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Notes:
Exhibits appearing in
this paper are close approximations based on the text. The actual
illustrations have not been located.
Readers should note
that this paper was written before Dr. Graves included a distinct C-P system
in his work. Therefore, like other early papers (typically pre-1969), the
numbering of the levels is different from later works.
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From the Historical
Collection of the work of Dr. Clare W. Graves
- presentations, papers, recorded
transcripts, notes-
William R. Lee
February 2002
Man:
An Enlarged Conception of His Nature
by
Clare W. Graves
Professor of Psychology
Union College
Schenectady, New York
Presented before:
Second Annual Conference on the Cybercultural Revolution
Hotel Americana
New York, New York
May 27, 1965
Accepted for publication in "The Living Society" Vol. II.
Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference of the Cybercultural Society.
November 10, 1966
__________________________________________________________________
Since the subject of this section of the Second Annual
Conference on the Cybercultural Revolution is change, change in political
institutions, change in science, change in social values, I would like to
suggest that one cannot give adequate meaning to such changes unless one
considers that these changes are not "forever new and surprising"
as says the theme-setting paragraph in the program of this conference. I
will suggest to you that these changes in science, political institutions,
and social values as well as other changes in adult human behavior are not
surprising if we examine them within the frame-work of an enlarged
conception of the psychology of the adult human being. I will suggest that
such changes may be varying concomitantly with orderly, not previously
emphasized changes in the nature of man.
But, before I am taken to task, by you assembled, for
speaking against the evidence, namely the evidence that the nature of man,
the organism homo sapiens, has not changed since first he appeared, may I
point out that my words said changes in the nature of man, not changes of
the nature of man. I am suggesting to you that we may not comprehend the
significance of change whenever it takes place and whatever form it takes
unless we consider that such is a function of the orderly progression of
change within the nature of man as his life circumstances change. An order
of progression which I shall designate herein as movement through the
Levels of Human Existence.
To date in the psycho-philosophical world we have had
presented three basic explanations of the changes which take place in man's
behavior and in man's institutions. One is the Lockean, Pavlovian,
Watsonian, Hullian, yes, ever Wienerian, behavioristic, man is a computer
tradition wherein change results from an increase in the complexity of
stimulus-response bonds brought on by experience. One is what is called the
Schopenhaurean, Freudian, psychoanalytic instinctual transformation point
of view. And one is, to me the Nietzschean, Hiedeggerean, Kierkegaardian,
existentialistic, striving to be, to find self, emergent, blocked emergence
explanation of change. Each of these points of view, in my judgment, has
substance so far as explaining human behavioral change, but only limited
substance. And, in my mind, the latter point of view, over and above the
others, provides a substantive base for fuller comprehension of change than
we have come to so far but for some reason it has not been utilized to
comprehend the phenomena which interest us. But I do not believe the latter
point of view is mutually exclusive of the other two. And I do not believe
that any of the points of view can be excluded when we try to explain change
in human behavior and human institutions. It is because of my belief
that each of the points of view has substance, with each successive point
of view having more substance than the preceding explanation, that this
paper is titled, "Man, An Enlarged Conception of His
Nature."
I have suggested that we might better understand
scientific, political and social value changes if we viewed them as arising
from changes within man's nature - - changes of a profound and significance
order. Time will not permit me to acknowledge fully those whose preceding
thoughts contributed to the development of the Level of Existence
conception of man's behavior nor will it permit adequate documentation or
support of the ideas. Suffice it to say that much is owed to Nietzsche,
Adler, Goldstein, Maslow, the cultural anthropologists and the
existentialists and that in time I hope to present more adequate
documentation and support of the conception of man to follow.
The Level of Existence conception of man's nature is offered
as a framework within which it may be possible to comprehend more
adequately change which ensues in the behavioral and institutional world of
man. It has developed with a fourfold purpose in mind:
(1) To extend into broader realms a correction in psychological thinking
that has been taking place in the last thirty years.
