In this article, we analyse the ways school headteachers/principals (HT/Ps) at different stages of adult ego development (AED) make sense of and respond to the organisational complexity of their schools. The AED stage of 20 HT/Ps in England was assessed using the Washington University Sentence Completion Test. HT/Ps in the self-aware,…

Disagreements between theorists and their collaborators are as old as the field of psychology itself. The most well-known example of a professional relationship marked by diverging viewpoints in psychology is that of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Theoretical disagreements between them were resolved by Jung's creation of a new theory. In this…

It has been argued that the predominant focus of midlife personality development is generativity; other research has found that social roles influence both its onset and its expression. In this article, we examine women's midlife personality development and its relationship to career and family commitments. Results for a sample of 90 women…

The process of making meaning is a core determinant of human experience. Understanding this process, developmentally, is a vital part of integral counseling. In this article, the authors introduce the concept of ego development stages as increasingly complex and flexible systems of meaning making. An understanding of ego development stages can…

Used stories told in response to Thematic Apperception Test to assess denial, projection, and identification in 90 hospitalized patients clinically diagnosed as having either anaclitic or introjective personality configurations. Results support assumption that denial, projection, and identification represent different levels on developmental…

Various types of humor found among children of school age and among adolescents are placed in a structural-developmental framework. Also discussed are several ways in which teachers can use children's humor in their classrooms. (MP)

Conceptual and empirical evidence generally tends to support the assumption that self-actualization is related to moral maturity, in particular to transitional or post-conventional moral reasoning. Because the evidence is largely correlational, the precise nature of the relationship has yet to be clearly determined. (RM)

This paper discusses Daniel N. Stern's (1985) work, "The Interpersonal World of the Infant: A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology," with respect to its implications for theory on infant psychosocial development. The paper focuses on two areas: the reconceptualization of psychoanalytic developmental psychology, and the…

Erikson discusses the experience of growing old and how it is changing. He reflects on the life cycle and his theory of human development, and on Gandhi's technique of nonviolence and its relationship to generativity. (SK)

Ego identity was assessed for 30 mildly retarded adolescents, 30 nonretarded peers, and 30 nonretarded preadolescents. Results suggest that subjects' identity did not reflect a simple developmental lag but rather a unique profile. Subjects' ego identity was related to social adjustment and level of functioning, even after controlling for…

Examines Allport's concept of unity and why his ideas have not been translated into clinical practice. Discusses how Dabrowski's concept of multilevelness organizes levels of development. The application of multilevelness to unity provides a model in which Allport's ideas are clarified and differentiates personality characteristics potentially…

This document contains three papers describing theoretical approaches and empirical findings concerning the role of anxiety in self-actualization. "Opposing Views of Anxiety and Self-Actualization" by Paul F. Zelhart describes theories of self-actualization that take opposite views of the role of anxiety in psychological development…

Responses of four people to the book "Future Shock" are analyzed in relation to Erik Erikson's theory of personality. Results were interpreted as support for Erickson's theory and as illustration of how people interpret written language in terms of their own situations and life histories. In general, adults applied more detached and…

Summarizes aspects of theory and research on ego development that suggest guiding principles for dealing with the common behaviors of preadolescent children. (Author/MP)

Discusses the development of moral sensitivity in gifted children and its impact on identity formation and development of the self. Also addresses how the phenomenon of asynchrony manifests in moral development of gifted children and the models they develop to give form to their moral concerns. (Author/CR)