An investigation of the progressive sequence of ego development levels.

The progressive sequence of ego development levels as measured by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test was examined in relation to component scores on a construct identified from 12 objective measures related to ego development. The analysis was based on 229 adult subjects. The sequence of component scores for three groupings of ego development levels (Pre-Conformist, Conformist, and Post-Conformist) followed the predicted progression. Large standard deviations relative to the mean component scores for the groupings of ego development levels suggested overlap among the levels of ego development, which is consistent with the notion of décalage in developmental theory.