Chapter 10 - Personality and Self Flashcards
Personality
The organized combination of attributes, motives, values, and behaviors that is unique to each individual
Dan McAdams and Jennifer Pals’ three aspects of personality
dispositional traits
characteristic adaptations
life stories
dispositional traits
Relatively enduring dimensions or qualities of personality along which people differ (e.g., extraversion, aloofness).
characteristic adaptations
Compared to traits, more situation-specific and changeable aspects of personality; ways in which people adapt to their roles and environments, including motives, goals, plans, schemas, self-conceptions, stage-specific concerns, and coping mechanisms
life stories
Unique and integrative life narratives that we construct about our lives— past, present, and future—to give ourselves an identity and our lives meaning; sometimes called narrative identities.
What things help shape all three aspects of personality?
biological factors, including a “human nature” shared with fellow humans and an individual genetic makeup, and cultural and situational influences
Self-concept
People’s perceptions of their unique attributes or traits. Self-concept is about “what I am,”
Self-esteem
People’s overall evaluation of their worth as based on an assessment of the qualities that make up the self-concept. self-esteem concerns “how good I am”
Identity
A self-definition or sense of who one is, where one is going, and how one fits into society.
THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Psychoanalytic Theory
Trait Theory
Social Learning Theory
What techniques do psychoanalytic theories generally use?
in-depth interviews and similar techniques to get below the surface of the person and her behavior and understand the inner dynamics of personality
Freud’s thoughts on personality:
children progress through universal stages of psychosexual development ending in adolescence—stages guided by biological forces of which they are largely unconscious
not see psychosexual growth continuing during adulthood - although anxieties arising from harsh parenting or other unfavorable early experiences in the family, he said, would leave a permanent mark on the personality and reveal themselves in adult personality traits
Freud believed that the personality was largely formed during the first ___ years of life and showed much ___________ thereafter
5
continuity
Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory
highly influential theory of lifelong personality development, emphasizing social influences beyond parents, the rational ego and its adaptive powers, possibilities for overcoming harmful early experiences, and the potential for growth and change throughout the life span
looking at conflicts among the id, the ego and the superego
proposed that people undergo similar personality changes at similar ages
Erikson placed more emphasis than Freud on these four things:
social influences beyond parents such as peers, teachers, and cultures
the rational ego and its adaptive powers
possibilities for overcoming the effects of harmful early experiences
the potential for growth and change throughout the life span
according to Erikson, whether the conflict of a particular stage is successfully resolved or not, what will happen?
the individual is pushed by both biological maturation and social demands into the next stage. However, the unsuccessful resolution of a conflict will negatively affect how later stages play out whereas successful resolution will help the individual develop the virtue or strength
Trait Theory
A theory that defines personality as a set of dispositional trait dimensions. Traits are thought to be genetically and environmentally influenced, consistent across situations, and relatively enduring throughout life.
What approach do trait theorists use?
the same psychometric approach that guided the development of intelligence tests - administer personality scales to people and use the statistical technique of factor analysis to identify groups of personality scale items that are correlated with each other but not with other groups of items
Similarity between psychoanalytic and trait theorists
they expect to see carryover in personality over the years
Difference between psychoanalytic and trait theorists
trait theorists do not believe that the personality unfolds in a series of stages
most common trait theory
Big Five
five-factor model of the Big Five - what are the 5?
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
(OCEAN)
Are the Big Five universal?
appear to be universal - capture how people all over the world describe themselves and others
However, average levels of Big Five traits differ from culture to culture (for example, Europeans appear to be more extroverted on average than Asians or Africans)
Social Learning Theory - who and what?
Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel
reject the notion of universal stages of personality development like Erikson’s
question the trait theory view that we have enduring personality traits
personality boils down to a set of behavior patterns shaped by interactions with other people in specific social situations
how does emergence of self develop in infants?
quickly develop an implicit, if not conscious, sense of self - based in their perceptions of their bodies and actions and grows out of their everyday interactions with caregivers
sense of agency - what is it and when does it emerge?
a sense that they can cause things to happen in the world
displayed by infants by 2-3 months of age
What are infants developing for the first six months?
discover properties of their physical selves, distinguish between themselves and the rest of the world, and discover that they can act upon other people and objects
What are infants developing from 6 mos to 1 year?
realize that they and their companions are separate beings who have different perspectives and on occasion can share perspectives (e.g., joint attention, or the sharing of perceptual experiences by two people, and is evident from about 9 months of age on)
What two things do infants start to display around 18 months?
self-recognition - being aware of themselves as distinct individuals - The ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or photograph
categorical self - they classify themselves into social categories based on age, sex, and other visible characteristics, figuring out what is “like me” and what is “not like me.”
Factors influencing self-recognition/self-awareness:
depends on cognitive development and the maturation of relevant areas of the brain
social interaction - secure attachments with their parents are better able than those whose relationships are less secure to recognize themselves in a mirror and know more about their names and genders
cultural context - n the individualistic/urban cultures recognized themselves in a mirror by 18 or 19 months, whereas only a minority of those in the collectivist/rural cultures did
By what age do infants display distinctive personalities?
from the first weeks of life - temperament
temperament
early, genetically based but also environmentally influenced tendencies to respond in predictable ways to events that serve as the foundation for later personality
study of infant personality has centered on this
Social learning theorists have tended to view babies as…
“blank slates” who can be shaped in any number of directions by their experiences - However, it is now clear that babies are not blank slates—that they differ from the start in basic response tendencies
Alexander Thomas, Stella Chess, and their colleagues gathered information about what types of dimensions of infant behavior in order to categorize temperaments?
typical mood,
regularity or predictability of biological functions such as feeding and sleeping habits,
tendency to approach or withdraw from new stimuli,
intensity of emotional reactions
adaptability to new experiences and changes in routine
Three temperament categories:
Easy temperament
Difficult temperament
Slow-to-warm-up temperament
longitudinal study of temperament found what percentages of each category?
40% were easy infants, 10% were difficult infants, and 15% were slow-to-warm-up infants, remaining third could not be placed neatly in only one category because they shared qualities of two or more categories
longitudinal study of continuity and discontinuity in temperament from infancy to early adulthood showed what?
some continuity from infancy to childhood
but little continuity to adulthood
Mary Rothbart and her colleagues’ three major dimensions of temperament
Surgency/extraversion
Negative affectivity
Effortful control
Surgency/extraversion
Dimension of temperament that involves the tendency to actively and energetically approach new experiences in an emotionally positive way (rather than to be inhibited and withdrawn).
evident from infancy on
Negative affectivity
Dimension of temperament that concerns the tendency to be sad, fearful, easily frustrated, and irritable and difficult to soothe (as opposed to laid-back and adaptable)
evident from infancy on
Effortful control
Dimension of temperament pertaining to being able to sustain attention, control one’s behavior, and regulate one’s emotions (as opposed to unable to regulate one’s arousal and stay calm and focused).
emerges more clearly in toddlerhood and early childhood and continues to develop into adulthood
At age 3, only 22% of children can inhibit forbidden actions like this; by age 4, 90% can
Matching with Big Five dimensions:
surgency/extraversion matches up with…
negative affectivity with…
effortful control with…
extraversion
neuroticism
conscientiousness
goodness of fit
The extent to which the child’s temperament and the demands of the child’s social environment are compatible or mesh, according to Thomas and Chess; more generally, a good match between person and environment.
can be changed - e.g., Teaching parents of irritable, difficult babies how to interpret their infants’ cues and respond sensitively and appropriately to them can produce calmer infants who cry less and become less irritable preschoolers
What can help children pull together what they know of themselves into a self-concept?
