In this phase of self-development, in which the personality structure is moving ever closer to its ideals, there are two distinct constituents: The first is a dynamic of confirmation, the approval of aims and the ideal of personality; the second is a dynamic of disconfirmation, the strong disapproval of certain elements within the self, and the destruction of these elements. This occurs as the third factor becomes stronger in its effect on personality. (Dabrowski, 1964)

Without the feeling of inferiority toward oneself no process of self-education is possible. For self-education there must be a conscious personality ideal and a desire to ascend to this ideal. It is accomplished through increasing organization of the disposing and directing center, which activates the third agent and its obsession for evaluation of present levels of feelings and activities. Exploratory behavior in either “lower” or “higher” directions, with increasing conscious awareness, guides the individual to clearer resentment of inferiority feelings and toward transformation of himself through self-education. Awareness of those things he has and has not realized is often the basis of the creative tension that moves him toward a stronger process of self-education. Self-education leads to the emotional experience of dualism in oneself, that is, an attitude of “object-subject.” The attitude expresses the relationship between what is educated and what educates. (Dabrowski, 1964)

The differentiation of inferiority feelings as sick or healthy depends on their place in the total structure and dynamics of the individual and especially on whether they play a creative or noncreative role in the development of the personality. Feelings of inferiority have a positive role in the process of disintegration when disintegration participates in the creative formation of the personality, in the realization of the personality ideal, in the movement of the disposing and directing center to a higher level, and in the increase in activities of the third factor. This is positive utilization of inferiority feelings. The nonpathological feeling of inferiority is generally associated with transformation of the internal psychic environment. It is associated, too, with a creative attitude of negation and affirmation toward specific values of the internal milieu and toward certain forces of the external environment. The feeling of inferiority in the internal environment of the creative individual and the sentiment of inferiority in connection with the social environment, without simultaneous attitudes of resentment and hate toward this environment, express a favorable prognosis for the energy of the individual to be directed to positive transformation. The feeling of inferiority toward the external environment is negative, or pathological, when it has much more strength than the feeling of inferiority toward oneself. In this situation, which occurs in psychopathy and in some psychoses, there is direct expression of aggressive tendencies. (Dabrowski, 1964)

ALONG WITH INBORN PROPERTIES AND THE influence of environment, it is the “third factor” that determines the direction, degree, and distance of man's development. This dynamic evaluates and approves or disapproves of tendencies of the interior environment and of the influences of the external environment. It cooperates with the inner disposing and directing center in the formation of higher levels of individuality. Because of the third factor the individual becomes aware of what is essential and lasting and what is inferior, temporary, and accidental both in his own structure and conduct and in his exterior environment. He endeavors to cooperate with those forces on which the third factor places a high value and to eliminate those tendencies and concrete acts which the third factor devalues. (Dabrowski, 1964)

The following illustration of the third factor is based on the autobiography of a patient, W , a student of philosophy, suffering from symptoms of anxiety psychoneurosis: I have chosen my “self” from among many “selfs,” and I find that I still must constantly make this choice. For many years, during everyday activities, I have found myself questioning which is my “true self,” the one I think of as true or another which seems more and more strange to me? In spite of these self-examinations, my “strange self” appears very strong and may be the cause for my fear of it and my concern for what is the truth of my internal make­up. But I persist in choosing my “true self.” Often I am able to discover that certain types of activities belong to my “true self” and other do not. (Dabrowski, 1964)

During the period of puberty, young people become aware of the sense of life and discover a need to develop personal goals and to find the tools for realizing them. The emergence of these problems and the philosophizing on them, with the participation of an intense emotional component, are characteristic features of a strong instinct of development and of the individual's rise to a higher evolutionary level. In the period of puberty, therefore, the third agent is more dynamic and conscious than it was in childhood but remains still relatively uncertain in its service to the poorly outlined and wavering disposing and directing center. (Dabrowski, 1964)

The disposing and directing center of a developing personality is a more or less organized mental structure, emerging from as yet indistinct tendencies to attain a higher cultural and moral level. These tendencies are directed toward a level higher than the one existing under the immediate influence of environment and of moral standards. With the strengthening of the disposing and directing center, instincts achieve a higher level of expression and consciousness becomes richer. The third agent takes part in the activity of consciousness which determines general motives and evaluates activities as proper or improper. This aspect of consciousness has strong emotional components that participate in the mental and voluntary affirmation or negation of one's general, vital attitudes. (Dabrowski, 1964)

The appearance and development of the third agent parallels the organization and establishment of the disposing and directing center on a higher level and the distinct formation and steady growth of the personality ideal. The third agent draws its dynamics and purpose from the disposing and directing center and the personality ideal; in turn, it plays an essential part in the development of both of them. This is a deeply correlated, reciprocal activity. Generally speaking, however, the position and activity of a higher level of inner disposing and directing center are superior to those of the third agent. (Dabrowski, 1964)

In summary, we may say that the personality ideal provides they dynamic goal toward which the individual directs various mental energies. The disposing and directing center on a higher level constitutes the focus of the structure and dynamics of the arising personality. Disintegration is the mechanism of the process of personality formation. The third factor is subordinate to the personality ideal and to the disposing and directing center on a higher level. It is also a constituent part of multilevel disintegration. The third factor strives to see that every concrete act of a given individual is in correlation with his personality ideal. (Dabrowski, 1964)

The effect of the third agent is to insure the personality's mastering of its life impulses. It is not limited to acts of choice but takes energy from primitive, sublimated impulses and directs the personality toward creativity and self-perfection. (Dabrowski, 1964)

During the period of the development of the third agent the individual slowly but essentially alters his attitude toward his social environment. His relation to his environment becomes more and more conscious, clear, and determined. (Dabrowski, 1964)

