This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Pfaffenberger, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Different Conceptualizations of Optimum Development

This article discusses different conceptualizations of optimum development in adulthood. The existential perspective of Rollo May is compared to the self-actualization theory of Abraham Maslow and to transpersonal psychology. The paradigms and value assumptions underlying the different theories of personality are explicated, and social constructionism is used as an organizing frame of reference. The principal argument is that in addition to repeating viewpoints in a philosophical debate about values, we need to substantiate our claims with evidence from the existing research and explore how well-designed empirical studies can help us answer lingering questions of what is desirable and possible in regard to optimal development. The author examines the existing research literature in regard to how the disagreements of the above-named schools of thought could be clarified. Suggestions for future directions in humanistic research are presented.

Key Words: humanistic • existential • personality theory • self-actualization • adult development

References

• Alexander, C.N., Heaton, D.P., & Chandler, H.M. (1994). Advanced human development in the vedic psychology of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Theory and research. In M. E. Miller & S. Cook-Greuter (Eds.), Transcendence and mature thought in adulthood (pp. 39—70). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Alexander, C.N., Rainforth, M.V., & Gelderloos, P. (1991). Transcendental meditation, self-actualization, and psychological health: A conceptual overview and statistical meta-analysis. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6(5), 189—247.[Web of Science]
• Block, J. (1982). Assimilation, accommodation, and the dynamics of personality development. Child Development, 53, 281—295.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Block, J. (1993). Studying personality the long way. In D. C. Funder, R. D. Parke, C. Tomlinson-Keasey, & K. Widaman (Eds.), Studying lives through time. (pp. 9—44). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Bugental, J. (1976). The search for existential identity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Cook-Greuter, S. (1999). Postautonomous ego development: A study of its nature and measurement. Dissertation Abstracts International, 60/06B. (UMI No. AAT 9933122). Retrieved November 8, 2003, from Proquest/UMI database.
• Cortright, B. (1997). Psychotherapy and spirit: Theory and practice in transpersonal psychotherapy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
• Cushman, P. (1990). Why the self is empty: Towards a historically situated psychology. American Psychologist, 45, 599—611.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Cushman, P. (1991). Ideology obscured: Political uses of Daniel Stern's infant. American Psychologist, 46, 206—219.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Debats, D.L. (1999). Sources of meaning: An investigation of significant commitments in life. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 39(4), 30—57.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• DeCarvalho, R.J. (1992). The humanistic ethics of Rollo May. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 32(1), 7—18.[Abstract]
• Engler, J. (1986). Therapeutic aims in psychotherapy and meditation. In K. Wilber, J. Engler, & D. P. Brown, (Eds.), Transformations of consciousness (pp. 17—53). Boston: Shambhala.
• Erikson, E.H. (1978). Adulthood. New York: Norton.
• Fisher, R.M. (1997). A guide to Wilberland: Some common misunderstandings of the critics of Ken Wilber and his work on transpersonal theory prior to 1995. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 37(4), 30—73.[Abstract]
• Gergen, K. (1985). The social constructionist movement in modern psychology. American Psychologist, 40, 266—274.[CrossRef]
• Goldberg, I., & Goldberg, H. (2000). Family therapy. In R. J. Corsini & D. Wedding (Eds.), Current psychotherapies (6th ed.) (pp. 375—406). Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock.
• Green, R.G. (1998). Aggression and antisocial behavior. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske and G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (4th ed) (pp. 317—356). New York: Oxford University Press.
• Greening, T. (Ed.) (1984). American politics and humanistic psychology. Dallas, TX: Saybrook Press.
• Greening, T. (2004). Four existential challenges and three answers to each. retrieved January 1, 2005, from https://athena.saybrook.edu/resources/assets/January2005RC/HTP/HTP_challenges_greening.doc
• Habermas, J. (1988). On the logic of the social sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Helson, R., Mitchell, V., & Hart, B. (1985). Lives of women who became autonomous. Journal of Personality, 53(2), 258—285.
• Hewlett, D.C. (2004). A qualitative study of postautonomous ego development: The bridge between postconventional and transcendent ways of being. Dissertation Abstracts International, 65/02B. (UMI No. AAT 3120900). Retrieved May 5, 2004, from Proquest/UMI database.
• Josselson, R., Lieblich, A, & McAdams, D. P. (Eds.). (2003). Up close and personal: The teaching and learning of narrative research. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Kanai L.H. (1995). The rise and decline of Buddhism in India. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.
• King, L. (2001). The hard road to the good life: The happy, mature person. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41(1), 51—72.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization. In D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research (pp. 348—480). Chicago: Rand McNally.
• Koltko, M.E. (1989). The humanized no-self: A response to Schneider's critique of transpersonal psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 29(4), 482—492.[Abstract]
