lecture 4 - personality development and change

Question 1

what did mischa et al. find in their delay of gratification protocol study about wait times (adolescence and adulthood)?

Answer 1

during adolescence, longer wait times predicted higher SAT scores, coping skills and also lower aggression

during adulthood, longer wait times predicted educational achievement, lower drug use and better health

Question 2

what is temperament?

Answer 2

sort of like a a more basic version of personality which is present in children and then later advanced to fully fledged personality

Question 3

what are the main five factors of temperament according to Mary Rothbert’s model?

Answer 3

1. surgency
2. negative emotionality
3. effortful control
4. affiliativeness
5. orienting sensitivity

Question 4

what is the “little six” in terms of the big five?

Answer 4

organises temperament traits in terms of the Big Five and a sixth dimension: activity

Question 5

what main features of rank order stability?

Answer 5

• rank order stability is relatively high
• increases over the lifespan
• decreases as the test-retest interval increases
• is trait general i.e. does not vary

Question 6

what influences rank order stability?

Answer 6

• genetics
• environmental channeling
• environmental selection

Question 7

what is the strength of environmental influences as an explanation?

Answer 7

there are some clues, but “the evidence for environmental consistency promoting personality consistency is WEAK at best”

Question 8

what is psychosocial maturity?

Answer 8

personality development and maturation which are adaptive and linked with positive outcomes

Question 9

what did soto (2016) observe about development patterns in the Little Six from age 3-16?

Answer 9

• E, A and O all decreased
• C decreased and then increased
• N increased and then decreased however this varied for boys and girls

Question 10

what did costa and mccrae find from their review of adult literature?

Answer 10

• O, E and A decreases
• A and C increases

Question 11

what did bleidorn et al (2009) find in their 10-year longitudinal study in adults aged 18-59?

Answer 11

• A and C increased
• O and N decreased
• no change observed for E

Question 12

what does the similar pattern of personality development across cultures suggest?

Answer 12

suggests cross-cultural generality of mean-level personality change

Question 13

what are cohort effects and are they substantiated?

Answer 13

cohort effects are broad societal shift e.g. exposure to war or great changes in technology (Jean Twenge’s “Generation Me”)

• there is minimal support for any marked generational change during the “Generation Me” period

Question 14

what are some key points regarding the role of environmental influences in mean level change?

Answer 14

• genetic studies provide some evidence for environment contributions to mean level change
• difficult to separate effects of specific environmental variables on trait change FROM environmental selection effects
• weak support for cohort effects

therefore, it is hard to study and evidence is more mixed

Question 15

what are some key points regarding the role of genetics in mean level change?

Answer 15

• SOME evidence
• some level of cross-cultural generalisability
• some evidence for cross-species generalisability

therefore, suggestive of universal/evolved maturation patterns

Question 16

do changes in personality occur AFTER a significant life event, or do they PRECEDE that event?

Answer 16

• most personality change effects occurred PRIOR TO the major life event

e.g. prior to transitioning to new work, conscientiousness and openness both INCREASE

Question 17

can we choose to change!?

Answer 17

YES! people want to change.

• generally, people want to increase E, O, A, C and decrease N
• people do change as desired

(psychosocial maturity)

Question 18

what is socialisation?

Answer 18

change that follows an event

Question 19

what is selection?

Answer 19

change that precedes an event