In the process of positive disintegration there come into play such experiences and dynamisms as anxiety over oneself, the feeling of shame and dissatisfaction with oneself, the feeling of guilt, the feeling of inferiority in relation to oneself, and the experiencing of the process of “subject-object” in oneself. These reshapings are connected with the advent and development of the so called “third factor,” which consists in a conscious affirmation or negation of certain qualities in one's own inner milieu and of certain influences from the external environment. This process is connected with the upward moving disposing and directing center, and with an increasingly more clearly seen personality ideal and the dynamization of this ideal. (Dabrowski, 1967, p. 94)

As for the feeling of inferiority in relation to oneself and the process of self-education, it should be stressed that self-education is not at all possible without this feeling. In the process of self-education there must exist an awareness of one's own personality ideal, the feeling of the necessity of a closer approach to this ideal, through the assignment of the disposing and directing center to a higher level, through the activation of the third factor with its opposition to lower levels, both in the internal life and in external activity. Directing of the activity “upward” and “downward” and activation of the ideal are connected with an increasingly stronger self-awareness and with an affirmation of oneself, which leads to a very strong experiencing of the feeling of inferiority and to an increasingly more intensive activation in the reshaping of the inner milieu that is, in the process of self-education. The feeling of distance between realizations, their shortcomings and breakdowns, and the level of the ideal, which is more and more recognizable, becomes a ground for creative tensions, directing one to the development of increasingly intensive self-educational activities. (Dabrowski, 1967, p. 101)

The chief periods in which the third factor comes forward are the periods of pubescence and mature age. During the period of maturation the attitude of affirmation and negation, which was vaguely present in childhood, becomes dynamic. This process is favored by enhanced affectional, psychomotor, imaginational, sensual, and mental excitability. In this connection the phenomenon of evaluation, as one of the fundamental characters of pubescence, becomes distinctly marked. (Dabrowski, 1967, p. 105)

The third factor assumes, therefore, in the period of maturation, a more conscious form than in the period of childhood, made more dynamic through the uncertain attitude of affirmation and negation, in the service of the new disposing and directing center at a higher level, which emerges in a shadowy and unsteady form. (Dabrowski, 1967, pp. 105-106)

The period of maturation slowly passes into the period of psychic harmony within oneself, in which there ensues a greater internal equilibrium and greater rapport with the environment, and gradually there forms a structure, integrated at a level higher than the former. At this stage the need for being noted by people, the need for possession, and consequently the need for winning a position, for establishing a family and so on, become the disposing and directing center. As the integration of the psychic structure advances, the activity of the third factor weakens and even dies away. (Dabrowski, 1967, p. 106)

The role of the third factor in controlling sexual life by personality is not limited to the activities of selecting and denying. This factor, through its above-mentioned qualifying actions, actively assists the development of higher drives, the creative drive and the drive for self-perfection. (Dabrowski, 1967, p. 107)

The period of true and essential moral maturation is often a period of psychic vacuum, isolation, solitude, and misunderstanding. This is the period of the “night of the soul” in which the former meaning of life and the forms of bonds with this life lose their former value and attractive force. This period ends, however, in the elaboration of an ideal and in the advent of a new disposing and directing center, as well as in the appearance of negating forces, which close off the way back to the original level. In this way personality arises, and at the same time the primary phase of self-education comes to the end. The third factor, which is clearly heard, does not permit one's withdrawal from the road to the personality ideal. (Dabrowski, 1967)

Let us reflect first on the so-called third factor, which is the estimating, active self-awareness, as it were, of the developing personality, an active qualifier of this personality's actions. This dynamism in order to be able to appraise, accept, correct, or reject certain values and tendencies which are manifested and collide in the inner milieu of the forming personality, must avail itself of the cognitive material supplied to it by the subject-object dynamism acting in this environment. In other words, only an individual who is aware of his own self, and fairly familiar with the motives and aims of his own behavior, is capable of correcting himself, of selective action which corresponds best to the actual phase and direction of his development. (Dabrowski, 1967, p. 112)

On the other hand, the ability to qualify one's own examined and known tendencies and behavior must be based on some criteria – the individual must have foundations, criteria, or patterns to go by in his estimates. These kinds of foundations are supplied to the developing individual by another dynamism, namely his personality ideal. It is this idea, this force, this pattern, according to which the individual, using the third factor dynamism, qualifies, accepts, or rejects certain contents, tendencies, and mechanisms of his actual internal environment. (Dabrowski, 1967, p. 113)

It must be emphasized here that the discussion of the methods of development with respect to particular dynamisms of multilevel disintegration is greatly artificial, since the method of developing any one of the dynamisms automatically becomes the method of developing several or a whole series of other dynamisms of multilevel disintegration. For example, the development of the feeling of anxiety over oneself represents, at the same time, a method of development for the feeling of dissatisfaction with oneself, the feeling of guilt, the feeling of inferiority in relation to oneself, the development of the third factor, and so on. Similarly, the development of the “subject-object in oneself” dynamism constitutes a more or less distinct method for the development of the third factor and the development and ascension of the disposing and directing center. (Dabrowski, 1967)

Dynamisms consciously organizing the disintegrative process: the “subject-object in oneself” dynamism, and the third factor dynamism. (Dabrowski, 1967)

In this group of dynamisms belong the “subject-object in one self” dynamism and the third factor. The first dynamism, as is known, facilitates insight into oneself and into the motives of one's behavior, the second, using this acquired capacity, aims, within the perspective of an increasingly more clearly outlined personality ideal, at clearing the individual's way to this ideal through the condemnation and rejection of those of its traits and primitive tendencies which hinder the approach to it and through the affirmation and strengthening of those which promote this approach. The adviser helps the individual in the development of these dynamisms of conscious organization of positive disintegration by acting upon him and cooperating with him in the following respects: (Dabrowski, 1967, pp. 160-161)

