Lectures Final Flashcards
Greta Thunberg general info and clinical diagnoses
- teenage climate activist from Sweden
- Aperger’s syndrome (mild autism)
- Depression (common in mild ASD)
- OCD behaviours
- Anorexia nervosa
- Selective mutism
- mom opera singer, dad filmmaker
- younger sister has ADHD
Greta’s personality in the “How Dare You” video
- passionate, intense, accusatory, apocalyptic
- social dominance
- doesn’t care ab empathizing w leaders (maybe low A)
Greta’s personality in the Montreal Climate March speech
- warmer, less intense, urgency instead of accusatory
- builds connection w audience using humor (can be highly agreeable!)
Greta Thunberg Big 5
- high on social dominance facet of E
- can show high A (circumstantial)
- high C
- low N
- unsure about O
Heritability of ASD
90%
In 2019, _____/80ppl have ASD diagnosis
1/80
Examples of people with aspergers
- maybe Bill Gates
- guy Koestner knew in HS (obsesses w subway system)
- many profs might have ASD
- kid at National Park who knew more than the ranger
AQ (+ items relate to…..)
- Autism-Spectrum Quotient
- normal distribution, everyone is somewhere on scale
- items relate to empathizing vs. systematizing
Baron-Cohen study of AQ and NEO-PI-R
- wanted to know if autism traits were an independent personality dimension
- found that autism is independent trait
- students w ASD are lower on E (esp. gregariousness)
- higher on N (esp. depression and self consciousness)
- lower C (get caught-up or sidetracked)
Smith et al. Meta-analysis of Big 5 and ASD
- questionnaire method, also collected questionnaires from parents
- meta-analysis, quantitative review
- Pearson correlations all significant
- all 5 traits on less socially desirable end
- found that when a kid with ASD has more socially desirable scores (esp. E), they’re more likely to shed diagnosis later in life
Big 5 traits in depression and anxiety
- lower E
- lower C
- higher N
Big 5 traits and substance abuse disorders
- low A
- E not associated
3 levels of personality
- Big 5 traits
- personal concerns (motivational and developmental; greta best understood at level 2 - as an agent)
- life narrative
Achievement motivation
- like to master tasks, develop skills, improve
- like moderate challenge, responsibility, feedback
- small business owners, lawyers, research scientist, salespeople, maybe doctors
Affiliation motivation
- preoccupied and interested in social relationships
- counsellors, mediators
Power motivation
- wanting to have impact and influence
- Greta very high on this
- managers, clergy
Lifetime prevalence of depressive disorders
17%
Lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders
29%
Lifetime prevalence of substance use disorders
35%
Age of onset of McAdams layers of personality
- Actor: birth
- Agent: 6y
- Author: 16y
Greta Thunberg stage 2 (Agent)
- high power motivation
- seems like Greta skipped to Generativity stage (concern that she is her parents’ puppet and is therefore foreclosed)
- life story is kinda messianic (“I’m gonna save the world”)
Erikson’s 8 Stages of Psychosocial Development
0-18mo: Trust vs. Mistrust
18mo-3t: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
3-5y: Initiative vs. Guilt
5-13y: Industry (competence) vs. Inferiority
13-21y: Identity vs. Role confusion (need to explore and make commitments)
21-39y: Intimacy vs. Isolation
40-65y: Generativity vs. Stagnation
65y+: Ego integrity vs. Despair
According to David McClelland, what is the first and most important thing to consider when thinking about someone’s personality?
Motives!
We feel best about ourselves and our lives when the important goals we are pursuing are _______
…more related to the motive we’re highest on
Ordinary People movie trailer
- boy who tried to commit suicide after brother dies
- forced to go to therapy
- wants to feel more ‘in control’
Why didn’t Koestner become a clinician
- right trait (A), right schema, right values
- not right motive
- low social vitality was a problem
- because he can’t ask open-ended questions
McClelland’s arguments against theory that “personality doesn’t matter that much”
- need to look at variance accounted for by groups of traits, not just one
- personality accounts for more of life outcomes when you look at it more broadly!
- multiple correlation comes out at .5 or .6 (vs .2 for one trait)
Koestner study on CEGEP students and STEM path
- for children of immigrants, only way to get out of doing science was being really bad at it
Trait profile to succeed as a clinician (and enjoy doing it!)
