STAGES Model of Adult Development
Description
Tom Murray:
"The STAGES model of adult development is a relatively new framework created by Terri O'Fallon, in consultation with several colleagues over the past decade (O'Fallon, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013). STAGES is an extension of the ego-development framework formulated by Jane Loevinger and updated by Susanne Cook-Greuter, with elements inspired by Ken Wilber's AQAL model and Sri Aurobindo's model of psychospiritual development (Loevinger, 1979; Cook-Greuter, 1999; Wilber, 1995; Aurobindo, 1992). STAGES diverges from the earlier frameworks in two ways. First, it proposes a small set of underlying parameters (factors or dimensions) that give rise to, or explain, the progression of developmental levels described in the prior theories. Second, it uses an alternative scoring system – one based on these parameters."
(https://integral-review.org/issues/vol_16_no_1_murray_introduction_and_overview.pdf)
Status
Tom Murray:
"The STAGES framework, as described in papers and seminars by O'Fallon and her colleague and brother Kim Barta, diverges from prior adult developmental frameworks in two additional ways. First, it includes a very specific model for "shadow work" (psychological health, healing, and repair). Second, and it includes a treatment of states and state stages that aligns it more closely with western transpersonal and eastern contemplative theories of human potential that speak directly to later stages of self-actualization and ego transcendence. Though O'Fallon has a PhD and has worked within the US educational infrastructure, the STAGES model gestated and was born out of the modest petri dish of O'Fallon and a few colleague's work in human-potential workshops and her work with Cook-Greuter in developmental scoring – i.e., it did not evolve within a traditional academic context or with the assistance of traditional grant or corporate research money. Like almost all such theories created in pragmatic contexts, at first, it was simply a new conceptual framework – one among hundreds of models of human capacity and growth that could be used to inform leadership, parenting, personal growth, cultural change, etc. Unlike most such models, it had its roots in a model that had been rigorously validated in scholarly venues (i.e., Loevinger's lineage), and it was always O'Fallon's intention to validate the model empirically. Within the past five years, three types of advancements have launched STAGES from its gestation into a new level of maturity: (1) through dozens of papers and workshops, STAGES has become increasingly well-known and is being applied in many contexts by hundreds of professionals; (2) O'Fallon and colleagues have completed a number of empirical and psychometric studies validating many aspects of the model; and (3) the STAGES model has been incorporated into about a dozen dissertation research projects, thus establishing itself (provisionally) in academic settings."
(https://integral-review.org/issues/vol_16_no_1_murray_introduction_and_overview.pdf)