THE NORTHRIDGE DEVELOPMENTAL SCALE* - Origin and Rationale

by John Curtis Gowan

In the fall of 1971 the Guidance Master of Arts Committee (Department of Psychological Foundations, School of Education, California State University, Northridge) commissioned the writer to develop an instrument to measure and select candidates on other than an intellectual basis. At this time, he was finishing the manuscript for Development of the Creative Individual which stresses developmental process and self-actualization in adults. It appeared to him that one test might be designed to satisfy both areas.

Turning to the Personal Orientation Inventory as a likely point of departure, the author carefully read the Zimmerman factor-analysis of it, and decided to avoid time competence/incompetence, and aggression, and concentrate on the self-actualizing value scale. He averted the problems inherent in the true-false POI response, by using five alternatives for each item, 1) a self-actualizing alternative, 2) an authoritarian-aggressive distractor, 3) a depression distractor, 4) a psychoneurotic distractor, and 5) a "free" alternative - "none of the previous". The set of minitasks of the upper sixth (creativity) stage were hypothesized (see Table IX) from the descriptions of Maslow and others about self-actualizing people, and the self-actualizing scale constructed from this model.

In February 1972, a sixty item "Self Knowledge Test" emerged that would eventually be refined into the Northridge Developmental Scale. The "Self Knowledge Test" was given extensively during the 1972 Spring semester. From an item analysis, 45 valid items were selected and arranged in the order of validity to become the first 45 items of the scale.

For the last 45 items, the writer utilized the insights of colleagues, and the cooperation of about 20 people who he felt were self-actualized persons and would give self-actualizing responses to his inquiries. Eventually, the last 45 self-actualizing items were decided on, interspersed with suitable distractors, and incorporated into the developmental scale.

The major scale determines the development of self-actualization. Two validity scales are build into the total scale, a lie scale and an infrequency of response ("none of the previous") scale. Every fifth item includes a "lie" distractor, similar to those used on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. The infrequency scale is more subtle. An occasional item contains no self-actualized response with four negative distractors forcing most high self-actualized persons occasionally to take the free alternative, "none of the previous." Selecting too many free alternatives, however, trips the "invalidity" scale.

Three additional minor scales are included to indicate types of psychopathology, authoritarianism, depression, and psychoneurotic. A "bad body concern" scale that had been a minor psychopathology scale in the original form was combined with "weirdo" items to make up the psychoneurotic scale.

This test was given extensively, and normed when N = 100 to give a profile of the test. A split-half reliability study showed an r = .80. There were indications that the self-actualization means advanced in the expected direction, from low to high: 1) random classes, 2) guidance candidates, 3) guidance students, and 4) practicum students.

During the Summer of 1972, the scale was item analysed again by the means of eight groups of twenty tests:
 
 

TABLE IX
DEVELOPMENTAL MINITASKS OF THE 6th & 7th STAGES

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1. High Self-Actualization (over 60)
2. Male normals S/A
3. Female normals S/A
4. Low Self-Actualization (under 30)
5. High Infrequency of response
6. High Authoritarian - Aggressive
7. High Depression
8. High Neuropsychiatric

No analysis of lie items was undertaken. As a result of the item analysis some self-actualization, authoritarian-aggressive, and infrequency items were eliminated, and a significant number of depression and neuropsychiatric items were added. The test form remains unchanged, but new answer stencils were cut, and a new profile sheet developed. This analysis and other basic statistical work on the Northridge Developmental Scale was carried out by graduate student Cora Grote. It should be noted that reliability and validity studies on this test concern only the main self-actualizing (S/A) scale. This scale contains 80 items, and is the main measure of the test. The authoritarian, depression, and neurotic scales are regarded as check indicators only to give a clue from what direction any pathology is indicated.

In the spring of 1973 two graduate students completed independent projects on the Northridge Developmental Scale. Beverly Curtis, using 31 test-retest transcendental meditation cases at six weeks intervals found a reliability coefficient of .68, comparing with the .80 reliability coefficient found for 75 guidance candidates on a splithalf analysis by the writer. In defense of the lower test-retest figure it can be argued that a significant change was occurring to these initial meditators during the six weeks period between pretest and posttest (see below). Beverly Curtis was also able to show (see Table X) that the critical ratio between control graduate students and students applying for classification was 10.3, and that between the classification students and the students in practicum (ending their studies) was 5.1 (both highly significant). In each case there was a stepwise elevation of the means on the S/A scale.

Phil Ferguson, in the other graduate project was able to demonstrate a similar significant step-wise advance of the means on the S/A scale for pre-meditators, post-meditators, and long-time meditators of Transcendental Meditation in which the meditation training period was six weeks, and the long-time meditators had been doing so an average of 43 months, - the critical ratios in these cases being respectively 2.1 and 3.97. At the same time equalized control groups were showing no change on the S/A scale. Since other TM studies have shown an increase in mental health and a decrease in anxiety as a result of TM, this study is an indication of the validity of the Northridge Developmental Scale in measuring mental health in mature adults. (See Table X).
 
