#226 Liberative perspective on Adult Development

     “It is difficult to summarize succinctly the liberative perspective (on adult development) because it encompasses such a diversity of developmental pathways, from coping with stress to meditation. However, the function of liberative development is to reduce conditioning (or hyperhabituation or mindlessness, to use different theorists’ terms) derived from external and internal sources. Adult development is thus not merely a product of biology and social adaptation, but also involves individual choice & personal commitment to change. Indeed it should be viewed almost as the antithesis of childhood development. Throughout childhood and adolescence, one develops complex schemes and habituates to specific stimuli, until advanced levels of biological, cognitive, and social / emotional development are reached – physical maturation, abstract thinking, and autonomy. The liberative perspective requires that, for optimal adult development to occur, the individual must deconstruct the existing framework or at least not be constrained by expectations about how one should act or feel. Ideally, one returns to a state of receptivity or child-like openness to experience.”

         Levenson MR, Crumpler CA. Three Models of Adult Development. Human Development 1996; 39: 135-49. 

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