Chapter 8 - Personality Development
Introduction to Personality
- Some psychologists define personality as "the essence of human condition". - "the thought and behaviour of the individual that is most representative of the person"" and "what is most typical and deeply characteristic of the person".
APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
1. Freud's psychosexual approach to personality development # Sigmund Freud was one of the first theorists to propose a stage or discontinuity approach to personality development. Here personality development progresses through a series of psychosexual stages. - Freud's notion of sexuality in general, relating to sensuality, affection, love and physical pleasure, whereas a layperson's notion of sexuality is specific, relating to genitals and sexual intercourse. This has led to a lot of misguided criticism of Freud. - Freud argued that by the age of five all the aspects and structures of personality - the id, ego and superego - are fully developed. Socialisation pressures could bring minor changes to these structures but the basic tendencies of an individual's personality are set in childhood. - Freud's concept of FIXATION exemplifies his assumption that personality is developed in early childhood. - Here Freud proposed that not all outcomes of the sequence of psychosexual development are satisfactory or normal, an that fixation of libido (sexual energy) might occur at any of these stages, thereby distorting and stunting the sequence of development that follows. Fixation involves a "lagging behind" in development and this has consequences for adult personality. - For example children who are fixated at the anal stage may refuse to empty their bowels until the release of tension produces the greatest satisfaction. The more severe the toilet training by parents in childhood, the greater the likelihood of anal fixation. According to Freud, these childhood behaviours are likely to lead to a fixated adult personality referred to as anal-retentive character. This person is characterised by the presence of traits such as orderliness and cleanliness and obstinacy. Typical examples are adults obsessed in washing their hands 50-100 times a day, washing the car with a toothbrush. Table 8.1 Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development. Psychosexual stage: Oral (birth to 1 year) Libidinal zone: Mouth, skin, thumb Chief developmental issue: Passive incorporation of all that is good through the mouth, autoerotic sensuality Libidinal object: Mother's breast; own body Psychosexual stage: Anal (1-3 years) Libidinal zone: Anus, bowels Chief developmental issue: Active seeking of tension reduction; self-mastery; passive submission Libidinal object: Own body Psychosexual stage: Phallic (3-6 years) Libidinal zone: genitals, skin Chief developmental issue: oedipus and Electra complexes; possession of mother; identification with same-sex parent Libidinal object: Mother for boy; father for girl Psychosexual stage: Latency (6 years to adolescence) Libidinal zone: None Chief developmental issue: Repression of pregential forms of libido; learning culturally appropriate shame and disgust for inappropriate love objects Libidinal object: Repressed previous objects Psychosexual stage: Genital (adolescence onwards) Libidinal zone: Genital primacy Chief developmental issue: Reproduction; sexual intimacy Libidinal object: Heterosexual partner #Evaluating Freud's approach to personality development - Freud's approach is testable, but because Freud did not have the science or technology to work out how the brain of a normal or neurotic personality was organised, he may not have adequately tested his theory. - With new scientific methodologies (videorecorded psychotherapy, infant-caregiver interactions, computer presentations of subliminal stimuli, functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI)) testing psychoanalytic concepts has been accomplished many times. - Proper way to test Freudian theories of psychosexual development would be to conduct a longitudinal study that follows infants into adulthood, measuring the consistency of internal conflicts and life experiences along the way. - Post Freudian theories have stretched the developmental window for personality growth from childhood into adolescence and adulthood. - The theorist who first acknowledged that personality develops across the lifespan from infancy to late adulthood was another psychoanalytic theorist, Erik Erikson. 