Narcissism and Human Development

Wilber (2000) explains “narcissism is not simply the overvaluing of the self and its abilities, but a concomitant undervaluing of others and their contributions” (p. 17).

I see, narcissists mean that they have not simply too much self-esteem, but also they tend to undervalue others too much…  Moreover, Wilber (2000) refers “Each developmental wave is a decrease in narcissism and an increase in consciousness (or increase in the capacity to take deeper and wider perspectives into account)” (p. 20).  In that sense, narcissists stop their development as human beings, and perhaps they proceed against human evolution…

 Reference

A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality

Six Developmental Lines’ Comparison According to Wilber

Now, I’m working on drawing my friend’s psychograph using various developmental psychologists’ models.  Depending on each psychologist, the technical terms are different about human developmental levels.  So, I have to need to standardize those words.  The following table is created in reference to “Integral Psychology.”  However, I’m not sure that each developmental model corresponds to Wilber’s model in an appropriate manner…

Six Developmental Lines’ Comparison According to Wilber (2000b & 2007)

Indigo	-	Ego-aware	Transcendent	Stage 7	Self-Transcendence	-
Turquoise	5th Order	Construct-aware	Turquoise	Stage 6	Self- Actualization	Stage 6
Teal	-	Autonomous	Yellow	-		Stage 5 Stage 4
Green	4/5 Order	Individualistic	Green	Stage 5	Self-Esteem
Orange	4th Order	Conscientious	Orange	Stage 4.5 Stage 4		Stage 3 Stage 2
Amber	3rd Order	Conformist	Blue	Stage 3	Belongingness
Red	2nd Order	Self-protective	Red	Stage 2	Safety	Stage 1
Magenta	1st Order	Impulsive	Purple	Stage 1
Infrared	0	Symbiotic	Beige	Stage 0	Psychological	-

   Wilber              Kegan                Cook-Greuter          Beck & Cowan       Kohlberg             Maslow             Fowler       
Reference

1 Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy

2 The Integral Vision: A Very Short Introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything

I am-Assessment Test of Ego Development

Yesterday, I joined the “Developmental Psychology” class.  The topic was the relation between Loevinger’s model and Kegan’s model.  In the class, regarding the test of human ego development test, the instructor showed us one example of an answer which one old man (fifty years) gave. 

“I am-”

 The test is to fill out the blank, but the man answered “I am more and less than I imagine myself to be.”  Listening his answer, I thought that if I were the man, I would answer the question like this “I am not this and that, but at the same time, I am this and that.”

How do you answer the question?  How do you define yourself?

Reference

Technical Foundations for Measuring Ego Development: The Washington University Sentence Completion Test (Personality & Clinical Psychology)

Developmental Psychology: how to assess human developmental levels? What is the data?

I’m thinking about my final term paper in the developmental psychology class walking around my house in the morning.  This paper requires me to choose a significant person in my life and apply developmental understanding to his or her experience.  In addition, I have to write about the signs and markers of the stages he or she has been through along with the outer changes that have accompanied the stage transformations.

Umm, I have two challenges.  First, who should I choose in my paper?  Second, how can I analyze and assess his or her developmental levels?  The last one is a little bit difficult.  I’m not sure about the data in analyzing and assessing.  Is that an interview article or a book if I choose a celebrity (e.g. a famous CEO or president) whom I’ve never met before?

Anyway, I have no other choice to rely on “language” which he or she spoke.  I think “language” is the important data to analyze and assess developmental levels.  That is because we express our thoughts, emotions, sensations, and feelings by means of words.

However, we should be careful to analyze and assess his or her language.  In my view, language is not a perfect tool to reveal all thoughts, emotions, sensations, and feelings correctly.  Moreover, language is dependent on contexts…  Therefore, language is sometimes the reliable data but sometimes the unreliable data.

This paper is an interesting and challenging staff for me.

“a guide to integral psychotherapy” by Mark Forman

Happily, I’m learning “Developmental Psychology” from Mark who is the author of “a guide to integral psychotherapy” this summer quarter in JFKU.  In fact, when I lived in Japan, I read his book and I was overwhelmed by his insight and a lot of useful information included his book.  I really respect him same as I admire Ken Wilber.  OK, I’ll stop praising him here, but I really recommend his book for not only therapists but also consultants, coaches, and…all kinds of professional people.

After reading his book, I have a lot of questions for him about this book, so I’d like to ask him little by little this quarter.

He gave me his autograph very kindly.  I really appreciated him and I realized after class that he was a very intellectual and warm hearted person.