Figure 1. A model of the adaptive mind at work, illustrating the defenses of isolation and displacement.

Actual, but unconscious, mental reality:

"I grieve for my mother, whom I loved!"

Idea (loss/attachment)

Self (doctor) Object (mother)

Affect (Grief/Love!)

Conscious reality: "I love my tissue culture! My mother is dead."

Idea (loss)

Self (doctor) Object (mother)

Affect (none)

Idea (attachment)

New object (tissue culture)

Affect (Love!)

Figure 2. The four lodestars of human conflict.

Conscience
(cultural taboos and People
imperatives, superego) (we cannot live with
or without)

Ego
(denies, distorts, represses
inner and/or outer reality)

Desire Reality
(instinct, id, "drive," (suddenly altered)
passion, emotion, affect)
Figure 3. The relationship between maturity of defenses and decline in physical health.

(The data on defensive maturity were gathered prior to age 47. The percentage of men becoming
chronically ill during each five-year period was based on the total number of men still well at the
beginning of the period. Thus poor physical health should not have influenced maturity of defense.)

15
Percentage of well becoming ill during 5-year

10
period

Mature defenses (79)

Immature defenses (61)
5

0
30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Age in years

Figure 4. A model of adult development. (This is essentially Erik Erikson's model of the adult life cycle
with the addition of Stages 6A and 7A.)

The figure shows development as a winding staircase, with the stages labeled at different points.

Childhood

1. Basic trust vs. Mistrust: Image of a caterpillar

2. Autonomy vs. Shame
3. Initiative vs. Guilt
4. Industry vs. Inferiority
5. Identity vs. Identity diffusion
6. Intimacy and isolation: Image of a horseshoe magnet with INTIMACY and ISOLATION labeled on the
two sides
6a. Career consolidation vs. Self-absorption

Adulthood
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation
7a. Keeper of the meaning vs. Rigidity
8. Integrity vs. Despair: Image of a butterfly
Figure 5. Age of mastery of selected psychosocial tasks.

Figure shows line graph of results for Career Consolidation-98% (dashed line with a steep positive slope,
then a plateau around (30, 98); x-intercept = 0), Intimacy-94% (dash-and-dot line with a steep positive
slope, then a plateau at around (30, 94); x-intercept = 0), Generativity-83% (solid line with a gradual
positive slope, then a quasi-plateau around (45, 83); x-intercept = 25), and Keepers of the Meaning-37%
(dotted line with a gradual positive slope up to around (60, 37); x-intercept = 38).

Age is on the x-axis with from 0 to 60 with intervals of 25. Percentage of college men having mastered
each task is on the y-axis with intervals of 10.