CHAPTER 10

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CHAPTER 10: PERSONALITY Chapter Outline There are very large differences in approaches to studying personality development across adulthood. Three levels of analysis with regards to personality are discussed in this chapter: dispositional traits (aspects of personality that are consistent across different contexts and can be compared across a group along a continuum), personal concerns (consist of things important to people, their goals, and their major concerns in life), and life narrative (consists of the aspects of personality that pull everything together, the integrative aspects that give a person an identity or sense of self). 1) LEVELS OF ANALYSIS AND PERSONALITY RESEARCH a) Mc Adam¶s describe three parallel levels of personality structure and function i) Dispositional traits: consists of aspects of personality that are consistent across different contexts and can be compared across a group along a continuum representing high and low degrees of the characteristic (e.g., shy, funny, talkative, friendly, aggressive) ii) Personal concerns: consists of things that are important to people, their goals and their major concerns in life; usually described in terms of motivational, developmental, or strategic terms (1) Reflect the stage of life a person is in at the time iii) Life narrative: consists of the aspects of personality that pull everything together, those integrative aspects that give a person an identity or sense of self b) Hooker has added three additional social cognitive processes that act in tandem with structural components to McAdam¶s original model i) State processes: act in tandem with dispositional traits and consist of transient, shortterm changes in emotion, mood, hunger, anxiety, etc. ii) Self-regulatory processes: act in tandem with personal concerns and includes such processes as primary and secondary control iii) Cognitive processes: act in tandem with life narratives and include recounting life narratives or self-narrating, such as the interaction between a storyteller and listener 2) DISPOSITIONAL TRAITS ACROSS ADULTHOOD a) People¶s characteristic behavior can be understood through attributes that reflect underlying dispositional traits, which are relatively enduring aspects of personality i) Personality traits are based on three assumptions: (1) Traits are based on comparisons of individuals (2) The qualities of a trait must be distinctive enough to avoid confusion (3) Traits of an individual person are a stable characteristic b) The Case for Stability: The Five-Factor Model i) Costa and McCrae have developed a model of personality with five independent dimensions: neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (1) Most of the research has focused on the first three dimensions of neuroticism, extroversion, an openness to experience ii) Neuroticism

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(1) Six facets (or traits) include anxiety, hostility, self-consciousness, depression, impulsiveness, and vulnerability (a) Anxiety and hostility are the basis for the emotions of fear and anger (b) Self-consciousness and depression relate to the emotions of shame and sorrow (c) Impulsiveness and vulnerability are most often manifested as behaviors rather than emotions (2) People high in neuroticism tend to be high in each of the traits involved (3) High neuroticism typically results in violent and negative emotions that interfere with one¶s ability to handle problems and get along with others iii) Extroversion (1) Six facets of extroversion be grouped into three interpersonal traits (warmth, gregariousness, and assertiveness) and three temperamental traits (activity, excitement seeking, and positive emotions) (a) Warmth (friendly, compassionate, and intimately involved style of interaction; sense of attachment) and gregariousness (desire to be with other people) make up what is called sociability (2) Extroverts like to keep busy and prefer to be in stimulating and exciting environments (3) This dimension of personality relates well to occupational interests iv) Openness to experience (1) The six facets of openness to experience represent different areas (a) Fantasy: a vivid imagination and active dream life (b) Aesthetics: appreciation of art and beauty; sensitivity to pure experience for its own sake (c) Action: entails a willingness to try something new (d) Ideas and values: curious and value knowledge for the sake of knowing (e) Open-minded (f) Willingness to think of different possibilities (2) Openness is also related to occupational choice (3) People high in openness tend to be intelligent and place themselves in stressful situations (i.e., psychologists) v) Agreeableness (1) The opposite of antagonism (a) Antagonists tend to set themselves against others; they are skeptical, mistrustful, callous, unsympathetic, stubborn, and rude; and they have a defective sense of attachment (2) Scoring high on agreeableness may not always be adaptive; this may lead to being overly dependent and self-effacing vi) Conscientiousness (1) Scoring high indicates that one is hardworking, ambitious, energetic, scrupulous, and preserving; have a strong desire to make something of themselves vii) What evidence is there for trait stability? (1) Costa and McCrae believe that personality traits stop changing by age 30 and the appear to be ³set in plaster´ (2) Research evidence shows high stability in personality traits across long time periods (up to 30 years) and across a wide range of ages (20 to 90 years)

