Dr. Michael Cørnwall

10/09/2025

THE EVOLUTION OF PURPOSE ACROSS THE LIFESPAN

The Evolution of Purpose Across the Lifespan: A Spiral Model of Meaning Development

Michael Cornwall, PhD, PsyD
Cornwall Counseling Group
Las Vegas, Nevada

Abstract

This paper proposes a lifespan model of human development organized around Purose rather than cognition, morality, or psychosocial conflict. The Purpose Developmental Model (PDM) articulates five distinct stages: (1) Safety and Belonging (birth–12), (2) Identity and Expression (12–20), (3) Intimacy and Contribution (20–40), (4) Authenticity and Legacy (40–65), and (5) Wisdom and Unity (65+). Each stage reflects a primary human task oriented toward finding and embodying purpose appropriate to one’s developmental context. This model integrates insights from Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, Carl Jung’s individuation process, and contemporary emotional intelligence (EI) frameworks. The PDM posits that purpose is the fundamental motivational and integrative principle of psychological development — the thread that connects survival, identity, love, work, creativity, and transcendence.

The Foundation of Purpose

Human development has often been understood through the lenses of cognition (Piaget), psychosocial conflict (Erikson), morality (Kohlberg), or self-actualization (Maslow). Each of these models describes how people grow — yet they often stop short of explaining why. Purpose provides that missing 'why.'

Purpose represents the intrinsic drive to make meaning through participation, expression, and connection. It gives direction to human motivation and cohesion to human identity (Damon, Menon, & Bronk, 2003). The Purpose Developmental Model (PDM) reframes traditional developmental theory by asserting that purpose is not an outcome of development but its organizing principle. Each life stage centers on a different purpose theme — a psychosocial focus through which meaning, motivation, and selfhood evolve (Erikson, 1959).

Stage One: The Purpose of Safety and Belonging

The earliest years of life (birth through 12) are defined by dependency and trust. The child’s central purpose is to find security within relationships — to experience that belonging and safety are unconditional. Erikson’s (1959) first two stages, trust vs. mistrust and autonomy vs. shame and doubt, parallel this phase. Yet whereas Erikson frames these in terms of psychosocial conflict, the PDM emphasizes purpose realization: the sense that one’s existence has inherent value within a social system. Maslow (1943) identified belonging as a core need after physiological and safety needs, but the PDM treats belonging as a developmental purpose, not a need — a stage of learning in which the child internalizes that safety and belonging are achievable through connection, not compliance. This realization becomes the bedrock of later selfhood and resilience.

Stage Two: The Purpose of Identity and Expression

As adolescents move toward autonomy, the central purpose shifts to identity and expression. While Erikson’s (1968) identity vs. role confusion captures the search for self-definition, the PDM expands this to include expression — the active, creative projection of identity into the social world. Purpose at this stage is not only to find the self but to test it through experimentation and relational feedback. Jung’s (1961) concept of the persona and shadow — the integration of the public and private self — aligns closely here. Expression becomes the laboratory of authenticity. From an emotional intelligence perspective (Goleman, 1995), this stage reflects the development of self-awareness: learning that authentic expression invites genuine connection.

Stage Three: The Purpose of Intimacy and Contribution

Young adulthood (20 through 40) introduces the task of connected purpose: integrating personal meaning with shared experience. While Erikson’s (1968) intimacy vs. isolation describes the tension of closeness, the PDM highlights contribution as the evolution of intimacy — the idea that purpose expands when shared. Maslow (1968) suggested that self-actualization involves creative productivity and altruism. Similarly, Frankl (1959) emphasized that meaning arises through love and work. Purpose here is inherently relational: people discover that fulfillment comes from offering themselves to something beyond the ego. When this purpose is thwarted, individuals may achieve success but feel hollow — what Jung might call a failure to connect the outer and inner lives.