 

Table X
Basic Statistics and Critical Ratio for Various Groups of Students




It is our contention that the Northridge Developmental Scale is a reliable, valid, and sensitive instrument for the measurement of progress toward self actualization represented by the kind of mental health, and an open, receptive caring attitude that would be shown by an effective non-directive counselor who was maturely adult. Table IX shows the minitasks of the sixth and seventh cognitive stages (in a first drafting) and we believe that the Northridge Developmental Scale measures the affective components facilitating the minitasks in the upper part of the sixth cognitive stage (see Table IX). At least this area is well represented in a content validity check of the selfactualizing scale answers on the test.*

*****

In this chapter, we have made an initial investigation of a very difficult subject - measurement of psychedelia and self-actualization. The writer is not more satisfied with the chapter than is the reader; but it is a beginning which must be made if satisfactory measurement devices are to be developed in the future. The two major tasks of this chapter have been to critique the Personal Orientation Inventory and to introduce a new test - The Northridge Developmental Scale - which may be found useful in this area. What is now required is extensive testing of this and other measures.

There are few conclusions to summarize in a chapter such as this, but one does stand out. The fact that the Northridge Developmental Scale and other similar tests can be used both as measures of self-actualization, and as measures of therapeutic or guidance competence, is very comforting. It suggests that progress in developmental process is progress not toward dissociation, but toward its opposite; that one becomes more mentally healthy, not less mentally healthy, in growth and in helping others. It suggests finally that the process of psychotherapy is an induction of growth and an assisted development out of dysplasia into fuller function. But for a further in-depth study of dysplasia, we turn to the next chapter.
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*The NORTHRIDGE DEVELOPMENTAL SCALE is given in full in Appendix A, including keys and norms. In order to encourage research and use, the copyright restrictions otherwise in force in this book are relaxed in respect to Appendix A as follows: Any researcher or institution may copy and use the test, as long as neither the test, answer sheets or keys, or service of same is sold, rented, or leased. Any use of money in connection with the test requires permission of the copyright owner.

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*The writer acknowledges the help of Beverly Curtis, Philip Ferguson and Cora Grote in the production of research or other material incorporated into this section.

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                       SCORING YOUR N.D.S. SELF-TEST
                                      (this section by Iona Miller)

       You should have answered all of the 90 questions with one of the multiple
       choices: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.  Using the score-sheet, you will see that any given number,
       1 through 5, corresponds with a letter, (S, A, D, I, L, or N).

       These letter-number correlations come from the factors the test measures.  Five
       alternative scales are built into the test.  These are each measured along
       independent axes.  The letters represent the following:

                    S = S/A; self-actualizing alternative; the choices
                    come from a postulated set of mini-tasks for the
                    creativity and psychedelic stages of development.

                    A = Auth; this is an authoritarian-aggressive
                    distractor, designed to show tendencies toward
                    aggressive or controlling behavior and
                    authoritarianism, which block emotional and
                    spiritual development.

                    D = Depr; a depression distractor.  A high score on
                    this scale indicates depression is blocking
                    creativity by sapping energy in self-defeating or
                    self-destructive patterns..

                    I = Infr; infrequency of response.  High
                    infrequency of response.  Alternative, for "none of
                    the above."  A high score here tends to invalidate
                    test results.

                    L = Lie; this lie distractor scale discloses a
                    tendency toward dishonest answers; an attempt to
                    out-think the test instrument.

                    N = NP; neuropsychiatric scale discloses the
                    blocking tendency of neurotic or psychotic
                    personality traits and a poor body image.  A high
                    percentage on this scale indicates fundamental
                    work on the personality or therapy is the most
                    useful course, rather than attempting to scale the
                    heights of human development without a firm
                    foundation.

       There are 80 self-actualizing choices, which are interspersed with suitable
       distractor responses.  The major scale reveals the amount of self-actualization.
       The higher the number, the greater your development.  High self-actualization is
       shown by a total score over 60.  Low Self-Actualization is indicated by a score
       here under 30.  Any answer to a distractor response lowers the number of
       self-actualizing responses, except in the occasional item which contains no
       self-actualized response.  Then the self-actualizing response might be the "free
       alternative," none-of-the-above.  Selecting none-of-the-above too many times
       invalidates your test results.

       This test was devised to select candidates to becomes guidance counselors or
       therapists.  Results in testing showed indications of self-actualization advancing
       in the expected direction from low to high.  Lowest scores came from random
       classes, 2). guidance candidates were higher, 3) guidance students, higher yet and,
       4). practicum students highest in choices of self-actualizing alternatives.  The
       self-actualizing scale contains 80 items.  The authoritarian, depression, and
       neurotic scales are included to provide hints about where blocks originate and
       why self-actualization scores might be low.

       Gowan suggests that you presumably can alter your S/A scores by employing the
       process of escalation and perhaps meditation to further develop altruistic and
       spiritual traits leading toward emergence and stabilization of creativity and
       unitive states of illumination.  At some stage your interest in testing your
       potential will no doubt wane.  But in the meantime, this gives you an "objective"
       measure of your personality and transpersonal human development, at least in
       terms of the postulated creative mini-tasks leading to tapping your creative
       potential.