(2) To correct what I suggest is a major illusion are to the nature of
man.
(3) To explore beyond the existentialistic position that the aim of man
is to come to be, to become his potential by exploring the question: Is
there order in the nature of mature biological man's becoming?
(4) To try to synthesize the behavioristic, psychoanalytic and
existentialistic conception of man within a broader framework.
The correction that is taking place in psychological theory
is that man does not seek freedom from tension, an existence without
tension, that man is not a tension reducing organism. This conception of
what motivates man has been seriously questioned by men like [Kurt]
Goldstein and [William] Gomberg.
Goldstein pointed out that normal behavior does not
correspond to a tension increase, tension decreases, rest formula, but
rather to a tension increase, tension expenditure, new tension ad
infinitum, formula. He said essentially, ala Nietzsche, that the only drive
of the organism is to actualize itself according to its emerging
potentialities. To him normal behavior continuously creates new states of
tension which were not present before and which impel the organism to value
new experiences and new activities according to it's emerged nature.
Gomberg referred to this same change in focus in his
writings on entrepreneurial psychology. He called to our attention that the
human values most the experience of releasing tension, particularly new
tension, and that he dislikes most the experience of being free of
tensions. He believed the job of management was to create conflict in human
behavior. He believed it so strongly that he said essentially:
"The job of management is to create conflict, generate it and
provide for its release in a setting of changing institutional arrangements
in which the person is free to pursue this interminable cycle
endlessly."1
Goldstein did not characterize the new tensions of normal,
i.e. non-brain injured man, nor the new things people would come to do and
value. Nor did Gomberg go on to study what innovations management must
consider if it is to successfully manage. Such is one purpose in the Level
of Existence conception of man.
The illusion I refer to is that since man, the mature
biological organism, stabilizes for the greater part of his adult life at
one biological level, that man the psychological organism, does the same
thing. Have we not concluded, as a result of this illusion, that we should
be seeking the general psychological principles which explain differences
in the mature human being? Has not this illusion led psychologists to
overlook some very substantive anthropological evidence that the mature
biological human organism is not a general psychological being and that
there are no general principles for explaining people's behavior that will
ever be found.
My third purpose, to go beyond the existentialistic
position that the aim of man is to become, relates back to Goldstein's
ideas as to new tensions and to the anthropological evidence referred to
above. It seemed to me that anthropological evidence suggested that when
man's conditions of existence changed that man's psychology changed and
that these changes are orderly, though complex, and that they are related
to Goldstein's new states of tension of the normal mature man. Thus, I set
out to see if one could give order to the nature of man's becoming.
The fourth purpose, the synthesis of the behavioristic,
psychoanalytic and existentialistic positions will, I hope, be seen more
clearly in the latter parts of the paper and in other papers to
follow.
The Level of Existence conception of human behavior was
developed to explore the nature of change in behavior with time and to
provide a framework which questioned that mature psychological man varies
only on a quantitative scale over the biologically mature years of his
life. It was developed also to explore further the nature of man's
becoming. Much has been written as to man's need to become from Nietzsche
to Allport, let us say. But it seems to me that few have thought of
becoming, in the mature biological organism, as an emergent organism, as an
environmental complex similar to the development of the cognitive component
of the child as presented in the works of Piaget.
The Level of Existence conception of man's nature proposes
that the mature human mind cannot be likened to a computer. It suggests
that the mind of the mature biological organism is not a system in which
the data processing aspects change only quantitatively with time. It does
not see the mind as a system in which the changes that occur are primarily
in the complexity of stimulus-response bonds or memory units. The
conception asserts that if one is to view the mind through a computer
analogy that it must be viewed as a computer which changes its programming
in a regular and orderly way as well as a computer which spontaneously
changes and re-orders the data in its memory bank.
Within this conception of man, the mind of the mature human
organism moves continuously to metamorphize a new form, a new quality, a
new shape. Like the moth to the larvae, to the egg each new psychological
form of mind is contiguous with the old stage but is qualitatively
different from the previous stage.
