Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
EQUILIBRATION AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF ISSUES IN PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Abstract
Normative data (e.g., Gesell, 1940; Gesell & Ilg, 1946) indicate that the course of development is marked by periods of relative equilibrium and disequilibrium. The research literature in personality and social development, however, has not dealt extensively with the specific issues that children must resolve as they develop toward maturity. Issues, as used here, derive their meaning from Piaget's (1960) model of equilibration. They occur as a result of the assimilation of stimuli to two contradictory structures; contradictory in the sense that both cannot be applied at the same time. The equilibration process has received its widest application in the field of cognitive development (Flavell, 1963). Since the process is considered intrinsic to all psychological adaptation, however, it should be possible to extend its use into the area of personality and social development (Santmire, 1977). The present investigation addressed three questions: (1) can the equilibration model be used to identify the disequilibria of children in different stages of development? (2) once identified, can consistencies in content be observed (a) within children; (b) across children at the same stage of development; and (c) with differences across stage of development? and (3) can the issues be seen as consistent with Erikson's (1950) stages of psychosocial development? Criteria, consistent with the steps in the equilibration process, were developed for analyzing the data. Groups of children in Preoperational, Early Concrete Operational, and Late Concrete Operational stages were asked to tell stories in response to a projective stimulus. Using these criteria, stories were analyzed for stages of equilibration which could then be used to identify specific issues. Raters were trained in the use of the scoring criteria and achieved a satisfactory level of reliability (r = .88). The data support the hypothesis that the equilibration model can be used to identify issues in development. Developmental changes were seen in the areas of (1) interpersonal cooperation; (2) children's perceptions of normative rule structures; and (3) children's ability to resolve structures in disequilibrium. Specific issues were moderately consistent with Eriksonian stages of development.
Subject Area
Developmental psychology
Recommended Citation
MCNEIL, WILLIAM JOHN, "EQUILIBRATION AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF ISSUES IN PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT" (1985). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8526626.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8526626