Stage Four: The Purpose of Authenticity and Legacy

Middle adulthood (40 through 65) brings a profound reorientation from accumulation to meaning. The individual begins to ask, 'What is mine to give? What endures of me?' This is the stage where purpose shifts from doing to being with intention. Erikson’s (1982) generativity vs. stagnation resonates here, yet the PDM reframes it through authenticity and legacy. Generativity can exist without authenticity — one can produce or mentor while remaining disconnected from personal truth. The purpose of this stage is to align inner truth with outward expression — to live one’s values fully and intentionally (Jung, 1933; Frankl, 1969).

Stage Five: The Purpose of Wisdom and Unity

In late adulthood, (65 and through), purpose transcends personal achievement and becomes integrative. The self seeks unity — a sense that all life stages, relationships, and experiences belong to a coherent whole. This mirrors Erikson’s (1982) integrity vs. despair, but the PDM interprets it not as a reckoning but as a synthesis. Frankl (1985) and Jung (1959) both saw this stage as one of reconciliation with mortality. Maslow (1971) later added a sixth stage to his hierarchy — self-transcendence — describing it as the expansion of the self beyond individual identity into unity with humanity or the cosmos. The elder becomes a steward of meaning.

Revisiting and Realigning Purpose

Although the PDM is presented sequentially, it is not strictly linear. Purpose formation follows Erikson’s (1959) idea of epigenesis — each stage builds upon the preceding one but remains dynamically accessible throughout life. Strengths and weaknesses formed at earlier stages are living structures that influence subsequent meaning-making. Psychological development is not strictly chronological but recursive. Jung (1961) described individuation as a lifelong spiral — the conscious self repeatedly encountering earlier unconscious material. Research in adult development (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Kegan, 1982) supports this view: meaning systems are plastic and can be reorganized through reflection, therapy, or spiritual experience. Revisiting earlier stages of purpose building is not regression but reintegration. Alignment with a more profound purpose occurs not by abandoning the present stage but by integrating unfinished tasks of the past. Frankl (1959) emphasized that meaning can be discovered under any conditions, but only through attitudinal change. Purpose alignment is therefore not bound by age but by existential readiness. Development is best understood as a spiral, where each revolution revisits familiar themes from a higher level of consciousness. Every return deepens wisdom, allowing earlier purposes to be reinterpreted rather than relived.

Conclusion

The Purpose Developmental Model (PDM) reframes human development as the progressive realization of meaning through five evolving purposes: Safety and Belonging, Identity and Expression, Intimacy and Contribution, Authenticity and Legacy, and Wisdom and Unity. Where other theories emphasize conflict or cognition, the PDM emphasizes coherence. It assumes that to live purposefully is to live psychologically whole — that belonging, identity, connection, authenticity, and unity are not separate achievements but one unfolding of meaning. Purpose is not found but cultivated; not fixed but evolving; not given but lived into.

References

Baltes, P. B., & Baltes, M. M. (1990). Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bar-On, R. (2000). Emotional and social intelligence: Insights from the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i). Handbook of Emotional Intelligence, 363–388.

Damon, W., Menon, J., & Bronk, K. C. (2003). The development of purpose during adolescence. Applied Developmental Science, 7(3), 119–128.

Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle. New York: International Universities Press.

Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.

Erikson, E. H. (1982). The life cycle completed. New York: Norton.

Frankl, V. E. (1959). Man’s search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.

Frankl, V. E. (1969). The will to meaning. New York: Plume.

Frankl, V. E. (1985). The unheard cry for meaning. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York: Bantam Books.

Jung, C. G. (1933). Modern man in search of a soul. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Jung, C. G. (1959). The archetypes and the collective unconscious. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Jung, C. G. (1961). Memories, dreams, reflections. New York: Vintage.

Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396.

Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed.). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Maslow, A. H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York: Viking Press.

McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5(2), 100–122.

