Academic Research


John F. Kennedy University

I engaged in my Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP) research while attending my Integral Research classes (2007-2008) taught by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D. —leading integral scholar-practitioner, coach and author—as part of my Masters in Integral Psychology at John F. Kennedy University (JFK).
- Moses Silbiger, M.A Integral Psychology

John F. Kennedy University (JFKU) has been an innovative educational institution in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1965. Today, it serves nearly 2,000 students who study for undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, and it has graduated more than 12,000 alumni locally and around the world. During its more than 40 years as an educational innovator, JFKU created programs in several fields such as career development, museum studies, sport psychology, holistic health, management, psychology, and law. JFKU has permanent campuses in Pleasant Hill, Campbell and Berkeley, and community counseling centers in Sunnyvale, Oakland, and Pleasant Hill

Masters in Integral Psychology

The John F. Kennedy University's Integral Psychology program is the premiere campus-based scholarship community for completing a graduate degree using the Integral model. The mission of Integral Psychology is to take the field of psychology to the next level - incorporating an applied Integral Studies focus into the skillful-means required to heal our world. The transformation and integration of body, mind, and spirit in self, culture, and nature is at the core of the Integral Psychology program.

Ken Wilber, author of Integral Psychology; Integral Spirituality; Sex, Ecology, Spirituality; The Integral Vision, and other books on Integral Theory; and founder of Integral Institute (AQAL), has this to say about this Master's (MA) program:

"I am excited and encouraged by the Integral Psychology Program at JFKU; this marks another promising advance of the developing awareness of our times by an impressive team of ground breaking scholar-practitioners."

Integral Methodological Pluralism Research (IMP)

"Moses Silbiger is talented in many respects. I've worked closely with him in an integral research context, where he demonstrated initiative, thoroughness, creativity, and vision. I've really enjoyed collaborating with him and find his grounded open hearted demeanor and his quick mind to be refreshing and engaging." Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, PhD, Integral Scholar, Coach and Author of the book Integral Ecology (2009) - John F. Kennedy University

In a way, this website summarizes some of the key aspects of my formal mixed methods research, which used six methods (Wilber, 2006) to explore the following overarching question: “How could video games be designed to catalyze human development?”

The choice of my research topic originated from a deep (and somewhat ambitious) intention to engage in a Master’s degree project that could integrate a long list of passions and interests of mine: Integral theory; human development; psychology, spirituality, coaching; architecture; technology and computer graphics. On top of that, I wanted to apply Integral theory into something practical in the world, with potential to catalyze development in “mass scale”.

Surprisingly, I ended up researching about… video games! I say surprisingly because my pre-research inquiry brought me back a somewhat forgotten (or neglected) passion I had for video games during my teenager “hardcore gamer” years, when at one time I came to have 350+ video games at my disposal. This passion ended up being spontaneously recovered from the past, after I realized their unprecedented developmental potentials as an emergent interactive mass medium.

Due to my deep level of engagement and enthusiasm, my original research paper ended up reaching almost 200 pages! (original assignment: 40 pages). I then took the challenge to condense it in the specific papers presented in different conferences, and also in a more detailed and updated article published in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice - JITP.  The long, thoughtful, and intuitive processes of organizing, sorting and condensing information turned to be like fun and challenging “puzzle-like” games...