For example, the ability to know oneself and others is not possible without the development of the dynamism of dissatisfaction with oneself, of the feeling of inferiority in relation to oneself, without the development of the subject-object dynamism, and of the third factor. This is because these dynamisms incessantly develop capabilities for objective acts in one's own inner milieu. Moreover, they develop this milieu, as knowledge of oneself always implies the division into subject and object in oneself, implies the ability to place into a hierarchy the values in oneself, and, finally, implies inner differentiation. Development of these dynamisms considerably facilitates one's understanding of others, and facilitates the transposition of the experiences of others to one's own and vice versa by freeing the intelligence from dependence on the instincts and by coupling it with the dynamisms of personality, which puts an end to the “blinker attitude” which brings about narrowness of attitudes, stiffness and egotism, and egoism in judgment and behavior. (Dabrowski, 1967, p. 164)

The development of self-control and inner psychic transformation can be effected through the binding of symptoms of depressive psychoneuroses with the entire process of multilevel disintegration and secondary integration, that is to say, through participation of both phases of depression in cooperation with, the main dynamisms of development, with the general processes of multilevel disintegration and secondary integration, and with their main representative dynamisms, such as the third factor, the disposing and directing center at a higher level, dynamization of personality ideal.

As we see, the maturing personality of Michelangelo was characterized by the passage from ambivalent feelings and attitudes, from the struggle of these feelings and attitudes which were at one level, as it were (on the one hand, love and fine feelings, and malice and jealousy, high creative ambitions, and on the other a meanness in certain matters) to a transcendental feeling of love, that is, a passage from unilevel disintegration to subordination of primitive attitudes and aims to ever higher ones through the process  of multilevel disintegration. Creative unrest, gigantic aims and ideals, the need for transcendental values and the realization of the principles of justice, all these associated increasingly more intensely with his feelings of anxiety over himself, dissatisfaction with himself, and with his feeling of guilt. The activity of the third factor, with its work of negation, affirmation, and selection in the internal and external environment, developed ever more intensely. The disposing and directing center localized at a higher and higher level, leaving the level of primitive instincts (primitive ambition, envy, offensiveness, need for recognition, covetousness) and linking increasingly more strongly to transcendental needs, namely, love of ideals, unselfish love of people, increasingly higher level of creative aspirations, compassion for people, and action based on this compassion. (Dabrowski, 1967)

According to this hypothesis, which eventually evolved into the theory of positive disintegration, experiences of shock, stress and trauma, may accelerate development in individuals with innate potential for positive development. In this view, lability of the autonomic nervous system (vegetative sensitivity), mental excitability and light depressions in combination with certain dynamisms of multilevel disintegration such as astonishment with oneself, feelings of guilt, feelings of inferiority towards oneself, and most important, the third factor, make up the dynamic elements of a positive mental development of the individual. These dynamic elements contribute to the formation of a rich inner psychic milieu. (Dabrowski, 1970)

Organized multilevel disintegration which is the next stage, exhibits more tranquility, systematization and conscious transformation of oneself. The developmental dynamisms which distinctly appear at this stage are: “subject-object” in oneself; the third factor, self-awareness and self-control, identification and empathy, education of oneself and autopsychotherapy. The ideal of personality takes more distinct contours and becomes closer to the individuals. There is a pronounced growth of empathy. (Dabrowski, 1970)

Inner psychic milieu is a dynamic mental structure which appears significantly only at advanced stages of mental development, basically at the time of multilevel disintegration. At the level of primitive integration, strictly speaking, there is no inner psychic milieu. It arises later to the degree as developmental dynamisms are formed, particularly those of an autonomous nature such as the third factor, inner psychic transformation, authentism, personality ideal, education of oneself and autopsychotherapy, the ability for meditation and contemplation.

The dynamism of the third factor arises from cross-influences of the first two factors, but represents a new ability, irreducible to its sources. The third factor affirms and accepts some innate drives and some social patterns while it denies, rejects and relegates to atrophy other drives and stimuli. It is critical, evaluative and selective. The shaping of a free, independent and authentic person is unthinkable without activation of this specifically human ability. (Dabrowski, 1970)

A pronounced activity of the third factor lies at the foundation of a more intensive operation of the synthetic dynamism of inner psychic transformation This is a dynamism which puts an end to the stereotypy of conditioned reflexes and habits. It selects stimuli, internalizes only those which stand the test of evaluative scrutiny. It subjects stimuli to an intensive process of “reshaping” in the workshop of other dynamisms, the transformational forces due to empathy, memory, imagination, retrospection and prospection, intuitive and discursive thought. The response resulting from inner psychic transformation depends less on the kind and strength of the stimuli than on the quality and depth of the inner psychic milieu, on the level of attitudes and commitments, aspirations and beliefs of the individual. The phenomenon of inner psychic transformation is the reason why human behavior cannot be tortured into and explained by the mechanistic “S-R” approach. (Dabrowski, 1970)

A young man of outstanding and multidirectional abilities, of increased affective and imaginational sensitivity, of inner milieu built on recognized hierarchy, with dominant elements of highest dynamisms of mental life, considerable ability for inner psychic transformation, creative capacity. The dynamisms “subject-object” in oneself and the third factor are manifested by his careful observation of the changeability of his own states, by their evaluation, and by his selective attitude (positive to some states, negative to others). This is also manifested in his attitude to his own artistic work. Moral values which he put on the highest level fascinated him, so that he subordinated all other values to them (thus placing his disposing and directing center on a high level). His highest values were global and humanistic. The whole organization of his life was based on these dynamisms together with constant retrospection and prospection in relation to himself and to the world around him. All these characteristics, with concomitant decrease in activity of the instinct of self-preservation and strong multilevel disintegration (feelings of responsibility, “excessive” syntony, dissatisfaction with himself, process of subject-object in oneself, the third factor, definite localization of disposing and directing center at a higher level) all these indicate the development of insight, of a wide scale and deep penetration of aims and firm nonadjustment to lower levels of reality. (Dabrowski, 1970)

