Self Development

Our goal is to help each person progress from their current stage to a higher stage of Self Development. At the Dogwood Center, we view adults within a developmental framework. In recent decades, educators have come to view children in a developmental framework and design instructional activities that are developmentally appropriate, with the aim of eventually helping students move to their next stage of development. This view of cognitive development, based on the work of Piaget and others is useful for promoting intellectual development. However, at the Dogwood Center, we use a broader developmental framework that encompasses cognitive development, but also includes psychological, emotional and social dimensions of self development.

The empirical and theoretical foundation of our developmental framework is based on over 50 years of research by Professor Jane Loevinger and her colleagues at Washington University. The following chart, which is adapted from one of Professor Loevinger's books, is summary of her developmental framework:

Stage	Impulse Control, Character Development	Interpersonal Style	Conscious Preoccupations	Cognitive Style
Impulsive	Impulsive, fear of retaliation	Egocentric, dependent, exploitative	Bodily feeling, especially sexual and aggressive	Stereotyping, conceptual confusion
Self-Protective	Fear of being caught, externalizing blame, opportunistic	Wary, manipulative, deceptive, exploitative	Self-protection, trouble, wishes, nice things, gaining advantage, control	Stereotyping, conceptual confusion
Conformist	Conformity to external rules, shame, guilt for breaking rules	Seeking belonging, identifying with the group, superficial niceness	Appearance, social acceptance, banal feeling, external behavior	Conceptual simplicity, either/or thinking, stereotypes, clichés
Self Conscious	Recognition of different norms for different situations, goals	Aware of self in relation to group, helpful	Adjustment, problems, reasons, opportunities	Perception of multiple possibilities, alternatives, exceptions
Conscientious	Self-evaluated standards, self-criticism, guilt for consequences, long-term goals and ideals	Intensive, responsible, mutual, concerned with communication	Differentiated feelings, motives, self-respect, achievement, traits, expression	Conceptual complexity, idea of patterning
Individualistic	Respect for individuality	Dependence seen as an emotional problem	Development, social problems, differentiation of inner life from outer	Distinction of process and outcome
Autonomous	Coping with conflicting inner needs, toleration	Respect for autonomy, interdependence	Vividly conveyed feelings, integration of physiological and psychological, psychological causation, roles, self-fulfillment, self in social context	Increased conceptual complexity, complex patterns, toleration for ambiguity, broad abstract social ideals, objectivity
Integrated	Reconciling inner conflicts, renunciation of unattainable	Cherishing of individuality, valuing intersubjectivity	Identity, self-actualization

adapted from Loevinger(1976) Ego Development.

At the Dogwood Center, we ask how we can help you move to the next stage in your development. Personal growth does not happen by leaping from where you are to being a fully-actualized person in one step. Rather, people move from their current stage of development to the next by cultivating their strengths and overcoming their weaknesses. Often the main factors preventing people from continuing to grow are self-defeating life patterns. (See the Life Patterns page for more on our approach to helping people overcome self-defeating life patterns.)

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