10/05/2025

10/04/2025

10/04/2025

10/04/2025

10/04/2025

10/04/2025

09/30/2025

The Integration of “I,” “We,” “Me,” and “Us” Across Erikson’s Stages

1. The “I” Integration (Birth – ~20 years)

The first five of Erikson’s stages—trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, and identity vs. role confusion—culminate in the adolescent’s task of forming a coherent sense of identity (Erikson, 1968).
• In this period, the child gradually builds autonomy, purpose, competence, and, eventually, a stable “I.”
• Without this foundation, later relational and societal tasks are weakened.

Thus, the “I” is the anchor of the self, integrated through developmental experiences that validate trust, independence, and personal coherence.

2. The “We” Integration (~20 – ~40 years)

This corresponds to Erikson’s intimacy vs. isolation stage.
• The “we” forms when two (or more) secure “I’s” are able to unite without fear of losing themselves (Erikson, 1982).
• Intimacy requires identity strength; those who fail to establish an “I” may struggle with fusion, dependency, or avoidance of intimacy.
• Successful integration here means that individuality expands into shared commitments, partnerships, and deep friendships.

The “we” thus represents the relational expansion of the self.

3. The “Me” Integration (~40 – ~65 years)

This aligns with generativity vs. stagnation.
• Here, the self asks: “What is my role? What is my purpose?” (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992).
• The “me” integrates identity into contribution, often through parenting, mentoring, creative work, or social engagement.
• Stagnation occurs when the “me” fails to connect identity with larger purposes, leading to feelings of emptiness or self-absorption.

The “me” is the reflective stage, where the individual considers their legacy and influence.

4. The “Us” Integration (65 years and onward)

The final stage, integrity vs. despair, is the point at which the “I,” “we,” and “me” are woven into the broader story of humanity.
• Individuals review their lives with an eye toward meaning, interconnectedness, and belonging to a greater whole (Erikson, Erikson, & Kivnick, 1986).
• The “us” represents integration with community, culture, and the flow of generations.
• Successful resolution brings acceptance and wisdom, whereas despair arises from regret or isolation.

The “us” is the culmination of integration, where personal identity finds peace within the collective human story.

Integration Across the Lifespan

This framework illustrates a progression of widening circles of belonging:

• I = identity, self-definition.
• We = intimacy, relational bonds.
• Me = purpose, productivity, and legacy.
• Us = wisdom, community, and humanity.

Through these stages, Erikson’s theory can be seen as an unfolding process of integrating the self into progressively broader domains of connection and meaning (Erikson, 1968, 1982).

References

• Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Erikson, E. H. (1982). The life cycle completed. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Erikson, E. H., Erikson, J. M., & Kivnick, H. Q. (1986). Vital involvement in old age. W. W. Norton & Company.
• McAdams, D. P., & de St. Aubin, E. (1992). A theory of generativity and its assessment through self-report, behavioral acts, and narrative themes in autobiography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62(6), 1003–1015. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.62.6.1003

09/30/2025

Emotional Intelligence, Imagination, and Clinical Applications for Emotional Pain

Emotional intelligence does not regard emotional pain as something that exists independently, waiting to surface. Instead, it teaches that pain is activated by thought in the present moment. Neuroscience supports this claim, showing that memory is not a static recording but a reconstruction. Each time we recall a painful event, the brain actively reassembles it, drawing on the same networks involved in perception and emotional appraisal (Schacter & Addis, 2007). In this way, the pain of the past is not re-experienced as it was but is re-created through imagination, often colored by current beliefs, concerns, and context (McGaugh, 2013).

From a clinical standpoint, this has significant implications. Many individuals come to therapy believing they are trapped by the past. They may say, “I can’t stop feeling this way because of what happened to me.” Cognitive-behavioral frameworks, such as the A-B-C model of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (Ellis, 1994), challenge this assumption by showing that beliefs mediate between events and consequences. The brain corroborates this: studies on cognitive reappraisal demonstrate that when clients reinterpret memories differently, the amygdala’s activity decreases while prefrontal regions responsible for regulation increase (Ochsner & Gross, 2005). This means clients are not powerless—they can alter their relationship to memory by changing their present appraisal.

