Measurement of ego development by sentence completion and personality test

Abstract

Study aims were (a) to compare the characteristics of the ego development stages as revealed by incomplete sentences and personality inventory scales; and (b) to ascertain how well a structured inventory can estimate ego development &s assessed by Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test (SCT). Ss were 423 girls and 225 boys from five high schools, who were administered the Interpersonal Style Inventory (HI) and the SCT. The ego development groups to which the boys and girls were allocated on the basis of the SCT scores were compared by means of discriminant function analysis. The 27 self-report scores from the IS1 and a supplementary form were used &s predictors. The analyses revealed two dimensions of difference for the girls and one for the boys. The first dimension, defined primarily by level of socialization, was essentially the same for girls and boys. The second dimension for girls involved degree of rule-boundness.

An investigation of the progressive sequence of ego development levels

“…The alignment of this dimension with ego development levels followed the progression of interpersonal features that Loevinger's model predicts. A second dimension for females involved degree of rule-boundness (Lorr & Manning, 1978).…”

Ego Functions and Ego Development: Defense Mechanisms and Intelligence as Predictors of Ego Level

“…Intelligence was demonstrated to be related to ego development in a linear manner. In contrast, the relation between ego level and defense was found to be curvilinear, a pattern observed in previous research relating variables of impulsivity and impulse control to ego level (Lorr & Manning, 1978;Starrett, 1983;Westenberg & Block, 1993). Furthermore, this curvilinear relation was consistent with the theoretical description of the locus of impulse control that characterizes each ego level.…”

“…Nevertheless, to the extent that theory predicts the results found with these persons included, we consider the findings to be valid rather than spurious. When the full range of ego development is represented, some of the relations are shown to be curvilinear, not linear, consistent with the findings of Lorr and Manning (1978), Starrett (1983) and Westenberg and Block (1993). In contrast, when the range of ego development is restricted-that is, either the highest and/or the lowest levels are not represented-the curvilinear relations are lost, with the result, for example, that the relation of defenses or impulsivity to ego level appears to be linear (e.g., Browning, 1986;Levit, 1993).…”

Ego development in adult women

“…White (1978) found that several significant personality changes occurred Participants had higher test scores on scales of self-confidence, autonomy, independence, and competence In addition, individuals reported significant personal and professional changes in themselves as a result of the program, such as increased self-esteem and commitment to their work These changes, both objective and subjective in nature, apparently resulted m increased ego development for those at lower ego levels, but not for those at higher levels Such changes might be described as agentic (Bakan, 1966) or instrumental changes-they reflect an ability to be more independent, to make autonomous decisions, and to act skillfully in professional situations On the other hand, the areas found to be associated with higher ego levels were more communal, and reflect qualities of nurturance, responsibility, and enjoyment of children However, such agentic change is apparently not related to ego development for those m the higher stages, and especially the large group of Conscientious women in the sample The changes that the training program achieved seem to have resulted in higher development only for those who were at ego levels which were responsive to the emphasis on autonomy and independence This IS not the first study to find that nurturance, responsibility, and tolerance are more charactenstic of higher ego levels Lorr and Manning (1978) pointed out that two dimensions of personality accounted for most of the vanance in predicting ego level, the foremost of these was composed of scales bearing trait labels such as nurturance, conscientiousness, trust, tolerance, interpersonal sensitivity, and psychological mmdedness-a collection of scales similar to the relevant ones m this study Redmore (1969) also found in a study of female student nurses that affiliation measures, rather than achievement measures, were more characteristic of the Conscientious stage Hauser (1978) noted that women at or above the Conscientious stage were rated as warmer than were those at the Conformist level or below It may be that many current conceptions of nurturance and caring are not very sophisticated, and may not reflect how individuals at higher levels of ego development interpret either responsible caring for others or autonomy When autonomy and nurturant caring are defined as mutually exclusive traits, it does not allow for the blending and integration that is a feature of the developing ego A definition of nurturance as "supportiveness" or as "taking care of others" perhaps reflects a conformist definition of nurturance At the Conscientious, and especially at the Autonomous levels, the scoring manual (Loevinger, Wessler, Redmore, 1970) notes the importance of recognizing the individuahty and independence of others, even in caring acts At the Autonomous level, there is emphasis on the need to strike a balance between one's own needs and the needs of others, including one's family Mutuality is an important characteristic found at higher levels Helson (1985), in a study of seven Autonomous women, suggests that autonomy does not consist of "adamant assertions of individual selfhood," but an mtra-and interpersonal cherishing of individuality in self and others, as well as a willingness to grapple with conflict She describes this larger concern for growth and personal development as being at odds with "an image of the feminine as requiring a strategy of passivity or endurance " Self-development at higher levels apparently goes hand m hand with an awarenes...…”