• Labouvie-Vief, G., & Diehl (1998). The role of ego development in the adult self. In P. M. Westenberg, A. Blasi, & L. D. Lawrence (Eds.), Personality development. Theoretical, empirical, and clinical investigations of Loevinger's conception of ego development (pp. 219—236). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Loevinger, J. (1976). Ego development. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Maslow, A.H. (1968). Towards a psychology of being. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
• Maslow, A.H. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row. (Original work published 1954)
• Maslow, A.H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York: Viking.
• May, R. ( 1958). Contributions to existential psychotherapy. In R. May, E. Angela, & H. Ellenberger (Eds.), Existence: A new dimension in psychology and psychiatry (pp. 37—91). New York: Basic Books.
• May, R. ( 1977). The meaning of anxiety (2nd ed.). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1950)
• May, R. ( 1980). Value conflicts and anxiety. In I. L. Kutash & L. B. Schlesinger (Eds.), Handbook on stress and environment (pp. 241—248). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• May, R. ( 1981). Freedom and destiny. New York: Norton.
• May, R. ( 1982). The problem of evil: An open letter to Carl Rogers. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 22(3), 10—21.[Free Full Text]
• May, R. ( 1983). The discovery of being. New York: Norton.
• May, R. ( 1989). Answers to Ken Wilber and John Rowan. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 29(2), 244—248.[Free Full Text]
• McAdams, D.P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myth and the making of the self. New York: William Morrow.
• McAdams, D.P. (1996). Alternative futures for the study of human individuality. Journal of Research in Personality, 30, 374—388.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• McAdams, D. P., & de St. Austin, E. (Eds.). (1998). Generativity and adult development. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Miller, J.B. (1986). What do we mean by relationship? Wellesley, MA: Wellesley Center for Women. Retrieved January 20, 2003, from http://www.wcwonline.org/title147.html
• Miller, M.E. (1994). World views, ego development, and epistemological changes from the conventional to the postformal: A longitudinal perspective. In M. E. Miller & S. Cook-Greuter (Eds.), Transcendence and mature thought in adulthood (pp. 147—181). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Miller, M.E., & Cook-Greuter, S. (1994). From postconventional development to transcendence: Visions and theories. In M. E. Miller & S. Cook-Greuter (Eds.), Transcendence and mature thought in adulthood: The further reaches of adult development. (pp. xv—xxxii). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Piaget, J. (1977). The development of thought: Equilibration of cognitive structures. New York: Viking.
• Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Rogers, C. (1982). Reply to Rollo May's letter. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 22(4), 85—89.
• Schneider, K.J. (1987). The deified self: A "centaur" response to Wilber and the transpersonal movement. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 27(2), 196—216.[Abstract]
• Schneider, K.J. (1989). Infallibility is so damn appealing: A response to Ken Wilber. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 29(4), 470—481.[Abstract]
• Schneider, K.J. (2001). A reply to Walsh. In K. J. Schneider, J. F. T. Bugental, & J. F. Pierson (Eds.), The handbook of humanistic psychology (pp. 621—624). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Schneider, K.J. (2004). Rediscovery of awe: Splendor, mystery, and the fluid center of life. St Paul, MN: Paragon House.
• Schneider, K.J. & May, R. (1995). The psychology of existence: An integrative, clinical_perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Schultz, L.H., & Selman, R.L. (1998). Ego development and interpersonal development in young adulthood. In P. M. Westenberg, A. Blasi, & L. D. Lawrence (Eds.), Personality development. Theoretical, empirical, and clinical investigations of Loevinger's conception of ego development (pp. 181—202). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Skoe, E.A., & von der Lippe, A. (2002). Ego development and the ethics of care and justice: The relations among them revisited. Journal of Personality, 70(4), 485—508.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Slife, B.D. (2004). Theoretical challenges to therapy practice and research: The constraints of naturalism. In M. J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin and Garfield's handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (5th ed.) (pp. 44—83). New York: John Wiley.
• Spencer, R. (2000). A comparison of relational psychologies. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley Center for Women. Retrieved January 20, 2003, from http://www.wcwonline.org/title320.html
• Vaughan, F., & Walsh, R. (1994). The worldview of Ken Wilber. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 34(2), 6—21.[Free Full Text]
• Walsh, R. (2000). Asian Psychotherapies. In R. J. Corsini & D. Wedding (Eds.), Current psychotherapies (6th ed.) (pp. 407—461). Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock.
• Walsh, R. (2001). Authenticity, conventionality, and angst: Existential and transpersonal perspectives. In K. J. Schneider, J. F. T. Bugental, & J. F. Pierson (Eds.), The handbook of humanistic psychology (pp. 609—620). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Wilber, K. (1986). The spectrum of development. In K. Wilber, J. Engler, & D. P. Brown, (Eds.). Transformations of consciousness (pp. 65—106). Boston: Shambhala.
• Wilber, K. (1989a). God is so damn boring: A response to Kirk Schneider. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 29(4), 457—469.[Abstract]
• Wilber, K. (1989b). Reply to Schneider. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 29(4), 493—500.[Free Full Text]
• Wilber, K. (2000). Integral psychology. Boston: Shambhala.
• Yalom, I. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.

This version was published on October 1, 2007

Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 47, No. 4, 501-523 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0022167806296858


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Pfaffenberger, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?