It should be emphasized that individuals who have a rich psychic life, marked exclusiveness of emotions, empathy, emotional and imaginational hyperexcitability, may show dissociations of various kinds and levels. We can mention as examples of dissociations states of contemplation or ecstasy, mediumistic or spiritistic experiences, states known as anorexia nervosa, and any form of authentic self-perfection through positive disintegration, (e.g. the development of the inner psychic milieu, especially of  the dynamism “subject-object” in oneself, the third factor, activation of the ideal of personality, tendency to ecstasy). The development of the partial death instinct which may find an outlet in extreme forms of asceticism or suicide is also an expression of this process. (Dabrowski, 1970)

In the process of multidimensional disintegration, the individual goes beyond his biopsychological developmental cycle, his animalistic nature, his biological determination and slowly achieves psychological and moral self-determination, The human individual, under these conditions ceases to direct himself exclusively by his innate dynamisms and by environmental influences, but develops autonomous dynamisms such as “subject-object” in oneself, the third factor, or personality ideal. He slowly transforms his own psychological type, unfolding consciously his potentials for a mixed type through self-development and autopsychotherapy. (Dabrowski, 1970)

We encounter here all the essential dynamisms of the inner milieu, to be described later. We shall mention here: astonishment with oneself, anxiety, feelings of inferiority towards oneself, feelings of shame and guilt, the third factor, disposing and directing center on a high level, personality ideal, etc. This type of inner psychic milieu is found in individuals undergoing the process of positive disintegration, and it is fundamental for positive development of the human individual. Such milieu appears in multilevel positive disintegration and is especially prominent in accelerated mental growth. This type of inner psychic milieu develops on the borderline of mental health and mental illness (in the common meaning of these words) and possesses dynamisms which until now have been considered pathological. In the author's opinion, positive, accelerated development depends entirely on the presence of this type of inner psychic milieu. (Dabrowski, 1970)

Dynamisms which reshape, assimilate and organize the process of positive disintegration. To the first category belong: astonishment with oneself and one's environment, disquietude with oneself, dissatisfaction with oneself, feelings of inferiority toward oneself, feelings of shame and guilt, positive maladjustment, creativity. To the second category belong: the third factor, self-awareness and self-control, education of oneself, autopsychotherapy, inner psychic transformation, “subject-object in oneself,” empathy and identification with oneself and with others. The following are the dynamisms of secondary integration: Feeling and attitude of responsibility for oneself and for others, autonomy and authentism, disposing and directing center on a high level, and personality ideal. (Dabrowski, 1970)

The arrows indicate the primary relationships between certain dynamisms. Thus positive maladjustment is the dynamism from which emerge the broader and stronger dynamisms of self-awareness and self-control. In turn, the dynamism of self-control together with the third factor give rise to the disposing and directing center on a high level. It is this center that will ultimately coordinate and integrate all dynamisms of the inner psychic milieu with the personality ideal which in its full fruition produces personality. The third factor is the central dynamism in the development of personality but for the sake of clarity it was not possible to indicate on the diagram all its ramifications. (Dabrowski, 1970)

Syntony, Identification and Empathy. Syntony is an ability to feel something in common with others, to understand them, and to be willing to help. Identification with others is a deeper, more defined more conscious and more self-controlled ability to understand others and to be ready to help them. Empathy is the highest level of syntony and identification and is the result of a universal development in which the key forces are “subject-object” in oneself, the third factor, self-awareness and responsibility for oneself and for others. (Dabrowski, 1970)

The third factor gradually sets apart, both in the inner and in the outer milieu, those elements which are positive for mental development, and therefore considered higher, from those which are negative and therefore considered lower. It is this factor that denies and rejects certain inferior demands of the inner as well as of the outer milieu. At the same time it affirms and accepts positive elements of both milieus. The third factor is thus the dynamism of conscious choice. (Dabrowski, 1970)

The third factor, then, is a discriminator of events in respect to their value. It builds the basis of striving for perfection. The active presence of the third factor can be clearly seen, for instance, in the lives and writings of St. Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, Soren Kierkegaard, Abraham Lincoln, Dag Hammarskjold, Albert Schweitzer, Pope John XXIII, and many others. It may be said that in the transformation of the creative instinct into the instinct of self-perfection the third factor is the most influential dynamism. (Dabrowski, 1970)

The third factor fulfills the additional role of organizing autonomous and authentic factors in personal development. In the philosophical aspect of it, as in existential experience, it takes part in the segregation of what is “less myself” from what is “more myself.” (Dabrowski, 1970)

Different kinds of experiential content are assimilated or eliminated. Discrimination in the worth of stimuli and experiential content is set against the personality ideal. Such discrimination depends on the growth of hierarchical organization of the whole personality. In other words the chief role belongs here to the third factor.

