# Loevinger's 9 Stages of Ego Development



## Selene

The Mouse Trap: Ego Devlopment : the nine stages theory of Loevinger

The first stage is the *pre-social and symbiotic* stage. This is the stage that the ego is typically in during infancy. A baby has a very id-like ego that is very focused on gratifying immediate needs. They tend to be very attached to the primary caregiver, often the mother, and while they differentiate her from the rest of the world, they tend experience a cognitive confusion and emotional fusion between the caregiver and the self. But our understanding of this stage is more speculative than our understanding of other stages because pre-verbal infants we cannot use sentence completions and instead must rely on inferences based on observations.

The second stage is the *impulsive *stage. While this is the modal stage for toddlers, people can be in this stage for much longer, and in fact a small minority of people remain in this impulsive stage throughout their life. At this stage the ego continues to be focused on bodily feelings, basic impulses, and immediate needs. Not being particularly good at meeting these needs on their own, however, they are dependent and demanding. They are too immersed in the moment and in their own needs to think or care much about others; instead, they experience the world in egocentric terms, in terms of how things are affecting me. If something or someone meets my needs, it is good; if something or someone frustrates my needs, it is bad. Thus, their thinking is very simplistic and dichotomous.

The third stage is the *self-protective* stage. While this stage is particularly common in early and middle childhood, some individuals remain at this stage throughout their lives. The self-protective ego is more cognitively sophisticated than the impulsive ego, but they are still using their greater awareness of cause and effect, of rules and consequences, to get what they want from others. Therefore, they tend to be exploitive, manipulative, hedonistic, and opportunistic. Their goals is simply to “get what I want without getting caught”. Assuming others are like them, they are wary of what others want. They are also self-protective in the sense of externalizing blame--blaming others when anything goes wrong. Individuals who remain in the stage into adolescence and adulthood tend to, unless they are very smart, get into trouble; indeed, research using Loevinger’s sentence completion test shows that a high proportion of juvenile delinquents and inmates score at this self-protective stage.

The fourth stage is the *conformist *stage. We tend to see this stage emerging at the time Freud said the superego first emerges, around five or six, and is the most common stage later in elementary school and in junior high school. However, a number of people remain at this stage throughout their lives. Conformist individuals are very invested in belonging to and obtaining the approval of important reference groups, such as peer groups. They tend to 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. They view themselves and others in terms of stereotypes—broad generalizations about what members of certain groups are or are not like. While from the outside such individuals may seem superficial or phony, they do not experience it that way because this group self is their real self. More generally, they tend to view the world in simple, conventional, rule-bound and moralistic ways. What is right and wrong is clear to them—namely, what their group thinks is right or wrong. Their feelings also tend to be simple and rule-governed, in the sense that there are some situations in which one feels happy, and other situations in which one feels sad. While Loevinger does try to avoid describing some stages as better than others, she does use the somewhat pejorative terms "banal" and “clichéd” to describe the conformist understanding of feelings. Interestingly, both feelings of happiness and feelings of shame tend to peak at this stage. Shame peaks because they are so concerned about approval from their group; consequently, the threat of shame is a powerful tool that groups can use to control individuals at this stage. On the other hand, as long as their place in the group is not threatened, conformist egos are quite happy, even happier than egos at the later stages, where right and wrong can never again be so simple and clear.

The fifth stage is the *self-aware *stage. This stage is the most common stage among adults in the United States. The self-aware ego shows an increased but still limited awareness deeper issues and the inner lives of themselves and others. The being to wonder 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. They tend to not be at the point where they reach much resolution on these issues, but they are thinking about them. They are also 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. They recognize that just because one is part of the group does not mean that one always feels or thinks the same as the other group members and that’s true for other people in other groups as well. In short, they are appreciating themselves and others as unique. Increasing awareness of one’s unique feelings and motives creates tension between the “real me” and the “expected me”, which can lead to increased conflicts with family and peers. Finally, this ability to wonder whether your family or peers are right about what is right and wrong, to question whether you have been right about what is right and wrong, can lead to increased self-criticism.

