Chapter 7 - Personality Stability, Development , and Change
Narcissism
- may be amenable to change - this tendency was (at least temporarily) changed in one experiment by simply instructing them to "imagine how [the other person] feels. Try to take her perspective . . . imagining how she is feeling about what is happening"
Longitudinal data show that, on average, people tend to become
- more socially dominant, agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable (lower on neuroticism) over time - Self-esteem increases slowly Personality Development 231 but steadily from adolescence to about age 50
Upside to personality change
- neuroticism tends to decrease over most of the life span - conscientiousness tends to increase, and both of these changes are to the good - best personality change is slow and steady
Advantage of Old Age
- one no longer must associate in the workplace or social settings with people whom one does not enjoy - La Dolce Vita effect - appears to result from having a broader or narrower perspective about time. - same things happens with young people with illnesses
"Agency"
- organizes the life story around episodes of challenging oneself and then accomplishing goals. - high in the trait of conscientiousness
III. Personality Change
- personality traits moving around quite a bit, on average, across the years from adolescence to adulthood to old age.
Masculine Social Clock (MSC)
- prescribes that one should start a career with the potential to achieve status by the time one is 28 or so.
Feminine Social Clock (FSC)
- prescribes that one should start a family by the time one is in one's early to mid-twenties.
3) Author
- process begins in late adolescence - "tell me your life story." - narrative identity
Limit to the maturity principle
- same study that showed an increase in self-esteem up to about age 50 showed a gradual decline thereafter - recent findings from a study in Germany suggest that conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness also decline in old age - Perhaps at that point in life, traits associated with performing typical adult roles become less important. People are less concerned with careers, social activity, ambition, or the need to please other people, and become more interested in just relaxing and enjoying life
II-a. Cross Sectional Studies
- surveys people at different ages (simultaneously) - people at different ages show different mean levels of the Big Five personality traits - not ideal for studying development.
5) The End of History?
- the evidence indicates that personality continues to develop throughout the life span. You won't always be the way you are now - probably
Self control
- trait is associated with all sorts of good outcomes both in childhood and adulthood. - closely tied to the trait of conscientiousness - Exercises used to help develop self-control included meditating, relaxing, and learning to think differently about temptations and frustrations. - self control believed not to change after the age of 10 , but there are studies that prove that you can improve self - control after the age of 10. "mindfulness meditation" - several steps can help you to increase self-control
2) General intervention programs aimed at life outcomes
- tried to improve the lives of children and adolescents in a wide variety of ways - aimed at at important outcomes such as completing education, lessening criminal behavior, and improving prospects for employment - programs can be expensive but worth the cost - e.g. program with intensive care for 3-4 year old pre schoolers; showed dramatic results, they were able to get out of high school, and less crime rates - For a program intended to avert delinquency, maybe earlier intervention (below age 15) is better
"Redemption"
- typically includes an event that seemed terrible at the time, but in the end turned out for the best. - Redemptive stories appear to be a good sign. - People who think of their lives in this way are able to change their behavior for better - e.g., stop problem drinking—and in general develop healthier habits - e.g., a person might describe how the tragic death of his father led the rest of the family to become closer together
Psychological Maturity
- where Stability stems from - generally refers to the traits that help a person to fulfill socially important adult roles such as being a spouse, a parent or a worker - traits include : 1) self control 2) interpersonal sensitivity 3) emotional stability
2-b) Physical and Environmental Factors
- your physical attractiveness, amount of money you make, etc, impact the way you think , feel and behave 1) Birth Order 2) Early Experience 3) Person- Environment Transactions 4) Cumulative Continuity and Maturity 5) The End of History?
