I promised that we would next look at the developmental levels beyond those described by Piaget. In doing so, I’m going to rely heavily on the work of Susanne Cook-Greuter, who studied under Harvard’s Robert Kegan, one of the superstars in the world of human development. At Harvard, she became involved with the most highly regarded testing instrument for determining stages of human development, Jane Loevinger’s sentence completion test, and became a certified scorer for the test.
In the Loevinger test a person completes 36 sentence fragments, and from the responses the person’s developmental level is ascertained. This test has been used since the 1950s, and has been found to be VERY accurate. A huge amount of data has been compiled over the last 50 or so years, and the test is the most highly respected instrument in the field.
In scoring the test Cook-Greuter (who, by the way, I know personally, and have studied with) began to notice responses that did not fit any of the stages identified by Loevinger (though these stages in many ways mirror Piaget’s levels, Loevinger was focusing on the development of one’s sense of self rather than on merely cognitive development). Eventually, after a great deal of research, Cook-Greuter compiled enough data to add two additional levels to Loevinger’s model and is now considered to be one of the world’s top experts in human development, and THE expert in the higher developmental stages.
Before discussing the postconventional stages, though, I want to give you a quick “cook’s tour” of the Loevinger levels corresponding to those we’ve already looked at. This will serve as a quick review, and will also highlight the fact that there is more to development than just the cognitive line.
Though there are many naming conventions, the general developmental categories I described in previous posts might best be described as archaic (or sensorimotor in Piaget’s terminology), preconventional or magic (Piaget’s preoperational), conventional or mythic (Piaget’s concrete operational), and rational or modern (Piaget’s formal operational). There are also various names for the levels that come after these. The next couple of levels are variously described as postmodern, postconventional, postrational, or postformal (and by a few other names). After that we have unitive or transcendent stages.
Yes, I know. The names can be confusing. I would suggest thinking of them, in general, as archaic (essentially, babies and people who are completely dependent), preconventional (those who don’t yet understand the laws of cause and effect and the general “ways of the world”–children), followed by conventional, postconventional, and unitive.
In the Loevinger/Cook-Greuter developmental levels the archaic/sensorimotor level is called Symbiotic, because the infant is in a symbiotic relationship with the mother. After that, there are two preconventional stages, Impulsive and Opportunistic. Then, there are three conventional stages, Diplomat, Expert, and Achiever, with Achiever corresponding to Piaget’s formal operational level.
Then, there are the postconventional stages (which I will describe in a post I’ll make in a few days): Individualist and Strategist, followed by two Unitive (or transcendent) stages, Magician and Unitive. Cook-Greuter acknowledges that eventually Unitive may be subdivided into more stages, but there are so few people who score at Magician or Unitive that there isn’t enough data (yet) to do so.
Let’s quickly summarize the preconventional and conventional levels according to the Loveinger/Cook-Grueter scale, and then in my next post, which I plan on delivering to you within a few days, I’ll discuss the postconventional stages. Then, finally, in one last post about development, I’ll describe the unitive levels.
The early Symbiotic stage is one where the infant constructs a stable world of objects, cognitively separating himself from the world. This stage is pre-egoic and pre-verbal. The child essentially has no perspective and is an undifferentiated self. The main accomplishment of this stage is the separation of self from the world–the ability to know what is “me” and what is “not me.”
In the next stage, Impulsive, one begins to use language, and begins to experience a first-person perspective, reflected in statements such as “I want” and “mine.” The main concern of this stage is impulse gratification. This stage is one of magical thinking, with a sense of power curbed only by punishment (which is seen as random or retaliatory and unrelated to behavior). Other people are simply a source of need gratification: good ones give, mean ones don’t. At this stage the child learns to recognize simple dichotomies.
The next preconventional stage is called Opportunistic, a stage I characterized as narcissistic in previous posts. The Opportunist has an “I win, you lose” mentality. Though he knows that others have a perspective, he doesn’t have the ability to take that perspective. The Opportunist sees the world only in terms of his own needs or wants, and is quite willing to control or manipulate others to get what he wants.
