PSYB65H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Absolute Continuity, Jerome Kagan, Longitudinal Study
Document Summary
Chapter 6: continuity and change in traits: the roles of. Developmental theories suggest that adolescence is a time of confusion and anxiety for many people, but that things settle down a bit as individuals move into adulthood. Extent of which individuals continue to hold their relative positions on a trait dimension over time is typically calculated with a correlation coefficient: between the same trait in time 1 and time 2. Low differential continuity suggests that people change relative to one another over time on a given dimension. Both differential and absolute continuity are completely unrelated to each other. Longitudinal studies show remarkably high differential continuity in personality traits over the adult lifespan. Length of the time interval between testing is one factor that influences the strength of differential continuity: the longer the time interval, the lower the differential continuity. E. g. people would show less stability in trait scores over a 20 year period as compared with a 5-year period.
