Predicting Ego Integrity Using Prior Ego Development Stages for Older Adults in the Community

Background: Erikson’s ego development theory is the most accepted theory that involves eight stages of psychosocial development over an individual`s all lifespan. The result of development in prior stages will influence the later stages. The elderly were mainly characterized by the central developmental tasks: achieving ego integrity vs. despair. The harvest in the last stage will be related to the attitude of facing death in the elderly. Methods: A cross-sectional study of elderly age from 65 to 90 years old (n = 292) was carried out and investigated via the Inventory of Psychosocial Balance. Pearson correlation and path analysis were performed in order to analyze the direct and indirect effect among the first seven stages with the eighth stage. Results: We found that all the eight stages were significantly related to each other, and comparing to the previous seven stages, “the generativity stage” (r = 0.77) was the most relevant stage with “ego integrity”. In all indirect and direct effects, the seventh stage had the greatest impact on the “ego integrity stage”; the direct effect was 0.89. Conclusions: Compared to the whole lifespan, adulthood possessed a higher influence on the elderly stage. We found that all the eight stages were significantly related to each other, and comparing the first seven stages, the “generativity stage” (r = 0.77) was the most relevant stage to “ego integrity”. Conclusions: Compared to the whole lifespan, adulthood possessed a higher influence on the elderly stage.

The Emergence of Psychoanalytic Metaneuropsychology: A Neuropsychoanalytically Informed Reconsideration of Early Psychic Development

This paper is principally concerned with reappraising some of the major disagreements that separated the Viennese and the London Kleinians during the British Psychoanalytical Society's Controversial Discussions. Of particular focus are questions pertaining to the genesis of ego development, the beginnings of object-relating, and the role of unconscious phantasy in respect of these phenomena. The aim of the investigation is to inquire into the light that may be shed on the once intractable conflicts surrounding these questions by bringing to bear more recent developments from psychoanalysis and the neurosciences. First, various key issues from the Controversial Discussions are outlined, before the paper turns to work by Jaak Panksepp and Mark Solms that bears on these older arguments and the Freudian theories that underpinned them. With these conceptual foundations established, three questions are posed and discussed with a view to understanding the implications of recent neuropsychoanalytic thinking for some of the entrenched conflicts that divided the British Society. These questions include: (1) what does it mean for the ego if the id is conscious? (2) What does recent neuroscientific knowledge tell us about whether the ego should be thought of as present from birth? (3) How can we understand and locate unconscious phantasy if the main part of the mind that Freud thought of as unconscious is not so? Research from the arena of infant development—particularly the material and analysis of infant observation—is drawn on to illustrate various conclusions. The paper ultimately concludes that taking such an interdisciplinary approach can reveal renewed justification for aspects of the Kleinian metapsychology.

How do adult twins experience and view their identity?

Adult identity formation and individuation have been well documented in psychological and world spiritual literature. Identity and individuation differ for twins because of their physiological and psychological connection. Although the literature has to some extent explored twin identity at prepersonal and personal stages of ego development, little research literature exists which looks to unravel transpersonal phases of twins’ individuation. With a focus on transpersonal development, this research used intuitive inquiry to investigate “How adult twins experience and view their identity.” Individual twins derived from a single ovum (monozygotic) and from two separate ova (dizygotic), were interviewed to understand their personal experience of their identity development. The researcher’s own experience of twin identity was reported through embodied writing and poetry. Results allowed for the formation of an emerging model of Twin Identity Development, which outlined a possible trajectory for twin identity development, introducing the transpersonal as a connecting thread between the prepersonal and personal twin identity. Participant perspectives on identity development indicated the possibility for twins to embrace both an individual and a joint identity and in some cases, transcend both. Embracing all aspects of both identities created a sense of wholeness for twins. Further investigation into different twin identities and parenting of twins could validate the research.

Components and Correlates of Personality Coherence in Action, Agency, and Authorship

Personality coherence is an individual difference capturing the extent to which a person’s psychological characteristics are coordinated, unified, and integrated. The present research addressed the extent to which coherence indicators inter-correlate and predict relevant outcomes over and above the effects of the Big Five among midlife adults ( N = 446). Coherence indicators loaded onto four components: actor coherence, which captured the extent to which people were consistent in their interpersonal values, traits, and behavior; agent coherence, which captured the extent to which people’s goals were coordinated and need-congruent; author coherence, which captured the extent to which people’s self-defining stories were well composed and theme laden; and controlled coherence, which captured the extent to which people experienced their goals as pressured or compelled and as leading them to need-detracting futures. Although actor coherence correlated with both agent and author coherence, agent and author coherence were not correlated. Nevertheless, the actor-, agent-, and author-coherence composites each predicted at least one of the outcome variables (i.e., well-being, autonomy, and ego development) over and above the Big Five. The present findings suggest that the coherence of personality constitutes an individual difference domain of consequence beyond the established content dimensions of personality.

Личностная зрелость в материалах свободного самоописания: имплицитная теория рейтера

Теория развития эго (также в литературе — теория развития личности, англ. Theory of Ego Development) Джейн Лёвинджер (1976) описывает, как личность на протяжении жизни проходит через стадии становления зрелости. Результаты значительного количества эмпирических исследований демонстрируют, что теория концептуально целостна, а соответствующая ей методика — Тест неоконченных предложений Вашингтонского университета (Washington University Sentence Completion Test; WUSCT; НПВУ) — психометрически устойчива (Manners & Durkin, 2001). Несмотря на это, в теории обнаруживается значительное количество пробелов, среди которых можно упомянуть (1) вопрос об отражении её центрального конструкта — «эго» — на уровне данных, a также (2) разрыв между регламентированной и реальной процедурой оценивания уровня развития эго. Настоящее исследование посвящено преимущественно рассмотрению вышеупомянутых пробелов и в перспективе направлено на их устранение. Основной целью данной работы выступает проверка возможности диагностики уровня развития личности на материалах свободного самоописания (МСС; Визгина, 2011). Ожидается, что данная цель будет достигнута посредством интервьюирования рейтеров методики НПВУ на предмет их имплицитных теорий относительно стадий личностного развития. Рейтеры (люди, обученные интерпретировать результаты методики в соответствии с руководством) раскроют свои теории на материалах МСС. Ожидаемые результаты включают в себя обоснование использования МСС в качестве альтернативного способа измерения личностной зрелости, а также операциональное определение эго. Предполагается, что полученные результаты значительно поспособствуют дальнейшему развитию теории Лёвинджер.

Growth in Adult Ego Development and Mentalizing Emotions for an Increasingly Multidimensional God Image

Growth in cognitive complexity in the framework of adult ego development has shown to enable sophistication in mentalizing interpersonal emotions. This has implications for cultivating a more multidimensional God Image for spirituality in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The construct of mentalization will be used to understand the integration of these concepts. Empirical findings that support this conceptual integration will be explored. Clinical applications for spiritually integrated psychotherapy will follow.