Adult Opportunists are often self-protective in order to maintain their fragile self, which is centered around their own will, ideas, and wishes. They have a beginning awareness of others as separate people or objects, but use that awareness only to understand what others are after so they can better manipulate them in order to get what they want.
Opportunists try to avoid trouble but since their awareness is limited to their own needs and desires they often get into trouble by crossing boundaries. They then blame others for the consequences. Rules are followed only to gain immediate advantage or avoid punishment. Any sense of self respect result comes from achieving control over situations or people. Actions are bad only if one is caught (getting caught is bad, not the action itself). Opportunists do not understand the relationship between actions and consequences, which is one reason why they blame other for consequences they have created. This inability to understand cause and effect also leads them to believe in luck and magic. Often grandiosely fearless (another symptom on not understanding cause and effect), they sometimes choose dangerous and demanding jobs that represent the daring side of this stage.
As you would imagine, Opportunist relationships are volatile. Their feelings (especially negative feelings) are projected onto others. Opportunists have little insight into themselves and are almost entirely unable to reflect upon their own emotions. Negative feelings are always the fault of others.
Opportunists can come from one of two basic approaches: they can be aggressive in going after what they want and trying to dominate others, or they can be self-protective, fearing that others will dominate, control, or deceive them. Often what looks like aggression or attempts to dominate is also a form of self-protection.
The next stage (the first conventional stage) is the Diplomat. Most people have reached this stage by age 12, though some adults remain at the Opportunist stage. The three conventional stages (Diplomat, Expert, and Achiever) make up about 80% of people in Western countries.
In terms of Piaget’s stages, Diplomats correspond to concrete operational thinking–they use a growing knowledge of cause and effect to deal with daily events and tasks. Experts add the ability to think in abstract terms, and Achievers use formal operational thinking, the highest level of rational thought. Achiever is seen as the adult stage in most of Western culture. (See my previous posts about Piaget for more information about cognitive development.)
In healthy development, Diplomat is the stage of early adolescence, though many people remain in this stage throughout life. A Diplomat’s sense of self is defined by his role in his group, and he sees the world in terms of in-group and out-group. Instead of “me against the world” (the view of the Opportunist) his point of view is “our group against others” or “our group is better than other groups.”
Diplomats are comformists. They want to be liked, so they do their best to develop a pleasing personality, to be well-groomed, to be pleasant, to avoid the negative. They divide the world into simple categories and types of people. They accept rules, roles, and norms without questioning them. They live based on rules and “shoulds,” and identify with those who share their tastes and perspectives. The Diplomat does not yet have a true self in the sense of having a individual and separate adult identity. Instead, his self is defined by others. Self/other boundaries are blurry, and relationships are of the I-need-you variety.
The next stage is the Expert. Experts are still tied to the group, but are able to step back and look at themselves–a rudimentary type of self-relection (what is called a third-person perspective). This new and wider perspective gives them a certain distance from the group. They are still tied to the group, but see themselves as more distinct, even special. They see more individual differences, whereas the Diplomat looks for sameness. Seeing differences and alternatives, Experts are good at offering many solutions for every problem. They are, however, still unable to prioritize these solutions, something that will come at the next stage.
Again because they are able to see differences, Experts have a beginning ability to notice the distinct traits and patterns of the behavior in others, and in themselves. Needs and wants, suppressed at the Diplomat stage as a way of fitting in, begin to be expressed. Experts want to be accepted for how they are different from other group members, for their specialness, rather than for conforming. They often feel that they “have it all figured out.” They know the right way, what to believe, how to do things, and have a strong sense of the way things should be. They frequently cite “experts” to back their opinions, and in conversation often respond to others with, “Yes, but…”
While Diplomats repress aggression in order to get along, Experts are willing to express aggressive feelings, through a hostile sense of humor, through ridicule, and through defensiveness. They enjoy oppositional battles and live in a world where things are sure and clear and they feel entitled to impose their views on others.
