Chapter 7

A change (an increase or, in some cases, a decrease) in the mean level of someone's ----, while maintaining ----, is referred to as ----.

trait rank-order consistency personality development

Which of the following factors might influence the stability of personality?

Influential Factor(s) birth order early experiences physical attractiveness age Not Influential Factor(s) a single adult experience peer influence

What does the study of mean-level changes in personality across the life span suggest?

Mean-level changes in personality traits occur across the life span

Match each item to the corresponding type of development involved in causing personality change. Labels can be used more than once.

Personal Responsibility Due to Cultural Expectations: conscientiousness Life-Span Development: need for skill development (children) need for review and assessment (older adults) need for relationship building (adults) need for skill development (children) need for review and assessment(older adults) Physical Development: hormone levels linguistic ability IQ

Place the steps in order according to McAdams's theory.

actor agent author narrative identity

Personality can change at any point in life.

plasticity principle

Positive correlations between personality trait scores range from 0 to 1.0, with 1.0 being a perfect correlation. If personality traits are consistent in individuals, the correlation between those traits over time should reflect that consistency. Hopwood et al. (2013) were interested in finding out if personality traits are stable over the course of 10 years. What was the high end of the range of correlations found in this study?

.90 not .35 .67 .98

Place the findings regarding psychotherapeutic approaches to personality change in order from first to last. Not all findings will apply.

1. the finding that long-term personality change is possible 2. the finding showing a consistent increase in emotional stability and extraversion 3. the finding that people in therapy could experience an increase in stress and depression

What is the process by which different people respond differently to the same situation?

A reactive person-environment transaction

Which of the following are benefits of cross-sectional studies of personality?

Benefit(s) Researchers are able to gather data easily on a lot of people. Researchers are able to gather information about people in different age groups. Not Benefit(s) Researchers are able to control for cohort effects. Researchers are able to gather in-depth, personal information. Researchers are able to gather information on how each person's personality traits change across the life span.

Which of the following are benefits of longitudinal studies of personality?

Benefit(s) Researchers are able to gather information about the same people as they age. Researchers can gather data easily on a lot of people if the research conducted is self-report. Researchers are able to gather information on how personality traits change across the life span. Not Benefit(s) Researchers are able to gather information quickly.

Identify the following principles of personality development as representing either continuity or change.

Continuity identity development principle corresponsive principle cumulative continuity principle role continuity principle Change maturity principle plasticity principle social investment principle

Whenever Mathias, who is in his mid-twenties, runs low on money, he burglarizes homes regularly and then sells the stolen goods. However, he is dedicated to changing his personality to be less impulsive. Which of the following things should he identify and do, according to the sociogenomic trait intervention model?

Correct - behaviors to change new behaviors to practice thoughts to change Incorrect - Self-image to idealize

Research studies help us to understand how people think about personality stability and change. Identify the statements that represent some of these findings.

Correct Answer(s) Seniors in college think that their personality has changed a lot over their time in college. About 40 percent of middle-aged people believe that their personalities have changed some in the past six years. Personality continually changes, very slowly, throughout life. Most people think that changes in their personality are complete, no matter how old they currently are. Incorrect Answer(s) People want to change their personality because they see it as a challenge. Personality eventually does stop developing.

Which of the following main methods have the potential to change personalities?

Correct Answer(s) life experiences, targeted intervention programs, general intervention programs, psychotherapy Incorrect hypnosis biofeedback

Felicia is about to turn 65. She is still very active and feels her contributions in her career are very important. She continues to look for new ideas from her employees on improving the workplace, and just last year, she won the most-hardworking-employee award at her job. What is the best description of Felicia's personality change in older adulthood, according to the maturity principle?

Felicia's consistency in conscientiousness and agreeableness is likely to differ from her peers, who are decreasing in those traits

Longitudinal Study

Data can take decades to collect People are repeatedly surveyed over an extended period of time. Results contain more consistent information.