2. Erikson's approach to personality development - Erik Erikson (1902-1994) intended his theory of personality to be an extension of Freud's psychoanalytic approach. - Erikson added the developmental stages of adolescence, adulthood and old age, first theorist to propose a true lifespan theory of personality development. - Because of the discrete, age milestones, Erikson's theory is also referred to as a stage or discontinuity theory to personality development. - Erikson proposed that personality is the product of an interaction between the id-superego-ego and the external social world. To Erikson, ego is more than just the mediator it is the CENTRE of PERSONALITY. - The ego establishes self-identity while adapting to the crises and conflicts of life. At times the ego struggles to defend itself and may even succumb to the forces of society. - Erikson believed that the ego developed through eight stages of life according to an epigenetic principle - here one stage emerges and is built on a previous stage at a particular time, but it does not replace the earlier stage. An analogous example of the epigenetic principle is the physical development of children, who crawl before they walk, walk before they run, and run before they jump. Once they are capable of jumping, they still retain their ability to crawl, walk and run. - Similarly, in Erikson's theory some ability to trust must exist in order for autonomy to develop; if children emerge from early childhood without sufficient trust in their caregivers and a healthy sense of autonomy, the seeds are sown for adjustment issues in adolescence and adulthood. Adults who have difficulty establishing intimate ties to others or who are dependent on a loved one may not have fully mastered the task of trust and autonomy in early childhood. - BASIC STRENGTHS -ego qualities related to each one of Erikson's stages - hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care, wisdom.Basic strengths emerge from the psychosocial crisis that typifies each stage of development. For example, during young adulthood, LOVE is the basic strength that emerges from the conflict between the syntonic or harmonious element intimacy and the dystonic or disruptive element of isolation. The syntonic and dystonic elements complement each other and are both necessary experiences for proper adaptions of LOVE in young adulthood. - For healthy development a person must develop a "fair ratio" between the diruptive (dystonic) and harmonious (syntonic) aspects of the conflict. - Erikson's theory is generally optimistic and each psychosocial crisis can be resolved in favor of the harmonious element. - The climax of the life cycle is reached when the foundations of infantile HOPE has made it possible for development of adult WISDOM. - When looking at Erikson's theory we must look at the descriptive nature o it rather than the explanatory approach; Erikson's theory does no t address the motivational aspects of personality or what drives individuals from one age to the other. - Also the basic strengths of hope, care and love are not operationally defined and have limited scientific appeal. - Furthermore some of the later stages of the psychosocial stages are not always clearly differentiated. IDENTITY FORMATION - According to Erikson, the primary concern of adolescents in Stage 5 is identity versus identity confusion. The model recognises that successful resolution of earlier stages such as trust, autonomy and initiative, play a key role in contributing to a strong, healthy identity. - Erikson's identity refers to adolescents search for their personal strengths and weaknesses, and a synthesis of past, present and future experiences. The success or failure of negotiating future life stages such as developing intimacy in relationships, fulfilling work goals and contributing to society in general is dependent on a strong concept of identity emerging during adolescence. - In attempting to find themselves, adolescents attempt to develop a sexual, moral, political, and religious identity that is relatively stable and mature. - Because of the importance of developing an identity teenagers are constantly seeking out information about themselves from specific social contexts. - Adolescents are constantly seeking out information about themselves from different sources. Adolescents derive many ideas of suitable roles and values from reference groups such as family, the peer group and sporting groups - the person must integrate all these roles into a personal identity. - A sense of identity helps have a sense of direction and purpose to our future life. - Some adolescents' formation of their identity is not smooth and they experience an identity crisis - a temporary period of confusion and distress as they experience with alternatives before settling for a set of values and goals. Thus there is a danger of moving through adolescence without gaining answers to questions about oneself. COMPARISON OF FREUD AND ERIKSON THEORY TO PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT - Some of Erikson's concepts of unconscious human conflict are similar to Freud. - Both theorists agree that personality development is the result from facing and resolving different conflicts that arise at different life stages. - There are also marked differences: Erikson saw the ego and social needs of humans as more potent than the basic biological (sexual) needs in their personality development. In other words, Erikson shifted the traditional psychoanalytical concern with abnormal, defensively motivated behaviours to a concern with the normal functioning of the healthy ego. In Freudian