adulthood and aging exam 2 Chapter 8, Personality

Cognitive Perspective

- The cognitive perspective in personality views people as driven by the desire to predict and control their experiences. -Emerging from this perspective are cognitive self theories, which propose that people regard events in their lives from the standpoint of how relevant these are to their own sense of self. - place importance on the ways that people interpret their experiences and understand themselves over time.

life story

- the individual's inner personal narrative of the past events in his or her life -study showed that.Men, in particular, were likely to see themselves as having gained in attributes such as "confident power" between their 20s and 60s

possible selves

- thoughts about the self can motivate you to act in certain ways so that you achieve your "hoped-for" possible self, or the person you would like to be. -people are motivated to strive for a hoped-for possible self and will attempt to avoid a dreaded or feared possible self. -continue to shift as you develop throughout adulthood

identity status interview

-Erikson's theory of identity achievement versus role diffusion suggests that adolescents struggle to define themselves in the face of physical changes, cognitive changes, and particularly role changes. -James Marcia expanded on this theory by developing the identity status interview, which examines the degree of commitment held by the individual to identity issues and the degree of exploration the individual used to arrive at this commitment. The identity status model categorizes people into four different statuses based on their degree of commitment and exploration. These statuses include identity achieved, foreclosed, moratorium, and identity diffuse. identity achievement status: tend to be balanced in their thinking, mature in their relationships to others, and thoughtful about their life options. moratorium status: tend to be open and curious but also anxious, depressed, and low in self-esteem. foreclosed status appear: to be higher in self-esteem but closed-minded and rigid. identity diffuse: are more likely to engage in delinquent and drug-related behaviors as well as having low self-esteem.

Midlife Crisis Findings

-a period of self-scrutiny and reevaluation of goals triggered by the individual's entry into middle age. -the individual explores different alternatives and seeks a new life structure or a modification of the existing one. -The midlife crisis is targeted as 40 to 45, but its beginning can occur anywhere between 38 and 43, and its ending can occur anywhere between the years of 44 to 47. The midlife crisis involves two main themes -overcoming disillusionment due to failure to achieve the dreams of youth that inevitably cannot be fully realized -making decisions about how to pursue the life structure during middle adulthood.

Five-Factor Model (FFM)

-a theory intended to capture all the essential characteristics of personality in a set of five broad dispositions -while individuals may maintain their relative positions on each of the five traits over time, their mean scores may undergo change across adulthood

Mean-level change (in class)

-changes in a group's average scores over time. -changes in the average level of a particular trait or characteristic in a population over time -"We become more agreeable, more conscientious, more emotionally stable (less neurotic) and more socially dominant. -We become less open and less socially vital in old age."

Type D personality

-characterizing people with high levels of anxiety, loneliness, and depression who try to suppress their feelings. -People high in Type D qualities have a poor prognosis when they develop heart disease. -A common feature underlying their negative emotions appears to be extreme social inhibition, or fear of new situations (study shows that personality traits associated with favorable qualities appear to play a protective role in heart health)

Generativity

-defined as showing care and concern for guiding the next generation, it would follow that parents would be higher in generativity than non-parents. -However, not just having children but also successfully parenting them seems to be more consistent with Erikson's views. -parents higher in generativity not only felt closer to their college-age children but also had children who were happie, etc. -generative behaviors also expand and enrich one's own ego in a process he calls the "redemptive self." By being generative, in other words, you are benefiting your own development as well as the people you are helping.

Adult Attachment Theory

-early bond between the infant and caregiver set the stage for all of the individual's later significant relationships. -Through interactions with their caregivers , infants develop attachment styles that are mental representations or frameworks about what to expect in a relationship.

ego

-ego is the part of the mind that controls rational thought -job is to negotiate a way for people to meet their biological needs without putting themselves at risk of violating society's expectations or falling short of their ideals. -Freud regarded the ego as not having an independent role in personality but merely serving the desires of the id. -plays the central role in dictating our behavior

Social Cognitive Approaches

-focus on how people's emotions and motivations change over time, and how these changes affect the way they see themselves and other people. R -Research on motivation and aging helps provide insight into people's goals, desires, and needs and how they change through life.

Type A behavior pattern

-idea that personality traits could be related to significant health problems and health-related behaviors -collection of traits that include being highly competitive, impatient, feeling a strong sense of time urgency, and highly achievement-oriented. -The men higher in hostility and more prone to experience anger also showed increases in coronary heart disease risk.

correspondence principle

-people experience particular life events that reflect their personality traits; once these events occur, they further affect people's personalities. -Ex: office workers would have higher conscientiousness because lateness and slacking off are not rewarded.

