For this project within the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, codes have been appended to the names of approaches to human development on the index pages (and at the end of each profile). These codes correspond to the type sections into which the descriptive profiles have been tentatively clustered in the Encyclopedia. No attempt has been made to use more complex groupings as is done for the associated world problems or strategies database entries.

H: Concepts of human development

Used for ways of understanding, or undertaking, human development. Entries are included on explicit concepts of human development and on therapies, activities or experiences in which a particular understanding of human development is implicit. The entries do not include subjective experiences described under the following type.

M: Modes of awareness

Used for experiential modes of awareness implying particular understandings of human development, or encountered during particular processes of human development. Each profile endeavours to describe a mode of awareness that is named in the literature of some particular approach to human development. The descriptions are provided as far as possible in the terms of those to whom the mode is meaningful, selecting and presenting the information in a way that may help others to find it meaningful as well. Where such modes have metaphorical names these have been retained, however odd they may seem to people from other cultures or belief systems. Where the distinction between modes is more precisely defined in another language (e.g. Sanskrit), the transliterated name in that language is also given. Where the mode is part of a set or a progression, this is indicated by a contextual paragraph and cross-references.

Attribution to a particular type is never considered definitive and is continually reviewed for the on-line version.