theory, the conflicts are of a psychosexual nature, for Erikson they are psychosocial . For example, for Freud the nursing relationship between mother and infant satisfies the child's pleasure seeking id, whereas for Erikson, is an example of a social interaction between the infant and the interpersonal world, resulting in a sense of basic trust. - Each of the first five stages of Erikson's theory builds on Freud's psychosexual stages, treating them as prerequisite determinants of personality. Erikson broadened rather than replaced Freudian theory, thus making their theories compatible. EVALUATING ERIKSONS APPROACH TO PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT - Although Erikson is often criticized for building a theory on personal observations rather than scientific studies, there is contemporary empirical support for his theories, with over 300 studies testing his stage 8 concept of ego integrity.For example, a study found that white women who resolved their life regrets at age 53 achieved higher levels o ego integrity at age 62, and generativity at age 53 predicted ego integrity at 62. These longitudinal findings directly support Erikson's contention that coming to term with life regrets and earlier generativity facilitates navigating late midlife personality development. IDENTITY STATUS - James Marcia (2006) - James Marcia's extensive work on adolescent identity status - the ways that adolescents deal with the issue of identity formation - has further boosted Erikson's theory of ego identity. 1. Identity achievement: refers to the identity status of individuals who have explored and committed themselves to self-chosen values and goals. They have passed through the crisis and made their commitments. 2. Moratorium: refers to individuals who are exploring alternatives in an effort to find values and goals to guide them through their lives. These individuals have yet to made definite commitments. 3. Identity foreclosure: refers to the identity status of individuals who have accepted ready-made goals and values that authority figures have chosen for them. These individuals tend to have made commitments without going through a crisis. 4. Identity diffusion: refers to individuals who do not have goals or values and are not actively trying to reach them. these individuals have not gone through an identity crises nor have they made commitments. - It has been found that identity-achieved or actively exploring (moratorium) adolescents have a higher sense of self-esteem. Identity achieved adolescents are also less self-conscious and happy to reveal themselves to others. They report the highest level of prosocial values. Foreclosed adolescents tend to have low self-esteem are dogmatic, inflexible and intolerant and use their commitments defensively and regard difference of opinion as a threat. Long term diffused teenagers are the less mature in identity development and report the lowest levels o prosocial behaviours. The "I I don;t care" attitude males them most vulnerable to drug use and their sense of hopelessness about the future puts them at serious rise of depression and suicide. - Not only did Erikson's theory spurre adolescent research but also research into the elderly. Erikson was one of the first theorist to identify wisdom as an ideal end point of psychosocial personality development. 3. The behaviourist approach to personality development - Behaviourists such as John Watson and Skinner avoided all hypothetical concepts such as mind and personality and rarely used those terms in their writings instead preferring terms such as habit systems and behavior. Rather they provided one of the most straight forward and powerful theories of change, proposing that people respond to reinforcers and punishers which change their behavior. - For example, parents who try and change their shy children's behavior by exposing them to novel situations rather than overprotecting them may help their children to overcome their behavioural inhibition. - In contrast, parents who reinforce their children's behavioural avoidance of novel situations by purchasing video games that devoid interaction may inadvertedly promote continued social inhibition. Behaviourists propose that humans are trainable by proper manipulation of the environmental stimuli and that any behaviour can be changed and acquired through reinforcement strategies from an early age. - Similarly to Watson, Skinner proposed that researchers should carefully describe and observe actual behaviors rather than study what is inside. Skinner's approach does not resort to traditional personality concepts such as traits, the ego or the self, or unconscious motivation instead focusing on the environment. #Evaluating the behaviourist approach to personality development - of particular importance for personality development is Skinner's emphasis that individuals differ in their consistent behaviour (characteristics or traits) because they have been exposed to different learning or reinforcement histories, which have strengthened certain behaviours more than others. For example, extroverted adults may have been repetedely encouraged as students by their teachers to speak out in class, whereas introverted adults may have not received the same level of encouragement. - Skinner's theory of continuous personality change elegantly identifies external environmental factors that affect a person's behaviour form infancy to adulthood. - some critics suggest that one of the biggest limitations of radical behaviourism was arguing against the causal role of cognitive thought processes in behavior. 