Identity

-portrays adolescents as struggling to define themselves in the face of physical changes associated with puberty, cognitive changes, and particularly role changes where they are expected to find a place for themselves in society

Differential continuity

-stability of individuals' rank order within a group over time -individuals' relative standing within a group on a particular trait or characteristic tends to remain consistent over time. -Personality traits remain stable throughout adulthood and stability increases with age (leveling off at age 50), show no gender differences.

Intra-individual variability

-stability or instability of personality traits within an individual over time -how an individual's mean scores may undergo change across adulthood, even though they may maintain their relative positions along each of the traits. -These findings led to the conclusion that there is no specific age at which personality traits stop changing, consistent with the "maturity principle" of adult personality development.

Identity Process Theory

-states that the goal of development is optimal adaptation to the environment by maintaining a balance between maintaining consistency of the self and changing in response to experiences. -The actions people take upon the environment reflect attempts to express their sense of self by engaging in the activities they regard as important and worthwhile. -The multiple threshold model predicts that individuals react to specific age-related changes in their physical and psychological functioning in terms of the identity processes. -Research has found that individuals who use identity assimilation with regard to age-related changes have higher self-esteem than those who use identity accommodation -women uses more identity accommodation

Vaillant's Theory of Defense Mechanisms

-suggests that people use defense mechanisms to protect their conscious mind from knowing about unconscious desires, and these strategies change over time as individuals adapt to new circumstances. -three types: immature, intermediate, and mature. Immature defenses: such as denial and projection, fail to contain emotions intermediate defenses: such as displacement and repression, turn negative feelings into slightly more productive outlets. Mature defenses: such as suppression and anticipation, channel anxiety into constructive activities or plan ahead to minimize problems Study found a positive relationship between the maturity of defenses and various outcomes, such as alcohol problems and unstable marriages, and that the use of mature defense mechanisms increases over the course of later life.

ego psychology

-that the ego plays a central role in actively directing behavior. -ego that matures throughout life as the individual faces particular biological, psychological, and social forces. -ego's development in terms of a push and pull that leads the individual toward a favorable outcome (such as attaining a sense of identity) or an unfavorable outcome

affect regulation

-the ability to increase a person's feelings of happiness and well-being. -you seek out people who help you feel good about yourself and your life. These are the people you turn to when you're feeling lonely, depressed, or stressed in hopes that they will make you feel better.

resilience

-the ability to recover from stress. -Resilient older adults are able to overcome negative emotions and adapt to new situations as these arise, even if those situations are objectively stressful

trait perspective

-the assumption that the organization of the personal dispositions known as traits guide the individual's behavior.

Psychodynamic Perspective

-the ways in which unconscious motives and impulses express themselves in people's personalities and behavior. -highlight the importance of early development and the ways in which people cope with such emotions as fear, anxiety, and love. -Freud claims that personality does not change after early childhood so therapy is useless at the age of 50.

socioemotional selectivity theory (SST)

-view that people seek to maximize the positive emotions they experience in their relationships. -two types of rewards that relationships can provide. Informational rewards are those that give you new knowledge and emotional rewards give you positive feelings.

coping(2 types)

Coping is the actions people take to reduce stress problem-focused coping:people attempt to reduce their stress by changing something about the situation. emotion-focused coping: people attempt to reduce their stress by changing the ways they think about the situation.

ID

Used to refer to the deepest part of the unconscious mind. -The part of the personality that seeks fulfillment of desires, kept in check by ego

Erikson's adult stages

first five of which occur during childhood and adolescence. The remaining three stages pertain to adulthood, and each stage represents a significant developmental task or crisis that an individual must successfully resolve to achieve healthy psychological development.

stress

occurs when you perceive that the situation overwhelms your ability to manage effectively in that situation.

OCEAN

openness to experience:you are willing to entertain new ideas, Conscientiousness:you attend to detail and tend not to procrastinate. extraversion: outgoing and sociable agreeableness:you get along well with others neuroticism: worry a great deal

Trait Approaches

personality traits = stable patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors personality states = short-term patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors personality factors = groups of personality traits that occur together in most individuals.

attachment styles

secure attachment style:they feel confident about themselves and confident that others will treat them well. anxious attachment style:People who were either abandoned as infants or felt that they would be imagine that their adult partners will also abandon them. avoidant attachment style:Being neglected in infancy result with a fear of abandonment so intense that they stay away from close relationships altogether.