Parents who help their children reminisce about their experiences and the emotions associated with them
preschool child’s emerging self-concept is…
concrete and physical
- Asked to describe themselves, preschoolers note their physical characteristics, possessions, physical activities and accomplishments, and preferences
When do children self-describe with more psychological and social qualities? What are the three stages?
around age 7 or 8
First, they describe their personality traits using terms such as funny and smart and shy
Second, children focus on their social identities (Brownie Scout)
Third, they engage social comparison
self-esteem becomes more _______________ with age in childhood?
differentiated or multidimensional
Preschool children distinguish only these two broad aspects of self-esteem
competence and social acceptability
By mid–elementary school, children differentiate among five aspects of self-worth:
scholastic competence (feeling smart or doing well in school)
social acceptance (being popular or feeling liked)
behavioral conduct (staying out of trouble)
athletic competence (being good at sports)
physical appearance (feeling good-looking)
How is the accuracy of children’s self-evaluations?
increased steadily with age
(those with high scholastic self-esteem were more likely than those with low scholastic self-esteem to be rated as intellectually capable by their teachers, and those with high athletic self-esteem were frequently chosen by peers to be on sports teams)
Three influences on self-esteem in childhood
genetic makeup
competence
social feedback
Who is the most important influence on self-esteem in childhood?
Parents are especially important (The relationship between high self-esteem and warm, democratic parenting is evident in a variety of ethnic groups and cultures)
What can help boost a child’s self-esteem?
helping children learn to succeed at important tasks
Self-control is linked to the Big Five dimension of ____________ and is consistently associated with _______________.
conscientiousness
good developmental outcomes - go on to become adults who are healthier, more successful in their careers, more financially stable, and less likely to get into trouble with substance use and crime
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages for childhood
autonomy versus shame and doubt - toddlers
initiative versus guilt - preschool
industry versus inferiority - elementary school
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages for infancy
Trust vs. mistrust - birth-1 year
autonomy versus shame and doubt:
toddlers attempt to demonstrate their independence from and control over other people - assert that they have wills of their own
recognize themselves in a mirror and refer to themselves by name or as “me” around 18–24 months of age
Some “terrible twos” also adopt “no” as their favorite word
initiative versus guilt:
preschool children must learn to initiate new activities and pursue bold plans or become self-critical
develop a sense of purpose by devising bold plans and taking great pride in accomplishing their goals
industry versus inferiority:
school-aged children must master important cognitive and social skills or feel incompetent
engage in more social comparison than younger children and will acquire a sense of industry rather than inferiority if they gain new skills and their social comparisons turn out favorably
research on adolescent self-conceptions, self-esteem, and identity formation illustrates that adolescence is truly a time for…
“finding oneself,”
How do self-concepts (self-descriptions) change from childhood to adolescence?
less physical and more psychological
less concrete and more abstract
more differentiated
more integrated and coherent
more reflected upon
Increases / decreases in self-esteem from childhood to early adulthood
tends to increase from childhood to early adolescence, plateau at around age 11 to 15, and finally increase again in late adolescence and early adulthood
Do most adolescents lose, maintain or increase levels of self-esteem?
most adolescents maintain moderate or high levels of self-esteem over the adolescent years or emerge from this developmental period with higher self-esteem than they had at the start
As adults, adolescents with high self-esteem tend to have better…
physical and mental health, better career and financial prospects, and less involvement in criminal behavior than adolescents with low self-esteem
Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Stage for adolescence
identity versus role confusion
identity versus role confusion:
adolescents must form a coherent self-definition or remain confused about their life directions
a critical period in the lifelong process of forming an identity as a person
believed that many young people experience a full-blown and painful “identity crisis” as they mature physically and cognitively and as society pressures them to “grow up—to decide what they want to do in life and to get on with it
moratorium period
Erikson’s belief: A period of time in high school or college when young adults are relatively free of responsibilities and can experiment with different roles to find their identities.
James Marcia
expanded on Erikson’s theory and stimulated research on identity formation by developing an interview procedure to assess where an adolescent is in the process of identity formation
classified adolescents into one of four identity statuses (statuses, not stages) reflecting where they are with respect to identity in each of several domains (for example, vocational, religious, political–ideological)
The two key questions of James Marcia’s identity formation technique are these:
Have you engaged in exploration?
