Scheme of Cognitive and Ethical Development

APerry
Postscript
Portable Document Format

The following is a summary of Perry's scheme of cognitive and ethical development.

Position 1

Authorities know, and if we work hard, read every word, and learn right answers, all will be well.

Transition

But what about those others I hear about? And different opinions? And uncertainties? Some of our own authorities disagree with each other or don't seem to know, and some give us problems instead of answers.

Position 2

True authorities must be right, the others are frauds. We remain right. Others must be different and wrong. Good authorities give us problems so we can learn to find the right answer by our own independent thought.

Transition

But even good authorities admit they don't know all the answers yet!

Position 3

Then some uncertainties and different opinions are real and legitimate temporarily, even for authorities. They're working on them to get to the truth.

Transition

But there are so many things they don't know the Answers to! And they won't for a long time.

Position 4a

Where Authorities don't know the Right Answers, everyone has a right to his own opinion; no one is wrong!

Transition (and or)

But some of my friends ask me to support my opinions with facts and reasons.

Transition

Then what right have They to grade us? About what?

Position 4b

In certain courses Authorities are not asking for the right Answer; They want us to think about things in a certain way, supporting opinion with data. That's what they grade us on.

Transition

But this "way" seems to work in most courses, and even outside them.

Position 5

Then all thinking must be like this, even for Them. Everything is relative but not equally valid. You have to understand how each context works. Theories are not Truth but metaphors to interpret data with. You have to think about your thinking.

Transition

But if everything is relative, am I relative too? How can I know I'm making the Right Choice?

Position 6

I see I'm going to have to make my own decisions in an uncertain world with no one to tell me I'm Right.

Transition

I'm lost if I don't. When I decide on my career (or marriage or values) everything will straighten out.

Position 7

Well, I've made my first Commitment!

Transition

Why didn't that settle everything?

Position 8

You've made several commitments. I've got to balance them - how many, how deep? How certain, how tentative?

Transition

Things are getting contradictory. I can't make logical sense out of life's dilemmas.

Position 9

This is how life will be. I must be wholehearted while tentative, fight for my values yet respect others, believe my deepest values right yet be ready to learn. I see that I shall be retracing this whole journey over and over - but, I hope, more wisely.

Temporising

Periods of intense growth are commonly followed by pauses or plateaus. Perry defined temporising as a pause in growth over a full academic year. Temporising is just a rather long plateau and by itself is not bad.

Retreat

Retreat is regression to earlier positions. The most dramatic such retreat is movement back to positions 3 or 2 when the complexities of relativism and multiplicity become overwhelming.

Escape

In escape the student avoids Commitment by exploiting the detachment afforded by positions 4 and 5. There are two escape paths, both of which start with temporising.

Dissociation

In dissociation the student drifts into a passive delegation of responsibility to fate. (position 4)

Encapsulation

The alternate path is encapsulation which may be a favourite of engineering students. In encapsulation one avoids relativism by sheer competence in one's field. The student becomes very good at engineering but avoids any questions of deeper meaning or value.

The nine positions may be categorised into four main groups, Duality, Multiplicity Relativism and commitment.  (Perry 1999)

Dualism

Division of meaning into two realms: Good vs. Bad, Right vs. Wrong, Us vs. Them. Correct answers always exist, and learning them is paramount - the more of this knowledge which is ingested, the better the student.

Multiplicity

Diversity of opinion and values is recognised as legitimate in areas where right answers are not yet known. No judgement can be made between opinions ``everyone has a right to his own opinion; none can be called wrong.''

Relativism

Diversity of opinion, values, and judgement derived from coherent sources, logic, analysis, and comparison etc. The individual is now a maker of meaning, knowledge is qualitative, dependent on contexts.

Commitment

Here the individual makes choices/decisions (career, values, personal relationships, politics, etc.) in the full awareness of Relativism