Similarly , David Gutmann’s (1964) concept of ego mastery styles is
tied to intrapsychic changes inferred from TAT responses. Guttmannfinds evidence in his TAT stories for three styles of mastery: active, pas -
sive, and magical. The first is seen in stories that show the hero taking
forceful action to solve problems; the second is inferred when the heroaccepts conditions as they are and adapts to them; the last, magical mas -
tery , is seen in stories in which the hero distorts the situation or fails to
see obvious dangers and problems. A “magical” solution has lost con -
tact with reality .
Gutmann proposes that there is a universal developmental se -
quence in mastery styles. Young men use active mastery; middle-aged
men, passive mastery; and old men, magical mastery . Originally foundin a sample of men from Kansas City , the same pattern reappears, ac -
cording to Gutmann (1970, 1974), in rural Mexicans and in the High -
land Druze of Israel. A somewhat different pattern is found in women, a
tendency to use passive mastery appearing in young women and activemastery in older ones. The crossover of the sexes is interpreted aschange in masculinity–femininity , somewhat in conformity with Jung’snotions of balancing. As women age they become more masculine inmastery style; as men age, they become more feminine.
It is imperative to note that an ego mastery style is the hypothe-
sized basis for experiencing events; it is not the basis for overt action.
Gutmann points out that among the Highland Druze the oldest men arethe Elders, who have great power in decision making and are vigorousand decisive in running their community . The significance of a magicalmastery style is thus far more subtle than it might at first seem. The dis -
crepancy between the overt and observable and the unconscious, intra -
psychic, or inferable has bedeviled personality psychology from the be -
ginning; interiority and ego mastery styles are simply the gerontological
version of far more pervasive perplexities.
George Vaillant (1977), a psychiatrist, proposed a theory of adult
development based on the maturation of defenses. Defense mechanismsin one form or another have been central to many psychodynamic theo -
ries from Freud on; Vaillant built on this tradition by proposing that
there are 18 basic defenses grouped into four levels that can be rankedin terms of psychological maturity . The least healthy are the psychoticmechanisms of Level I that alter reality for the user and include delu -
sional projection, denial, and distortion. Level II mechanisms operate
not by changing reality but by altering the user’s distress, either experi -Facts and Theories of Adult Development 15