The self, adult development, and the theory of biography and transformation
pp. 3-29
in: Daniel K. Lapsley, F. C. Power (eds), Self, ego, and identity, Berlin, Springer, 1988Abstract
During the past decade, we have witnessed a great deal of interest in uncovering the developmental paths of adulthood. Knowledge about these avenues has found a rich source in the work of the great novelists of the 19th Century to whom it was no secret that the longest era of the life-span was full of great psychological, social, and spiritual transformations. But psychoanalysts and psychologists have found it difficult to translate this knowledge into theory and research paradigms. For psychoanalysts, the formative years had passed by the age of six. And though very different in its general outlook, Piaget's cognitive psychology explored development no further than adolescence. Earlier theories that did trace developments in adulthood (e.g., Buhler, 1933; Jung, 1923/1971) did not receive the attention they deserved.