Class 9: Changes in Personality Flashcards
What are ways of testing stability vs. change?
- cross sectional
- longitudinal design
- mean level
- rank order
What is cross sectional research design?
commonly used when assessing changes in personality and uses two different groups of people from two different times
What is the mean level approach?
comparing the average level of trait between two different time points
What do the effect sizes mean for mean level approach?
- > 0 = increase
- = 0 = stable
- < 0 = decreased
What are the mean levels of extraversion?
increase until middle age then stabilizes in adulthood
What are the mean levels of negative emotionality?
decrease until middle age, then stabilizes in adulthood
What are the mean levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness?
steadily increases across the lifespan
What are the mean levels of opennes?
initial increases until young adulthood, stability until later in life, decreases
What does the mean level approach tell us?
- personality changes throughout our lives
- small incremental steps
- different patterns for different traits
- maturity principle
What is the maturity principle?
people mature in predictable ways
What is the rank order approach?
analyzing the ranks of the level of trait of the same people over two time periods
What do the quadrants mean?
- top left = change
- top right = stable
- bottom left = stable
- bottom right = change
What do the effect sizes mean for rank order approach?
- r > 0 = more stability
- r < 0 = more change
What does it mean when there is more data on either of the top or bottom right quadrants?
more likely to be stay the same or change
What does the rank order approach say about the Big Five Traits?
increasing stability for all of them
