PSC 162 Chapter 7: PSC162 - ch7
Document Summary
People change over time, & are also the same persons over time. The paradox lies at the core of the study of personality development, which addresses both change & stability. Evidence demonstrates the stability of personality over long periods of time. Patterns of behavior seen in children are also visible when they are adults, & traits identified early in life have important associations with long - term life outcomes, including academic achievement, occupational success, & satisfying interpersonal relationships. Personality tends to become more stable over time, an effect known as the cumulative continuity principle. Although individual differences in personality tend to remain consistent over long periods of time, people still show a tendency to change their average levels of several traits as they get older. In particular, conscientiousness tends to increase while neuroticism declines. The tendency of socially adaptive traits to increase with age is called the maturity principle. However, some adaptive traits may decline late in life.