4.The social cognitive perspective: An integrated approach - Bandura's 1986 and 1999 social cognitive approach, emphasises continuity in personality development and integrates factors from earlier approaches to produce one of the most comprehensive and accepted explanations of personality change. - Triadic reciprocal determinism refers to personal functioning that arises from a mutual interaction between the three interlocking functions: (1) the physical and social environment (E); (2) the cognitive and affective components that affect the person (P); (3) the individual's behaviour (B). - Bandura beleived taht personal change can occur at any stage of a person's life and that it can occur by simply observing someone less behaviour - through observational learning or modeling. Modeling changes through the lifespan. People who lack status such as children are more likely to model. Also, the greater the value the observer places on the behavior the more likely they are to change. and that behavior will be learned. - In Bandura's social cognitive theory people are not labelled to fit fixed taxonomy types (e.g extroverted) or placing people on specific age related stages of personality development. - The SELF SYSTEM: Bandura proposed a self-system which is a set of cognitive structures that includes perception, evaluation and regulation of behavior. The self system is the core of personality and development. One particular aspect of the self-system, SELF-EFFICACY plays a particularly big role in personality functioning. Self-efficacy refers to a person's appraisal of their capability to achieve designated types of performance. - People's behavioral outcomes can vary according to their environment and level of self-efficacy. People are remarkably flexible and resilient, and develop their capabilities over an extended period. "Individuals must continue to master new competencies to fulfill changing demands through their lifespan". EVALUATING THE SOCIAL COGNITIVE APPROACH TO PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT - The social cognitive theory of Bandura has generated more testable predictions and research than almost any other theory of personality development. - Bandura's concept of self-efficacy is contextual because it produces behaviours that change across situations and its activation depends on a particular context. 5.Trait approaches to personality development - In stark contrast to the psychoanalytic, behaviourist and social cognitive approaches to personality development, trait theorists such as Eysenck (1994), and McCrae and Costa (2008), have gone to great lengths to show that personality is relatively stable in the adult years. - They also believed that personality can be measured and reduced to three or five traits, arriving to this through a continuos program of research. - Of particular importance to trait theorists, are personality traits which have been found to predict outcomes including mortality, health, marital satisfaction and occupational success. Trait theorists approach are highly "testable, empirical and scientific model of personality" unlike psychoanalytic theorists. - Hans Eysenck more than any other trait theorists placed a larged importance on the biological basis for personality traits, particularly their heritability. - Thus Eyseck believed in minimal change through learning and argued for stability of personality across the lifespan. - A person's genetic make up + central nervous system (CNS) plays a very important role in personality development. - Eyseck is best known for naming three main personality types: 1) Extroversion (E), which includes characteristics such as sociable, active and assertive. 2) Neuroticism (N), which includes characteristics such as anxious, depressed and guilty. 3) Psychoticism (P), which includes characteristics such as aggressive, cold and impulsive. All three sturctures are part of a normal personality structure. On converting the Eyseck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) we can see where a person X appears. For example, they could score relatively high on the E and N dimensions and low on the P dimension. We may thus surmise that X is a reasonably social person, with some degree of anxiety, who carries on plans in a passive way. - Figure 8.2, page 286 - Eysenck estimates that along the E, N, P dimensions, about 60 percent of individual differences in personality are determined by genes. - According to Eysenck, each dimension of personality can be measured at three different levels of analysis. 