Self-with-other representations and the organization of the self

Theories of the development of self and personality processes have tended to focus either on structural or on dynamic processes. In this essay I outline a theory, Dynamic Integration Theory, which proposes that these two aspects can be integrated by expanding on Piaget's concept of representation as a relationship between self and object to one between a self and an other. Thus as in development, representations increase in cognitive complexity, the affective dynamics of self in relation to the social world are dynamically reorganized as new cognitive and affective systems differentiate and eventually evolve higher-order integrations. However, since the capacity for integration depends on a context of well-regulated emotional activation, Dynamic Integration Theory also defines typical deviations from the ideal of integration in the form of over- or under-differentiation. The resulting variations in integration have significance for describing optimal developmental pathways as well as deviations from those pathways. These aspects are exemplified by analyses from an ongoing project on cognitive-affective development from adolescence to late life.