2) Maturity Principle
People become better equipped to deal with the demands of life as they acquire experience and skills
5) Identity Development Principle
People seek to develop a stable sense of who they are, and then strive to act consistently with self-view. "who am I" important foundation of behavioral stability as you age
7) Corresponsive Principle
Person-environment transactions can cause personality traits to remain consistent or even magnify over time
3) Plasticity Principle
Personality can change at any time (but such change may not be easy)
Obstacles to changing personality can be overcome
Personality changes can be met if several conditions are met
5? ) Overcoming Obstacles to Change
Several Obstacles lie in the way 1) most people like their personalities pretty much the way they are, and do not see any reason for drastic change 2) people have a tendency to blame negative experiences and failures on external forces rather than recognizing the role of their own personality (problems due to own maladaptive behavior) 3) people generally like their lives to be consistent and predictable (new skills, new places, etc can make the person uncomfortable
II-b. Cohort Effects
observed group differences based on the era when people were born and grew up, exposing them to particular experiences that may affect the results of cross-sectional studies
men's neuroticism scores stay relatively
constant (and generally lower than women's).
Adults Rejected by Parents during childhood
have difficulties in forming relationships throughout their lives
Sulloway (Hypothesis) found that
in addition to first horns being higher on conscientiousness, laterborn children tended to be higher on extraversion, openness to experience, and agreeableness No difference at all in neuroticism though!!!
After age 20, scores on conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness begin to
increase among men and women, while extraversion stays fairly constant.
Between ages 10 and 20
scores on agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness all dip during the transition from childhood to adolescence and then recover moving toward age 20. (picture on page 229)
Self-change begins with identifying how one wishes to be different, and beginning to steadily do the
small behaviors that can eventually bring about the desired change.
Neuroticism stays ________, and extraversion __________ as you age
stays stable; decreases
Children with extreme scores on trait ratings, or those who were rated as "especially difficult"
tend to have problems as adults
According to the research of Carstensen and her colleagues,
the life goals that one sets depend on how much life one expects to have left.
Extraversion dips from a high level in childhood
—and then levels off.
i-a. Evidence for Stability
- Personality trait scores from the same people measures 10 years apart correlated between r= .60 and r= .90 which are high numbers by any standard - Most people manage to maintain their personality traits despite anything (e.g., experiencing earthquake)
I. Personality Stability
- Rank-order consistency
William James (1890) is often quoted as having claimed that personality
"sets like plaster" after age 30. The available data indicate he was wrong, in the sense that personality traits continue to change across at least several more decades.
II-g. Goals Across the Life Span
- A person's sense of identity is always important, but other goals may change over time; When old age approaches, priorities change
Helson looked at the consequences of staying in or out of sync with the social clock in a study of students
- She divided the students into three groups. (20 year period) - One group had followed what she called the (stereotypical) Feminine Social Clock (FSC) - A second group had followed what she called the Masculine Social Clock (MSC) - a third group had followed neither schedule (Neither Social Clock, NSC). - all of the participants in this research were women.
II-e. The Social Clock
- Systematic changes in the demands that are made on a person over the years (studied by the developmental psychologist Ravenna Helson) - places strong pressures on all people to accomplish certain things by certain ages. - Helson looked at the consequences of staying in or out of sync with the social clock in a study of students
1-b) From Temperament to Personality
- Temperament - Heterotypic Continuity
4) Cumulative Continuity and Maturity
- appears that individual differences in personality become more consistent as one gets older (Cumulative Continuity principle)
When one trait stays the same, so do the others
- especially true in older adults (specifically, older than 70)
2) Agent
- goals and values - begins at around ages 7-9
According to one major summary of the literature, the correlation coefficient reflecting consistency of individual differences in personality is _____ across childhood, ______ during college years, and _____ between the ages of 50 and 70.
.31, .54, .74
IV. PRINCIPLES OF PERSONALITY CONTINUITY AND CHANGE
1) Cumulative Continuity Principle 2) Maturity Principle 3) Plasticity Principle 4) Role Continuity Principle 5) Identity Development Principle 6) Social Investment Principle 7) Corresponsive Principle
The relatively high level of neuroticism among women begins a slow and steady decline around age
20
Change behavior first to change personality.
