Ego Development and Preferred Social Distance from Persons with Disabilities

Social‐Cognitive Development, Ethical and Legal Knowledge, and Ethical Decision Making of Counselor Education Students

“…It is recommended that counselor education programs work to promote their students' social-cognitive development because this research suggests that higher social-cognitive maturity is related to greater ethical and legal knowledge; previous research connects social-cognitive maturity to higher levels of empathy, adaptivity, wellness, and self-care (Borders, 1998;Noam et al, 2006;Sheaffer et al, 2008).…”

“…Researchers have investigated the relationship between counseling students' levels of social-cognitive development (Loevinger, 1976(Loevinger, , 1998 and other desirable counseling constructs, such as counseling students' (a) acquisition of counseling skills and abilities (Borders & Fong, 1989); (b) expressed levels of empathy with clients (McIntyre, 1985); (c) perceptions of clients, in-session behaviors with clients, and counselor effectiveness (Borders, Fong, & Neimeyer, 1986;Zinn, 1995); (d) ability to cope with stress during internship experiences (Walter, 2009); (e) levels of wellness and (f) ability to develop accepting and close relationships with persons with disabilities (Sheaffer et al, 2008). In addition, the psychometric soundness of Loevinger's theory and the empirical support for her assessment instrument, the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996), make this theory an appropriate foundation for understanding the social-cognitive development of counselors-in-training Lilienfeld, Wood, & Garb, 2000).…”

“…A primary component of counselors' preparation, therefore, is the purposeful promotion of counseling students' social-cognitive development, which is associated with greater empathy, flexibility, perspective-taking, self-care, and wellness (Borders, 1998;Lambie, Smith, & Ieva, 2009;Noam, Young, & Jilnina, 2006;Walter, 2009), while at the same time increasing their abilities to process ethical and legal dilemmas with which they will be faced as professionals. As Sheaffer, Sias, Toriello, and Cubero (2008) noted, "As social-cognitive growth occurs, individuals are better able to be responsive to the clients they serve" (p. 148).…”

Graduate Counseling Students' Levels of Ego Development, Wellness, and Psychological Disturbance: An Exploratory Investigation

“…M. Chandler, Alexander, & Heaton, 2005;Manners et al, 2004). Additionally, research has investigated the relationship between counseling students' levels of ego development and other desirable counseling constructs, such as (a) the acquisition of counseling skills and abilities (Borders & Fong, 1989); (b) counseling students' expressed levels of empathy with clients (McIntyre, 1985); (c) counseling students' perceptions of clients, behavior with clients, and counselor effectiveness (Borders, Fong, & Neimeyer, 1986); and (d) counseling students' ability to have an accepting and close relationship with persons with disabilities (Sheaffer et al, 2008). Moreover, the psychometric soundness of Loevinger's (1976Loevinger's ( , 1998 theory and the empirical support for her assessment instrument, the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996), make this theory an appropriate foundation for understanding the ego development of counseling students (Cohn & Westenberg, 2004;Lilienfeld, Wood, & Garb, 2000).…”

“…First, with reference to ego development, the research has indicated that counselors scoring at higher levels of ego maturity (Self-Aware [E5] and above) are more effective with their clients and demonstrate greater adaptivity, empathy, and self-care (Bauer & McAdams, 2004;Lambie, 2007;Noam et al, 2006;Sheaffer et al, 2008). The finding that the modal level for the participants' ego development was at Self-Aware (E5) is consistent with previous research and supports the difficulty in advancing beyond this level of development (Manners & Durkin, 2000).…”