PSYC10004 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Personality Psychology, Identity Formation, Trait Theory
Day 7: Personality Change
• Many theories assume personality is fixed:
o Trait theory: traits are stable
o Biological approaches: innate tendencies
o Psychoanalysis: childhood determinism
Evidence for Stability
• Longitudinal studies of personality
• Correlating personality scales across
tie allos a easure of rak order
stailit
• If someone is above average on a factor
at 30, 83% chance of being above
average at 50
Stability increases with age
• Rank-order stability increases over time
• Meta-analysis calculated correlations
over a 7-year period at different ages
• Correlation rises over time
What Causes Stability?
• Genetic influences
• Environmental channelling
• Environmental selection
• Freedom from disruptive life changes
• Psychological resources
• Identity formation crystallises over time
Another Sense of Stability
• Rank-order stailit relates to peoples
position relative to peers
• Copatile ith ea-leel hage
Evidence for Mean Level Change
• Hard plaster view: personality stops changing at 30
o Mean scores on personality tests should reach plateau
• Soft plaster view: personality change slows at 30
o Mean scores on personality should change in a decelerating way with increasing age
• Agreeableness: increases, especially after 30
• Conscientiousness: increase but plateaus after 30
• Neuroticism: decreases in women only
• Openness: decreases
• Extraversion: increases in men, decreases in women
What causes mean level change?
• May be changing life experiences, social roles & expectations
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Historical Change
• Does personality change across cohorts?
• Cross-temporal meta-analysis: comparing mean levels of attributes across time
• Personality may respond to cultural change
Another Kind of change?
• Even if mean-level change does not occur, different life stages may have different
preoccupations
• Themes may not correspond to trait changes but may be reflected in how traits are expressed
• Erikson & eight stages of humankind
o These pshosoial stages eted ad roadeed Freuds pshoseual stages
o Each stage has a central theme or challenge
Why it Matters
• Optimism about psychological treatment
• Attitudes towards rehabilitation
• Attitudes towards self-improvement
• View of human nature
‘Lay Theories” of Personality
• Entity theory: personality is fixed
• Incremental theory: personality is malleable
• Etit theorists are ore likel to…
o Endorse social stereotypes
o Make rapid judgements about others based on minimal evidence
o Less likely to resolve conflicts
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Day 7: personality change: many theories assume personality is fixed, trait theory: traits are stable, biological approaches: innate tendencies, psychoanalysis: childhood determinism. Longitudinal studies of personality: correlating personality scales across ti(cid:373)e allo(cid:449)s a (cid:373)easure of (cid:862)ra(cid:374)k order sta(cid:271)ilit(cid:455)(cid:863) If someone is above average on a factor at 30, 83% chance of being above average at 50: rank-order stability increases over time, meta-analysis calculated correlations over a 7-year period at different ages, correlation rises over time. What causes stability: genetic influences, environmental channelling, environmental selection, freedom from disruptive life changes, psychological resources. Another sense of stability: rank-order sta(cid:271)ilit(cid:455) relates to people(cid:859)s position relative to peers, co(cid:373)pati(cid:271)le (cid:449)ith (cid:858)(cid:373)ea(cid:374)-le(cid:448)el (cid:272)ha(cid:374)ge(cid:859) What causes mean level change: may be changing life experiences, social roles & expectations. Historical change: does personality change across cohorts, cross-temporal meta-analysis: comparing mean levels of attributes across time, personality may respond to cultural change.