I see the psychology of the mature human being as tending
to pass through a series of levels of integration which I call Levels of
Human Existence. Man's psychology is quantitatively and qualitatively different
as the new form appears and the old is absorbed within it. When the
conditions of man's existence change, (a concept referring to the amount of
free energy in the person-environment system, the type of insights present
in the human mind and the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction present
in the person) man becomes programmed, so to speak, in a manner that is
quantitatively and qualitatively different from what he was before.
Quantitatively in the sense that more brain cells are operant, that is
activated, than were previously operant and qualitatively in that brain
systems, networks, cell assemblies, dynamic neurological systems or
what-ever one calls them, are activated which permit ways of thinking,
acting, transacting, perceiving, valuing, organizing, managing,
scientificating, etc., which were not operant before.
The psychology of the mature biological organism is seen as
an unfolding or emergent process marked by progressive sub-ordination of
older systems in favor of newer higher, order systems. These conditions of
existence, level of previous emergence, developmental sequences of the mind
of the mature man are typical of the species, not necessarily of the
individual. The mature human, in general, tends to change his psychology as
the conditions of his existence change, but a particular human may not be
genetically or constitutionally programmed so as to progress even if his
existential conditions change. Thus the biologically mature human organism
is seen as a psychological person in transit from a beginning point, the
lowest level of behavioral organization of homo sapiens, to some unknown
destination. A psychological person, who if the conditions for his
transportation are right, will move through an hierarchially ordered series
of systems possibly to some end or possibly will travel behaviorally
infinitely on. Yet, if the conditions of his existence are not right or if
he is atypically programmed he may tarry and remain psychologically at one
of the way stations he comes to in his journey.
Today I believe we can delineate, clearly, some nine of
these levels of existence, levels of hierarchially ordered change from
which we can determine where a person, a society, a culture, an
organization is within the hierarchy and from which we can see where each
would move next if the proper conditions came to be. And from which we can
determine what the conditions are which produced the movement from one
level in the hierarchy to another. Thus we can say theoretically that if we
find a certain form of political institution present in a society,
associated with a certain attitude toward science, and these in turn
associated with certain social values, that these were preceded by a
certain form of political institution, a certain scientific attitude and a
certain set of values and that when certain specified conditions occur that
these political institutions, scientific attitudes and social values will
change to a different but predictable form of political institution,
scientific attitude, and social value.
The first five of these levels of human existence are quite
open to view at the present time. Two of them can be seen in descending
degree of dim outline and one has almost disappeared and is rarely open to
view. How many more stages may yet appear, or if there are more stages I do
not know. It may be as Maslow writes of this hierarchial movement in the
motivational world that there is a final self-actualizing stage or it may
be that self-actualization, reaching one's potential, is as Fromm suggests
through his existential dichotomy concept, an infinitely changing process
we can never hope to achieve.
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EXHIBIT I*
Hypothesized Levels of Human Existence, Existential States,
and Three Sub-systems
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Level of Human Existence
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Nature of Existence
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Motivational System**
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Ethical & Value System
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Managerial
Control
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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9
Fourth Being
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Appreciating
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Beauty
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Aweing
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?
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8
Third Being
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Comprehending
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Understanding
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Compassionate
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Facilitation
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7
Second Being
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Seeking
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Information
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Cognitive
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Facilitation
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6
First Being
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Personalitistic
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Esteem of Self
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Individualistic
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Group Process
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5
Fifth Subsistence
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Sociocentric
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Belonging
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Sociocratic
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Bargaining
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4
Fourth Subsistence
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Energetic
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Mastery
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Power
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Authoritarian
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3
Third Subsistence
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Absolutistic
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Safety
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Constrictive
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Tough Paternalistic
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2
Second Subsistence
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Animistic
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Survivalistic
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Totem & Taboo
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Friendly Parent
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1
First Subsistence
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Autistic
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Periodic
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Amoral Physiological
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Nurturing
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[* Exhibit I is compiled
from the Graves, Huntley, LaBier paper of May 1965 which is cited herein
along with the managerial controls from the later 1970 Graves, Madden &
Madden paper.]
