Self Authorship

Self Authorship

1. Internal capacity to define one's beliefs, identity and social relations

2. Constructive development: growth/ transformation of ways people construct meaning

3. Kegan's Theory

   • Development as an effort to resolve tension between desire for differentiation and an equally powerful desire to be immersed in one's surroundings
   • evolution of consciousness, personal unfolding of ways of organizing experience that are not simply replaced as we grow but subsumed into more complex systems of mind.
   • Order 0: New born infants "living in an objectless world, a world in which everything sensed is taken to be an extension of the infant.
   • Order 1: Children develop -> at about age 2, they realize they have control over their reflexes and become aware of their environment as independent from themselves.
   • Order 2: Instrumental mind -> thinking becomes more logical and organized, their feelings are more enduring, and they relate to others as separate and unique beings.
   • Order: 3: Socialized mind -> Cross-categorical thinking—the ability to relate one durable category to another; thinking is more abstract, individuals are aware of their feelings and the internal processes associated with them, and they can make commitments to communities of people and ideas
   • Order 4: Self-Authoring Mind -> Cross-categorical constructing—the ability to generalize across abstractions, which could also be labeled systems thinking.
   • Order 5: Self-Transforming Mind ->individuals see beyond themselves, others, and systems of which they are a part to form an understanding of how all people and systems interconnect.
   • Ignezli used Kegan's concepts to discuss applications in traditional undergrad classrooms and suggested these for learning and development:
     • Value and support students current ways of thinking
     • Provide structure and guidance in taking on unfamiliar tasks
     • Encourage students to learn from each other by working together in groups
     • Acknowledge and reinforce students' successes in moving to self-authored perspective while recognizing to do so
   • Kegan's idea of effective holding environment (1982)

4. Baxter Magolda

   • The need to address gender in a study of cognitive development that included men and women
   • 6 guiding assumptions underlying her model
     • 1) ways of knowing can best be examined using naturalistic inquiry
     • 2) ways of knowing can best be examined using naturalistic inquiry
     • 3) students use of reasoning patterns is fluid
     • 4) patterns are related to, but dictated by gender
     • 5) students stories are context-based
     • 6) "assumptions about the nature, limits and certainty of knowing"
   • Four phases of self-authorship
     • Following formulas
     • Cross roads
     • Becoming the author of one's life
     • Internal foundation
   • Three main questions
     • How do I know? (epistemological)
     • Who am I? (identity)
     • How do I want to construct relationships with others (interpersonal/intrapersonal)

5. Three elements of self-authorship

   • Trusting the internal voice
   • Building an internal foundation
   • Securing internal commitments

6. Jane Pizzolato explored factors and her findings indicate that experiencing a decision as a "provocative movement" on the path to self-authorship was related to both characteristics of the student and of the situation.