As these actions, and behaviors like them, become habitual, then the patterns become "calcified" (to use the authors' term) into changes in traits that, in turn, produce long-lasting and broad changes in behavior.
6) Social Investment Principle
Changing social roles at different stages of life, such as becoming a spouse, parent, or boss, can cause personality to change. "social clock"
4) Role Continuity Principle
Taking on roles or images such as being a "jock" or a "brain" can lead personality to be consistent over time.
Change the relevant behaviors, and the trait will follow.
Then, once the trait is established, other behavioral change will follow from that.
"mindfulness meditation"
appear to be able to increase self-control and compassion, at least in the short term
"systematic desensitization,"
clients are induced to perform the feared behavior through small, incremental steps. - to get rid of fear of something (e.g. snakes)
Neuroticism seems a bit more complicated, as young females increase notably toward a higher score during adolescence, while males
decline somewhat—perhaps adolescence is harder on girls than on boys.
Examples of Reactive Person Environment Transaction
e.g., extrovert finds party enjoyable e.g., introverts finds the same party unbearable
3-b) Reactive Person- Environment Transaction
- Different people respond differently to the same situation
1) Birth Order
- Long lasting fact about you, over which you have no influence whatsoever - First born - Later born child
Early exposure to a moderate degree of adversity - not too high, not too low
- May be the best buffer against the challenges of adulthood
III-a. The Desire for Change
- 87 percent to 97 percent would like to change at least one of their Big Five traits at least somewhat - Neuroticism was the trait that the most people wanted to change - Agreeableness was the one the fewest (though still most) people wanted to change - change people wanted was almost always in the socially desirable direction. - 594 people from the ages of 18 all the way to 74, and found an almost 0 correlation (r = .024 to be exact) between age and the desire to change ; there is no "design stage" , people want change through out all of these ages - Four potential methods to change personality: 1) psychotherapy 2) general intervention programs aimed at life outcomes 3) targeted intervention programs aimed at specific traits 4) life experiences.
3-c) Evocative Person- Environment Transaction
- Aspect of an individual's personality leads to behaviors that changes the situations he or she experiences - they change their environment
4) Behaviors and Life Experiences
- People who engage in more physical activity (exercise) in midlife can change the way their personality develops in old age; their personalities remain more stable as they age. - Entering college, starting a job, or beginning a new, serious relationship were all associated with increases in conscientiousness - Trying drugs was associated with increased neuroticism, and the onset of a chronic disease was associated with increases in both neuroticism and conscientiousness. - People who lost their jobs—both men and women—became less agreeable, conscientious, and open to experience over a four-year period. However, if they found another job, their personality traits quickly rebounded to where they used to be. - Negative life experiences tended to increases levels of neuroticism = prone to encounter more of these negative life experiences - a moderate amount of stress in early life helped buffer reactions to events later in life (too little stress is also a thing)
3-a) Active Person- Environment Transaction
- Person seeks out compatible environments and avoids incompatible ones -luck plays a role (not accepted to college of choice might impact your personality)
3) Person- Environment Transactions
- another cause of stability - people tend to respond to, seek out, and even create environments that are compatible with, and may magnify their personality traits . - several types: 3-a) Active Person- Environment Transaction 3-b) Reactive Person- Environment Transaction 3-c) Envocative Person- Environment Transaction
Cumulative Continuity Principle
- asserts not only that personality traits are relatively stable across the life span, but also that consistency increases with the passing years.
Women who followed either the FSC or the MSC reported
- being fairly content and satisfied with life 20 years after graduation.
