Affective Development (3)

In continuing with this latest series of blog entries, I will now endeavour - based largely on a personal appreciation of the developmental stages - to show how the affective mode evolves through the full range of the spectrum (containing 8 Bands and 24 major levels).

As we have seen Band 1 commences from a state where neither differentiation nor integration with respect to development has yet taken place.

This therefore represents - with respect to the affective function - a state of total confusion.

The first task then in development is to obtain separation with respect to - what I refer to as - the diagonal polarities of form and emptiness relating directly to the volitional mode (of instinctive motivation).

So the infant - indeed strictly this stage commences at the foetal stage - beings to become dimly aware of a phenomenal world (of form) as distinct from a void (of emptiness).

Then when successfully negotiated (Band 1, Level 1) this leads to differentiation of the physical body-self (from the overall general environment).

In affective terms, this relates to experience that is associated directly with the infant’s physical exploration, through sense and feeling, of both the self and the world.

However this is still associated with considerable confusion, whereby the holistic (unconscious) nature of behaviour cannot yet be properly distinguished from the specific (conscious) recognition of objects.

This likewise entails that the infant is not yet able to satisfactorily locate objects within a background dimensional context of space and time so that the phenomena that therefore arise (through embryonic sense perceptions) tend to be of a short-lived nature quickly passing from memory.

The next level (Level 2) is then associated with the gradual differentiation of the emotional self. I refer to this stage - in terms of the three fundamental polarity sets - as relating directly to the relationship as between whole and part. Here, the child gradually outgrows the magical stage (where the holistic nature of reality remains confused with distinct part objects). 

This especially represents progress with respect to the affective mode as the young child establishes more distinct boundaries with the world, where conscious feeling become better related with the distinct object phenomena of experience. However there still remains a considerable overlap as between this emerging affective self through sensations and feelings and the world that it inhabits.

The final level of this first Band (Level 3) is now associated more directly with progress with respect to the cognitive mode, which in terms of the fundamental polarities relates to the relationship as between external and internal.

So now the child through the growing differentiation of impersonal cognitive type abilities learns to more clearly separate the (internal) self from the (external) world.

Indirectly however this is important for affective development as the child gradually learns to accept the need e.g. through family relationships, education and play to be directed by rules and procedures. In this way the child gradually learns how to adapt to social expectations, with behaviour thereby - that formerly largely was dictated by sensory gratification - becoming less self-centred.

So all going well, with the completion of Band 1, a child will have successfully differentiated (to a considerable extent) experience with respect to the three main polarity sets.

However with the main emphasis in development so far on the need for (conscious) differentiation, this leads to a considerable - and greatly unrecognised - problem in Western society in that the complementary requirement for authentic integration is greatly overlooked.

In other words in current society the requirement for true integration is increasingly ignored and largely reduced to that of differentiation.

So the type of integration that is encouraged and indeed largely required to adapt to the modern world is one that is dictated by an increasingly specialised scientific culture that is based on growing differentiation, especially with respect to the cognitive mode.

What this in turn entails is that despite the enormous technological advances of recent years that growing fragmentation in dealing with the key social, economic, political and environmental problems of the day is becoming ever more apparent.

In other words the true holistic vision (relating directly to unconscious development) that is necessary to successfully deal with such issues is greatly lacking.

And this difficulty will not be addressed without the realisation that the task of successful integration with respect to the personality is radically distinct from that of differentiation.

However, with this proviso in place, let us now move to the next major Band (Band 2) and its implications for affective development.