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Robert Kegan (born August 24, 1946) is an American
developmental psychologist Developmental psychology is the science, scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult deve ...
. He is a licensed
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
and practicing therapist, lectures to professional and lay audiences, and consults in the area of
professional development Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing Praxis (process), praxis in addition t ...
and
organization development Organization development (OD) is the study and implementation of practices, systems, and techniques that affect organizational change. The goal of which is to modify a group's/organization's performance and/or culture. The organizational chang ...
. He was the William and Miriam Meehan Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development at
Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first ...
. He taught there for forty years until his retirement in 2016. He was also Educational Chair for the Institute for Management and Leadership in Education and the co-director for the Change Leadership Group.


Education and early career

Born in
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
, Kegan attended
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
, graduating ''summa cum laude'' in 1968. He described the civil rights movement and the movement against the Vietnam War as formative experiences during his college years. He took his "collection of interests in learning from a psychological and literary and philosophical point of view" to
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1977.


''The Evolving Self''

In his book ''The Evolving Self'' (1982), Kegan explored human life problems from the perspective of a single process which he called ''
meaning-making In psychology, meaning-making is the process of how people (and other living beings) Construals, construe, Understanding, understand, or make sense of life events, relationships, and the self. The term is widely used in Constructivism (psychologi ...
'', the activity of making sense of experience through discovering and resolving problems. As he wrote, "Thus it is not that a person makes meaning, as much as that activity of being a person is the activity of meaning-making." The purpose of the book is primarily to give professional helpers (such as counselors, psychotherapists, and coaches) a broad, developmental framework for empathizing with their clients' different ways of making sense of their problems. Kegan described meaning-making as a lifelong activity that begins in early infancy and can evolve in complexity through a series of "evolutionary truces" (or "evolutionary balances") that establish a balance between self and other (in
psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
terms), or subject and object (in
philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
terms), or organism and environment (in biological terms). Each evolutionary truce is both an ''achievement of'' and a ''constraint on'' meaning-making, possessing both strengths and limitations. Each subsequent evolutionary truce is a new, more refined, solution to the lifelong tension between how people are connected, attached, and included (''integrated'' with other people and the world), and how people are distinct, independent, and autonomous (''differentiated'' from other people and the rest of the world). Kegan adapted
Donald Winnicott Donald Woods Winnicott (7 April 1896 – 25 January 1971) was an English paediatrician and psychoanalyst who was especially influential in the field of object relations theory and developmental psychology. He was a leading member of the Brit ...
's idea of the holding environment and proposed that the evolution of meaning-making is a life history of holding environments, or ''cultures of embeddedness''. Kegan described cultures of embeddedness in terms of three processes: confirmation (holding on), contradiction (letting go), and continuity (staying put for reintegration). For Kegan, "the ''person'' is more than an individual"; developmental psychology studies the evolution of cultures of embeddedness, not the study of isolated individuals. He wrote, "One of the most powerful features of this psychology, in fact, is its capacity to liberate psychological theory from the study of the decontextualized individual. Constructive-developmental psychology reconceives the whole question of the relationship between the individual and the social by reminding that the distinction is not absolute, that development is intrinsically about the continual settling and resettling of this very distinction." Kegan argued that some of the psychological distress that people experience (including some depression and
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...
) are a result of the "natural emergencies" that occur when "the terms of our evolutionary truce must be renegotiated" and a new, more refined, culture of embeddedness must emerge. ''The Evolving Self'' attempted a theoretical integration of three different intellectual traditions in psychology.; The first is the
humanistic Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
and existential- phenomenological tradition (which includes Martin Buber, Prescott Lecky,
