DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

it leads to a lack of inner-outer balance. This presents the possibility of a reverse
crisis; an extrinsically orientated person who chooses an intrinsically orientated
life structure. However, this was not found in this study or indeed in any of the
prior cases of crisis from Study 1 and Study 2, which suggests that there is
something more unstable about an extrinsic orientation that may predispose to
crisis. Deci and Ryan (1991) state that all individuals are born intrinsically
orientated – that we naturally act in line with our wants and interests, but that this
is sometimes socialised out of us to act extrinsically, therefore an early adult
crisis may be a process of reverting to our natural mode of behaving. An
extrinsic orientation is an approach to life that comes on only due to social and
cultural pressures, and therefore it may be something that, like the persona, is
removed over the course of successful adult development. What we can conclude
is that this research suggests that the experience of crisis in pre-midlife adulthood
is intimately linked with confronting the limitations of an extrinsic orientation,
and suggests that personality change is possible along this dimension, but that
such change requires considerable inner and outer reorganisation of life before it
can be achieved.
Two kinds of extrinsic orientation were described as characterising the
early phase of crisis episodes. Firstly there was a materialistic form in which
desire for material and status-based outcomes override involvement in
intrinsically satisfying activities. The second was a conformist motive where
intrinsically satisfying activities are foregone in favour of conforming to
conventions and social pressures. Both of these forms of motivation lead to
activities that may bring later reward but may at the time be unfulfilling. These
two sides of the extrinsic motivation phenomenon are tacitly suggested in the
existing literature on extrinsic orientation, for there are two very different
measures devised for assessing extrinsic orientations. Firstly, The Aspiration
Index (Kasser and Ryan, 1993) equates being extrinsically orientated with
materialistic aspirations. Secondly, the General Causality Orientation Scale
(Deci and Ryan, 1985b) equates extrinsic orientation with being controlled by the
demands of others. So both elements of the extrinsic orientation found in this
study are measured by conventional research instruments, and both sides are
found in the current study.
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