Experts often become engineers, technocrats, bureaucrats, and some types of professionals. Experts run many of the complex but conventional everyday affairs of modern society.
The last conventional stage is the Achiever. The Achiever is a formal operational thinker. He is able to prioritize, see possibilities, look into the future, plan, and think through a course of action before acting–rather than just acting in a random manner, as in the previous stages (again, for more information, see previous posts). Achievers represent the target stage for Western culture, the rationally competent and independent adult. Where the Expert had a third-person perspective (he could stand back and observe himself and his interactions with others), the Achiever adds an additional ability to observe his past and future selves and his past and future interactions with others.
Achievers are more comfortable in diverse groups and situations than are Diplomats and Experts. They can be a part of diverse groups with different ideals, goals, and points of view without feeling torn between them or confused about who they are. They also have a greatly expanded ability for introspection, and have a much greater understanding of and insight into their own feelings, motives, personal dreams, and goals. In fact, self-analysis is a favorite passtime.
Achievers believe in the scientific method and rationality, and that this form of thought can improve the world. Achievers are busy helping to make the world a better place for everyone (another example of an expanded perspective–Diplomats and Experts are mostly concerned with themselves and their group). Having a longer and broader view, they can handle a longer delay between action and results, realizing that some of what they do might not bear fruit until well into the future.
Achievers are interested in getting things done, and may feel driven to accomplish something in the world. They are often entrepreneurs. They have strong convictions, and an idealistic enthusiasm. They convince others with rational arguments and evidence rather than by putting them down, as do Experts. They love theories, and the hypothetical. They are skeptical searchers for the truth, and trust that it eventually can be found.
This review brings us to the postconventional stages, which I will address in the next post, in a few days. Let’s step back for a moment and look at the big picture. At the preconventional and conventional stages we’re concerned with gaining more and more knowledge about how to operate effectively in the world. Progress is defined by noticing increasingly more pieces of the puzzle; discovering patterns, rules, and laws that govern how things work; learning to better predict, measure, and explain the world; seeing and taking into account an increasingly larger time span; and, in general, being able to know and do more and be more in charge of one’s life.
At these preconventional and conventional stages (which together include over 90% of people in Western nations) we are for the most part socially programmed, we use conventional linear thinking, and seek increased differentiation–in other words, we create an increasingly solid individual and independent sense of self.
When (or if) we enter the postconventional stages, we begin to move away from increased differentiation and toward greater integration. We more and more see how things go together and how we are connected to others rather than individually distinct, and begin to deal with the world from this perspective, and move away from the individualistic perpspective we’ve been developing so far. Our sense of self becomes more about connection than agency. And, we begin to recognize and question the fundamental assumptions of the previous stages–even including the reality of our sense of being a separate self.
At the postconventional and unitive stages we increasingly see the world as a giant, dynamic, interconnected system rather than a random assortment of individual units and events. We began our life embedded in the world in a completely undifferentiated way, unable to tell the difference between me and not-me. From that point, we have gradually differentiated into an independent and separate self. Now, as we move into the postconventional stages and beyond, we move the other way, toward seeing and experiencing what many describe as an ultimate “oneness with everything.”
In a few days, I’ll post the next installment, where we will investigate what happens in the postconventional stages.
Be well.
Thank you Bill. What you offered here I find very helpful not only for myself but for my clients counselees as well. I have more time to ponder on this this coming holy week. I look forward to your future updates.
A very enlightening post. In the past year, I believe I have moved from Diplomat to Expert. I’ll write a little bit about my experience, if anyone cares to read on.
I was working as a paramedic- long hours, stress and a lot of unnecessary rules. Increasingly, I found I was asking myself, “why are we doing this task?” I began to look at my co-workers as if they were “worker bees,” i.e.: they did what they were told unquestioningly and whether it was the right thing to do or not. It was a rather stressful time for me as I had always done my ‘duty’ regardless of my personal beliefs, but now I felt that this was the wrong thing to do as I was denying being myself. I had feelings that I was ‘betraying’ my co-workers and the job by questioning authority, and yet felt that I was doing the right thing by following my beliefs.
