Dan McAdams' "Levels of Knowing" Framework (c. 1996)
Dan P. McAdams, a professor at Northwestern University, has proposed his own framework for the field that divides it into three levels of knowing about a person. The three levels are:
| Level 1 |
the trait level |
the level of abstract characterizations |
Knowing at the level of the stranger |
| Level 2 |
the level of mental concerns and strategies |
the level of developmental, social, cognitive, and other concerns |
Intermediate knowing |
| Level 3 |
the life story level |
the level of internalized integrative narratives |
Intimate knowing |
The field tries to get to know a person better by moving from level 1 to level 3. For more, see:
McAdams, D. P. (1996). Personality, modernity, and the storied self: A contemporary framework for studying persons. Psychological Inquiry, 7, 295-321.
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