Emotional intelligence builds on this principle by adding self-awareness and regulation skills. Clients who learn to notice when imagination is fueling pain can interrupt the cycle of rumination. Rumination is, in effect, the repeated activation of neural circuits associated with memory and emotion, strengthening the association between thought and distress. By applying EI skills such as self-observation, clients can step back from this process, asking, “What am I thinking right now that makes this painful?” This reframes pain as an event occurring in the present mind, not as something permanently embedded in the self (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2008).

Clinicians can use several strategies to apply this insight:

1. Mindfulness-based noticing. Mindfulness practices help clients see thoughts as transient mental events rather than absolute truths. Neuroscience shows that mindfulness reduces default mode network activity, which is associated with self-referential rumination (Spreng & Grady, 2010).
2. Cognitive disputation. Borrowing from Ellis (1994), therapists can help clients challenge irrational beliefs tied to painful memories. For example, the thought “Because this happened, I will always be broken” can be reframed as “This happened, but my pain is sustained by what I believe about it now.”
3. Memory reconsolidation techniques. Emerging clinical methods highlight that memories can be “updated” when reactivated in a ther**eutic context. By pairing the recollection of a painful event with new interpretations, clients may experience a reduction in its emotional charge (Phelps, 2004).
4. Strengthening present-moment orientation. Encouraging clients to distinguish between “then” and “now” helps reduce the sense of timelessness that often accompanies trauma and grief. This can be reinforced by experiential exercises where clients ground themselves in current sensory input, contrasting it with imagined memory.

By integrating emotional intelligence with these ther**eutic strategies, clients are empowered to recognize that emotional pain is not an inevitable condition but a product of thought, memory, and imagination at work in the present. This recognition restores agency: pain is no longer a force imposed upon them but a process they can observe, question, and reshape.

Ultimately, the union of cognitive-behavioral theory, neuroscience, and emotional intelligence underscores a hopeful message: emotional pain is real, but it is also pliable. It can be softened when clients learn to see how imagination and appraisal sustain it, and when they apply self-awareness to guide their engagement with thought. In this way, therapy does not erase the past but reframes its presence, allowing individuals to live more freely in the present moment.

References

• Beck, J. S. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
• Ellis, A. (1994). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy: Revised and updated edition. Citadel Press.
• Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. Oxford University Press.
• Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2008). Emotional intelligence: New ability or eclectic traits? American Psychologist, 63(6), 503–517. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.6.503
• McGaugh, J. L. (2013). Making lasting memories: Remembering the significant. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(Supplement_2), 10402–10407. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1301209110
• Ochsner, K. N., & Gross, J. J. (2005). The cognitive control of emotion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(5), 242–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.010
• Phelps, E. A. (2004). Human emotion and memory: Interactions of the amygdala and hippocampal complex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14(2), 198–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2004.03.015
• Schacter, D. L., & Addis, D. R. (2007). Constructive memory: The ghosts of past and future. Nature, 445(7123), 27. https://doi.org/10.1038/445027a
• Spreng, R. N., & Grady, C. L. (2010). Patterns of brain activity supporting autobiographical memory, prospection, and theory of mind, and their relationship to the default mode network. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(6), 1112–1123. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21282

09/22/2025

Charlie Kirk’s Harmful Rhetoric: A Record (You Decide)

When evaluating the impact of public figures, we must look beyond occasional slip-ups and focus on whether their words consistently shape society in harmful ways. Charlie Kirk, as a political commentator and activist, built a platform that amplified ideas many consider corrosive to democratic values, civil rights, and social cohesion.