At the sixth stage, the *conscientious* stage, this tendency towards self-evaluation and self-criticism continues. The conscientious ego values responsibility, achievement and the pursuit of high ideals and long-term goals. Morality is based on personally-evaluated principles, and behavior is guided by self-evaluated standards. Consequently, violating one’s standards induces guilt. This differs from the conformist stage where the tendency is to feel shame. Shame arises from not meeting the others’ expectations; guilt arises from not meeting one’s own expectations. Greater self-reflection leads to greater conceptual complexity; experiencing the self and the world in more complex ways; and this includes experiencing one’s own feelings and motives in more accurate and differentiated ways and expressing them in more unique and personal terms. Finally, with increasing awareness of the depth and uniqueness of others’ feelings and motives as well comes increasing concern with mutuality and empathy in relationships.

Before going on I should mention that the preceding three stages—the conformist, self-aware, and conscientious stages—are the most common for adults in the United States, and there are fewer and fewer people at the stages we are about to examine. Moreover, Loevinger suggested 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.

At the seventh stage, *the individualistic stage*, the focus on relationships increases, and although achievement is still valued, relationships tend to be more valued even more. The individualistic ego shows a broad-minded tolerance of and respect for the autonomy of both the self and others. But a wish gives others the autonomy to be who they really are can conflict with needs for connection and intimacy. The heightened sense of individuality and self-understanding can lead to vivid and unique ways of expressing the self as well as to an awareness of inner conflicts and personal paradoxes. But this is an incipient awareness of conflicting wishes and thoughts and feelings—for closeness and distance, for achievement and acceptance, and so on—but there is unlikely to yet be any resolution or integration of these inner conflicts.

At stage eight, *the autonomous stage*, there is increasing respect for one’s own and others’ autonomy. The autonomous ego cherishes individuality and uniqueness and self-actualization; individuals’ unique and unexpected paths are a source of joy. And these independent paths are no longer seen in opposition to depending on each other; rather relationships are appreciated as an interdependent system of mutual support; in other words, it takes a village to raise and sustain an autonomous ego. There is also greater tolerance of ambiguity. In particular, conflicts—both inner conflicts and conflicts between people—are appreciated as inevitable expressions of the fluid and multifaceted nature of people and of life in general; and accepted as such, they are more easier faced and coped with. Finally, the heightened and acute awareness of one’s own inner space is manifest in vivid ways of articulating feelings.

At the final stage,* the integrated stage*, the ego shows wisdom, broad empathy towards oneself and others, and a capacity to not just be aware inner conflicts like the individualistic ego or tolerate inner conflicts like the autonomous ego, but reconcile a number or inner conflicts and make peace with those issues that will remain unsolvable and those experiences that will remain unattainable. The integrated ego finally has a full sense of identity, of what it is, and at this stage it is seeking to understand and actualize my own potentials and to achieve integration of all those multi-faceted aspects of myself that have become increasing vivid as I’ve moved through the preceding three stages. In Loevinger’s research this highest stage is reached by less than 1% of adults in the United States.


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## Mutatio NOmenis

I think that this could be expressed in MBTI terms.


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## JackK597

How does one get tested for this? I can relate to all of them, but I think I am probably at #7.


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## General Lee

I am somewhere between six or seven although i do have some chartestics from 8 and 9.
Would you believe it? 
I am still in Middle School.


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## Quelzalcoatl

There is, without a doubt, that I'm at seven, far past stage six, and soon to be sliding into stage eight. However, this is a matter of years, perhaps decades, rather than weeks or months.


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## Angelic Gardevoir

I'm probably at the conscientious stage.


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## Quin Sabe

I would say conscientious or individualistic, but I think self evaluation of ego development tends to be extremely biased. I would speculate since its about developing, the lower levels would not have developed enough to see where they are and identify as a higher level and those who are developed would already be there. So.....


