Based on Freud’s Personality theory:

1. Jane Loevingers’ Theory of Ego Development- 9 stages in the development of the EGO- Focus is on individual and the formation/understanding of the self

2. Based on Freud’s Personality theory: • id is the part of the personality structure that contains the basic drives. The id acts according to the "pleasure principle", seeking to avoid pain • ego it seeks to please the id’s drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bringing grief • super-ego is the moral ‘conscious’ which includes the individual's ego ideals and spiritual goals that criticizes and prohibits fantasies, feelings, and actions.

3. Loevinger used sentence completion paradigm where subjects had to complete sentences like - • My main problem is ... • Being with other people ... • The thing I like about myself is...

4. Stage 1: Infancy • pre-social stage • baby has a very id-like ego (focused on gratifying immediate needs) • very attached to the primary caregiver – mother • understanding of this stage is more speculative because pre-verbal infants we cannot use sentence completions and instead must rely on observations

5. Stage 2: Impulsive Stage • Toddlers • ego continues to be focused on bodily feelings, basic impulses, and immediate needs • dependent and demanding • immersed in the moment and in their own needs to think or care much about others • experience the world in egocentric terms, in terms of how things are affecting me

6. Stage 3: Self-Protective Stage • early and middle childhood • exploitive, manipulative, hedonistic (self indulgent), and opportunistic • goal is simply to “get what I want without getting caught” • blaming others when anything goes wrong • individuals who remain in the stage into adolescence and adulthood tend to get into trouble • research using Loevinger’s sentence completion test shows that a high proportion of juvenile delinquents and inmates score at this self-protective stage

7. Stage 4: Conformist Stage • around five or six – also common stage later in elementary school and in junior high school (however, a number of people remain at this stage throughout their lives) • view and evaluate themselves and others in terms of externals (how one looks, the music that you listen to, the words or slang that you use, the roles people assume to show what group they are in and their status within the group) • invested in belonging to and obtaining the approval of important groups (peers) • what is right and wrong is clear to them—namely, what their group thinks is right or wrong.

8. Stage 5: Self-Aware Stage • most common stage among adults • self-aware ego shows an increased awareness of deeper issues and the inner lives of themselves and others • “what do I think” - as opposed to what my parents and peers think about such issues as God and religion, morality, mortality, love and relationships • not at the point where they reach much resolution on these issues, but they are thinking about them • more aware that they and others have unique feelings and motives, different from those that might be prescribed by the feeling rules they have learned from movies and books and other people

9. Stage 6: Conscientious Stage • tendency towards self-evaluation and self-criticism continues • values responsibility, achievement and the pursuit of high ideals and long-term goals • Greater self-reflection • experiencing the self and the world in more complex ways • experiencing one’s own feelings and expressing them in more personal terms

10. the preceding three stages—the conformist, self-aware, and conscientious stages—are the most common for adults • there are fewer and fewer people at the stages we are about to examine • Loevingersuggested that we all have a hard time understanding stages that are more than one level above our own, so for many of us who are at the middle stages it can be hard to fully grasp the highest stages

11. Stage 7: Individualistic Stage • focus on relationships increases • relationships tend to be more valued broad-minded tolerance of and respect for the autonomy of both the self and others • heightened sense of individuality and self-understanding can lead to unique ways of expressing the self • awareness of inner conflicts

12. Stage 8: Autonomous • increasing respect for one’s own and others’ autonomy • cherishes individuality and uniqueness and self-actualization • individuals’ unique and unexpected paths are a source of joy • relationships are appreciated as an interdependent system of mutual support

13. Stage 9: Integrated • ego shows wisdom, broad empathy towards oneself and others • capacity to reconcile a number or inner conflicts and make peace with those issues that will remain unsolvable and those experiences that will remain unattainable • integrated ego finally has a full sense of identity