1) Level is the biological or CNS part of personality, which is measured by EEG recordings. 2) Level 2 is the behavioral aspect of personality, which is measured by performance on lab tasks suchas memory tasks and reaction times; 3) Level 3 concerns the types of personality such as the (E) dimension which is assessed by questionnaires such as the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI). - For reserachers to accurately measure personality over the lifespan all three levels of personality need to be tested and measured. - Figure 8.3, page 287. - Theorists such as McCrae and Costa (2003) have extended Eysenck's model to include five dimensions, commonly referred to as the Big Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality: neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness conscientiousness. - Proponents of the model argue that includes all the major traits of personality and thus super cedes earlier models such as Eysenck's model. - McCrae and costa argue like Eysenck that personality is biologically rooted and relatively stable through the lifetime and that it includes an extraordinary range of psychological processes and outcomes. - EVALUATING THE TRAIT APPROACH TO PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT - It is seen that Eysenck's theory of personality has been moderately successful in accounting for extraversion(E), less successful in accounting for neuoroticism (N) and has been very limited in accounting for psychoticism (P). - This moderate success may be in part due to the measurement complexity across all three measurements and three levels of analysis. Because of this care of the experimental control is essential when testing Eysenck's theory. - Extensive longitudinal research investigations generally have found that personality traits remain largely unchanged through adulthood, with retest correlations sitting at r=0.70 common ver three decades of adulthood (Costa and McCrae, 1992). - Look at Figure 8.4, page 288, McCrae and Costa's Five Factor Model of personality: Trait: High on Neuroticism Behavioural outcome: individuals are worrying, temperamental, self-pityng, self-conscious, emotional and vulnerable. Trait: Low on Neuroticism Behavioural outcome: individuals are calm, even-tempered, self-content, comfortable, unemotional and hardy. Trait: High on Extroversion Behavioural outcome: individuals are talkative, fun-loving, passionate, active. Trait: Low on Extroversion Behavioural outcome: individuals are reserved, quiet, passive, sober and emotionally unreactive. Trait: High on openness to experience Behavioural outcome: individuals are imaginative, creative, original, curious and liberal. Trait: Low on openness to experience Behavioural outcome: individuals are down to earth, unreactive, conservative, incurious. Trait: High on Agreeableness Behavioural outcome: individuals are soft-hearted, generous, lenient and good natured. Trait: Low on Agreeableness Behavioural outcome: individuals are ruthless, suspicious, stingy, critical and irritable. Trait: High on Conscientiousness Behavioural outcome: individuals are well-organized, conscientious, hard working, punctual, persevering and ambitious. Trait: Low on Conscientiousness Behavioural outcome: individuals are negligent, lazy, disorganized, late, aimless, non-persistent.
CONTROVERSIES IN PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
1. Stability versus change in personality development - Figure 8.5, page 290 2. The sociogenomic model: integrating social and trait approaches 3. Contexts for personality development a) Family context b) Historical context c) Cultural context
Learning objectives
8.1 Define personality and personality development. 8.2 Evaluate and compare the psychoanalytic, behaviourist, social cognitive and trait theories of personality development. 8.3 Illustrate the focal development stage o each theory, and discuss whether stability or change in personality development is emphasised. 8.4 Discuss the sociogenomic model of personality traits. 8.5 Examine the importance o the family, historical and cultural contexts for personality development. 8.6 Conduct a practical exercise related to personality development over the lifespan.
Fixation
A lagging behind in development of one of the components of the maturing sexual drive at a particular psychosexual stage.
Time out
A period of time in which children are taken away from the reinforcing environment and placed in a less reinforcing environment (ie time out environment).
Self system
A set of cognitive structures that include perception, evaluation and regulation of behavior.
Identity crisis
A temporary period of confusion and distress as one experiments with alternatives before settling on a set of values and goals.
Identity assimilation
An individual's ability to maintain a sense of self-consistency in the face of changing circumstances
Identity
An individually constructed sense of who one is, based upon who one has been, and who one can realistically imagine themselves to be in the future.