I have since left EMS, and have returned to college to study psychology. Having studied for a degree before being a paramedic, I now find that I am a lot more open to inquiry, can work with abstract thoughts easier, and that my creative problem solving skills have increased considerably. I was a mediocre, disinterested student the first time round, but I am now mentally stimulated and intensely interested.
I want to thank 2 people for this change – the first is Paul Scheele, whose PhotoReading retreat last August started me on the personal development path and also is helping me speed through my expansive course reading list. Well worth the money, but my advice would be to do the seminar or retreat as I personally found the home learning course difficult to complete on my own without the support of others.
The second person is Bill Harris, whose Holosync and online courses have helped me readjust easily to my new surroundings and has allowed me to nurture and develop my spirit, rather than keep it shut in a Pandora’s box, afraid that my world will tumble down if I look inside. In one previous post (or perhaps it was the Holosync reading material), Bill refers to your feelings of security increasing as Holosync use increases. I didnt understand what he meant at the time, but I do now. You begin to accept and be happy with what you are, rather than trying to validate what other people think you are.
I’m on Awakening Level 1 in case anyone is interested, and am excited by the prospect of 11 more levels, considering the incredible change Ive experienced up to now!
This is a bit too much jargon for me thought we were attempting to move pass rigid classification of people places and things. How will knowin g this stuff help us move forward in our evolution. I’m turned off by jargon and technicle terminologies in excess. However in reading the descriptions, I feel as if each one describes a part of me including the the achievment stage.
would love to invest in your product which I guess would move me forward to whatever stage I’m supposed to be at. But thus far I haven’t been able to fit it in my budget opting for less expensive tools that seem to be working for me. One day soon I trust!
In regards to the preconventional levels of the Loveinger/Cook-Grueter scale, I have a family member who is obviously stuck in the Opportunistic Stage and she drives us all nuts. Any suggestions on how to help this person. We all just tend to avoid her…..Thanks!
I have read all the posts, and thought I would add some of the things I have learned along the years of my life=These “experiences” happened without being sought, unless you can call wanting to KNOW the depths of life and living, and perhaps how it all “works”…Knowing from late teens that I chose LIFE, when at a juncture between life & death, I felt that the meaning of life was to discover what was inside you that you are, and then to live the Truth of yourself out into the world, and seek that Truth when experiencing with others, friends, coworkers, significan Others, and exercise your talents as you found them, and in your “work” as honestly as you possibly could, and to continue this life experiment for the rest of your life…
Throughout the years, I have had what I call “Realizations” where, especially if something bothered me, or in a state especially in a Nature environment, suddenly I would have a “mind picture” & an instant understanding of what was being presented to me that seemed to pull aside the “veil” of the manifested material world and show me a substrata of another dimension of “reality” that lies underneath the apparent…I felt very grateful that these experiences continued off & on for years…
I continued to study, work, and relate with chosen others, and since I worked in a research medical environment for years was involved in many life/death scenarios, where persons of all ages underwent life changes psychologically & physically, and learned how magnificent many persons are at their core…I began to write prose poetry that seemed to write itself, and this continued for many years & actually became a Diary of sorts, which delineated a Becoming of myself, which is personal yet has aspects of the universal in it=since we all are growing in understanding…
To come more to the point of this Oneness alot of us have been speaking of and questioning, This is the point of this response=All of my experiences have come at intervals over years=I did not “remain” in the state of my “Realizations”–>these “passed” but left a residue of what I had learned during them…I also passed from “talking” to God about everything, to seeing that the same God was behind all Religion’s cultural trappings, then to come to see that all Good that happened on earth came through people only…in my effort to understand this condition of life, as I saw it, along with what I had learned through these Realizations, G.O.D. seemed to metamorph into a Universal Consciousness, which is the underlying source of all life & manifestation, and of each of us…
