Online Colloquium No. 40: Ego development, complexity, simplicity, and wisdom

Ego development, complexity, simplicity, and wisdom: integrating unlearning into adult developmental models

I will present a framework called "Wisdom Skills" that allows for more precise comparison of existing development models, and helps to integrate them. The framework takes into account hierarchical complexity theories (Fischer and Commons), ego development theories (Loevinger, Cook-Greuter, Torbert, and O'Fallon), and meaning-making theories (Kegan) and unifies them at a meta-model level (not at the level of assessment). The framework gives equal priority to constructive (ascending) and deconstructive (releasing or descending) movements, and in so doing integrates trauma and "shadow work" theories in a more foundational way. I also given an analysis critiquing the "transcend and include" principle by showing that in most psychological development, much is "left behind" in normal developmental growth.