Identity balanced
Describes adults who are flexibly able to adapt to age-related changes.
Dystonic elements
Disruptive elements of each of the basic strengths that emerge across Erikson's developmental stages.
Epigenetic principles
Erikson's principle of ego development where one stage emerges and builds on a previous stage at a particular time, without replacing the earlier stage.
Syntonic elements
In eriksons approach to personality development, harmonious elements of each of the basic strengths that emerge across Erikson's developmental stages.
Integrated cultural trait psychology model
Integrates trait (biological) and cultural psychology (contextual) approaches, proposing that traits exist in all cultures but account for behaviour less in collectivist cultures.
Identity status
Marcia's description of an adolescent's ability to resolve crises and commit to adult roles.
Psychoticism
One of Eysenck's personality traits, including characteristics such as aggressive, cold and impulsive.
Neuroticism
One of Eysenck's personality traits, including characteristics such as guilty, depressed and anxious.
Extroversion
One of Eysenck's personality traits, including characteristics such as sociable, active and assertive.
Anal-retentive character
Presence of several adult traits such as orderliness, thriftiness and obstinacy.
Triadic reciprocal determinism
Proposes that behavior, the person and the environment all interact to affect one each other.
List of personality development theories
Psychoanalytic approaches - Freud (1933) - Erikson (1997) - Marcia (2006) Behaviourist approaches - Watson (1924) - Skinner (1950) Social cognitive approach - Bandura (1986, 1999) Trait approaches - Eysenck (1994) - McCrae and Costa (2003, 2008) - Whereas Freud acknowledges childhood experiences as essential to adult personality development, Erikson highlighted changes in teenage years and adulthood, while the behaviourists do not highlight any particular period critical for personality development. - Another feature that separates the different approaches is the conceptualisation of personality as stable or changing. - Behaviourists emphasise the environment as the cause of change; social-cognitive and psychoanalytic approaches emphasise the interaction between the social environment and the internal workings of an individual as the influence that changes personality; and trait approaches emphasise stability in personality, despite the various contexts encountered throughout the lifespan.
Secular trend index
Reflects historical trends in response to the California Psychological Inventory (CPI).
Behaviourism
The approach in psychology that proposes that humans are trainable by proper manipulation of environmental stimuli and that any behavior can be changed through appropriate reinforcement contingencies.
Personality development
The extent to which an individual's essence, characteristic thought and behavior change over the lifespan.
Socioegonomic model
The first approach to personality development that combines both trait and social cognitive approaches.
Moratorium
The identity status of individuals who are exploring alternatives in an effort to find values and goals to guide their life.
Identity diffusion
The identity status of individuals who do not have firm commitments to values or goals and are not actively trying to reach them.
Identity foreclosure
The identity status of individuals who have accepted ready-made values and goals that authority figures have chosen for them.
Identity achievement
The identity status of individuals who have explored and committed themselves to self-chosen values and goals.
Wisdom
The integration of all facets of the self, coordination of opposites and transcendence of personal agendas in favour of collective issues.
Identity formation
The process of adolescents finding themselves and developing a sexual, moral, political and religious identity.
Personality traits
The relatively stable patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that reflect the tendency to respond in certain ways in certain circumstances.
Oral stage
The stage when all physical pleasure for a baby centers around the lips and mouth.
Basic strengths
The strengths that emerge from the conflict or psychological crisis that typifies each stage of Erikson's developmental stage.
Social investment theory
The theory that personality maturation during adulthood takes place as individuals commit to adult roles.
Personality
The thought or behavior of the individual that is most representative or characteristic of the person.
Post-Freudian theories
Theories that extend rather than revise Freudian conceptualizations.
Self-efficacy
people's appraisal of their capability to achieve certain performance.
Observational learning (modeling)
the learning of new adaptive and non adaptive behavior merely by watching another person being rewarded for the behavior, without direct reinforcement.
