Postautonomous Ego Development:
A Study Of Its Nature And Measurement

Susanne R. Cook-Greuter
Harvard University

This dissertation makes both a theoretical and a practical contribution to positive adult psychology  by mapping and clarifying mature, postautonomous ego development and by providing new stage distinctions (Construct-aware, Unitive) and thematic categories to assess these. It describes Ken Wilber’s vision logic as a conscious, stepwise deconstruction of the habits of mind and heart, or an increasing awareness of the constructed nature of reality and language. Finally, it begins to bridge Western conceptions of psychological growth as increasing individuation and self-integration with Eastern notions of the permanent self as a transitional phenomenon that may be recognized as a guiding fiction and transcended.

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