Abraham Maslow Abraham Harold Maslow ( ; April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actua ...
, Rollo May,
Ludwig Binswanger Ludwig Binswanger (; ; 13 April 1881 – 5 February 1966) was a Swiss people, Swiss psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of existential psychology. His parents were Robert Johann Binswanger (1850–1910) and Bertha Hasenclever (1847–1896). ...
, Andras Angyal, and Carl Rogers). The second is the neo-psychoanalytic tradition (which includes Anna Freud,
Erik Erikson Erik Homburger Erikson (born Erik Salomonsen; 15 June 1902 – 12 May 1994) was a German-American child psychoanalyst and visual artist known for his theory on psychosocial development of human beings. He coined the phrase identity crisis. ...
, Ronald Fairbairn, Donald Winnicott, Margaret Mahler, Harry Guntrip,
John Bowlby Edward John Mostyn Bowlby (; 26 February 1907 – 2 September 1990) was a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory. A ''Review of General Psychology'' ...
, and Heinz Kohut). The third is what Kegan calls the constructive-developmental tradition (which includes
James Mark Baldwin James Mark Baldwin (January 12, 1861 – November 8, 1934) was an Americans, American philosophy, philosopher and psychologist who was educated at Princeton University, Princeton under the supervision of Scottish philosopher James McCosh and who ...
,
John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. The overridi ...
,
George Herbert Mead George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, Sociology, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago. He was one of the key figures in the development of pragmatis ...
,
Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, ; ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called genetic epistemology. ...
, Lawrence Kohlberg, William G. Perry, and Jane Loevinger). The book is also strongly influenced by
dialectic Dialectic (; ), also known as the dialectical method, refers originally to dialogue between people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to arrive at the truth through reasoned argument. Dialectic resembles debate, but the ...
al philosophy and psychology and by Carol Gilligan's psychology of women. Kegan presented a sequence of six evolutionary balances: incorporative, impulsive, imperial, interpersonal, institutional, and interindividual. The following table is a composite of several tables in ''The Evolving Self'' that summarize these balances. The ''object'' (O) of each balance is the ''subject'' (S) of the preceding balance. Kegan uses the term ''subject'' to refer to things that people are " subject to" but not necessarily consciously aware of. He uses the term ''object'' to refer to things that people are aware of and can take control of. The process of emergence of each evolutionary balance is described in detail in the text of the book; as Kegan said, his primary interest is the
ontogeny Ontogeny (also ontogenesis) is the origination and development of an organism (both physical and psychological, e.g., moral development), usually from the time of fertilization of the ovum, egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to t ...
of these balances, not just their
taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...
. The final chapter of ''The Evolving Self'', titled "Natural Therapy", is a meditation on the philosophical and ethical fundamentals of the helping professions. Kegan argued, similarly to later theorists of asset-based community development, that professional helpers should base their practice on people's existing strengths and "natural" capabilities. The careful practice of "unnatural" (self-conscious) professional intervention may be important and valuable, said Kegan; nevertheless "rather than being the panacea for modern maladies, it is actually a second-best means of support, and arguably a sign that the natural facilitation of development has somehow and for some reason broken down". Helping professionals need a way of evaluating the quality of people's evolving cultures of embeddedness to provide opportunities for problem-solving and growth, while acknowledging that the evaluators also have their own evolving cultures of embeddedness. Kegan warned that professional helpers should not delude themselves into thinking that their conceptions of health and development are unbiased by their particular circumstances or partialities. He acknowledged the importance of
Thomas Szasz Thomas Stephen Szasz ( ; ; 15 April 1920 – 8 September 2012) was a Hungarian-American academic and psychiatrist. He served for most of his career as professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. A dis ...
's suggestion that 'mental illness is a kind of myth', and he said that we need a way to address what Szasz calls "problems in living" while protecting clients as much as possible from the helping professional's partialities and limitations. ''The Evolving Self'' has been cited favorably by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ronald A. Heifetz, Ruthellen Josselson, and George Vaillant. Despite the book's wealth of human stories, some readers have found it difficult to read due to the density of Kegan's writing and its conceptual complexity.


