A Construct Validity Study of the Self-Expansiveness Level Form: A Multitrait-multimethod Matrix Criterion Approach

by James D. Pappas
Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the construct validity of Friedman's Self Expansiveness Level Form (SELF; 1981, 1983) with a primary emphasis on the Transpersonal Scale (TS) and its relationship to theoretically convergent [Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS; Piedmont, 1999), Temperament and Character Inventory - Self-Transcendence (TCI - ST; Cloninger, 1996), East West Questionnaire - Man and the Spiritual (EWQ - MS; Gilgen & Cho, 1979), and the Transpersonal Orientation to Learning - Transcendent Consciousness (TOTL - TC; Shapiro & Fitzgerald, 1989] and divergent [Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965)] measures, as well as its ability to differentiate between two student groups and one criterion group. Consistent with the multitrait multimethod matrix approach, two alternative self-expansiveness measures were designed as part of the validation process, the Self-Expansiveness Level Form - Revised (SELF - R; Friedman, 2001) and the Self-Expansiveness Circles Test (SECT; Pappas & Friedman, 2002). The SELF was administered along with other measures to undergraduate psychology students (N = 156). It is hypothesized that the results will support self-expansiveness as a viable scientific construct and its measure, the SELF, as having promise for future transpersonal research and applications.