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## password1

General Lee said:


> I am somewhere between six or seven although i do have some chartestics from 8 and 9.
> Would you believe it?
> I am still in Middle School.



In a word, No.


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## Mammon

Stuck in the conformist stage. The answers I was seeking in personality types and all the other yeary shit is now simply anwsered by this thread, a single paragraph.

This is a revelation. Thank you.


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## Diphenhydramine

Wow, what a grave dig.

Does anyone know: is it possible to be simultaenously stuck at one stage and yet progressing through the others?


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## L

I've been stuck at #7 for a few years...


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## bulletluckcharm

I would not say anybody gets "stuck" in a development stage-- it's a lifelong process that, in order to grow, requires more than simply being familiar with the stages themselves or any certain action.

Also, during self-assessment people are going to think their own ego is at a higher stage of development than where the model would place them.


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## bulletluckcharm

Diphenhydramine said:


> Wow, what a grave dig.
> 
> Does anyone know: is it possible to be simultaneously stuck at one stage and yet progressing through the others?


I would like to think yes, but that you aren't really 'at' a stage until you embody it wholly (have developed all of its traits). Since the model describes ego as a process, you can be in progress with certain stages, e.g., "I am Conscientious, but am becoming increasingly aware of my inner conflicts and have begun to place more value in relationships as opposed to achievements; I enjoy being a leader so that others succeed instead of just myself." So although this person is not yet Individualistic, s/he is growing into that stage.


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## bulletluckcharm

Mutatio NOmenis said:


> I think that this could be expressed in MBTI terms.


I disagree. Myers-Briggs is about personality; none of the classifications are inherently better or more mature than the others. To make value judgements based on MBTI classification would indicate an ego development around E3 and E4 (externalizing blame, stereotyping roles).

Loevinger's Stages of Ego Development is about a progression through stages, each one improving upon the last. To have too many adults in a group that haven't grown beyond stages 2 and 3 will cause problems.


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## jenjaychen

Diphenhydramine said:


> Wow, what a grave dig.
> 
> Does anyone know: is it possible to be simultaenously stuck at one stage and yet progressing through the others?




I believe so. The being able to understand and experience the higher level ego does not place us completely in that ego since ego by definition is similar to self-perception. Understanding and feeling empathy improves one's own acceptance to this world but due to habitual nurturing and influences throughout our lives, raw knowledge on the way of life is just as good as shaving our head and living in a temple. we can only practice daily meditation and exterior rites and etiquette to aid us with applying higher level ego to face all kind of conflicts. 

the reason conformist ego is the most comfortable cognitively is because we skip facing the flaws within ourselves, and it definitely makes life much more simple to live. 

The physical age of each individual assist in helping us achieving higher level ego. A pattern to advancing is suffering and struggling. my personal observation through myself and the way others experience "epiphany" moments that get us higher on the level is through failure and not succeeding whatever our ambitions were. People who resulted in conforming stops having dreams and opportunist risks. however, having those dreams which often aren't in our current state could be rendered as "childish". the key is to never let the inside heart age as fast as the mind. At the age of post-mid life, our physicality hits its limitations which is the most 'realistic' wake up call to tell us, we can't have everything we like whenever and however we want. If we are able to experience this category of suffering at younger age through poverty, third-world, lack of accessibility to power then it's easier to UNDERSTAND the higher level egos. however, achieving higher level ego requires more discipline and practice through habits. 

just remember, don't worry about it. if it's a problem you can fix, then fix it. If it's a problem you can't fix, then don't fix it. worrying in either state, brings you no where near to the solution. remember to read more as you struggle with lower stages of ego, reading allows us to humble ourselves by entering into the author's perspective. the nature of reading IS letting go of self, so read on!


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## petite libellule

I'm most likely stuck in between the autonomous and the integrating stage. I feel like I've been in a constant integrating phase. My mind has a lot to process apparently


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## Entropic

I would say I'm around conscientious-individualistic stage, but I have some awareness of the autonomous and integrated stages.