''In Over Our Heads''

Kegan's book ''In Over Our Heads'' (1994) extends his perspective on psychological development formulated in ''The Evolving Self''. What he earlier called "evolutionary truces" of increasing subject–object complexity are now called "orders of consciousness". The book explores what happens, and how people feel, when new orders of consciousness emerge, or fail to emerge, in various domains. These domains include parenting (families), partnering (couples), working (companies), healing (psychotherapies), and learning (schools). He connects the concept of orders of consciousness with the idea of a hidden curriculum of everyday life. Kegan repeatedly points to the suffering that can result when people are presented with challenging tasks and expectations without the necessary support to master them. In addition, he now distinguishes between ''orders of consciousness'' (cognitive complexity) and ''styles'' (stylistic diversity). Theories of style describe "''preferences about'' the way we know, rather than ''competencies'' or ''capacities'' in our knowing, as is the case with subject–object principles". The book continues the same combination of detailed storytelling and theoretical analysis found in his earlier book, but presents a "more complex bi-theoretical approach" rather than the single subject–object theory he presented in ''The Evolving Self''. In the last chapter, "On Being Good Company for the Wrong Journey", Kegan warns that it is easy to misconceive the nature of the mental transformations that a person needs or seeks to make. Regardless of the virtues of higher orders of consciousness, we cannot be expected to master them if we are not ready or lack the necessary support, and we are unlikely to be helped by someone who wrongly assumes that we are operating at a certain order of consciousness. He ends with an epilogue on the value of passionate engagement and the creative unpredictability of human lives. ''In Over Our Heads'' has been cited favorably by Morton Deutsch, John Heron, David A. Kolb, and Jack Mezirow.


''How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work'' and ''Immunity to Change''

