1.3 Development
I'm still struggling to see what the big reveal is…
Integral theory includes lots of common sense. For me, the juice comes from no longer thinking in terms of groups defined by the identities of their members. Now I think in terms of natural clusters of people sharing similar developmental characteristics. The big difference is that identity is something we join in to and identify with, leading to a natural tendency to defend. Natural clusters at the various stages of development are going through a natural process: they have to go through B to get from A to C. Even though it might tax our patience as our kid goes through puberty, its not something they choose. It can be difficult for everyone involved, but it is natural.
This new mindset gives me hope that you, I, and everyone can grow out of our limited worldviews into more inclusive views that will enable better problem solving and less conflict. It also gives me hope that we can let go of our judgmental thinking about people who see things differently from us. For example, we are wise enough to know that 3rd graders are not better kids than 2nd graders. We are wise enough to avoid pushing 2nd graders to complete their grade in half a year and to allow them to do the work to prepare for 3rd grade. Because we have grades in schools and we see growth in our children (“My how you’ve grown!”) we readily accept this development model in kids.
Since we grant so many privileges of adulthood once teenagers graduate from high school, or at least by age 21, we sometimes forget how much maturing they have yet to do! (Most of my fellow elders readily acknowledge the growth we still have yet to do.) Development theory shows us that developmental stage growth can continue throughout adulthood, right up to our last days, and the same patience and compassion we show our children needs to be afforded adults. Since developmental thinking is a novel idea for most of us, some new language needs to be developed; “My how you’ve matured!” needs some work. I like “Still growing!”
One of the dangers of working with developmental models is that if we are not careful, we end up repeating the problems this new worldview is meant to correct. Using the names or descriptions of the development levels to negatively stereotype is just a fancier way of harmful labeling. It can also sound like we are suggesting that they are slow or behind. In the post “1.12 That Hierarchy Thing,” I will address this important critique of Integral Theory.
It would really help me if you could give me an example of a developmental theory.
One simple theory describing the development of care has four stages that people have the potential to grow through during their lives:
Care for myself
Care for people like me: family, church, nation, race
Care for all people
Care for all life and our environment
Using this simple model, first think about yourself or people you know well. Social research shows that these stages are common and that people tend to cluster into these 4 groups. This clustering happens because we understand the natural similarities in caring for the people (or life) at each level. They progress through the stages in this order and they don't skip any. Age does not dictate stage. Some people stay in a given stage for many years before moving on. Change in life circumstances are usually the catalyst for growth. But some people stop developing along the dimension of care and don't make it to stage 4, or even stage 3.
For example, let’s say we have a guy at stage 2. Nice guy, good co-worker, happy to take extra time help you learn a new technique at work, even helps you install a new dishwasher in your apartment. Now you stumble into a conversation about politics and Mr. Hyde shows up. All of his friendliness and generosity evaporates. What happened? As a person at stage two who is fully capable of caring for people, as long as they are people like himself, he has discovered you may not be like him after all. As you revealed your political beliefs, you may have revealed that you are one of those people who he has been told to fear. Many factors will determine whether your relationship can be salvaged, and our future discussions will address this.
This is just a simple example of the kind of cultural clash that can occur between people at different stages of development. The good news is that having the insight of Integral Theory can give us better vision into the complex reasons for our differences.
I’m intrigued by this idea that a core feature of our differences, maybe even our society’s conflicts resides not in our ideology, that it might be due to, dare I say, maturity?
The words we use are important. Maturity, adulthood, growth, good sense, experience, and wisdom all fill out the picture and we need to choose words carefully to lead to understanding rather than alienation. (Updated 7-13-23)