Have you made a commitment?
On the basis of exploration and commitment, the individual is classified into one of the four identity statuses:
diffusion status
foreclosure status
moratorium status
identity achievement status
diffusion status
not questioned who they are and have not committed themselves to an identity.
foreclosure status
appear to have committed themselves to a life direction but who have adopted an identity prematurely, without much thought. (e.g., “I’m going to be a doctor like my dad,” they have simply accepted identities suggested to them by their parents or other people)
moratorium status
experiencing an identity crisis or actively exploring identity issues but who have not yet achieved an identity. (e.g., may be questioning their religious upbringing, experimenting with drugs, changing majors or relationships, or posting outrageous selfies, all to find themselves)
identity achievement status
carefully thought through identity issues and made commitments or resolved their identity issues
What percentage of 15 year olds, 18 year olds, college students and 24 year olds have achieved a firm identity?
4% of the 15- year-olds
20% of the 18-year-olds,
40% of the college students
slightly more than half of the 24-year-olds
Identity formation takes _____________ and occurs at different rates in different _____________________.
a long time
domains of identity
Adolescents and emerging adults who have completed the identity formation process in their late teens or early 20s may also go through a separate process of…
identity maintenance in which they examine in more depth and elaborate upon the identities they have chosen
Even in their 30s and 40s, though, some adults find themselves in which stage again?
moratorium status again, reopening certain identity issues and changing their goals and plans after thinking they had all the answers earlier in life
Ethnic/racial identity
A sense of personal identification with one’s ethnic or racial group—or more than one—and its values and cultural traditions.
process of forming an ethnic identity begins when?
in infancy as babies notice visible differences among people
Ethnic/racial identity follows which stages?
Same stages as James Marcia’s identity formation:
School-age children and young adolescents say either that they identify with their racial or ethnic group because others influenced them to do so (foreclosure status) or that they have not given it much thought (diffusion status)
In their mid- to late teens or early 20s, more minority youths move into the moratorium and achievement statuses, actively thinking about what their ethnic/racial identity is and what it means to them
Influences helping to form ethnic/racial identity
when their parents socialize them regarding their race or ethnicity, teaching them about their group’s cultural traditions, instilling pride, preparing them to live in a culturally diverse society, and even preparing them to deal with prejudice and discrimination
friends of a teen’s own background
Programs like the Identity Project
a positive ethnic/racial identity has many benefits (3)
can protect adolescents from the damaging effects of racial or ethnic discrimination
boost their self-esteem
contribute to academic achievement and good adjustment
How does cognitive development influence identity formation?
solid mastery of formal-operational thought
Growth in brain areas involved in seeking information and pursuing long-range goals
How does personality influence identity formation?
Adolescents who explore and achieve identity tend to score low in neuroticism and high in openness to experience and conscientiousness
How does parenting influence identity formation?
youths who get stuck in the diffusion status of identity formation and drift for years are sometimes neglected or rejected by their parents
Adolescents who end up in the foreclosure status are often extremely close to parents who are loving but also controlling
Adolescents who move to the moratorium and identity achievement statuses tend to have warm and democratic parents, the same kind of supportive parents who foster high self-esteem
What does college provide in the way of identity formation?
the kind of moratorium period with freedom to explore that Erikson believed facilitates identity formation
How does cultural context influence identity formation?
identity foreclosure may be the most adaptive path to adulthood in more traditional societies centered around farming, fishing, or herding - adopt the adult roles most adults in their culture adopt, without much soul-searching or experimentation
How does self-esteem progress throughout adulthood?
increases strongly during later adolescence and early adulthood, increases at a slower pace between age 30 and 60, when it peaks, and then holds steady until age 70 before declining in people’s 80s and especially 90s
males tend to have slightly higher __________ than females
self-esteem
What helps older adults maintain self-esteem?
