IDN · Identity · 1982
Adult Development Stages
by Robert Kegan
Five orders of mind from Impulsive to Self-Transforming.
Summary
Kegan's constructive-developmental model traces how the *subject* of one stage (what we're embedded in and can't see) becomes the *object* of the next (what we can hold, reflect on, and use). Most adults plateau at the Socialized Mind (stage 3).
For designers
Stretch developmental capacity by giving people contexts that require the *next* order of mind: stage-3 socialized minds need protected space to disagree with their group; stage-4 self-authoring minds need exposure to genuinely incommensurable worldviews.
Components
1 — Impulsive Mind
Early childhood; impulses are subject.
2 — Imperial Mind
Own needs/interests are subject; rules are object.
3 — Socialized Mind
Relationships and shared values are subject; needs are object.
4 — Self-Authoring Mind
Own ideology is subject; relationships are object.
5 — Self-Transforming Mind
Holds multiple ideologies in dialogue; ideology becomes object.
Cross-dimensional couplings
Sources
- Kegan, R. (1982). The Evolving Self.