Graves did some really interesting psychology research by asking undergrads to describe the psychology of a healthy, mature adult human. He had his grad students cluster the essays and they did, initially into self-expressing and self-controlling conceptions. In time, they came to see a specific sequence of levels in which self-expressing conceptions alternated with self-controlling ones. This was taken up by Don Beck and Chris Cowan and further marketed as "Spiral Dynamics". Ken Wilber then used it as the foundation for some of his work on Integral Psychology.

Essentially, (in the Spiral Dynamics' colors terminology), Red is the "law of jungle", survival of the fittest. Think Mad Max. Self-expressing. "express now for reward now"

Blue is the level of delayed gratification and obeying authority. Think Hammurabi up through to authoritarian societies such as North Korea. Self-controlling - "sacrifice now for (spiritual) reward later"

Orange is the scientific revolution and classical liberalism. Basically, individuals can discover natural laws for themselves and choose their economic relations. Martin Luther, Galileo, and Adam Smith through to the ethos of Wall Street. Self-expressing - "express self now calculatedly with little shame or guilt"

Green is 60s pluralism and multiculturalism. The basic idea is that we can't be truly happy unless we work to support inclusion and opportunity for all. It gives rise to what some criticize as political-correctness and a culture of "taking offense". Self-controlling - "sacrifice now for peer-approval"

Yellow is basically data-driven decision-making, technocracy, authority from expertise, etc. Self-expressing - "express now but not at the expense of others".

Turquoise is after Yellow, and self-controlling, but beyond those facts it's widely debated. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is seen as an example of this level of thinker. "sacrifice the idea that one will ever know what it is all about and adjust to this as the existential reality of existence"

Graves had been teaching intro to psych and presenting the work of Skinner, Freud, and Rogers and others. When students asked him who was right, however, he was frustrated that had no answer for them. After doing this work, he came to discover that each had a niche in helping an individual transition from one level to the next. Skinner's work on conditioning would help an individual learn delayed gratification (red to blue). Freudian psychodynamic therapy could help an individual overcome hangups learned from culture (blue to orange). Sensitivity training could help someone understand others' perspectives (orange to green). Rogerian client-centered therapy could help an individual go beyond the need for acceptance from their peer group to self-actualization (green to yellow).

He had another insight that self-actualization, as it was understood in the 60s and 70s, is probably a process and not a final state. There is no final destination, as there may be levels even beyond turquoise.

Graves' unfinished manuscript summarizing all of this was posthumously published as "The Never Ending Quest"
http://www.clarewgraves.com/neq/neq.html
I just finished it and highly recommend it.

My personal take is that these levels represent "paradigms of choice". They're levels of complexity at which you can understand your choices and the choices of others. Individuals at each subsequent level are able to handle greater complexity, and see more options for decisions.