Lanning, Kevin

Pauletti, Rachel E

English

Lynn University: SPIRAL (Scholarly Publications, Institutional Repository and Archives at Lynn)

Impulsive Self-Protective Individualistic HighestConformist Self-Aware ConscientiousChildhood; early adolescence Late adolescence; most adults Morally mature?“rules” “stupid” “made to be broken” “acceptable when commonly agreed upon”“necessary, but so are exceptions”“to provide structure within which freedom abides ”Childhood; early adolescence Late adolescence; most adults Morally mature?Data• Exemplar data (Hy & Loevinger, 1996)• Various empirical data sets (1989-2014)• Over 34,000 responses• Over 167,000 wordsExcluded language features• Punctuation• “Stop” words (e.g., “and”, “but”)Analyses• Quantitative:Correlations between ego levels in word use• Qualitative: Pull out the 25 words with the greatest relative frequency at a given stage compared to the entire samplePrimary Research Questions• Are correlations higher between adjacent than non-adjacent stages?• Are words at higher stages consistent with greater cognitive complexity?No. of Responses No. of Total WordsEgo Level Exemplar Data Empirical Data All FrequentlyOccurring (n > 5)Impulsive 141 187 845 (≈2.57 words per response)775Self-Protective 418 1045 4655 4237Conformist 1044 6747 25434 24151Self-Aware 2180 9933 54543 (≈4.50 words per response)51596Conscientious 2364 7081 55703 52023Individualistic 1106 1407 20235 18679Highest 333 159 5902 (≈11.99 words per response)5342All Stages 7586 26559 167325 156811Impulsive Self-ProtectiveConformist Self-Aware Conscientious Individualistic HighestImpulsive -- .80 .63 .67 .65 .59 .53Self-Protective-- .77 .80 .79 .73 .68Conformist -- .91 .87 .80 .74Self-Aware -- .97 .93 .96Conscientious -- .96 .91Individualistic -- .95Highest --Decreasing similarity between non-adjacent stages. Ego development occurs in a predictably ordered sequence.Exception: Conformist stage more similar to subsequent non-adjacent stages than previous adjacent stage. May indicate qualitative “leap” in development.Impulsive Stage Themes:• Sex• Aggression• ConsumptionSelf-Aware Stage Themes:• Introspection• Doubt• Questioning of  a just world Highest Stages Themes:• Identity• Perspective-taking• Concern for equalityDevelop a “dictionary” of  words used at each stageCompare with words used outside the context of  the WUSCTUse language, rather than the WUSCT to predict ego developmentExamine the relationships between language, morality, and personality“One of  the problems when you become successful is that jealousy and envy inevitably follow. There are people—I categorize them as life’s losers—who get their sense of  accomplishment and achievement from trying to stop others. As far as I’m concerned, if  they had any real ability they wouldn’t be fighting me, they’d be doing something constructive themselves.”“I stopped thinking and slipped into can't: the point at which the denunciations of  capitalism or American imperialism came too easily, and the freedom from the constraints of  monogamy or religion was proclaimed without fully understanding the value of  such constraints, and the role of  victim was too readily embraced as a means of  shedding responsibility, or asserting entitlement, or claiming moral superiority over those not so victimized.”

Differential Language Use at the Highest Stages of Ego Development

https://spiral.lynn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1397&amp;context=facpubs

Differential Language Use at the Highest Stages of Ego Development

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Lynn University: SPIRAL (Scholarly Publications, Institutional Repository and Archives at Lynn)