Date of Award

Spring 5-15-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Dr Jeffrey Perrin

Second Advisor

Dr Ellen Reeve

Third Advisor

Dr Robert McGrath

Abstract

This study investigates the underexplored relationship between adult developmental growth and emotions. Developmental growth requires an individual to respond to self-concept instability by adopting new meaning structures and navigating oppositional emotions. This quantitative study examined the relationship between an emotional reframing intervention and perspective shifts, an indicator of developmental progression. Data collected on three college campuses in the 2024-2025 academic year revealed a strong positive relationship between the intervention and perspective shifts, as evidenced by differences in pre- and post-assessment responses within the studied population, both in aggregate and in specific use cases. The findings contribute to three academic arenas: Mallki’s 2019 call to reorient emotions as gateways to developmental progression; an expansion of Mezirow’s 1991 definition of critical reflection, a requirement for developmental growth; and confirmation of Helson and Mitchell’s 2020 claim that developmental growth is not simply experiencing life but an informed choice-based response that fosters an independent value system. The study’s findings offer insights into a potential role for emotional reframing in developmental progression and reveal a gap in adult readiness for self-concept upheaval, an increasingly important process with meaningful psychological, economic, and societal implications in the era of generative AI.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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