Education-of-oneself and autopsychotherapy. The action of the third factor leads to certain characteristic changes. The, individual becomes less affected by influences from lower levels, he begins to feel the need to direct his own development: but more, he becomes conscious of being able to direct his own progress towards an integrated personality. Thus the third factor generates the dynamism of education of-oneself. (Dabrowski, 1970)

Let us now consider the mixed dynamisms operating on the borderline of multilevel disintegration and secondary integration. They are not easily differentiated from those dynamisms that begin to emerge as the personality grows towards a more defined structure. In particular, such dynamisms as self-awareness, self-control, inner psychic transformation and the third factor, although begin to operate at the phase of organized multilevel disintegration, their action extends over to secondary integration. In the transition from one stage of development to the next the action of dynamisms already in operation overlaps those that now achieve dominant role. (Dabrowski, 1970)

Autonomy and authentism. These two dynamisms are at once the codeterminants and the result of a high level of development in the processes of multilevel disintegration and secondary integration. Autonomy results from the work of the third factor. While the third factor is a dynamism primarily concerned with the discrimination between higher and lower in mental development, autonomy is a dynamism of inner freedom. Inner freedom signifies independence from the influence of external stimuli and from the influence of inner stimuli of lower levels. Besides the third factor, also the dynamism of inner psychic transformation has a fundamental role in shaping and operation of the dynamism of autonomy. The same applies to authentism. (Dabrowski, 1970)

When the hierarchy of values begins to be established in the inner psychic milieu and when such dynamisms as dissatisfaction with oneself, subject-object in oneself, the third factor, and inner psychic transformation, begin to operate, then also appears reflection proper on a high level, It is autonomous and authentic, no longer dictated by adjustment to primitive urges or desires arising in both milieus, but rather it is adjusted to what “ought to be.” (Dabrowski, 1970)

When the inner psychic transformation becomes active the urge forces are slowly elevated to a higher-level. Superficial dystonic response and an unconscious “rhythmic” character of automatic responses gradually cease to operate. Consequently, consciousness of oneself and self-control increase. Under the influence of the third factor, which at this stage is one of the main inner dynamisms, the individual evaluates, and accepts or rejects, numerous stimuli from both the inner and outer environments. Every new stimulus and every new constellation of stimuli are worked over in the inner milieu, every external situation is an object of reflection prior to the formation of an external response.

On the level of the organized multilevel disintegration we find greater equilibrium between stimulation and inhibition. The effects of inhibitions from the previous phase are organized by the dynamisms of self-awareness and self-control, and the dynamism “subject-object” in oneself. The third factor, as well as the dynamisms of syntonization, dissyntonization (conflict of mild alienation), and identification with oneself and with others, all act as both stimulators and inhibitors. This is so because each one of these dynamisms involves affirmation and negation. Similarly the dynamism of inner psychic transformation of stimuli is the resultant of both stimulation and inhibition. (Dabrowski, 1970)

At the level of the second group of dynamisms of the inner psychic milieu, that is dynamisms which organize this milieu, we have the beginnings of a conscious organization of one's depression. Depression on a higher level activates those dynamisms which participate in the liquidation of the depression on lower levels. The third factor begins to operate, and so does the dynamism “subject-object” in oneself. There is a strong increase in awareness and self-control. With maladjustment to the actual state of affairs will be associated the need for adjustment to that which ought to be. The activity of the dynamism of inner psychic transformation increases. Autopsychotherapy becomes possible. (Dabrowski, 1970)

Let us consider the diagnostic and prognostic value of some of the more important elements of the inner psychic milieu. The detection of the presence of certain fundamental dynamisms of the inner milieu is decisive for diagnosis and prognosis of psychoneuroses as well as for the choice of methods to treat them. The presence of higher level dynamisms, such as the third factor, autopsychotherapy and education of-oneself, inner psychic transformation, disposing and directing center on a high level, manifests the positive character of a given psychoneurosis, giving thus a good prognosis and clearly indicating the procedure for the so-called “cure.” (Dabrowski, 1970)

On the other hand, the accumulation of various phobias, feelings of inferiority, passive feelings of guilt, indicates lack of a distinct operation of the third factor, lack of the dynamisms of education-of-oneself and autopsychotherapy, lack of stronger creative dynamisms and inner psychic transformation. It indicates a dominance of the first group of dynamisms of multilevel disintegration and some residual operation of dynamisms of unilevel disintegration (like ambivalences and ambitendencies). Here the prognosis is not always certain. One may well suggest heteropsychotherapy with great care and watchfulness over the patient's behavior. In such case pharmacological treatment of the patient is frequently of some help to his human environment, especially his family. (Dabrowski, 1970)

It should be stated clearly that until now the concept of the inner psychic milieu has received in psychology, education and psychiatry, too little attention. The lack of understanding of this concept and of its importance betrays a neglect of the higher, that is, truly human elements in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The developmental dynamisms of the human psyche have received little, if any, consideration in the organic schools of psychiatry, in the stimulus response and reflexological schools of psychology, including also the so-called learning theorists, and in many branches of psychoanalysis. Creative dynamisms, inner psychic transformation, the third factor and the dynamism “subject-object” in oneself remain utterly neglected. These schools do not recognize the fact that the differentiation of the levels of mental functions in the inner milieu gives a firm basis for a hierarchy of values. (Dabrowski, 1970)

It is not enough to recognize in the human psyche the reality of the factors “ego” and “non-ego.” We have attempted to show that in the progress of human development the distinction between “more myself” and “less myself” is growing; that any mental function or group of functions is multilevel; that the levels of mental functions can be identified and described, and that their role in the promotion or inhibition of development can be clearly established. It thus follows that the inner milieu and its main dynamisms, as positive maladjustment, the third factor, creative dynamisms, inner psychic transformation, etc., are essential in clinical diagnosis, in education, and in everyday human relations. (Dabrowski, 1970)

The quality and extent of deliberate nervous activity depends on the emergence of the so-called “autonomous factors.” Here belong such dynamisms as the third factor, inner psychic transformation, autonomy and authenticity, and in a more general way a hierarchy of values and aims. These factors, to a varying degree, bring about an independence from the biological consequences of aging or somatic cycles. In the development of man's psyche these new autonomous forces (through the introduction of new drives and emotions or through bringing existing drives and emotions to higher levels) enable the individual to transcend the rigor of biological factors. The autonomous forces shape developmental periods, prolong creative abilities, and play a decisive role in the prophylaxis of mental disturbances. (Dabrowski, 1970)

