Chapter 5 Flashcards
Understanding Personality Development, Examining Personality Over Time, Personality Stability and Change, Predictors and Outcomes of Personality Traits.
Define personality development.
Personality development can be defined as the continuities, consistencies, and stabilities in people over time and the ways in which people change over time.
What are the three most important forms of stability in personality development?
The three most important forms of stability are rank-order stability, mean-level stability, and personality coherence.
Explain rank-order stability with an example.
Rank-order stability refers to the maintenance of individual position within a group. For example, if people tend to maintain their positions on traits like dominance or extraversion relative to others over time, then there is high rank-order stability for those traits.
Describe mean-level stability with an example.
Mean-level stability occurs when the average level of a trait in a group remains the same over time. For example, if the average level of political liberalism or conservatism in a group remains unchanged over time, the group exhibits high mean-level stability. Conversely, if people in the group tend to become more conservative as they age, this would indicate mean-level change.
What is personality coherence?
Personality coherence refers to maintaining rank order in relation to other individuals but changing the manifestations of a trait over time. This means the underlying trait remains consistent, but the way it is expressed can change significantly.
What two qualities define personality change?
Personality change is typically internal to the person and relatively enduring over time, rather than being merely temporary.
What is temperament and when does it typically emerge?
Temperament is defined as the individual differences that emerge very early in life, are likely heritable, and are often involved with emotionality or arousability.
List and briefly describe the six factors of temperament examined by Mary Rothbart.
- Activity level: The infant’s overall motor activity.
- Smiling and laughter: The frequency of the infant’s smiles and laughter.
- Fear: The infant’s distress and reluctance to approach novel stimuli.
- Distress to limitations: The infant’s distress when limited or confined.
- Soothability: How easily the infant calms down when soothed.
- Duration of orienting: The infant’s attention span in the absence of sudden changes.
What are stability coefficients and validity coefficients in the context of the Block and Block Longitudinal Study?
Stability coefficients are correlations between the same measures obtained at two different points in time, indicating test-retest reliability. Validity coefficients are correlations between different measures of the same trait obtained at the same time, indicating the validity of the measures.
What did the Block and Block Longitudinal Study reveal about activity level?
The study revealed that activity level in childhood can be validly assessed through observational judgments and actometer recordings, showing moderate stability during childhood and into adulthood.
How does personality stability change from childhood to adulthood?
Personality stability tends to be higher over short intervals and increases as individuals mature. There are moderate levels of stability from early childhood through adolescence into early adulthood, although predictability decreases as the time interval between assessments increases.
What did longitudinal studies of aggression reveal about rank order stability?
Longitudinal studies of aggression showed that marked individual differences in aggression emerge early in life and that individuals retain their rank order stability on aggression to a substantial degree over the years.
What is the trend in personality trait consistency according to Roberts and DelVecchio’s meta-analysis?
Personality consistency tends to increase with age, peaking during the fifties, with trait consistency increasing in a linear fashion from infancy to middle age and then reaching its peak after age 50.
What changes in personality traits are typically observed during adulthood, especially after age 50?
After age 50, there is little change in the average levels of Openness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. However, traits such as Conscientiousness and Agreeableness tend to increase, while Neuroticism tends to decrease over time.
What personality traits are associated with living a long life?
High Conscientiousness, positive emotionality (Extraversion), low levels of hostility, and low levels of Neuroticism are associated with living a long life, with Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability being the strongest predictors.