The book ''How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work'' (2001), co-authored by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, jettisons the theoretical framework of Kegan's earlier books ''The Evolving Self'' and ''In Over Our Heads'' and instead presents a practical method, called the ''immunity map'', which is intended to help readers overcome an ''immunity to change''. Immunity to change refers to the "processes of dynamic equilibrium, which, like an immune system, powerfully and mysteriously tend to keep things pretty much as they are" in people's mindsets and behavior. The immunity map continues the general
dialectic Dialectic (; ), also known as the dialectical method, refers originally to dialogue between people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to arrive at the truth through reasoned argument. Dialectic resembles debate, but the ...
al pattern of Kegan's earlier thinking but without any explicit use of the concept of "evolutionary truces" or "orders of consciousness". The immunity map primarily consists of a four-column
worksheet A worksheet, in the word's original meaning, is a sheet of paper on which one performs work. They come in many forms, most commonly associated with children's school work assignments, tax forms, and accounting or other business environments. Sof ...
that is gradually filled in by individuals or groups of people during a structured process of self-reflective inquiry. This involves asking questions such as: What are the changes that we think we need to make? What are we doing or not doing to prevent ourselves (immunize ourselves) from making those changes? What anxieties and big assumptions does our doing or not doing imply? How can we test those big assumptions so as to disturb our immunity to change and make possible new learning and change? Kegan and Lahey progressively introduce each of the four columns of the immunity map in four chapters that show how to transform people's way of talking to themselves and others. In each case, the transformation in people's way of talking is a shift from a habitual and unreflective pattern to a more deliberate and self-reflective pattern. The four transformations, each of which corresponds to a column of the immunity map, are: * "From the language of ''complaint'' to the language of ''commitment''" * "From the language of ''blame'' to the language of ''personal responsibility''" * "From the language of ''New Year's resolutions'' to the language of ''competing commitments''" * "From the language of ''big assumptions that hold us'' to the language of ''assumptions we hold''" In three subsequent chapters, Kegan and Lahey present three transformations that groups of people can make in their social behavior, again from a lesser to greater self-reflective pattern: * "From the language of ''prizes and praising'' to the language of ''ongoing regard''" * "From the language of ''rules and policies'' to the language of ''public agreement''" * "From the language of ''constructive criticism'' to the language of ''deconstructive criticism''" ''Immunity to Change'' (2009), the next book by Kegan and Lahey, revisits the immunity map of their previous book. The authors describe three dimensions of immunity to change: the change-preventing system (thwarting challenging aspirations), the feeling system (managing
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...
), and the knowing system (organizing how we understand reality). They further illustrate their method with a number of actual case studies from their experiences as consultants, and they connect the method to a
dialectic Dialectic (; ), also known as the dialectical method, refers originally to dialogue between people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to arrive at the truth through reasoned argument. Dialectic resembles debate, but the ...
of three mindsets, called socialized mind, self-authoring mind, and self-transforming mind. (These correspond to the interpersonal, institutional, and interindividual "evolutionary truces" or "orders of consciousness" in Kegan's earlier books.) Kegan and Lahey also borrow and incorporate some frameworks and methods from other thinkers, including Ronald A. Heifetz's distinction between technical and adaptive learning, Chris Argyris's ladder of inference, and a reworded version of the four stages of competence. They also provide more detailed guidance on how to test big assumptions. The revised immunity map worksheet, introduced in ''Immunity to Change'', has five interlinked columns designed to target anxiety mechanisms that contribute to an immunity to change: * (0) Generating ideas: Individuals will undergo self-reflective processes to diagnose problems in life that inhibit development. These problems typically transcend both the workplace and home life and affect most aspects of life, including relationships. * (1) Commitment (improvement) goals: In this column, individuals make commitment goals stated in a positive way focusing on development rather than what actions will cease. These goals emphasize proactive actions, solidifying commitment. The goal is something that an individual feels a deep need to improve. * (2) Doing / not doing: This step includes identifying actions that hinder individuals from achieving their commitment goals. It goes beyond general behavior and focuses on individual actions that occur throughout everyday life. * (3) Hidden competing commitment (and worry box): The hidden competing commitment column often evokes a visceral reaction as it develops into unpleasant emotions stemming from deep-rooted fears and worries. To fill this column, individuals examine the doing and not doing column and imagine doing the opposite. Hidden competing commitments represent unspoken or unconscious actions that protect individuals from experiencing their worries and fears. * (4) Big assumption: The big assumption refers to an individual's relevant views of the world, the foundation for the hidden competing commitments. Many individuals hold on to such views, even if they are misconstrued or inaccurately represent life. * (5) First S-M-A-R-T test: Safe, Modest, Actionable,
Research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
stance (not a self-improvement stance), Testable: Such tests are employed to challenge big assumptions. The tests are safe and modest in what actions an individual can undertake. It is testable because there of a source of measurement to compare data. The immunity-to-change framework has been cited favorably by Chris Argyris, Kenneth J. Gergen, Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries, and Tony Schwartz.


''An Everyone Culture''

The book ''An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization'' (2016) was co-authored by Robert Kegan, Lisa Laskow Lahey, Matthew L. Miller, Andy Fleming, and Deborah Helsing. The authors connect the concept of the ''deliberately developmental organization'' (DDO) with adult development theory and argue that creating conditions for employees to successfully navigate through the transitions from socialized mind to self-authoring mind to self-transforming mind (described in Kegan's earlier works) "has a business value", at least in part because they expect demand for employees with more complex mindsets "will intensify in the years ahead". Three different and successful DDOs are introduced and analyzed throughout the book. These DDOs are Next Jump,
Bridgewater Associates Bridgewater Associates, LP (informally known as "Bridgewater") is an American investment management firm founded by Ray Dalio in 1975. The firm serves institutional clients including pension funds, Financial endowment, endowments, Foundation (no ...
, and The Decurion Corporation. Kegan, along with his fellow co-authors, explore the successful business practices that promote a culture where individual growth and personal satisfaction can flourish. The book elaborates on three concepts that the authors believe to be critical to the success of a DDO. These three concepts are what they refer to as "edge", "groove", and "home". The "edge" of a DDO is the drive of the organization to uncover weaknesses and to develop. The "groove" is the practices or "flow" of the company from day-to-day that foster development. "Home" is the supportive community within a DDO that allows people to be vulnerable and trust each other. The authors emphasize that underlying each of these parts of a DDO is the idea that adults are truly capable of continuous improvement and development. The authors also explain that for DDOs, the goals of adult development and business success are not mutually exclusive, but both ultimately become one objective.