We may suppose that such processes will necessitate the appearance of a new dominant factor in the development of the cortico-frontal functions. We have described such a factor already (Chapter IV, and 40): the third factor is a dynamism that controls and directs the choice of values both in the inner and in the outer milieu. It is the chief representative of all autonomous dynamisms such as self-awareness, self-control, autonomy, authentism, inner psychic transformation. (Dabrowski, 1970)

It is not true, then, that at lower, primitive stages of development mental life is controlled by emotions, and that at higher levels of development it is controlled by reason. What appears to be true is that the emotional sphere controls human activities on every level. Just as emotional primitivism is generally combined with intellectual primitivism, so are high levels of emotional life associated with high levels of reasoning, though the reverse is not necessarily true. Such factors as insight, dynamism “subject-object” in oneself, the third factor, highly developed intuitive dynamisms, represent a closely linked and interconnected dual complex of intellectual and emotional functions. (Dabrowski, 1970)

The third factor has a fundamental role in education-of-oneself, and in autopsychotherapy. Its presence and operation is essential in the development toward autonomy and authenticity. It arises and grows as a resultant of both positive hereditary endowment (especially the ability for inner psychic transformation) and positive environmental influences. (Dabrowski, 1970)

52 One's “own forces” known from modern neuropsychology, one's own developmental forces, the appearance of the “third factor” in a stimulus-response paradigm, the transforming forces in relation to stimuli, containing in themselves full rich answers – are all dynamisms that are more and more autodeterministic, more and more autonomous, more and more authentic. (Cienin, 1972)

Note: The “third factor” is a mental dynamism of conscious choice in development of that which is “more myself” and rejection of that which is “less myself.” (Cienin, 1972)

73 Authoritativeness and aggressiveness are inversely proportional to the development of the inner psychic milieu, in particular to its dynamisms as: dissatisfaction with oneself, “third factor,” inner psychic transformation and empathy. (Cienin, 1972)

In an earlier section (Chapter 1, Section 4), devoted to the role of the developmental potential in psychoneuroses, it was pointed out that this potential is discovered in different forms of enhanced excitability, in the nuclei of the inner psychic milieu, in special interests and abilities. The development of the inner psychic milieu is strictly related to the activity of autonomous and authentic dynamisms such as the third factor, subject-object in oneself, self-awareness and identification with one's own development. The relations and interactions between the different components of the developmental potential give shape to individual development and control the appearance of psychoneuroses on different levels of development. (Dabrowski, 1972)

His inner milieu is built on an authentic hierarchy of values, where the dominant elements are the highest dynamisms of mental life. The dynamisms “subject-object” in oneself and the third factor are manifested by his careful observation of the changeability of his own states, by their evaluation, and by his selective attitude (positive to some states, negative to others). This is also manifested in his attitude to his own artistic work. Moral values which he put on the highest level fascinated him, so that he subordinated all other values to them (thus placing his disposing and directing center on a high level). His highest values were global and humanistic. The whole organization of his life was based on these dynamisms together with constant retrospection and prospection in relation to himself and to the world around him. all these characteristics, with concomitant decrease in activity of the instinct of self-preservation and strong multilevel disintegration (feelings of responsibility, “excessive” syntony, dissatisfaction with himself, an attitude toward himself as object and toward others as subjects, the third factor, definite localization of disposing and directing center at a higher level) all these indicate the development of insight, of a wide scale and deep penetration of aims and firm non-adjustment to lower levels of reality. (Dabrowski, 1972)

As the development continues on, the individual comes gradually to an elaboration of his previous experiences. There is now a significant degree of tranquility and harmony in his inner psychic milieu. Now it is the individual himself who takes the initiative in organizing a hierarchy of his own inner contents, while in the preceding stage of development it was the contents and the experiences themselves that were pressing for change and growth (hence the name of the previous stage “spontaneous multilevel disintegration”). This is now the next stage of multi-level disintegration, the stage of organization of disintegrative forces, the phase of transformation, whose characteristics are such dynamisms as “subject-object in oneself,” the “third factor,” the awareness of control and of one's own inner psychic transformation in the direction of changing one's psychological type, and even the biological cycle of human life (Dabrowski, Kawczak, and Piechowski, 1970). (Dabrowski, 1972)

Such individuals have deficiencies in their adjustment to lower levels of reality. The action of the “third factor” (the mental factor of conscious discrimination in one's development) and of the dynamism “subject-object in oneself” is usually very good, but still failing to encompass the whole personality structure. However, the lack of sufficient adjustment to ordinary reality causes it to be pushed aside and neglected without being understood. Hence disquietude and dissatisfaction with oneself in relation to this level of reality, hence attempts to escape from it, although such escapes are not well thought out. However the lower level is not a source of strong anxiety. This means that the individual feels that he belongs more strongly to the higher level than to the lower one. For this reason the disquietude and the dissatisfaction with the activities on lower level is not very strong. (Dabrowski, 1972)

Already on the third level of development (spontaneous multilevel disintegration) with its dramatic sequence and strong internal conflicts obsessive elements can frequently be found in astonishment and disquietude with oneself. We may observe, for instance disquietude with oneself of such tension that it causes insomnia. In the feeling of guilt and sin there are often very strong obsessive elements of a high degree of tension and covering a wide field of experience. This fact explains why the disposing and directing center, the third factor and dynamisms of control, in spite of their considerable power yield sometimes to obsessional tendencies. Inner psychic transformation progresses then only with much difficulty. (Dabrowski, 1972)

Psychoneurotic anxieties show symptoms similar to psychoneurotic obsessions with the difference that the third factor and the disposing and directing center assume a more prominent developmental influence. Clinical observations show that when the level of individual development is high then psychoneurotic anxieties allow a much stronger activity of these two dynamisms than in the case of psychoneurotic obsessions which engage the psyche too strongly in pathological complexes. (Dabrowski, 1972)