** The motivational levels follow Roe's modification of Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs, as modified by Graves. The subsistence levels refer to
deficiency motivation, while the being levels refer to growth or abundancy
motivation.
_______________________________
The nine systems are designated in turn as the Autistic
Existence, the human psychological form no longer open to view in normal
man; the Animistic Existence, the Absolutistic Existence, the Energetic Existence,
the Sociocentric Existence, the Personalistic Existence, the Seeking
Existence, and possibly the Comprehending Existence and the Appreciating
Existence. It is the latter three which can be seen only in dim outline.
Since the pre-conditions necessary for movement into the latter levels of
existence have seldom occurred for individual, let alone masses, we have as
yet little data as to the psychology of the later appearing or yet to
appear levels.
The first five of the levels are classified as Subsistence
Levels and are so numbered consecutively. They are called subsistence
levels because they have in common different kinds of deficiency or deficit
motives. People at any of these levels behave in order to get, in order to
get something that is needed, while people at the other four levels behave
in order to be, in order to express self. Thus, the other levels are
numbered consecutively Being Levels because they have in common growth or
expressive motivation.
Within this conception of man's nature of total psychology
of the mature biological organism changes when three conditions occur - -
when there is an increase in free energy in the person-environment system
resulting from a solution of the existential problems of a level, when
certain necessary insights are arrived at and when there is dissonance in
the current state of being. When these conditions are present a
qualitatively different state of being emerges cognitively, emotionally,
motivationally, value-wise and other-wise. Man's institutions change, also,
and so do his attitudes and beliefs.
Within this conception of man, change can be thought of in
many ways, three of which are presented in Exhibit II [similar to what is
described in text].  We can see
change as movement up the vertical axis from systems more homogeneous, less
complex, more restricted behaviorally to systems more heterogeneous, more
complex, more free behaviorally. This type of movement will occur when
there is an increase in energy in the system, when there is dissatisfaction
with the present state of being and when the insights necessary for
propelling man to the next level occur. Movement of this sort results in
marked qualitative changes in behavior, greater freedom to choose and
increased variability within the behavioral thema of the next level.
Change can be seen, also as movement horizontally to the
ultimate of a particular state. Such change would take place when there is
surplus energy in the system, when dissonance is present but when no new
insights for living have developed. It results in marked elaboration of the
thema of the level and would ultimately achieve, so to speak, maximum
entropy and thus the demise of those who reached the maximum of horizontal
change.
A third way that we can think of movement is movement on
the oblique. Oblique movement would result when free energy and dissonance
were present along with only partial rather than the necessary insights for
vertical movement. Here the behavior would remain based on the level from
whence the oblique started but would show subordinate aspects of behavior
at the levels reached by the oblique. Thus, theoretically, if a society or
person is operating at a certain level, we can predict, by this conception
what changes in behavior would ensue if certain combinations of releasor
conditions occur, and we can hypothesize the following within this
conception of man.
1. That the mind of man can be conceived as a series of hierarchially
ordered dynamic systems each with its own form of motivation, perception,
cognition, emotion, valuing, etc.
2. That each dynamic system is triggered into action by certain general
releasor conditions, surplus energy in the current system and dissonance
within the system plus certain specific releasor conditions, and the necessary
insights required for movement to the next level.
3. That man living within a particular level of existence will believe
that the task of being human is to become that which his dynamic level
perceives life to be.
4. That success in solving the problems of existence as they are
perceived to be at a particular level produces dissatisfaction with the
nature of his being at that particular level.
5. That as soon as man becomes dissatisfied with his state of existence
at a level and has present in his person-environment system surplus energy
and the necessary insights he moves psychologically to the next level of
human existence where he perceives the problem of becoming to be of another
order.