Criticism

Adult education professor Ann K. Brooks criticized Kegan's book ''In Over Our Heads''. She claimed that Kegan fell victim to a cultural " myopia" that "perfectly reflects the rationalist values of modern academia". Brooks also said that Kegan excluded "the possibility of a developmental trajectory aimed at increased connection with others". Ruthellen Josselson, in contrast, said that Kegan "has made the most heroic efforts" to balance individuality and connection with others in his work. In an interview with Otto Scharmer in 2000, Kegan expressed self-criticism toward his earlier writings; Kegan told Scharmer: "I can go back and look at things I've written and think, ugh, this is a pretty raw and distorted way of stating what I think I understand much better now." In the 2009 book ''Psychotherapy as a Developmental Process'' by psychologists Michael Basseches and Michael Mascolo—a book which Kegan called "the closest thing we have to a 'unified field theory' for psychotherapy"Statement is from a back-cover blurb for —Basseches and Mascolo said that they "embrace both Piagetian models of psychological change and their organization into justifications of what constitutes epistemic progress (the development of more adequate knowledge)". However, Basseches and Mascolo rejected theories of global developmental stages, such as those in Kegan's earlier writings, in favor of a more finely differentiated conception of development that focuses on "the emergence of specific skills, experiences, and behavioral dispositions over the course of psychotherapy as a developmental process".


Key publications

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See also

*
Bloom's taxonomy Bloom's taxonomy is a framework for categorizing Educational aims and objectives, educational goals, developed by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom in 1956. It was first introduced in the publication ''Taxonomy of Educational Obje ...
* * Constructive developmental framework * Double-loop learning *
Educational assessment Educational assessment or educational evaluation is the systematic process of documenting and using empirical data on the knowledge, skill, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, aptitude and beliefs to refine programs and improve student learning. Ass ...
* GROW model *
Higher-order thinking Higher-order thinking, also known as higher order thinking skills (HOTS),British CouncilHigher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) accessed 6 March 2023 is a concept applied in relation to education reform and based on learning Taxonomy (general), taxono ...
* Integrative complexity * Integrative level *
Model of hierarchical complexity The model of hierarchical complexity (MHC) is a framework for scoring how complex a behavior is, such as verbal reasoning or other cognitive tasks. It quantifies the order of hierarchical complexity of a task based on mathematical principles of how ...
*
Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development criticize and build upon Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Overview The neo-Piagetian theories aim to correct one or more of the following weaknesses in Piaget's theory: * Piaget's de ...
* Positive adult development *
Reflective equilibrium Reflective equilibrium is a state of Balance (metaphysics), balance or coherence among a set of beliefs arrived at by a process of deliberative mutual adjustment among general principles and particular judgements. Although he did not use the term ...
*
Reflective practice Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on one's actions so as to take a critical stance or attitude towards one's own practice and that of one's peers, engaging in a process of continuous adaptation and learning. According to one definiti ...
* Rubric (academic) * Sensemaking * Structure of observed learning outcome


Note


Short citations


References

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Further reading

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External links

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Videos

* Full Harvard class session taught by Kegan included. * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kegan, Robert 1946 births 21st-century American psychologists Constructivism (psychological school) American developmental psychologists Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty Harvard University alumni Living people Dartmouth College alumni 20th-century American psychologists