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J Loevinger

Publications and source records attributed to J Loevinger.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Revision of the sentence completion test for ego development.

New forms of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test are presented, revised to be closely comparable for men and women. The two pages of each form are usable as alternate 18-item forms. All stems on the new forms have a manual derived for women, for men, or for both. Order of items on the new forms is designed to maximize cooperation and to insure independent answers on the several stems. Data taken from several diverse samples using the previous forms show the median item validity (correlation of item rating with total protocol rating) slightly higher for women (about .50) than for men (about .46). However, the difference is wholly accounted for by difference in the variance of the samples. First-person stems and impersonal ones are about equally valid for women, but impersonal ones appear to be more valid for men. More impersonal stems are included on the new forms.

Adolescent↗

Ego development in college.

Using the Sentence Completion Test for ego development, we studied several cohorts of students between 1971 and 1979 at a technological institute (Tech) and between 1974 and 1979 at a predominantly liberal arts university (MU). Ego level tended to rise slightly except among women at MU, for whom there was a slight but consistent loss. This particular finding challenges one assumption of a widely accepted version of Piagetian theory: that stage development is irreversible. Women tended to enter MU slightly ahead of men in ego level, but left at the same level. Contrary to expectation, men and women appeared to gain more at Tech than at MU; the difference was significant only for women.

Age Factors↗

Ego development and conformity: a construct validity study of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test.

Loevinger's conception of ego development predicts a curvilinear relation between it and conformity. Using 107 private-school boys in grades 8, 9, and 11, self-report, peer-nomination, and experimental (Willis) measures of conformity were given. An archival measure, number of demerits, was also obtained. As predicted, the self-report and archival measures show maximum conformity between the Self-Protective and Conscientious Stages as measured by the sentence completion test. These results are not artifacts of age or IQ. The Willis test does not correlates significantly any other variable, and the peer ratings were methodologically suspect. Thus one aspect of the conception of ego development is partially confirmed. Conformity. as measured by these typical tests, is shown not to be a unitary variable.

Journal Article↗