Graves' model and his theory have yet to be validated to academic standards - although hundreds - if not thousands! - of Gravesians are actively using the model to make a difference in the 'real world'.

Part 2

                                                                                       The Freaky Stuff!!!!
In over 30 years of researcb Clare W Graves discovered some fairly startling information about the way the systems he had identified operated:-
# The O (PURPLE) system is stimulated by smooth gradations in light and sound - eg: a sunset - while  the P (RED) system is stimulated by pulsing light and sound - eg: in a disco
# Noradrenaline is higher than adrenaline when the P system is active and adrenaline higher than noradrenaline when Q (BLUE) is active
# The T (YELLOW) system has four times the problem-solving capacity of the S (GREEN) system
     Graves was so struck by these discoveries he wrote an article 'Human Nature prepares for a Momentous Leap' (published in The Futurist, 1974), describing the significant difference in complexity of thinking engendered by the move from S to T:
# Fear and compulsion are absent when the T system is activated
# Galvanic Skin Response varies between systems and increases dramatically when the U (TURQUOISE) system is activated
     "Oh, my God, it becomes so high you can't hardly get it. I'm talking 2-3-4 standard deviations. This thing has really jumped."
# Graves also said of the eighth level:
     " The H-U person can turn off other levels of consciousness at will. He can go out of this world and go off into other levels of 
     consciousness and come back at will. Instrumentally you have that..."

It seemed to Graves that there was a qualitative difference between the first 6 levels - of subsistence - and the seventh and eighth - of being. (In this he paralleled Abraham Maslow's distinction between deficiency needs and growth needs.) It also seemed to Graves that the seventh and eighth levels were far more complex reflections of the first and second. From this he began to speculate that the systems developed in tiers of 6, each a more complex reflection of the previous tier. By the early 1980s he preferred to annotate G-T as A'-N' and H-U as B'O' in accordance with his idea of repeating tiers. (It needs to be stated that the concept of repeating tiers of 6 seems to have been pure speculation on Graves' part; there is no known evidence for this.)

                                                                                  The Graves Legacy
Although severe ill health forced his retirement from Union College in 1978, Graves continued to carry out research and to make presentations as best he could. He began work on a book to describe his work and the model and the theory he had developed from it. However, he died before the manuscript could be completed. ('The Never Ending Quest', published in 2005, was an invaluable completion of the manuscript, using other Gravesian materials.)

Not particularly good at promoting himself in academic circles, Graves had relatively little material published in psychological journals during his lifetime. (He did have several pieces published in management/business-oriented periodicals.)

However, by the time of his retirement, Graves' work was being taken very seriously indeed by a number of small networks across the United States. One particularly important pocket of support was in Texas where Scott & Susan Myers at Texas Instruments introduced the concepts to colleagues Dr Charles Hughes & Vincent S Flowers. Hughes & Flowers soon became the Center for Values Research - but not before Flowers had taken up a position at North Texas State University where he interested Dr Don Beck & Christopher Cowan (who eventually became the National Values Center) in Graves' work. Together and separately they championed his ideas both within academia and in applications to industry & commerce and education.

Graves Model 'Builds'
(other than Spiral Dynamics)

Graves Resources

When Graves died in 1986, Don Beck had already established his own remarkable project of applying Graves' model to the deteriorating situation in Apartheid South Africa. Graves and Beck consulted closely during the mission's first few years

Beck & Cowan, of course, developed Spiral Dynamics from Graves' model.

However, while it is arguably the most powerful development of Graves' work, Spiral Dynamics is far from being the only 'build' on his work. Web sites related to some of the other builds are listed below.

In recent years Chris Cowan has worked closely with Bill Lee, the self-described 'Graves Archivist', to recover, preserve and publish original Graves materials - both online and paperbound.

Chris Cowan, Clare W Graves and Don Beck on Graves' farm [Copyright © NVC Inc]