- intimacy/affiliation motivation
- power motivation (having an impact)
- agreeableness (therapeutic alliance)
- social vitality part of E
- it’s okay to be neurotic
- high on Universalism and Benevolence values
- schema: optimism or positive expectancies
- interpersonal emotional skills (like test w pictures of eyes where you have to identify the emotion)
4 categories of fundamental values
- Self-Transcendence
- Conservation
- Self-Enhancement
- Openness to Change
Fundamental values: Self-Transcendence
- universalism
- benevolence
Fundamental values: Conservation
- conformity
- tradition
- security
Fundamental values: Self-Enhancement
- achievement
- power
- hedonism (also goes into openness)
Fundamental values: Openness to Change
- hedonism (also goes into self-enhancement)
- stimulation
- self-direction
10 fundamental values
Self-Transcendence
- Universalism
- Benevolence
Conservation
- Conformity
- Tradition
- Security
Self-Enhancement
- Achievement
- Power
- Hedonism (also goes into Openness)
Openness to Change
- Stimulation
- Self-Direction
Koestner’s top fundamental values
- benevolence and universalism (self-transcendence)
Fundamental values scale
(culture? politics?)
- 50 item quiz
- 10 fundamental values found through factor analysis
- same across cultures
- highly predictive of political positions
Schemas (and what schemas did McClelland focus on?)
- beliefs or worldviews
- McClelland focussed on optimism and positive expectancies
- locus of control: you think there will be a relation between your behavior and outcomes
Picture Story exercise
- way to assess motives
- show people an everyday scene and ask them to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end
- code for thematic content in 6 stories
- no correlation with how people describe themselves on traits
- no correlation w self-reports
- if you ask for 10 goals/strivings r is about .4 (in Koestner’s studies he only asks for 4 stories)
- implicit motives more predictive of career success
People high on power motivation are more likely to be leaders if they’re also ______ on the trait of _______
HIGH on the trait of SOCIAL ASSERTIVENESS
Motives tell us ____ a person does what they do. Traits tell us _____ they do it.
WHY, HOW
German study on sports participation and motives
- recruited ppl who like team sports (sports are achievement rich)
- undergrads, community adults, tennis pros
- assessed implicit and self-reported achievement at beginning of season
- only implicit motive predicted time spent doing sport
According to Koestner, we need to find a career path that fits at least _____ of our ____, ____, ____, ____ and____.
…at least 3 of our motives, traits, skills, schemas and values.
Obama and Trump are both high on which kind of motivation
Power!
The positive side of high power motivation
- joining volunteer organizations
- being an effective leader
- liking being associated w symbols of prestige
The negative side of high power motivation
- more likely to get into fights, drink to excess, be exploitative in their relationships
- unhappy marriages/divorce (often bc of infidelity)
- selfish behaviors
- linked to lower SES
- linked to poor activity inhibition (mitigating impulses
- more common for men (obvi) BUT if they get responsibility training they don’t show this maladaptive power motivation
Story about high power motivation and Koestner’s daughter’s school
- mom took action bc school had terrible crossing guard, eventually had whole intersection redone
- same mom organized to replace bad science teacher, planned a big school dance
Affiliation vs. Intimacy motive
- affiliative motive is worry ab others liking you
- if you’re low on this you’re a better leader bc you can delegate, tell ppl what to do
Motivational profile of a good leader
- high nPow
- low nAff
- high activity inhibition
Michael Scott motive profile
- very high nAff (bad for leaders)
- very low capacity for inhibition (bad leader)
- might be high on nAch
Study on leadership motive profile at AT&T and the Navy
- all men
- longitudinal study over 20y
- 25% of leaders had profile
- they were the ones who moved up executive ladder!
Obama motive profile
- highest nPow vs 6 other democratic candidates
- moderate nAch, low nAff
- high activity inhibition
- he has the right profile but low E might have limited his success
David Winter’s scoring system for coding speech
- you can code the speeches of politicians and identify their motives and level of activity inhibition
- codes strong vigorous actions that try to impact others, actions that directly arouse strong emotional states, and concern for reputation/prestige
- higher nPow associated w higher success as President
David Winters channeling hypothesis
- traits channel and direct the way motives are expressed
- might need requisite level of E to work towards our goals
- worried Obama was too introverted to be a good President (low E can inhibit expression of nPow) (introversion inhibition hypothesis)
Winter study of Radcliffe women
- women’s Harvard
- measured motives and if they had high-impact careers
- for extraverts, high nPow meant high-impact career
- in introverts nPow not expressed clearly
Trump motive profile
- high nPow
- high nAch
- high nAff
- no activity inhibition
- kinda like Michael Scott, will say what audience wants to hear (even if they’re racists)
- does NOT have socialized form of nPow
- leads to divisiveness of country and corruption
Zelensky’s motive profile
- stood up to Trump blackmailing him (we will give you missiles if you say Joe Biden’s son is under investigation in the Ukraine)
- gave lots of really inspiring speeches
- did improv/acting, probably high in nPow
- does have good leadership profile
- AND moral courage!