6. That movement from lower levels of existence to higher levels of
existence means movement from a narrow, more humanly restricting way of
life to a broader, more humanly freeing way of life.
7. That movement can take place in many ways depending on variations in
releasor conditions.
8. That change will take place in the psychological spheres of
motivation, perception, emotion, cognition, belief, valuing, etc., - such
that we can predict what will be discarded as no longer appropriate in the
new psychological state; what will be modified; and what new form of mental
activity and behavior will appear.
9. That since these are dynamic systems they may progress, regress,
fixate or the like.
But now I have tarried long enough on theory. Therefore,
let me share with you some of what we have learned as we have worked within
this conception of man's nature. Since time is limited, I will present only
representative changes that take place with movement from one level of
existence to another.
Returning to Exhibit I (above) we see three of the
systematic forms of change we have found. They are change in motivational
systems, value systems and managerial control systems. In respect to the
first, change in motivational system, we have found reasonable
corroboration of Maslow's concept of hierarchy of need. It should be said that
our data has required some modification of his scheme such as the addition
of the mastery motive system between the survival and belonging systems.
This successive change in dominating motivational system has significance
in all other change as we shall subsequently see. For example in the
political sphere our data suggest that as soon as the group in power, in a
developing country begins to feel secure, that is to satisfy the safety
motive, that their political moves will be in turn expansion and mastery,
and then when such is satisfied one will find them making overtures to be
accepted, to belong, to be recognized as a reasonable nation among nations.
We have found that value and belief systems also seem to
change in an orderly way as movement takes place from one level of human
existence to another. We presented adults in general with a large number of
value and belief statements. We asked them to respond by a scale extending
from plus three, strongly agree, to minus three, strongly disagree, with the
statement. Analysis of such data, which is to date incomplete, has produced
five clusters of value and belief which are mutually exclusive and which
fit our theorized levels three, four, five, six and seven.
According to these data our third subsistence level man
values suppression and repression of his inner life and a rigid ordering of
the outer world. He values isolated, hierarchial, local unit political
institutions and will accept at most only a weak confederation of political
units. Federalization he strongly rejects. His believes in some
absolutistic, usually Divine authority, and in hierarchially ordered human
relationships, that he is born into position in life and that he should not
question his authorities prescriptions. His authority is emphasized because
the particular source of absolute authority varies from person to person.
He believes that the world if full of dangerous forces stemming from within
man's nature and existing outside his particular group. For those who are
psychologically sophisticated, an interesting thing is suggested by the
psychology of the third level. Third level man may be man as described
within orthodox psychoanalytic circles. It may be that here we can see the
beginning of a synthesis of psychological theory because if time permitted
I could show that fourth level man is possibly man as Adler saw him; that
fifth level man is man as Horney and Sullivan saw him; and sixth level man
is possibly man as Rogers and the phenomenological-existentialists see him;
while seventh level man may be the cognitive man of whom mystic poets are
now writing; and at the other end may be the man that behavioristic
principles apply to.
In the above study, fourth level man demonstrated above
anything else a will to power. He values action and risk, force and energy.
He believes that the power to change rests in the superior talents of the
few. And, as he sees it, it is better to act and fail than to suffer the
ignominious shame of not having tried. He values the practical, the
utilitarian and scoffs at the theoretical or idealistic.
When we examined his thema for living we found it to fit
well the Machiavellian concept of Might is Right. He believes in and
demands complete loyalty to the power source and that one should "rule
by the book" if one is in power. At the same time he believes that the
end is more important than the means. Belief in profit, rugged
individualism, nationalism and federalization are expressed in this system.
To him one's own self interest prevails even to the extent that fraud and
manipulation are necessary means to the end and cruelty and fear are only
tools to be properly applied, not means to be avoided.