Also to be quite fair, while it's true that people as a whole tend to self-assess themselves more highly than what's accurate with reality, I also think people on PerC tend to as a whole, have done a bit more introspection than the average population too so it's not unreasonable to assume that people's self-assessment here may be off but perhaps not as off as would otherwise be expected. 

It obviously comes in shades of grey and why you are here and what you are doing with that information. Just saying that I would give people the benefit of the doubt. It's not like we can properly assess them anyway, unless we would get to know them well. 

I also think people may go through the various stages when in a new environment as I'm an adherent of Dabrowski's positive disintegration theory which seems similar to this one. So it means that we are never beyond or have fully mastered any stage in terms of ego development. It is that, a development, so while in one aspect we may be very mature we can also be very immature in another.


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## sarek

Selene said:


> The Mouse Trap: Ego Devlopment : the nine stages theory of Loevinger
> 
> The first stage is the *pre-social and symbiotic* stage. This is the stage that the ego is typically in during infancy. A baby has a very id-like ego that is very focused on gratifying immediate needs. They tend to be very attached to the primary caregiver, often the mother, and while they differentiate her from the rest of the world, they tend experience a cognitive confusion and emotional fusion between the caregiver and the self. But our understanding of this stage is more speculative than our understanding of other stages because pre-verbal infants we cannot use sentence completions and instead must rely on inferences based on observations.
> 
> The second stage is the *impulsive *stage. While this is the modal stage for toddlers, people can be in this stage for much longer, and in fact a small minority of people remain in this impulsive stage throughout their life. At this stage the ego continues to be focused on bodily feelings, basic impulses, and immediate needs. Not being particularly good at meeting these needs on their own, however, they are dependent and demanding. They are too immersed in the moment and in their own needs to think or care much about others; instead, they experience the world in egocentric terms, in terms of how things are affecting me. If something or someone meets my needs, it is good; if something or someone frustrates my needs, it is bad. Thus, their thinking is very simplistic and dichotomous.
> 
> The third stage is the *self-protective* stage. While this stage is particularly common in early and middle childhood, some individuals remain at this stage throughout their lives. The self-protective ego is more cognitively sophisticated than the impulsive ego, but they are still using their greater awareness of cause and effect, of rules and consequences, to get what they want from others. Therefore, they tend to be exploitive, manipulative, hedonistic, and opportunistic. Their goals is simply to “get what I want without getting caught”. Assuming others are like them, they are wary of what others want. They are also self-protective in the sense of externalizing blame--blaming others when anything goes wrong. Individuals who remain in the stage into adolescence and adulthood tend to, unless they are very smart, get into trouble; indeed, research using Loevinger’s sentence completion test shows that a high proportion of juvenile delinquents and inmates score at this self-protective stage.
> 
> The fourth stage is the *conformist *stage. We tend to see this stage emerging at the time Freud said the superego first emerges, around five or six, and is the most common stage later in elementary school and in junior high school. However, a number of people remain at this stage throughout their lives. Conformist individuals are very invested in belonging to and obtaining the approval of important reference groups, such as peer groups. They tend to 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. They view themselves and others in terms of stereotypes—broad generalizations about what members of certain groups are or are not like. While from the outside such individuals may seem superficial or phony, they do not experience it that way because this group self is their real self. More generally, they tend to view the world in simple, conventional, rule-bound and moralistic ways. What is right and wrong is clear to them—namely, what their group thinks is right or wrong. Their feelings also tend to be simple and rule-governed, in the sense that there are some situations in which one feels happy, and other situations in which one feels sad. While Loevinger does try to avoid describing some stages as better than others, she does use the somewhat pejorative terms "banal" and “clichéd” to describe the conformist understanding of feelings. Interestingly, both feelings of happiness and feelings of shame tend to peak at this stage. Shame peaks because they are so concerned about approval from their group; consequently, the threat of shame is a powerful tool that groups can use to control individuals at this stage. On the other hand, as long as their place in the group is not threatened, conformist egos are quite happy, even happier than egos at the later stages, where right and wrong can never again be so simple and clear.