3) Targeted intervention programs aimed at specific traits
- can also be tailored to address personality traits - e.g., 30 week program with 60 - 94 year old, included induvtive reasoning and working on sodoku puzzles; this training led to men being higher in openness - one of the first studies, if not the first, to show that the trajectory of personality traits can be changed late in life, without the use of drugs. - writing "self-affirmations" can lead to lasting personality changes = when you remind yourself about what is really important, other hassles don't matter so much. - neuroticissism , narcissism, self - control (can be changed)
2) Early Experience
- can have consequences that persist for many years - adults reject by parents at an early age - Stress during childhood
1) Psychotherapy
- can produce long-term behavior change = personality change - conducted in conjunction with the prescription of psychiatric drugs, such as fluoxetine (Prozac)
Narrative identity
- continuous; you add chapters as long as you live; whole, self-authored "book" - Most research on narrative identity focuses on its relations with personality - "agency" - "redemption"
Rejection and Stress during childhood
- create a long term tendency to have stronger emotional reactions to ordinary, daily stress
Events that might change personality can happen long after childhood is over.
- death of spouse (increase in interpersonal orientation, sociability, favorable attitudes toward others) - travel (increase in confidence, social skills, raise self esteem, openness, agreeableness, decrease in neuroticissm, creativity) - joining the military ( increase in confidence, dominance, and agreeableness)
neo-Freudian theorist Erik Erikson
- described the varying challenges that a person faces at different ages - include the need to develop skills in childhood, relationships in adulthood, and an overview and assessment of one's life in old age - This theorizing became the foundation of the field of study later called "life-span development"
Effects that appear to be due to birth order could stem from factors such as
- family size - family income - parental genetics (Due to these it's hard to do research)
Women who did not manage to follow either agenda reported
- feeling depressed, alienated, and bitter when they entered their forties.
Children born to older parents
- find that older faces are relatively attractive - they are more prone to form relationships with older partners
Goals of older persons—defined in most research as those around age 70 and older—
- focus more on what they find emotionally meaningful, especially ties with family and long-time friends. - also work to regulate their emotional experience, by thinking more about the good things in life and less about things that trouble them.
(Neither Social Clock, NSC).
- group that didn't follow the FSC or MSC
V. IS PERSONALITY CHANGE GOOD OR BAD?
- has both a downside and an upside
Later born child
- has to find a niche in the family not already occupied by older siblings - has fewer responsibilities within the family - more likely to draw on other sources for relationships and values - independent - open-minded - rebellious - less conscientious - higher on openness to experience
II. Personality Development
- increase, or in some cases, decrease in the mean level of a trait over time
Downsides of personality change
- instability and inconsistency can cause problems - . Having a disorganized, unsteady personality leads to difficulties in presenting a consistent self to other people, which can make them wary. - if one's personality is constantly changing, then it will be difficult to choose consistent goals that can be pursued over the long term. - rapid personality change associated with poor mental and physical health
Neuroticism
- intervention focused on the children's parents, teaching them about the general nature of anxiety and also giving them specific tools such as techniques for managing behavior and for thinking about anxiety-provoking topics in less-threatening ways - less over protection
II-d. Causes of Personality Development
- involve physical development - Intelligence (IQ) and linguistic ability - Hormone levels change - physical strength increases during youth and gradually—or not so gradually—declines in old age - hearing loss is associated with decreases in extraversion among the very old - different social roles people occupy at different stages of life - the changes in responsibilities are associated with changes in personality (inclination to be conscientious, which is necessary to fill these roles, can increase rather abruptly)
The overall correlation between birth order and conscientiousness
- largest among the Big Five Traits - r = -18
1) Actor
- learn to see one self as actor - begins very early, as the young child begins to take on competencies that allow her to separate from her parents and do things independently - the mission is to develop traits and roles for society
First Born
- likely to identify with parents' values and goals - may even take on the role of "assistant parent" in raising siblings who come along later - grow up to favor "the establishment" - conventionally ambitious - support traditional values - more conscientious
Experiencing too little stress during childhood
