Ego Identity: A Handbook for Psychosocial Research contains an integrated presentation of identity theory, literature reviews covering the hundreds of research studies on identity, a discussion of the techniques of interviewing for psychosocial constructs, and model Identity Status Interviews and scoring manuals for three age groups: early- and middle- adolescence, the college years and adulthood. Special attention is devoted to questions of the personality and social patterns associ ated with differing approaches to the task of identity formation, the processes and patterns of identity development, and the similarities and differences with which females and males form their sense of identity. Theory and research on Erikson's concept of intimacy is presented, including the Intimacy Status Interview and scoring manual. This handbook is also designed to serve as a model for those interested in developing and using interview techniques for any of the other Eriksonian stages of psychosocial development. This book is ideal for researchers of ego identity and intimacy, practitioners and graduate students in developmental, personality, and social psychology as well as to psychiatrists.

This new text contains parts of Bornstein and Lamb’s Developmental Science, 6th edition, along with new introductory material, providing a cutting edge and comprehensive overview of social and personality development. Each of the world-renowned contributors masterfully introduces the history and systems, methodologies, and measurement and analytic techniques used to understand the area of human development under review. The relevance of the field is illustrated through engaging applications. Each chapter reflects the current state of knowledge and features an introduction, an overview of the field, a chapter summary, and numerous classical and contemporary references. As a whole, this highly anticipated text illuminates substantive phenomena in social and personality developmental science and its relevance to everyday life. Students and instructors will appreciate the book’s online resources. For each chapter, the website features: chapter outlines; a student reading guide; a glossary of key terms and concepts; and suggested readings with hotlinks to journal articles. Only instructors are granted access to the test bank with multiple-choice, short-answer, and essay questions; PowerPoints with all of the text’s figures and tables; and suggestions for classroom discussion/assignments. The book opens with an introduction to social and personality development as well as an overview of developmental science in general—its history and theory, the cultural orientation to thinking about human development, and the manner in which empirical research is designed, conducted, and analyzed. Part 2 examines personality and social development within the context of the various relationships and situations in which developing individuals function and by which they are shaped. The book concludes with an engaging look at applied developmental psychology in action through a current examination of children and the law. Ways in which developmental thinking and research affect and are affected by practice and social policy are emphasized. Intended for advanced undergraduate and/or graduate level courses on social and personality development taught in departments of psychology, human development, and education, researchers in these areas will also appreciate this book’s cutting-edge coverage.

The formation of identity in adolescence is the most central concept in psychological and sociological studies of young people. Most theories to date assume that adolescents share the same conditions under which their identities are formed. Personality Development in Adolescence is a collection of work by leading researchers that considers different contexts affecting personality and identity development. Three main contexts are considered: cultural, family and life-span development. Of central importance to developmental psychologists, this collection will also be valuable to social workers, teachers, nurses and all those whose work involves young people.

Ego Development and Psychopathology presents an original theoretical underpinning for classification and interpretation of the major mental disorders, one based largely on the author's clinical experience. Ausubel's central thesis is that the most significant and crucial factors predisposing persons to mental disorders are critical developmental defects that arise at vital transitional phases of ego development. He sees both normal and pathological personality functioning as most cogently explained in terms of an individual's ego structure at a given point in the life cycle. Ausubel relates his developmental theory to the phenomenology and related clinical problems of psychiatric diagnosis. He classifies mental disorders in terms of their developmental history. Such factors, in his opinion, offer the most precise delineation of etiological, functional, and phenomenological similarities and differences among the various psychiatric syndromes. He provides an overview of ego development, as well as major variants of the norm. He also discusses development of conscience and moral values, as well as psychopathological considerations that follow from deficiencies, defects, failure, and distortions in ego development. He examines at length classification of mental disorders, such as anxiety states, psychotic depression and mania, schizophrenia, autism, antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders, and defense mechanisms. Ausubel is careful to point out that ego development is not the only significant determinant of normal and aberrant personality. Genetic predispositions, situational stress, and sociocultural factors must always be taken into consideration since mental disorder is always a product of multiple causality. However, he believes ego development is by far the most critical factor, and hence offers the most for classification of mental illness. This intriguing study will be of interest to professionals as well as educated and concerned practitioners in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, child psychotherapy, and social work.

This book examines identity theory’s centrality within social psychology and its foundations within structural symbolic interaction, highlighting its links not only to other prominent sociological subfields, but also to other theoretical perspectives within and beyond sociology. The book provides a synthetic overview outlining the intellectual lineage of identity theory within structural symbolic interactionism, and how the “Indiana School” of identity theory and research, associated especially with Sheldon Stryker, relates to other symbolic interactionist traditions within sociology. It also analyses the latest developments in response to the push to integrate identity theory, which initially focused on role identities, with the study of personal, group and social identities. Further, it discusses the relationship between identity theory and affect control theory, providing a sense of the many substantive topics within sociology beyond social psychology for which the study of identity has important, sometimes underappreciated implications. The book concludes with a chapter summarizing the interrelated lessons learned while also reflecting on remaining key questions and challenges for the future development of identity theory.

Jane Loevinger's innovative research methodology, psychometric rigor, and theoretical scope have attracted the attention of numerous scholars and researchers. Empirical investigations employing Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test of ego development (WUSCT) have appeared with increasing frequency and total more than 300 studies. Following the publication of the first comprehensive revision of the scoring manual for the WUSCT, this volume reflects on the strengths and limitations of Loevinger's developmental model. It is divided into sections that correspond with four broad questions that can be raised about Loevinger's developmental model: * What is its scope and intellectual tradition? * What evidence is there for construct validity? * What is its relationship to other social-developmental models? * What is its clinical relevance to Loevinger's model of ego development? This four-part grouping provides a framework for effectively organizing the present material, and frequently, the questions raised in one section are addressed in other sections as well. In the concluding chapter, Loevinger addresses some of the ideas that are proposed by the various authors. She also presents the origin of the ego development concept by recounting its history.