Reducing the gap between the ideal and real self
changing one’s goals and standards of self-evaluation
making social comparisons to similar others
avoiding negative self-stereotyping can all help older adults maintain self-esteem
downward social comparisons
if they really want to feel good about themselves, they can strategically select worse-off age mates to judge themselves against
ageism
Negative stereotypes of aging and old age are a problem in part because they breed the prejudice and discrimination against older people
Self-stereotyping
Applying stereotypes of one’s group (e.g., negative stereotypes of older adults) to oneself.
age attributions
Blaming old age for any limitations one has.
“old” people may start labeling their memory lapses “senior moments” or, worse, “signs of early Alzheimer’s,” conclude they are too frail for exercise, or fear they will be incapacitated by chronic diseases
David Weiss (2018) has detected important differences between older people who believe that declines associated with aging are fixed and inevitable and older people who believe, more accurately, that the aging process is malleable or modifiable.
being a person in the United States (an individualistic culture) means being ______________ from other people, whereas being a person in Japan (a collectivist culture) means being _______________ with others
independent/different
interdependent
Americans think like _______ theorists and feel they have an inner self that is consistent across situations and over time, whereas Japanese people seem to adopt a ___________perspective on personality
trait
social learning theory
Do individual adults retain their rankings on trait dimensions compared with others in a group over the years?
have found a good deal of rank-order stability within a group, as indicated by high correlations between scores on the same trait dimensions at different ages
Correlations between personality trait scores on two occasions 15 years apart average about ____ across the Big Five personality dimensions
0.60
Over 50 years from adolescence to old age, the correlation across the Big Five personality dimensions is about ____
0.30
after around age____, personalities are quite consistent
50
Do average scores on personality trait measures increase, decrease, or remain the same as age increases?
discovered a shift toward maturity in which, from adolescence to middle age, people become:
more emotionally stable (less neurotic)
more agreeable (cooperative and easy to get along with)
more conscientious (disciplined and responsible)
maturity principle
A shift toward greater emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness in personality from adolescence to middle adulthood.
Is the maturity principle the same across cultures?
shows up across cultures but the size of the shift was larger in some cultures than in others, and it occurred earlier in cultures where the transition to work typically occurred early (for example, Pakistan and Brazil) than in cultures where adults began working later (for example, the United States and Canada)
personality changes can people expect later—from middle age to old age
Activity level—the tendency to be energetic and action oriented, an aspect of extraversion—begins to decline in people’s 50s and continues declining through the 80s and 90s
some people in their 80s or 90s undergo a reversal of the maturity principle that may reflect declining health and functioning
What makes personalities remain quite stable over the adult years?
genetic makeup
Gene–environment correlations
Lasting effects of childhood experiences
environments and life activities remain stable
the pruning processes that take place in the brain during adolescence develop the prefrontal cortex and are linked to increases in…
conscientiousness and emotional stability in adolescence and emerging adulthood
each of the Big Five dimensions of personality has its own distinctive neurobiological foundation?
- extraversion is associated with high levels of…
- neuroticism is linked to high levels of…
- conscientiousness depends in part on strong connectivity between the…
- the neurotransmitter dopamine
- the stress hormone cortisol and to strong responses to threat in the emotional center of the brain, the amygdala
- prefrontal cortex and the lower-level centers of emotional and motor response that the prefrontal cortex helps control
What causes significant changes in personality that some adults experience?
