School principals' interpretation of the context for their work has significant implications for their practice and for organisational theory educational settings. Principals' sense-making capability can change over time, as in all adults. Sense-making capability is grounded in adult ego development (AED) theory which describes eight distinct…

A theory paper that gives a universal portrait of the "noble adolescent" directly quotes from Montessori. Pat Ludick defines the adolescent as they search for their future roles in a changing world, seek a happy life, form a compatible and collaborative personality, learn humility, and become aware of the head-heart duality. The…

Suggests that social workers have lacked models for understanding the process of a client's self-identification as a lesbian. Describes several developmental phases a woman may go through to form a healthy self-concept as a lesbian and discusses practice implications for this process. (Author/JAC)

Ego and self refer to two ways of being. They are related on the one hand to neurosis and health and on the other hand to rational and intuitive modes of consciousness. The author in this article considers consciousness as it pertains to knowing oneself. She examines how ego, the rational consciousness as applied to oneself, can obstruct…

The success or failure of black children in school has been attributed to positive or negative self-concept, but the construct of self-concept has been misused and misrepresented by educators and researchers. The traditional definition of self-concept as a highly interrelated perception of the self has been defined in perceptual rather than…

Personality theory stresses the importance of communion with self to personal development. Since writing is a form of communion with self, researchers have begun looking for measurable differences in the personality development of writers and nonwriters. Several experiments have tended to confirm that writing has the potential to effect positive…

This study investigated the relationship between levels in Piaget's hierarchy of cognitive development and Loevinger's model of ego development. The data were examined for indications of cognitive prerequisites for development of ego levels. Sixty women, 30 in each of two age groups (18-21 and 35-47) were administered the chemicals and correlation…

High social anxiety subjects switched from assuming greater personal responsibility for success than for failure to assuming greater responsibility for failure than for success when told that their attributions would be scrutinized by others. Low social anxiety individuals did just the opposite. Additional studies of response among high and low…

This paper reports a study of the influence of two parent education programs on mothers' personality processes as measured by the Loevinger Scale of Ego Development. Participating in either a Discussion Group program focusing primarily on the mother's needs or a Toy Demonstration program focusing mainly on the child, low income black mothers…

To test the relationship between school principals' level of ego development and their use of power bases, researchers surveyed principals and teachers in 70 schools in a southern urban area. Ego development levels were defined as either conformist or conscientious or a transitional conscientious-conformist level. Principals have seven power bases…

Defining moments are situations that ask us to step forward in irreversible courses of action that shape our personal or professional identities. These moments of truth happen quickly and reveal something new about ourselves that had been hidden or only partially known. In a process known as "edgework," experiential educators and…

One of the most important assumptions of modern theories about self-image is that the maintenance and enhancement of the perceived self is the motive behind all behavior. Sense of self may be based on the views of others, it may be the result of interactions with others who provide meaning of self through their responses, it may come from…

Using pattern observation, this study examined the relationship between communication in a small group of children and basic parameters of social support (quantity, content, structure, and function of the communication). Researchers observed two separate groups. Subjects were 77 children (54 girls and 23 boys), ages 5-7. Data showed that: (1) when…

The relation of moral reasoning to moral behavior has been the subject of a substantial number of empirical studies; it may be more productive to employ a configuration of characteristics to predict moral behavior. To investigate the relation of moral reasoning and personality variables to moral behavior, 74 undergraduates, 30 males and 44…

It has been predicted that, if an androgynous identity represents a higher level of psychosocial functioning, there should be a significant relationship between androgynous sex role identity and high self-esteem. To test this hypothesis, 139 male and female high school seniors completed the Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development, the Bem Sex…