PSYC 332 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Trait Theory, Time Deviation, Extraversion And Introversion

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 332
• Professor: Richard Koestner

Document Summary

Personality trait development in adulthood: patterns and implications. Personality traits: relatively automatic thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that arise in response to environmental stimuli (current definition) Evidence of personality trait continuity and change. 2 important findings result from 5 meta-analyses. Personality traits show modest to high-rank order consistency (. 4-. 6) over reasonably long periods of time (4-10 yr. ) The longer one tracks rank-order consistency, the lower it gets. (. 2 40 yr. ) Test-retest correlations of personality traits moderate over time, even from childhood adulthood. Rank-order consistency increases as people age (. 7 at 50-70 yr. ) pattern of increasing continuity across life course. Magnitude of rank-order consistency: not high enough (absolute stability) but pretty high: even more consistent traits: cognitive ability and vocational interests. Consistency after the age of 3 adulthood (pretty high) Rank-order consistency is linear from childhood old age: no decrease during psychologically challenging periods (adolescence, relationship between life experiences and personality traits is neither simple nor direct.