Clinical observations indicate that with a high level of mental development of the individual such dynamisms as the third factor, subject-object in oneself, frequently identify with anxieties and fears. For example, in an existential anxiety or in anxieties concerning responsibility these two dynamisms do not, as a rule, prevent the experimental process or the decision for self-sacrifice and decisive action. In fact, these dynamisms enhance both the experiential process and the individual's ability to take action. (Dabrowski, 1972)

At the very highest level of endowment and the nuclei of personality development, the depression would be expressive of a process of liberation and development of personality nuclei. It would reflect the person's criticism of himself, some disquietude and dissatisfaction with himself, feeling of inferiority toward himself because of his own unfulfilled possibilities, guilt feelings, excessive tendency to self-observation and self-objectivity, an exaggerated influence of the “third factor as expressed in self-denial or self-criticism. One of my patients wrote this about it: “How close are now my depressions, how far away the preoccupation with my own sensations, with my inner discomfort, whether psychic or organic. Something has fallen over, gone away. It taught me to be sad with the sadness of others, to be depressed with the depressions of others, to suffer with others. These depressions enable me to think differently, they expand my awareness to feel the `pain of the world.” This amounts to “clearing” the field for a new creative force of the individual. Symptoms of such depression are found among creative individuals, especially in art, literature and philosophy. (Dabrowski, 1972)

The main dynamisms of the inner psychic milieu such as disquietude or dissatisfaction with oneself, “subject-object in oneself,” the “third factor,” inner psychic transformation, attitude of responsibility, the localization of the disposing and directing center at a higher level, and the development of the personality ideal, play a basic role in the development of objectivity with which a person begins to see himself, as well as the parallel increase of syntony and empathy towards other people. (Dabrowski, 1972)

A paranoid individual does not manifest, therefore, any astonishment dynamism, nor disquietude with respect to himself, nor feelings of some dissatisfaction, shame or guilt, feelings of inferiority with respect to himself, nor the dynamism “subject-object in oneself.” There are no indications of the third factor, which would make it possible to establish practical judgment in accepting some and rejecting other elements, that is, establish a genuine, positive or negative attitude towards the environment. Such an individual does not manifest self-control or inner psychic transformation. Self-control and inner psychic transformation are possible only when there are operating strong multidimensional hierarchical forces, such as differentiation of a “higher” and “lower” self, the differentiation of the subject and the object within oneself, and the differentiation of developmentally positive and negative choices (the third factor). In rare cases paranoid individuals develop these dynamisms and recover, as was the case with Jack Ferguson (Dabrowski, 1967). (Dabrowski, 1972)

Such individuals do not exhibit, which is logical, either any coupling or dynamic relatedness between their external and internal responses, which is the very basis of the process of inner psychic transformation. In the absence of a hierarchical inner psychic milieu and of multilevel dynamism such as “subject-object in oneself” and the third factor, a process of refashioning oneself is not possible, on the contrary, it is the external world that is refashioned by means of suspicions, delusions, aggressiveness, even crime. We have mentioned that in less severe cases of paranoid schizophrenia we are dealing with temporarily present, deformed and hardly conscious dynamism of an inner psychic milieu which can even be hierarchical. (Dabrowski, 1972)

Tendencies for the development of the inner psychic milieu, are manifested by the presence of characteristic multilevel dynamisms such as astonishment with respect to oneself and the environment, disquietude with oneself or one's relationships, dissatisfaction with oneself, feelings of inferiority with respect to one's own possibilities and to the environment, feelings of guilt, “subject-object in oneself,” the third factor, inner transformation of stimuli, disposing and directing center at a higher level, activation of the personality ideal. The presence of these dynamisms indicates an increasingly more autonomous development of the psyche taking place through the disintegration of lower tendencies and building a higher inner psychic milieu. The names given to these dynamisms reflect the deepening “division within oneself” between higher and lower dimensions of reality. (Dabrowski, 1972)

Among older youths the majority of creative abilities was displayed by individuals with a very advanced development (i.e. multilevel disintegration) of their internal psychic milieu. We have assessed in these individuals their enhanced emotional overexcitability and initial activity of such dynamisms like subject-object in oneself, the third factor, forms of periodical self-control. At the same time we have found the following characteristics in their somewhat unexpected constellations: excessive sensitivity and subtlety, withdrawal from too easily made unselective social contract, richness of the associative apparatus, strong need for evaluation, strong artistic imagination and tendency for fabulation, difficulties. in concentrating, tendency to be easily tired, and typical psychosomatic reactions such as ease of becoming motionless while retaining awareness, temporary disorders of inner feeling (coenesthesia), sensation of possible split of the “physical” and the “psychical” self, or “picking up” disagreeable traits of other persons by touch (through handshake, for instance). (Dabrowski, 1972)

The “third factor” is the dynamic agent of autonomous, conscious, self-determined personal growth. The “third factor” may become the main dynamism steering personal development, which is observed both in clinical data and numerous examples from biographies of historical personalities. In many patients we can differentiate very clearly the genesis and development of this factor. In higher forms of psychasthenia, psychoneurotic anxiety, depression and psychoneurotic infantilism we clearly observe the increasing action of affirmation or negation and choice in relation to the individual's own tendencies and in relation to stimuli from the external environment. In longitudinal studies of such patients, we see very strong symptoms of the development of this third factor. In many patients we observe very clearly at first the lack or weak expression of this factor and in subsequent periods, the appearance and clear action of this dynamism (Dabrowski, Kawczak and Piechowski, 1970). (Dabrowski, 1972)