Biological factors such as brain injury, disease, or and dementia
changes in the environment–major life events, big changes in social or vocational roles, psychotherapy
a poor person–environment fit - change in personality is more likely
What has greater effect - personality traits on life events or life events on personality traits?
personality traits do more to influence the life events we experience than life events do to alter our personalities
E.g., highly neurotic individuals are more likely to experience negative life events such as divorce and unemployment t
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages for adulthood:
identity versus role confusion - 12 - 20
intimacy versus isolation - 20-40
generativity versus stagnation - 40-65
Integrity vs. despair - 65+
intimacy versus isolation:
young adults must commit themselves to a shared identity with another person or remain aloof and unconnected to others
we must know ourselves before we can truly love another person
generativity versus stagnation
middle-aged adults must gain the sense that they have produced something that will outlive them and genuinely care for younger generations to avoid self-preoccupation
leaving a legacy, making a contribution, giving back, and it is realized through such activities as parenting, teaching, mentoring, and leading
Having a healthy sense of generativity correlates with…
having Big Five personality strengths and with good adjustment in both work and family life
Vaillant found support for Erikson’s view that the 20s are a time for intimacy issues. He found that in their 30s, men shifted their energies to advancing or consolidating their careers, adding a __________________________ phase between Erikson’s intimacy and generativity stages
career consolidation
midlife crisis - what and who?
Daniel Levinson made the term famous (not an Erikson concept)
A period of major questioning, inner struggle, and reevaluation hypothesized to occur in an adult’s early 40s.
not much support for Levinson’s claim that adults universally experience an unsettling midlife crisis from age 40 to 45 - sounder to speak of midlife questioning and to recognize that it affects only some middle-aged adults, can occur at a variety of ages in reaction to a variety of life events, and is not usually a true psychological crisis
Some researchers find that life satisfaction shows what kind of pattern?
a U-shaped pattern over the adult years, decreasing from early adulthood to a low point in the 40s or 50s and then rebounding from middle adulthood to old age
integrity versus despair
older adults attempt to find a sense of meaning in their lives and to accept the inevitability of death
life review
proposed by gerontologist Robert Butler
Process in which older adults reflect on unresolved conflicts of the past and evaluate their lives; it may contribute to a sense of integrity and readiness for death
may include reflecting upon the life story
reminiscing in later life with the aim of passing on wisdom to others or preparing for death was associated with…
being more generative in Erikson’s sense
Jack Rowe and Robert Kahn define successful aging in terms of three objective indicators:
freedom from disease and disability
good cognitive and physical functioning
active engagement with life (through activities and social relationships)
psychological well-being
A positive state involving subjective well-being (feeling happy or having high life satisfaction) or personal self-fulfillment (fulfilling one’s potential as a human being).
older adults are often happier than young and middle-aged adults, despite the fact that they have more chronic diseases and disabilities
Carol Ryff’s model of psychological well-being in later life that focuses on fulfilling one’s potential as a human being in terms of these six dimensions
having a sense of purpose and meaning in life, feeling capable, making choices, growing and realizing your potential, accepting yourself, and feeling connected with others
Activity theory
A theory of successful aging emphasizing the value of remaining active in later life by either continuing or replacing previous activities.
consistent with the “use it or lose it principle” of aging and with a mountain of research showing that remaining physically and mentally active is good for physical and mental health
Disengagement theory
Theory of successful aging emphasizing that our needs change in later life and that successful aging involves a mutual withdrawal of the individual and society.
(not always clear whether older adults are choosing to disengage from roles and activities or are being left out or pushed out)
selective optimization with compensation (SOC)
Focus on the activities she loves most
Put a lot of time into perfecting the knowledge and skills
Make up for declining abilities
person-environment fit
the goodness of fit between the individual’s lifestyle and the individual’s needs, preferences, and personality
Activity theory may fit some people, disengagement theory may fit other people, and selective optimization with compensation or still other pathways may work for still other people
From a developmental perspective, retirement from the workforce is considered a…
process
Regarding Alexander Thomas’s work on temperaments, what traits fall under the slow-to-warm-up temperament?
Inactive, moody, and moderately regular
What set of characteristics influences identity formation in adolescents?
Cognition, personality, parenting, exploration, and context
A Hollywood movie star who always tells interviewers that having grown up in the South helps her stay grounded and “real” is demonstrating the impact of culture on her…
narrative identity.
What is the relationship between childhood and adult personality?
Although personality stabilizes during childhood, many factors can alter personality by adulthood.
