ABSTRACT
Although there are early references to human development in ancient religion and philosophy, the modern concept of development of self through differentiated stages was pioneered by the Swiss child psychologist Jean Piaget in the middle of the twentieth century. In his work on moral development, Lawrence Kohlberg first used "conventional" and "post-conventional" to refer to two broad stages of moral development. Since then, developmental researchers have subdivided stages of development into three levels known as pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Pre-conventional stages are associated with impulsive, opportunistic, and lower levels of psychological maturity. Conventional stages are characterized by conformance with social conventions, achieving expertise and efficiency, and short-term economic goals. The action logic descriptions capture key characteristics of each stage that become the frame through which people translate their thoughts, feelings and perceptions into actions. Robert Kegan offers a new intriguing link between the relevance of post-conventional worldviews and sustainability leadership development.