The development of self-control and inner psychic transformation can be effected through the binding of symptoms of depressive psychoneuroses with the entire process of multilevel disintegration and secondary integration, that is to say, participation of both controlled phases of depression in cooperation with the main dynamisms of development, such as: the third factor, disposing and directing center at a higher level, dynamization of personality ideal. (Dabrowski, 1972)

Consequently, the role and function of the third factor consists in the affirmation, negation and choice; that is to say, in the acceptance of those values which are closer to the ideal of personality and in the rejection of those values which are farther from this ideal. The third factor affirms that which is experienced as positive in the inner psychic milieu, as being “more myself;” and rejects that which is experienced as primitive, as “less myself.” Thus, the operation of third factor is grounded in a prospective, developmental perspective; in the conception of man a becoming, rather than a readymade being. (Dabrowski, 1973)

This viewpoint involves a look backwards, an awareness of what one was, and a look forward; that is to say, an awareness of the end of development, of what one is becoming. This developmental perspective is applied, not only toward oneself, but also toward other people and allows one to understand them and their own dynamics of developmental transformation. Therefore, the function of the third factor finds its expression in the ability to distinguish in another man what is “less himself” and what is “more himself” i.e., toward what his developmental process leads him. (Dabrowski, 1973)

Is it possible, then, “scientifically” to define the structure and functions, the condition of the formation and growth of the third factor? The answer to this question is extremely difficult from the scientific point of view. However, it is possible to fairly accurately describe the structure of this dynamism, its development, its scope and level. This can be done through the differentiation of the processes in which it is and in which it is not observable. In this way we can determine the level of those processes. With many years of clinical experience, especially in cases studied over a long period of time, one can clearly tell where the third factor acts and where it does not, and where it is not “yet” present in development and where it began to develop. (Dabrowski, 1973)

The present writer frequently indicated that the processes of affirmation, negation and choice are of fundamental significance in the operation of the third factor. We may refer here to the examples of Father Maksymilian Kolbe and Dr. Janusz Korczak. Father Kolbe voluntarily replaced one of the prisoners of the extermination camp in Auschwitz and, thus, saved him from certain death through the sacrifice of his life. Dr. Korczak accompanied his pupils to the gas chamber and died with them, although it was easy for him to escape. In both cases we are dealing with a distinct activity of the third factor, especially in the opposition against the most fundamental instincts in oneself and against primitive influences of the environment. The activity of the third factor is also clearly noticeable in the behavior of all those outstanding personalities for whom the maxim, “If the sheep are dying, the shepherd also has to die,” has authentic meaning. (Dabrowski, 1973)

The third factor is a dynamism active at the stage of organized multilevel disintegration. Its activity is autonomous in relation to the first (hereditary) and the second (environmental) factor. It consists in a selective attitude with regard to the properties of one's own character and temperament, as well as, to environmental influences. This dynamism paves the way for the impact of the ideal of personality upon the individual. (Dabrowski, 1973)

The third factor is one of the basic dynamisms in the theory of positive disintegration and in the development of the inner psychic milieu. Cognitive and experiential motivation of the development of man is unlikely without this dynamism. The third factor, next to the dynamism “subject-object” in oneself and the dynamisms of self-education and self-control, is the most important in inner psychic transformation. It plays a decisive role in the transition from a biologically and socially determined development to the specifically human self-determination. In the process of this transition the individual overcomes even that which seems to be the strongest force from a biological point of view, that is, love of life and of oneself. (Dabrowski, 1973)

This is a process in which there is a gradual decrease of the role of biological determination and increase of conscious subordination to a higher hierarchy of value. This process is very closely connected with the action of the third factor that is to say, with the attitude of conscious choice and selection, among inborn and environmental factors, of those which seem to deserve our approval and fostering, and those which the individual disapproves and tries to overcome in himself and in his environment. (Dabrowski, 1973)

Generally speaking, that is more authentic which has passed through the process of disintegration, which manifests higher levels of the inner psychic milieu, which is more autonomous and empathic, which exhibits more distinctly the operation of the third factor, which is closer to the ideal, which is more “human” and represents a high level of self-consciousness. That which is more authentic, has a rich history of development, a rich history of inner conflicts, self- consciousness, empathy, and a stronger and more complex awareness of existence and of one's own essence, as well as, of the essence of others. By the essence of a human individual we mean those basic features of developing man which are self-conscious, self-chosen and self-educated. (Dabrowski, 1973)

Several fundamental dynamisms of autonomous development begin to appear early in Stage III although their full activity comes forth in Stage IV. The THIRD FACTOR is a dynamism of conscious choice and as such the dynamism of valuation par excellence (Piechowski, this Conference). (Dabrowski & Piechowski, 1970)

Inner psychic transformation is the process of inner change guided by the third factor which makes recommendations as to the qualities to be retained and developed (e.g. kindness, perseverance, freedom from impulses) as opposed to qualities to be reduced and condemned to deletion (e.g. impatience, pusillanimity, yielding to impulses). (Dabrowski & Piechowski, 1970)

Third factor. A dynamism of conscious choice by which one sets apart both in oneself and in one's environment those elements which are positive and, therefore, considered higher from those which are negative and, therefore, considered lower. By this process, a person denies and rejects inferior demands of the internal as well as of the external milieu and accepts, affirms, and selects positive elements in either milieu. This leads directly to the awareness of not being identified with one's body, but that body and consciousness can be separated. (Dabrowski, 1977)

Third factor is a dynamism of valuation, that is, of developing consciously an autonomous hierarchy of values. One could say that third factor decides upon what subject-object in oneself has uncovered while inner psychic transformation is the process by which the decision is put to work. Third factor is the par excellence dynamism of self-directed development. It also coordinates the inner psychic milieu. (See response units 30, 31, 45, 47, 87 in Saint-Exupery, in Volume 2.) (Dabrowski, 1977)