, the test scores actually reflect the range of responses individuals give. Most people’s scores reflect a range of as many 6 or 7 developmental levels. The above graph reflects this range. As you look at the levels across the bottom of the graph – the scores on the left side reflect the % of questions scoring at each level. Figure 4 presents an example of a distribution chart of the subject's test responses compared to the results obtained during the validation study on a sample of over 4500 people.

While we refer to people as being at a developmental level, the test scores actually reflect the range of responses individuals give. Most people’s scores reflect a range of as many 6 or 7 developmental levels. The above graph reflects this range. As you look at the levels across the bottom of the graph – the scores on the left side reflect the % of questions scoring at each level.

Thus, the Stages of Ego Development is currently the most reliable, validated, and reproducible method for assessing the stage of development in adult individuals.Taking into consideration the strengths, reliability, and validity of the mentioned approaches, we have developed our own concept that integrates both approaches into a single tool.

References

1. Richard M. Lerner et al eds., Handbook of Psychology: Developmental Psychology (2003) p. 470.

2. Blasi A., "The theory of Ego Development and the Measure" (1993) p. 17

3. Witherell, S., & Erickson, V.,(2001). "Teacher Education as Adult Development", Theory into Practice, 17(3), p.231

4. Loevinger, J., & Wessler, R. (1970) Measuring ego development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

5. Michel Hersen et al., Comprehensive Handbook of Psychological Assessment: Personality Assessment (2004) p. 602

6. Blasi, A. (1993) The theory of ego development and the measure. Psychological Inquiry, Witherell & Erickson, p. 231

7. Loevinger, J. Paradigms of personality (1987) p. 222

8. Jane Loevinger and Ruth Wessler, Measuring Ego Development, Vol. I (San Francisco, 1970), p. 4

9. Cook-Greuter, Susanne (2000). "Mature Ego Development: A Gateway to Ego Transcendence?". Journal of Adult Development. 7 (4): 227–240. doi:10.1023/A:1009511411421. S2CID 26433329.

10. Terri O'Fallon, Nayak Polissar, Moni Blazej Neradilek, Tom Murray,The validation of a new scoring method for assessing ego development based on three dimensions of language, Heliyon, Volume 6, Issue 3, 2020, ISSN 2405-8440.

11. Murray, 2017 T. MurraySentence completion assessments for ego development, meaning-making, and wisdom maturity, including STAGES Integr. Leader. Rev. (2017)