- may leave you unprepared for the difficult times that inevitably come later
Ego development
- measured by longitudinal studies - the ability to deal well with the social and physical world and to think for oneself when making moral decisions - increase noticeably between the ages of 43 and 61. - illustrate what is sometimes called the maturity principle of development
Temperament
- the personality that one begins with as young children - to some degree determined by the genes inherited from one's parents. - fundamental behavioral and emotional tendencies can stem from here and persist through out life. - fundamental tendencies change with age: heterotypic continuity
II-c. Longitudinal studies
- the same people are repeatedly measured over the years from childhood through adulthood. - difficult and— by definition—they take a long time to do - ego development
II-f. The Development of Narrative Identity
- the task of developing a sense of who you are - Dan McAdams (2013): every individual develops three aspects of identity one on top of the other
Maturity principle of development
- the traits needed to effectively perform adult roles increase with age - these traits include, most notably, conscientiousness and emotional stability
Three Basic Aspects of Childhood Temperament
1) Positive emotionality 2) Negative emotionality 3) Effortful Control
Dan McAdams (2013): every individual develops three aspects of identity one on top of the other
1) actor 2) agent 3) author of own autobiography *stepwise - all these aspects continue to develop throughout life
In the longer term, several steps can help you to increase self-control
1) set realistic goals for yourself that are compatible with your personal values. 2) monitor how well you are doing. (log book) 3) work on being consistent.
What are the conditions for personality changes?
1) the person must think that changing some aspect of personality is desirable, and that such change is possible. Also must believe he/she is capable of changing 2) the person must follow up by beginning to change her relevant behaviors, one by one. (e.g., study rather than party before a big exam) Behaviors become habitual 3) in the ideal outcome, the trait of conscientiousness will have stabilized at a higher level.
i-b. Causes of Stability
1-b) From Temperament to Personality 2-b) Physical and Environmental Factors
Mean Scores on Big Five Personality Traits Between Ages 10 and 60 for Men (M) and Women (F)
Personality continues to change across the life span, on average. Trait levels are shown in terms of T-scores, which have a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10
1) Cumulative Continuity Principle
Personality traits increase in rank- order consistency as people get older
Personality disorders are generally
Stable across the life span - though not as stable as personality traits Therapy does little to help
Personality becomes more stable from childhood to senior years
because one's environment also gets more stable with age (settled down)
Examples of Evocative Person- Environment Transaction
e.g., Conscientious person tells group "it's time to get to work" ; disagreeable Person starts argument over minor matter e.g., parents who are emotionally positive and uninhibited tend to be highly responsive to their 3 to 6 year old children ; at the same time, children of this age who are emotionally positive and self controlled evoke better responses from their parents (two way street)
Examples of Active Person Environment Transaction
e.g., an aggressive person attracted to similar aggressive friends, may put person into environment where conflict, fights , and delinquency are common e.g., scholarly person may prefer to hang out with fellow denizens of the library, develop a strong academic record and perhaps a successful professional life
Stress during childhood
e.g., growing up in poverty or being maltreated - can produce a lifelong pattern of chronic (Biological) inflammation - leads to frailty, fatigue, and general ill health
Heterotypic Continuity
effects of fundamental tendencies change with age e.g., a shy child at a social gathering might hide behind a parent; a shy adult is unlikely to do that, but still might avoid conversing with strangers e.g., aggressive child might express disagreement by kicking a playmate; an aggressive adult is more likely to get into a verbal argument than a physical one.
Cohort effect
evident that aspects of personality can be affected by the historical period in which one lives. e.g., great depression = developed attitudes toward work and financial security than those born earlier or later
Children who received high rating on traits such as _____________, and __________________ when they were 8 to 12 years old, were found 20 years later, to have greater achievement in schools do at work, less antisocial conduct, and better relationships with their romantic partners and friends.
mastery motivation, agreeableness
Positive Emotionality may be the precursor (via Heterotypic continuity)
of the adult trait of extraversion - negative emotionality the precursor of neuroticism - effortful control the precursor of conscientiousness and agreeableness
rank-order consistency
people tend to maintain the ways in which they are different from other people the same age
