Individuals evolve from one stage to the next after the stage the individual is in no longer helps them to cope with the knowledge learned at that stage.
Each of the major psychology theorists identified 5 stages. Despite wide criticism over Freud’s theories as being too narrowly defined to express the human experience, his 5 stages of psychosexual evolution still accurately portray the overall evolution/revolution experience. Piaget’s stages articulate the 5 stages including the revolutionary periods in between. See Appendix B for a complete summary of the various sciences, theories, and theorists.
The possibility exists for a 6th and 7th stage of development as described in Piagetian psychology, Victor Frankl’s work added Self Transcendence to the Hierarchy of Needs, and the Meditative states have 7 stages rather than 5. Further exploration of these possible higher stages will be required to allow for the extension of the Meta Theory into this new dimension.
| Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 |
| Individual | ||||
| (Dependent) | Employee | Self Employed | Business Owner | Investor |
| Physiological, Survival | Safety, Comfort | Psychological, Belonging | Self Esteem | Self Actualization |
| Survival Brain | Emotional Brain | Logical Brain | ||
| Sensory Motor | Pre- Operational | Concrete Operations | Formal Operations | Meta Cognition |
| Oral | Anal | Phallic | Latency | Genital |
| Hope | Will | Purpose | Competence | Fidelity |
| Dependence | Rules Dependence | Independence | Mutual Dependence | Inter Dependence |
| Centralized | Society | Organization | Local Group | Individual |
| Individual / self | Family / Group | Community / City / State | Nation / Union | World |