The maturity principle predicts that some traits will increase in adulthood, and others will decrease. Which of the following traits are expected to increase, and which are expected to decrease?

Expected to Increase agreeableness conscientiousness social dominance Expected to Decrease neuroticism openness to experience

Match each life experience to the most likely outcome.

Increased Stress Resilience: moderate adversity Increased agreeableness: International travel service work

What is the central conclusion behind the cumulative continuity principle?

Individual differences in personality become more consistent as individuals age

Wei feels depressed and wishes he could be more extraverted. Which of the following would help improve his condition?

Helpful: fluoxetine drug therapy psychotherapy finishing his college education or finding a new job Not Helpful: empathic training toward others psilocybin drug therapy

According to the text, what is the first thing you should do if you want to increase self-control?

Set realistic goals for yourself that are compatible with your personal values

Cross-Sectional Study

Several People in different age groups are surveyed Cohorts effects are a drawback of this type of research. The results are immediately used to develop a theory. This type of research can be conducted in a relatively short period of time.

What is the purpose of the principles of personality development?

They are predictions about personality that can help motivate and guide theory and research

reactive person-environment transactions

We are dissatisfied with, and will likely avoid, environments that contrast with our personalities

evocative person-environment transactions

We may change our environment so that it better matches our personalities.

active person-environment transactions

We seek out and possibly even create environments that support our personalities.

One of the influencers of early personality is --- experiences. The majority of children are not the oldest in their families, and they are collectively referred to as --- experiences. These children are more likely to be independent and have a number of people in their lives other than their --- experiences who serve as role models. Contrastingly, --- experiences are more likely to internalize parental values, perhaps because they have the benefit of the most individual attention.

birth order laterborns parents firstborns

What trait seems to show the strongest and most noticeable mean-level increase from ages 20 to 30?

conscientiousness

Personal experiences in life, called person-environment transactions, can cause greater consistency (and sometimes even magnification) of traits.

corresponsive principle

What does a study that administers a questionnaire to many people across a wide range of ages exemplify?

cross-sectional study

Traits increase in rank-order consistency as people age.

cumulative continuity principle

People wish to develop a stable self-schema and then seek to act in accordance with that self-view.

identity development principle

What type of personality process could have negative life consequences over time?

instability

People deal with life demands better as they gain skills and experience.

maturity principle

Research has found that laterborns are more __________ than firstborns.

openminded

According to McAdams

people find it very important to establish what he calls a narrative identity. This is a stepwise process that people use to develop a detailed sense of self. The first step is understanding oneself as an actor, which happens in early childhood and includes learning required social rules and how to behave according to them. Next, people begin to develop future plans, ideas, goals, and values that are used to help make life-planning decisions. This second step takes place when people are approximately 7-9 years old. Finally, at about 20 years old, people start to consider what their life story will be, meaning what they hope to do, accomplish, and become in their lives. This completes the process

The interactions that show how our personality influences our behavior choices are known as --- environment transactions. However, these interactions might also influence our personality, reinforcing and magnifying our characteristics. This interaction between personality and our environment shows us that, even though it may seem like our personality will be --- environment transactions until "the end of history," our personality will likely continue developing over time.

person-environment transactions consistent

The stability of someone's behavior or personality throughout life compared with one's peers is called ----. This stability may be observed over time in changes in someone's specific behavior that are due to maturation but that still reflect consistent underlying characteristics, a process called ---- These lifelong behavioral tendencies that appear in young children as their ---- are at least partially determined by genes.

rank-order consistency heterotypic continuity temperment

Internalizing certain roles in life can lead to more personality consistency.

role continuity principle

When social roles change significantly over life, personality can change as well.

social investment principle

The idea that people's traits maintain rank-order consistency is used to illustrate what component of personality?

stability

What is rank-order consistency of personality?

the idea that people tend to maintain the ways in which they are different from other people of the same age