Subject-object shift (Kegan)
Development consists of what a person is subject to (embedded in and unable to see) becoming object (something they can look at, question and manage). Each order of mind makes the previous order's subject into object.
What drives it
Explains why some capable people cannot take a critique of their framework: they are their framework. Useful because the same behaviour can come from different structures, and because growth here is a new vantage point, not more information.
How it shows
Work
Someone subject to others' approval experiences the boss's disappointment as a fact about themselves; once it is object they can say "He's disappointed; I think he's wrong, and here's why." A leader subject to their own strategy defends it; one who holds it as object can redesign it.
Relationships
A partner subject to the couple's shared expectations feels each disagreement as a threat; once those expectations are object, disagreement and closeness can coexist.
Self
Something you used to be inside, such as the need for approval or an ideology, you now notice as something you have. Ask what you are currently unable to question.
What tells it apart
Cognitive flexibility and rigidity: Flexibility is switching tasks or perspectives on demand; subject-object development changes what a person can step back from under emotional load.
Mentalising: Mentalising reads mental states in self and others; subject-object is about which of one's own frames one can see as frames.
A test
Ask what they would be most upset to be wrong about and why; listen for whether they can examine the value or are speaking from inside it.
Questions to carry
- When their framework is questioned, how far can they step back and look at it?
- What would I be most upset to be wrong about, and why that one?
How strong the research is
weak. Measured with the Subject-Object Interview, which shows acceptable inter-rater reliability; research on validity and on how common each order is rests on a small number of small studies, many from Kegan's own circle.
Where it comes from
Robert Kegan, 1982 (The Evolving Self) and 1994 (In Over Our Heads); Subject-Object Interview, Lahey, Souvaine, Kegan, Goodman and Felix, 1988
On the family tree: Robert Kegan
Sources
- Robert Kegan, In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life (1994)
- Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization (2009)