Kirk’s criticism of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stands as one of his most striking departures from democratic norms. At Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in 2023, he declared, “We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s” (Gore & McDonald, 2025). He framed the legislation as a bureaucratic error, describing it as a “permanent DEI-type bureaucracy.” On his own show, he doubled down, insisting this was not a misstatement but a genuine belief. Such comments do not merely question one law; they challenge the entire foundation of civil-rights protections and dismiss decades of struggle by Black Americans. Kirk’s broader attacks on Martin Luther King Jr. as “awful” and “not a good person” reinforced this rejection of civil-rights progress (Gore & McDonald, 2025).

Immigration was another area where Kirk’s words escalated harm. In speeches and broadcasts, he repeatedly framed migrants not as human beings seeking refuge, but as invaders deserving violence. He once argued: “If you enter, we have lethal force, and we’re willing to use it. You can start with rubber bullets… tear gas… and of course you should be able to use whips against foreigners that are coming into your country” (Media Matters, 2024). On another occasion, he claimed migrants would “break into your homes and r**e your women, take your children. But, hey, they’re dreamers” (Media Matters, 2024). These statements invoke centuries-old fear tactics that dehumanize outsiders, using r**e and theft imagery to instigate panic. By framing immigration as an “invasion,” he echoed the dangerous “great replacement” conspiracy theory, warning that migrants were designed to “make the country less white” (Media Matters, 2024).

Kirk extended this exclusionary rhetoric to specific individuals. He called Representative Ilhan Omar a “terrorist sympathizer” and suggested she should be deported (Wikipedia, 2025). Such baseless accusations against an elected official undermine the legitimacy of democracy itself. Similarly, he targeted journalist Mehdi Hasan, saying, “Send him back to the country he came from. Holy cow! Get him off TV. Revoke his visa” (Media Matters, 2023). In both cases, Kirk combined nativism with authoritarian impulses—seeking to expel dissenting voices rather than debate them.

His approach to political violence revealed another troubling dimension. At a Turning Point USA Faith event in April 2023, Kirk stated that it was “worth… unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights” (Gore & McDonald, 2025; YouTube, 2025). By minimizing preventable deaths as a necessary cost, he normalized violence as collateral damage for ideology. After the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi in October 2022, he suggested that the assailant should be bailed out to “prove a point” about liberal bail reform (Gore & McDonald, 2025). Such callousness toward victims frames violence as a tool of partisan performance.

Finally, Kirk’s rhetoric extended into antisemitic tropes. He claimed that “secular Jews” and “Jewish donors” were behind cultural Marxism, liberal policies, and even the rise of antisemitism itself. He asserted that “some of the largest financiers of left-wing, anti-white causes have been Jewish Americans” (Gore & McDonald, 2025). These remarks recycle conspiratorial themes long associated with antisemitic scapegoating. By suggesting Jews secretly drive social decay, Kirk re-energized stereotypes that have historically fueled violence against Jewish communities.

Taken together, Kirk’s record shows not isolated gaffes but a deliberate use of language to instigate division. His pattern involved diminishing civil-rights history, stoking fear of migrants, undermining democracy by calling for deportations of officials and journalists, trivializing violence, and reinforcing antisemitic narratives. Words, particularly from influential voices, do not exist in a vacuum. They shape how audiences perceive who belongs in society, who should be feared, and who can be discarded. Kirk’s rhetorical legacy, stripped of all trans-related commentary, remains one that fostered exclusion, fear, and resentment rather than dialogue or shared purpose.

References

Gore, D., & McDonald, J. (2025, September 12). Viral claims about Charlie Kirk’s words. FactCheck.org. https://www.factcheck.org/

Media Matters for America. (2023, August 29). Charlie Kirk: Send Mehdi Hasan “back to the country he came from”. https://www.mediamatters.org/

Media Matters for America. (2024, March 22). Charlie Kirk calls for shooting and whipping migrants on the southern border. https://www.mediamatters.org/

Media Matters for America. (2024, January 😎. The southern border is… the great replacement… make the country less white. https://www.mediamatters.org/

Wikipedia contributors. (2025). Charlie Kirk. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/

YouTube. (2025). Charlie Kirk says gun deaths are “worth it” to protect our rights [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/