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c) Additional Studies of Dispositional Traits i) There is a growing body of research that indicates some change in personality (1) First, certain personality traits (self-confidence, cognitive commitment, outgoingness, and dependability) show some change over a 30- to 40-year period (2) Second, evidence suggest that neuroticism may increase and extroversion may decrease as we get older (a) This may be due changes in life events, such as loss of a spouse or transition between old age and very old age (i) Changes found in adults between 74 and 80 years of age and are more frequent in men than in women (3) Third, in large internet-based study by Srivastava et al. (2003) they found that none of the Big Five personality traits remained stable after age 30 (a) They conclude that personality and environment are linked to one another (4) Fourth, cohort differences in personality characteristics exist (a) Twenge (2000) found higher levels of anxiety and neuroticism in more recent decades in the US which suggest societal trends impact personality development (5) Fifth, longitudinal studies show change and move beyond the Big Five (a) The Berkeley Studies (i) Followed people for roughly 30 years between the ages of 40 and 70 (ii) Evidence shows that lifestyle is a better predictor of life satisfaction in old age for women, but personality is a better predictor for men (iii)Both stability and change characterize personality development (iv) Supports the importance of sociocultural context in determining under what conditions we see change and when we see stability (b) Women¶s personality development during adulthood (i) Women are more well-adjusted at age 52 than at age 21 (ii) Women¶s personality change is systematic in early and middle adulthood, yet changes were evident in the context of specific changes in social roles and transitions in social contexts d) Critiques of the Five-Factor Model i) Several criticisms of the five-factor model have been made (1) There are several different statistical functions that could account for the observed stability (2) Dispositional traits do not describe the core aspects of human nature (3) The factors do not provide good predicators of the contextual aspects of development (4) Dispositional traits generally fail to provide explanations for why people behave the way they do (5) Dispositional traits are seen as independent of context; it ignores sociocultural context (6) Reduces a person to a set of scores on a linear continua anchored by terms that are assumed to be both meaningful and opposite (7) The use of questionnaires assumes that the respondent is able to take an objective, evaluative stance regarding his or her personal characteristics (8) Research by Mroczek and colleagues challenges results of longitudinal studies by

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taking an intraindividual perspective; examining personality stability and change at the individual level (see ³Current Controversies´ box on page 349) e) Conclusions About Dispositional Traits i) Research evidence suggests that dispositional traits are relatively stable across adulthood when averaged across many different kinds of people ii) But when specific aspects of personality in very specific kinds of people are addressed there is evidence of stability and change iii) Criticisms of the research point to the need for better statistical analyses iv) Need to identify factors that relate to stability in personality v) The role of life experiences in personality needs to be investigated 3) PERSONAL CONCERNS AND QUALITATIVE STAGES IN ADULTHOOD a) Personal concerns: reflect what people want during particular times of their lives and within specific domains i) They are the strategies, plans, and defenses people use to get what they want and to avoid getting what they don¶t want b) What¶s Different About Personal Concerns? i) Emphasizes the importance of sociocultural influences on development that shape people¶s wants and behaviors ii) Take into account a person¶s developmental context and distinguish between ³having´ traits and ³doing´ everyday behaviors (1) Personality constructs are viewed as conscious descriptions of what a person is trying to accomplish during a given period of development (2) Expect to find considerable change c) Jung's Theory i) First theorist to discuss personality development during adulthood ii) He emphasized the need for balance among the various aspects of personality (e.g., introversion-extroversion; masculinity-femininity) iii) Young adults are more extroverted than older adults, but with increasing age there is a move toward introversion to create balance iv) Each of us has elements of masculinity and femininity, but when we are young we only express elements in line with typical gender-role stereotypes (1) As we age we express more behaviors that are typical of the other gender to help deal with individual needs d) Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development i) First to develop a truly lifespan theory of personality development and emphasizes the interaction between inner maturational plan (nature) and external social demands (nurture) ii) The sequence of Erikson¶s eight stages are found in Table 10.1 iii) Eight stages of development represent the eight struggles that people must undergo (1) Successful resolutions of struggles establish the basic areas of psychosocial strength; unsuccessful resolutions impair ego development in an area and adversely impact resolution of future struggles (2) Epigenetic principle: each psychosocial strength has its own special time of ascendancy or period of particular importance and that each must be resolved one way or the other (3) It takes a lifespan to develop and acquire all the psychosocial strengths; three