> 
> The fifth stage is the *self-aware *stage. This stage is the most common stage among adults in the United States. The self-aware ego shows an increased but still limited awareness deeper issues and the inner lives of themselves and others. The being to wonder 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. They tend to not be at the point where they reach much resolution on these issues, but they are thinking about them. They are also 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. They recognize that just because one is part of the group does not mean that one always feels or thinks the same as the other group members and that’s true for other people in other groups as well. In short, they are appreciating themselves and others as unique. Increasing awareness of one’s unique feelings and motives creates tension between the “real me” and the “expected me”, which can lead to increased conflicts with family and peers. Finally, this ability to wonder whether your family or peers are right about what is right and wrong, to question whether you have been right about what is right and wrong, can lead to increased self-criticism.
> 
> At the sixth stage, the *conscientious* stage, this tendency towards self-evaluation and self-criticism continues. The conscientious ego values responsibility, achievement and the pursuit of high ideals and long-term goals. Morality is based on personally-evaluated principles, and behavior is guided by self-evaluated standards. Consequently, violating one’s standards induces guilt. This differs from the conformist stage where the tendency is to feel shame. Shame arises from not meeting the others’ expectations; guilt arises from not meeting one’s own expectations. Greater self-reflection leads to greater conceptual complexity; experiencing the self and the world in more complex ways; and this includes experiencing one’s own feelings and motives in more accurate and differentiated ways and expressing them in more unique and personal terms. Finally, with increasing awareness of the depth and uniqueness of others’ feelings and motives as well comes increasing concern with mutuality and empathy in relationships.
> 
> Before going on I should mention that the preceding three stages—the conformist, self-aware, and conscientious stages—are the most common for adults in the United States, and there are fewer and fewer people at the stages we are about to examine. Moreover, Loevinger suggested 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.
> 
> At the seventh stage, *the individualistic stage*, the focus on relationships increases, and although achievement is still valued, relationships tend to be more valued even more. The individualistic ego shows a broad-minded tolerance of and respect for the autonomy of both the self and others. But a wish gives others the autonomy to be who they really are can conflict with needs for connection and intimacy. The heightened sense of individuality and self-understanding can lead to vivid and unique ways of expressing the self as well as to an awareness of inner conflicts and personal paradoxes. But this is an incipient awareness of conflicting wishes and thoughts and feelings—for closeness and distance, for achievement and acceptance, and so on—but there is unlikely to yet be any resolution or integration of these inner conflicts.
> 
> At stage eight, *the autonomous stage*, there is increasing respect for one’s own and others’ autonomy. The autonomous ego cherishes individuality and uniqueness and self-actualization; individuals’ unique and unexpected paths are a source of joy. And these independent paths are no longer seen in opposition to depending on each other; rather relationships are appreciated as an interdependent system of mutual support; in other words, it takes a village to raise and sustain an autonomous ego. There is also greater tolerance of ambiguity. In particular, conflicts—both inner conflicts and conflicts between people—are appreciated as inevitable expressions of the fluid and multifaceted nature of people and of life in general; and accepted as such, they are more easier faced and coped with. Finally, the heightened and acute awareness of one’s own inner space is manifest in vivid ways of articulating feelings.
> 
> At the final stage,* the integrated stage*, the ego shows wisdom, broad empathy towards oneself and others, and a capacity to not just be aware inner conflicts like the individualistic ego or tolerate inner conflicts like the autonomous ego, but reconcile a number or inner conflicts and make peace with those issues that will remain unsolvable and those experiences that will remain unattainable. The integrated ego finally has a full sense of identity, of what it is, and at this stage it is seeking to understand and actualize my own potentials and to achieve integration of all those multi-faceted aspects of myself that have become increasing vivid as I’ve moved through the preceding three stages. In Loevinger’s research this highest stage is reached by less than 1% of adults in the United States.


This can also be mapped on to the Enneagram (if considered dynamically), the chakras of eastern philosophy or even the pyramid of Maslow.


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