The people who are most likely to struggle with identity are _____
young adults! (not middle aged people)
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages general info
- reformulation of Freud’s theories
- each stage is a social task/challenge to be resolved
- identity is the critical stage
Erikson’s 8 stages
- Trust (0-1y)
- Autonomy (2-3y): become willful; important how parents negotiate allowing autonomy but also having some structure
- Initiative (4-5y): autonomy goes further
- Industry (6-16ish): are we good? (skills and morals)
- Identity (16-22++): question self and future
- Intimacy (YA)
- Generativity (midlife): leaving a mark
- Integrity (old age): was life worth living
Koestner’s identity crisis at age 18
- knew his identity wasn’t forming well so wanted to move away for uni
- got a scholarship to Colgate, but mom asked him to stay so he went to Columbia
- hated it; had to work bc less scholarship money
- worked at Macy’s in basement food emporium
- made friends but they all wanted to help change him
- Alex: said he couldn’t listen to broadway anymore, made him a playlist of cool music
- Margaret Feeny: asked to go shopping with him (he dressed like Dwight); so he started buying his own clothes
- John Rivera: tough, confident; brought Rich to Taekwando class, he hated the class and hid his Gee (white outfit) in his desk
- mom found Gee a year later and thought he was joining the Moonies (cult religion famous for brainwashing and giant marriage ceremonies)
- if your parents think you’d fall for something like this, it’s likely you haven’t figured out your identity
- moved away so he could develop an identity
James Marcia and identity status assessment
- developed way to see what status young people have achieved
- identity is 2 steps: exploring and making commitments
- set of semi-structured Qs allow trained individual to judge whether a young adult has achieved a clear identity or not
Identity Achievement
- 21%
- exploration and commitment
- trust themselves, able to explain their choices, view parents in balanced way
Identity diffusion
- 24%
- no exploration, no commitment
- isolated, alienated, not highly motivated
- no attachment to parents
- engage in a lot of fantasy/withdrawal
Moratorium
- 27%
- exploring but not making commitments
- preoccupied and struggling, marked ambivalence toward parents
- higher N, lower social confidence/assertiveness
Foreclosure
- 28%
- no exploring but made a commitment
- often bc of family
- goal-directed, very close to family, choose similar friends, self-confident
- if life events disrupt stability they struggle to recover
Vulnerability of those who are diffused or foreclosed
- don’t handle stress well
- difficulty with intimacy
Criticisms of Marcia and Erikson
- not all of us grow up in families where we’re encouraged to explore
- they would say there’s a psychological cost to that and many will end up foreclosed
Hikikomori
- occurs in Japan in later years of HS (esp boys)
- socially withdraw and live in their room
- 1-2% of adolescents in Japan
- identity diffusion!
Example of family friend who was foreclosed
- wanted to be a doctor
- didn’t get into med school
- applied again after undergrad, only got in in Greece
- spent 3y there, got an internship
- didn’t go well, got kicked out of school
- a year later still struggling and doesn’t know what to do
Spiderman and identity status
- probably foreclosed
- wanted to be a scientist, getting powers challenged this, he went into a depression
Study on self-esteem and identity status
- made students take ambiguous test, gave fake feedback (either 40th percentile or 90th)
- in achieved and moratorium, self esteem wasn’t too affected
- foreclosed and diffuse swung wildly based on feedback
Intimacy status (what it is + 4 categories)
- depth of relationships; commitment
- isolate: no depth, no commitment (Sheldon Cooper before he met Leonard)
- stereotyped: lot of relationships but no depth (Seinfeld characters)
- pre-intimate: some depth but no commitment to a single partner (FRIENDS)
- intimate: commitment and mutuality (Jim and Pam)
Generativity definition
- adult’s concern for and commitment to the well-being of youth and future generations
- spans from 35-70
- non generative individuals experience self-absorption, stagnation, and impoverished interpersonal relations
- dynamic tension between generativity and stagnation!