The same study indicated fifth level beliefs and values
clustered around wanting to belong, to be accepted in a social group. Fifth
level man is one of "The Lonely Crowd", "The Organization
Man", "The Status Seekers". He is the only one who
subscribed to the idea that a man's job title, office furnishings, desk
size, and office size and location are important. He is "other
directed". He values participation and the team and the committee
means to the end. He believes strongly in compromise even if one feels
strongly about an issue and he believes that the majority does and should
rule. It was in this cluster, only, that we found the majority rule belief.
Scientifically he values social sciences and social and social engineering
of human affairs. This is distinctly different from fourth and third levels
scientific beliefs. Fourth level value physical science and the mechanistic
engineering of human affairs and third level man rejected the idea of
tampering with natures design. Within this fifth level system social
acceptance is more important than and individual desire and there is the
dominant belief that life should be lived by social adjustment.
Sixth and seventh level systems showed changes in value and
belief distinct from one another and from third, fourth and fifth levels
but time will not permit me to detail such, because I should like to
present briefly the results of three other studies. The studies above and
the ones below were pilot studies by Dow, Michaelson, LaBier and Graves.
As Exhibit I indicated in the fifth column, we found a
typical form of managerial control system associated with each of the
levels studies. People at each level preferred to be managed by a different
set of principles of management and if they were exposed to a form of
management not congruent with the values and beliefs of the level of the
people either did not respond or responded negatively.
When studies were done of dogmatism and rigidity as
measured by Rokeach's dogmatism scale and the Gough-Sanford rigidity scale
third level man was found to have a very closed mind. He was dogmatic and
rigid. Fourth level respondents were dogmatic but not rigid; fifth level
respondents were rigid but not dogmatic and sixth level respondents were
low in rigidity and dogmatism. But over and beyond such was the interesting
response of the seventh level to the scales which were utilized. Seventh
level respondents soon refused to continue answering the scales saying
essentially, "one simply cannot answer these questions, at least not
without more evidence."
The last study I should like to mention is the perceptual readiness study designed
by Huntley and conducted by LaBier. ("Personality Structure And
Perceptual Readiness: An Investigation Of Their Relationship To
Hypothesized Levels Of Human Existence," Clare W. Graves, W.C. Huntley
& Douglas W. LaBier, Union College, May, 1965).We hypothesized
according to the theory that people at each level would recognize,
tachistoscopically presented words more readily when these words reflected
their level of existence, than they would words which reflected the
hypothesized state of mind of the other levels. And since within this
theory, later levels are partially present in current levels, we
hypothesized that third level people would recognize third level words
quickest, fourth level words next, fifth level words next, etc. We
hypothesized that fourth level people would recognize fourth level words
most quickly, third and fifth level words about equally as fast and fifth
level words slowest of all and so on with other levels. The words were
controlled for length and frequency of appearance in language usage. We
found we needed a Chi square of 6.85 for a .01 level of significance. Our
Chi square obtained was 16.57.
Thus from our work to date it would appear that change may
not be as surprising as some would think and that understanding the nature
and character of change may be most important to man's future. Therefore,
let me close on a philosophic note.
Western man at this moment in history, within this
conception of man, is approaching this great divide, the point between
subsistence level behavior and being level behavior. Across this
psychological space, a chasm of awesome significance to mankind, lies the
difference between man's animalistic, in order to get behavior of the
present and past, and his humanistic striving to be behavior of his
potential. Across this psychological space man's behavior can change to be
what is good for him in this life, not in after life; what is good for him,
not his group; what is good for him, not his boss; what is good for him,
not his Divine authority; what is good for him, not just for animals. Would
that I had more time to discuss with you this conception of man and what it
may mean but since I must end let it be this way. Would that we not be so
misunderstanding of man's changing behavior as he strives to move to a
higher level of existence, as in the case of Santo Domingo [probable
reference to the 1965 U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic] or the Negro
[reference to the civil rights struggle] that we block man forever from
crossing the divide between his animalism and his humanism.
___________________
1 Possibly in Fisk, George, The
Frontiers of Management Psychology, 1964, Harper & Row
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