1983_Personal Growth: An Empirical Study Using Jungian and Dabrowskian Measures

Lysy and Piechowski assessed Jungian functions, overexcitabilities, and developmental level in 42 graduate students to investigate the nature of personal growth using both Jung’s and Dąbrowski’s theoretical models. Preference for intuition correlated strongly with developmental level, and emotional and intellectual OE accounted for nearly half the variance in determining level. The study introduced the distinction between conserving and transforming types of personal growth, and concluded that personal growth is not a unitary phenomenon but must be understood in terms of distinct types, levels, and psychological capacities.