INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY

Because the Integral Model situates self-flourishing in culture and nature, Integral coaches and psychotherapists face a complex task. The self has many components, each nested in cultural and physical systems. Framing the health of clients in these terms is a major advance over partial and piecemeal approaches. But it requires that therapists have an understanding of a wide range of perspectives and techniques. The understanding and assessment of development is one of these key perspectives.*

To find out more about what we do, read on.

 

*Stein, Z., & Heikkienen, K. (2008). On operationalizing aspects of altitude: An introduction to the Lectical™ Assessment System for integral researchers. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice 3(1), 105-138.

 

Since 1993, our founder, Theo Dawson, has been designing, testing, and working with a developmental assessment system called the Lectical™ Assessment System. The system is based on Harvard Professor Kurt Fischer's Dynamic Skill Scale, and can be used to score the developmental level of any sample of reasoning in any area of knowledge.

The scale we use is composed of 13 levels, covering the entire life-span. Our assessments have been designed to capture the top 5 levels of the scale, which are observed in adolescence and adulthood. Junior high school students primarily reason at levels 9 and 10, high school students usually reason at level 10 in several areas of knowledge, and college graduates or individuals with equivalent knowledge and experience may demonstrate reasoning at level 11 in some areas. A small percentage of adults reason at levels 12 or 13 in one or more disciplines.

Our assessment system reliably distinguishes 4 phases per level. This means we can identify 18 distinct phases in adulthood, each of which has specific implications for performance.

For general information about our assessments, click here.

 

Our research into the development of reasoning has exposed several more or less distinct knowledge areas, each of which unfolds through a sequence of developmental levels. Interestingly, although it is often desirable for skills in all of these knowledge areas to develop in concert, a substantial body of research shows that this is not always the case. In fact, reasoning skills in different knowledge areas often develop at different rates. For example, a philosophy major may score near to top of our scale on reflective judgment, but perform no better than the average college sophomore on self-understanding.

For this reason, it is necessary to assess development in specific areas of interest. If you want to know how a client reasons about the good, you need an assessment of evaluative reasoning about the good. If you want to know how she is likely to approach knowledge and learning, you need an assessment of reflective judgment. If you want to know how she thinks about herself in various relationships, you need an assessment of self understanding. If you want a profile, you need a multidimensional assessment.

 

For adolescents (14+) and adults who are interested in exploring their thinking about themselves in important relationships

The LSUA is primarily informed by our own research on the development of self understanding in adulthood and the research of Loevinger, Blasi, Kegan, Fischer, and Armon, among others.

In this assessment, testees are asked to think about about themselves as members of four important relationships. They choose which relationships they will focus on from a fairly wide-ranging list.* They are also asked to think about the difference between their "ideal" and "real" selves. They describe these relationships in short essays.

As you know, self-reflection of the kind people engage in when they take this assessment, is important for personal growth. Taking the assessment, in itself, can be an important learning experience. Because of this, and because the essays they will write for this assessment are an important personal and clinical record, they are included with the report.

Contact us if you would like to view a sample report.

 

*You can ask clients to write about particular relationships. Select from the following: self as a son or daughter, self as a parent, self as a sibling, self as a girlfriend/boyfriend, self as a friend, self as a mate/life partner/spouse, self as a student, self as a business partner, self as an employee, self as a leader, self as a colleague, self as a manager, self as collaborator. You can also ask us to add to this list.

 

For adolescents (14+) and adults who are interested in exploring their thinking about the good life

The LERA examines how people think about the good. This includes thinking about the good life and good citizenship, the meaning of morality, and how one deals with ethical problems. Most of what we have learned about the development of reasoning about the good comes from Cheryl Armon's good life research, Keller and Edelstein's research on good friendship, and our own research on good education and leadership.

This assessment is composed of a series of essay questions that ask testees to show how they think about different aspects of the good and the right.

How we think about the good influences many of the choices we make in life, and reflection of the kind people engage in when they take this assessment is important for personal growth. Taking this assessment is likely to be an important learning experience. Because of this, and because the essays people will write for this assessment are an important personal record, we include them with the report.

Contact us if you would like to view a sample report.

 

Building on the work of Perry and Kitchener & King, we have designed a general assessment of reflective judgment—the LRJA. This assessment, in which the testee is asked to reason through one of several challenging real-world dilemmas, is composed of a set of essay questions, followed by a short survey. Level of performance on this assessment provides a general sense of how an individual reasons and how he or she is likely to approach information and learning.

In the modern world, continuous learning is essential. There is a substantial research literature on the relation between reflective judgment and learning. This literature shows that individuals whose reflective judgment skills are more developed can learn and use more complex and abstract information. For example, college students with more developed reflective judgment skills are likely to perform better than those with less developed reflective judgment skills.

View sample reports.

 

All assessments are scored by Certified Lectical Analysts, who are required to maintain a high standard of accuracy and reliability (85% agreement within 1/4 of a level with a Master Lectical Analyst). It is important to understand that lectical scores are not like grades or percentile scores, which tell you where a student performs relative to other students. Lectical scores are more like positions on a ruler or thermometer. Each level and phase is defined in terms of the reasoning tasks someone performing at that level can accomplish. This ruler-like quality is unprecedented in assessment. It makes it possible for us not only to provide a score, but to tell you what that score means for an individual's learning. It means that we can tell you what each person who takes one of our assessments needs to learn next to make optimal developmental progress.

 

All reports include:

1. a lectical score, with an explanation of its general meaning,
2. information about the meaning of the score relative to the testee's management level, and
3. learning recommendations.

 

If you are interested our assessments, would like to follow up on a special offer, or would like more information, email us anytime.

We offer a 20% discount to all non-profit organizations that can provide documentation of their status.

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