In the last few years, I have had several experiences in which I seemed to be drawn out of my Self, yet remained connected with Earth & all living things on it, while feeling that “I” had been here before the creation of this planet, and would be here after all was gone, and a very powerful LOVE poured out from me or through me for our earth and every living thing upon it, exceedingly strong LOVE that was surprising that it erupted so fast & encompassed ALL of creation…I also have had the experience more than once of feeling One Being residing under the different sexes, features, skin tones, etc. so One with all that I would not have been able to “live” my life in that condition–>fortunately, I find that these Realizations & experiences are limited in “time”, yet the KNOWING that comes from them remains…
All this leads me to understand that “built in” to us, at the bottom of our Core Self, our manifested BEing, we are unlimited in what we can learn to be, accomplish, manifest while we live–>that we arise and have our BEing within this Universal Consciousness–>that the more I delve into developing my individual talents, the more I live & share & understand why we are here in life…and the further understanding “comes” to me with all its gifts…I know that these experiences come to all who want to know and ask the questions of themselves & others & of life itself, and comes so uniquely to each of us, whatever we are made up of, and whatever we hold in common with others that makes us whole within ourselves and allows us to feel this Oneness with ALL, and to function to the utmost at the same time…
Nothing is lost but whatever holds us back, and Everything is gained…I rejoice in observing others who can “take off” from their solid base of uniqueness & self-understanding and find the joy of their own creativity & passion in living and sharing themselves with all they come upon…I am finally going to finish getting together my book: Diary of a Human Soul Singing to Itself=the first fruit of my exploration here on Earth…with more to come to fruition as I continue to live…
I love reading this Blog and even more I enjoy the comments other readers make. This is the first time I have ever contributed to any public blog, but something drew me to give this response. I am now realizing that this is probably too long, and if so, I give permission to shorten it if you want to accept this.
Love, Lila
Recently I took the Keirsey Temperment Sorter test and found myself classified as an Idealist of the Counselor type. Thinking back I can see that, even in early childhood, I read, thought, listened and questioned more than other children.
Instinctivly I knew that most of my questions would not be welcomed by adults so I learned to wait patiently for the answers.
What I learned over time is that sometimes the answers don’t come or are beyond my current understanding. Waiting until all is understood can mean getting stuck so sometimes the next step needs to be built on faith.
If you trust your mentor (and why would s/he be your mentor otherwise?) then you take the next step without fully understanding how it is
constructed. After the step has been taken you may look back on it from a different viewpoint and see that it’s really simple after all.
I wonder Bill, about temperment and cognitive development. It seems to me that with my sort of temperment it must have been easier for me to develop than it is for others with different temperments.
Finding and taking this test has helped me to understand why many very intelligent people seem to get stuck at a certain level of cognitive development.
Love your Blog.
Gina
Bill ~
Thank you for giving me insight regarding the developmental levels of humans. I found the information easy to understand and very interesting to read. I look forward to more of your “words of wisdom” in the future.
is is not the diversity of all the above thoughts that show we are each inderviduals yet, in oneness in a world of duality.
Very interesting Bill, thanks. Been using holosync for years -great benefits in indescribable ways. Hope this isn’t too “off-topic” -I’ve been wondering lately if as I develop (hopefully including thru these stages) I am also moving toward the centre of each of the four Meyers-Briggs scales, i.e. toward perfect balance in each (where, ironically, I would be no longer classifiable by them). Has anyone you know of researched this?
I also echo the earlier respondent in asking how one can access the Loevinger sentence completion test, preferably with Cook-Greuter’s refinements?
Love, Ivan
[...] development, as defined by Jane Loevinger, who developed a model to illustrate human personality development, consists of the changes in [...]
