SUBJECT AND OBJECT: CHANGES IN STRUCTURE BETWEEN THE AGES OF FIVE AND SEVEN

This research was a preliminary investigation of Kegan's constructive-developmental perspective that the common origin of the wide array of transformations observed during the years five to seven may be changes in the individual's structural distinctions between subject and object. The research examined the relationships between children's stage levels of construction of subject and object and their stage levels on cognitive tasks, social cognitive tasks, and other measures of physical impulsivity. Fourteen four-year-olds and fourteen eight-year-olds were interviewed twice. Stage levels of construction of subject and object were assessed through a slightly modified version of the Kegan subject-object interview format, and a preliminary coding scheme for such assessment of young children was devised. Stage levels on Piagetian cognitive tasks were determined through two tasks of conservation. The Selman "Puppy Story" was used to determine stages of social cognition. The Denckla timed motor exam was administered in order to rate the children's ability to control the ways in which their bodies moved. Children were also rated for their levels of attention-listening and restlessness during the interviews. Results revealed significant correlations between level of subject-object distinction and responses to the other measures. While these relationships between measures were not always statistically significant after controlling for age (due in part to small sample size), trends generally were consistent with between-group results. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data indicated strong tendencies toward high levels of consistency in structure of response across the various measures within groups. Findings could not be taken as either support or nonsupport for Kegan's argument that subject-object distinction forms the structure that underlies and unifies the personality.