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strengths are developed in adulthood (a) Intimacy versus isolation: the major developmental task of young adulthood involves establishing a fully intimate relationship with another; the strength that emerges is love (b) Generativity versus stagnation: the major development of middle adulthood involves the struggle between a sense of generativity (need tomaintain and perpetuate in society) and sense of stagnation (the feeling of self-absorption); the strength that emerges is caring (c) Ego integrity versus despair: the major development of old age involves a growing awareness of the nearness of end of life with the goal to evaluate and make sense of one¶s life; the strength here is wisdom iv) Clarifications and extensions of Erikson¶s theory (1) Logan (1986) argues that the eight stages are really a cycle that repeats (trustachievement-wholeness) (a) The first of these cycles begins with trust versus mistrust and ends with identity versus identity confusion, and the second begins with intimacy versus isolation and ends with ego integrity versus despair (b) Thus, there may only be a smaller number of issues that we struggle with our whole lives (2) Recently, Slater (2003) has expanded on Logan¶s ideas suggesting that the central crisis of generativity versus stagnation includes struggles between: (a) Pride and embarrassment (b) Responsibility and ambivalence (c) Career productivity and inadequacy (d) Parenthood and self absorption (3) Van Geert (1987) proposes the rules by which people move from one stage to the next in Erikson¶s theory and are guided by three developmental trends (a) First, there is an inward orientation to the self that is gradually replaced by an outward orientation (b) Second, we move from using very general categories in understanding the world to using more specific ones (c) Third, we move from operating with limited ideas of social and emotional experiences to more inclusive ideas (4) Viney (1987) assessed descriptors people between 6 and 86 used to describe people; results show that people use descriptors that parallel Erikson¶s stages (5) Kotre (1999) argues that Erikson¶s stage of generativity is too broad; describes five types of generativity: (a) Biological and parental (b) Technical (the passing of specific skills from one generation to the next) (c) Cultural (being a mentor) (d) Agentic (the desire to be or do something that transcends death) (e) Communal (a person¶s participation in a mutual, interpersonal reality) v) Research on Generativity (1) Generativity has received more attention than other adult stages because of its centrality in development (2) McAdams¶s model (see Figure 10.1) shows how generativity results from the

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complex interconnections between societal and inner forces (a) Which leads to a concern for the next generation and a belief in the goodness of the human enterprise (b) Research indicates (i) That in middle and older adults there is a greater preoccupation with generativity themes than in younger adults (ii) Middle-aged adults make more generative comments than younger adults (iii)Generativity may be a stronger predictor of emotional well-being in midlife adults e) Loevinger¶s Theory i) Ego is the chief organizer and integrator of our morals, values, goals, and thought processes ii) It is influenced by personal experiences and the primary source of individual differences at all ages beyond infancy iii) Ego development: results from dynamic interaction between the person and the environment, consists of fundamental changes in the ways in which thoughts, values, morals, and goals are organized iv) Transitions from one stage to another depends on both internal biological changes (nature) and external social changes (nurture) to which the person must adapt v) Eight stages of ego development are proposed, six of which occur in adulthood (see Table 10.2) (1) Most people never go through all the stages (a) At each stage, four areas are important to the developmental progression (i) Character development: reflects a person¶s standards and goals (ii) Interpersonal style: represents the person¶s pattern of relations with others (iii)Conscious preoccupations: reflects the most important things on the person¶s mind (iv) Cognitive style: characteristic ways in which a person thinks (2) Conformist: character development is marked by absolute conformity to social rules; central importance is appearance and social acceptability (a) Only a few adults operate at this level (3) Conscientious-conformist: character development is marked by a differentiation of norms and goals; people learn to separate what they want for themselves from what societal norms may dictate (a) Most American adults operate at this level (4) Conscientious: focus on understanding the role that the self plays; character development involves self-evaluated standards, self-critical thinking, selfdetermined ideals, and self-set goals (5) Individualistic: a respect for individuality; character development is marked by a concern for broad social problems and differentiating one¶s inner life from one¶s outer life (6) Autonomous: at this stage there is a high tolerance for ambiguity with conflicting needs both within oneself and others (7) Integrated: inner conflicts are faced, reconciled, and put to rest; consolidated sense of self and are at peace with themselves