Another great blog. I’am so thankful for finding Centerpointe and excited to take the journey of self development. I find all your information and insight about life a breath of fresh air. Thank you,Peace
off topic, but is Centerpoint doing any research on isochronic tones? I’ve read that they are more effective than binaural beats for alpha/theta ranges, but fall short on delta ranges. I am on the prologue right now, and this may help me decide if I continue the program. I’m a student and it’s a great expense.
FROM BILL: It’s a gimmic. Isochronic tones are monaural beats, like a drum beat or a ticking clock. It is possible to entrain SOME brain wave patterns, though it takes a lot longer, using this method, just as people can get into a trance through drumming. Robert Monroe and other early pioneers in this field ABANDONED this approach when they realized that binaural beats (of which Holosync is derived) work a lot better. Plus, they allow us (by changing the carrier frequency) to create progressively more powerful deeper levels, which cannot be done with isochronic tones (despite what these people might say).
The bigger problem is that there are a number of tiny little companies out there making entrainment-type soundtracks and trying to start their business by framing their product in relation to Holosync, which they do by outright lying about Centerpointe in their marketing. The people using Isochronics are among these people. Quite frankly, if it wasn’t that they are so small and inconsequential that it doesn’t matter, and if I didn’t have a zillion more important things to do, I would sue them for disparaging us (don’t think I won’t, though, if it becomes necessary). I’m all for someone creating a company and selling a good product, but not by lying about their own product, and Certainly not by lying about ours.
Isochronic tones will probaby have SOME effect on you, though monaural beats are pretty primitive. They will not do what Holosync does by any strestch of the imagination.
But doesn’t the relative truth exist only within the consciousness? And isn’t it the consciousness that contains the perception of our own singular interpretation of what is? Whether we see ourselves as a separate “me” or as part of the whole depends upon where we are in the spin of our individual evolution. Don’t we carry within us, the potential of being every element that can be considered characteristic of human nature while we focus upon certain aspects of it? Doesn’t the infant have to learn selfishness before he can learn kindness? Didn’t we have to create God in order to create ourselves and didn’t we have to create ourselves imperfectly before we can hope to find perfection? How can we know happiness if we have not first experienced what it is to be unhappy? How can we find completeness if we don’t realize how incomplete we are?
FROM BILL: On the “idea” level I can agree with most of what you have said. I want to point out, though, that all of this is your idea about reality. Any idea you have about it isn’t it. Genpo Roshi asked me once, with great fanfare, to describe in a couple of minutes my understanding of “how it all is.” I thought about it for a few minutes and framed a very Zen-sounding answer about everything being one interconnected whole, blah blah blah. In a theoretical sense what I said was “correct”–it was the same sort of thing said by many Zen masters and other enlightened beings. Then Genpo said, “Okay, now doubt that.” He was making the point that everything I said was an idea about reality, nothing more. Awakening comes from doubting ALL ideas, all concepts, all beliefs. Though these things are useful, on another level they’re all bullshit. It’s so easy to get lost in our ideas about the world, which makes us miss the actual world. In fact, as long as we are swimming in our ideas, as great as those ideas might be, we miss the reality the ideas are supposed to represent.
so many interesting “takes”- I would like to add another- There is a wonderful new book “Soul Communication: opening Spiritual Channels for Success and Fulfillment” by Dr. Zhi Gang Sha which guides and inspires one to do just that- quite a step above (but not apart) from our many comments/concerns. It is, quite simply, a primer on how to communicate soul to soul with all animate- and inanimate- things. Quite extraordinary, to say the least!
PS the book has met with widespread approval of Amazon customers- it’s #1 on its bestseller list!
FROM BILL: I known Master Sha–he is a chi gong master who lives in San Francisco.
Thank you Mr. Harris! I ran across your work while perusing Itunes podcasts.
Friday, as I was driving to school, (I teach Human Development at a community college) I stumbled across your Piaget pieces. I was planning to speak with the students about adolescent cognition and Piaget’s last stage. Wow! My lecture was so enhanced by your wisdom.
I have found the transcripts of the podcast here and will print to study your perspective further.
Thank you so much. I am enriched!
Donna King