The graphic above shows how vMEMES emerge in waves. Each emerges, peaks and recedes. As it recedes, the next one in the Spiral hierarchy emerges.

When the receding vMEME is still stronger than the emerging one in the psyche, then, in Spiral Dynamics, the receding vMEME is said to be in the exiting phase - eg: Exiting PURPLE. This is annotated with the receding vMEME in capitals and the emergent one in ordinary case - eg: PURPLE/red (B-O/c-p in the original Graves coding).

Once the crossover point has been reached and the emergent vMEME is stronger, then it is said to be in the entering phase - eg: Entering RED. This is annotated with the receding vMEME in lower case and the emergent vMEME in capitals - eg: purple/RED (b-o/C-P).

The full set of transition stages* are portrayed in the graphic below.

*Note: TURQUOISE/coral and beyond are included by Don Beck & Chris Cowan (1996) in Spiral Dynamics purely to illlustrate Clare W Graves’ conjecture that the human mind-brain would continue to develop new systems of thinking to cope with new problems of existence (Life Conditions). Reliable evidence of thinking beyond TURQUOISE has yet to be validated scientifically.

The transition stages are relatively under-researched but the declining influence of one vMEME as another emerges clearly has major implications for the way motivations shift and change. This is especially important when a transition process is lengthy. Some people can even appear to be 'stuck', the transition process can be become so elongated.

Certainly Don Beck has named transition stages and treated them as styles of thinking and behaviour in some of his work on conflict management. It's also worth noting that Jane Loevinger's (1976) Stages of Ego Development has levels which match both to peak vMEMES and transition stages.

Yet transitions can also be incredibly quick - to the point where there seems to be no transition stages in process. On occasion people have seemed to progress two or more levels up the Spiral at once - termed a 'Quantum Leap' by Beck & Cowan.

To get the full picture of how Spiral Dynamics maps the development of human motivational systems, it is vital to include the transition stages as well as vMEME harmonics.

      A Consistent Emergent Pattern?

The picture of emergence Spiral Dynamics presents is, of course, a sequential hierarchy - which is largely paralleled by the work of a number of other developmental researchers. (See the Comparison Map for details.)

So does the sequence of emergence ever vary at all?

The answer is possibly - but the issue requires much serious research.

Chris Cowan tends to stick with the perceived Gravesian orthodoxy on this one - ie: no. Don Beck will concede that some people seem to ascend the Spiral with much more of a preference for one side than the other but he still insists they at least lightly experience the next vMEME up on the non-favoured side.

Jenny Wade (1996), whose Mindsets system is substantially modelled on Graves’ research, has put forward the notion that women tend to go from Conformist Consciousness (BLUE) through Affiliative Consciousness (GREEN) to Authentic Consciousness (YELLOW) - effectively missing out Achievement Consciousness (ORANGE). Men, according to Wade, tend to hit Achievement Consciousness but pass over Affiliative. Wade’s views are more than a little interesting but they are based primarily on small group research conducted by others. Jane Loevinger (1976) similarly has some evidence of levels/stages seemingly skipped but she does not attach a gender element to these variations.

Even the great Abraham Maslow, towards the end (1970), conceded that not everybody ascended his Hierachy of Needs in exactly the same way....

Certainly, in Evolutionary Psychology terms, it would be seen as adaptive for whichever vMEME was appropriate to the Life Conditions in the Environment to emerge next, regardless of its place in a hierarchical sequence.

However, until future research brings us much more understanding of the nature of vMEMES and how they emerge and transform, we can only note these variations to the basic model of hierarchical emergence and transformation.

Spiral Dynamics® and the Spiral 'balloon' graphic are registered trademarks of the National Values Centre Inc, USA.

Click here to learn about Integrated SocioPsychology ‘open’ workshop programmes, some of which deal with vMEME transition stages.