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vi) Research indicates that age-related increase in ego level are associated with higher levels of social reasoning or with more mature coping styles f) Theories Based on Life Transitions i) Based on the idea that adults go through a series of life transitions or passages (1) Adulthood consists of alternating periods of stability and change (2) Few of these theories have substantial databases, and none are based on representative samples ii) In Search of the Midlife Crisis (1) A key idea in these theories is the midlife crisis; however, very little data supports the claim that all people inevitably experience a crisis in middle age (2) Most middle-aged people do point to both gains and losses, which should be viewed as change (3) Midlife correction: transition may be better characterized as a midlife correction; reevaluating ones¶ roles and dreams and making the necessary corrections g) Conclusions about Personal Concerns i) Theory and research both provide support for much change in the personal concerns people report at various times in adulthood 4) LIFE NARRATIVES, IDENTITY, AND THE SELF a) McAdams¶s Life-Story Model i) People create a life story that is based on where the person has been, where the person is going, and who he or she will become ii) It is created and revised throughout adulthood as people change and the changing environment places different demands on them; has beginning (adolescence), middle (young and middle adulthood), and anticipated ending (old age) (1) Generativity marks the attempt to create an appealing story ³ending´ that will generate new beginnings for future generations iii) Most important to life stories is the changing personal identity reflected in the emotions conveyed in the story iv) Two common themes are agency (reflecting power, achievement, and autonomy) and communion (reflecting love, intimacy, and a sense of belonging) v) Life stories indicate one¶s beliefs and values with reformulations occuring at both conscious and unconscious levels b) Whitbourne's Identity Theory (see Figure 10.2) i) People build conceptions of how their lives should be ii) Life-span construct: the person¶s unified sense of their past, present, and future; has two parts: (1) Scenario: future expectations (2) Life story: a personal narrative history that organizes past events into a coherent sequence iii) Explicitly integrates cognitive development with identity development (1) Piagetian concepts of assimilation and accommodation (Chapter 8) explain how people¶s identity changes over time iv) Whitbourne found: (1) Family is the most important influence in people¶s lives, followed by work (2) There is no evidence transitions occur in a stage-like fashion or are tied to specific

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ages (3) People make behavioral adjustments to promote healthy adaptation to the aging process c) Self-Concept: is the organized, coherent, integrated pattern of self-perceptions that includes self-esteem and self-image; events that people experience help to shape their self-concept i) Kegan (1982) has shown that self-concept across the lifespan is related to the cognitive-developmental level and proposed six stages that correspond with Piaget¶s stages and postformal thought (1) Incorporative, impulsive, and imperial stages: correspond to sensorimotor, preoperational, and concrete operational stages; and children move from knowing themselves on the basis of reflexes to knowing themselves through needs and interests (2) Interpersonal stage: corresponds with formal operations and is based on interpersonal mutuality (3) Institutional stage: corresponds to a mature sense of identity and is based on control of one¶s own life and developing an ideology (4) Interindividual stage: corresponds to the acquisition of postformal thought and the understanding that the self is complex that takes into account other people ii) Labouvie-Vief and colleagues (1995) found that degree of differentiation is related to level of cognitive development iii) Mortimer and colleagues (1982) in a 14-year longitudinal study found little group changes in self-concept, but at the intraindividual level, showed that self-concept influences the interpretation of subsequent life events d) Possible Selves: are created by projecting yourself into the future and thinking about what you would like to become and what your are afraid of becoming i) Cross and Markus (1991) and Hooker and colleagues (1996) found age differences in both hoped-for and feared selves (1) Young adults and middle-aged adults report family issues as most important, whereas 25- to 39-year-olds and older adults report personal issues to be most important (2) However, all groups included physical aspects as part of their most feared selves (a) Interestingly, young and middle-aged adults see themselves as improving in the future while older adults do not ii) Ryff (1991) adopted the notion of possible selves as a way to redefine the meaning of well-being in adulthood (1) Six aspects of well-being change with age: self-acceptance, positive relationships with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, personal growth (see page 370 for details and ³How Do We Know?´ section on page 372) (2) Ryff found that older adults view their pasts more positively than younger or middle-aged adults, and they see themselves as closer to their ideal selves e) Religiosity and Spiritual Support i) Older adults use religious faith more often than any other strategy, including family and friends, to help them cope with problems in life ii) Spiritual support: includes seeking pastoral care, participating in organized and nonorganized religious activities, and expressing faith in a God who cares for people

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iii) This provides a strong influence on identity (1) This is especially true for African Americans, who are more active in their church groups and attend services more frequently (a) In particular, African American women attend more frequently however, the gender differences diminish in people over 70 (2) Other ethnic groups also gain important aspects of their identity from religion f) Gender-Role Identity i) There is mixed evidence that gender role identity converges in middle age to the extent that men and women are more likely to endorse similar self-descriptions (1) Androgyny: acceptance of the most adaptive aspects of both the traditional masculine and feminine roles in midlife ii) Men and women are most different in their gender-role identities in late adolescence and young adulthood, but become increasingly similar in middle and old age (1) However, these similar descriptions do not necessarily translate into similar behavior g) Conclusions about Narratives, Identity, and the Self i) To fully understand a person, we must consider how the individual integrates his or her life into a coherent structure ii) Personality is a very complex construct that takes a lifetime to complete 5) PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 6) SOCIAL POLICY IMPLICATIONS

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