Virtues/strengths we get from resolving Erikson’s stages
- Trust – hope
- Autonomy – will
- Initiative – purpose
- Industry – competence and self-esteem
- Identity – fidelity
- Intimacy – love
- Generativity – care
- Integrity – wisdom
Study on identity status and intimacy status
- at higher levels of identity status, more likely to have higher level of intimacy status
- low levels also highly correlated
Win Win movie trailer
- Paul Giamatti plays middle aged lawyer who’s very stressed and is taking care of a lot of people
- takes on too much
- captures struggle of midlife
Marcia’s category model for generativity
- asks about work and community activities
- codes for evidence of deep involvement/concern for growth of others AND scope of concern/involvement
- should go beyond just your own children
- 4 quadrants (shallow/deep involvement and narrow/wide scope)
- stagnant: shallow + narrow
- conventional: deep + narrow
- pseudo-generative: shallow + wide
- generative: deep + wide
Tableau vivant and other examples of generativity vs. stagnation
- Koestner was mostly involved w his own daughter, less other kids
- HS best friend Tony got in touch, was much more generative (took students on trips every year, made tableau vivant with community)
- Koestner asked to be involved in church but said no, “failure to rise to the occasion”
- became more generative in pandemic w community work
- Tony would score 99th percentile, Richard 50th, his brother less (dropped coaching job as soon as son changed teams)
McAdams model of generativity
- 3 components: generative concerns (values), generative acts, generative strivings
- relate to level 2 of personality
- 3 components correlate about r= .40
Lekes et al. 2015 study on generativity strivings and well-being in young and middle adults
- followed ppl for a year to see if level of identity and generativity predicted well-being outcomes
- generativity positively related to well-being for midlife adults but not young adults
well-being payoff for making progress on set of issues within your current stage!
Hart et al. 2001 study on generativity and social activities
- student of McAdams
- studied 250 community adults (white and Black)
- in both samples, generativity ass. w wider friend network, providing more social support in community, and having greater relationship satisfaction
- greater involvement in church activities only significant in African American sample
Generativity and parenting
- generative parents more involved in schooling, don’t only volunteer when it involves their own kid
- generative parents have right balance of responsiveness and supporting autonomy w providing structures/expectations
Peterson 2006 study on generative parents and college age children
- measured Big 5 trait change over 4y in students
- if you have generative parents you’re more likely to show a marked improvement in A and C (thought to reflect social maturity)
- also became more comfortable and happier at uni over the 4 years if parents highly generative
Successful aging
- social connectedness and physical activity are really important
- social connectedness that involves generativity especially important
Peterson & Duncan 2007 Prospective Study of Generativity
- McAdam’s students
- longitudinal design
- 100 50yo women for 10y
- women higher in generativity increased in life satisfaction, less concern ab aging, less confusion ab identity, and positive personality development (increase in A+O, decrease in N)
Gruenwald et al. 2022 Generativity in Midlife and Successful Aging
- 2000 US 60yo
- sidenote: 25% of ppl die between 60-70; another 25% develop serious impairment
- the more generative you are at 60, the less likely you are to die or suffer from serious impairment in next 10 years
- replicated in Japan and France
At level 2, it seems like ______ may be more significant than the traits
family influences!
- true for attachment and autonomy
Hazen & Shaver personality scale for attachment in relationships
- worst personality scale ever developed
- gives 3 descriptions of a romantic relationship and asks which suits you best
- 60% secure, 25% avoidant, 15% dependent
- even though it’s a bad measure it can predict stability/quality of relationship
Shaver 2006 meta-analysis of attachment and Big 5
- 14 studies
- more securely attached more likely to have low N, high E (esp. social dominance), and high A
- anxious attachment ass. w high N
- avoidant attachment ass. w low E and low A
- moderate correlations (.2-.3) so significant
- adding attachment style to traits in statistical model significantly predicts more relationship outcomes
- attachment predicts over and above Big 5!
John Bowlby’s grand theory
- attachment is a complex, instinctually guided behavioral system that functions predominantly to protect humans (evolutionary purpose!)
- secondary function: emotion regulation
9-12 month transition in attachment
- child suddenly becomes nervous and scared when strangers approach (this is adaptive)
- requires that attachment figure responds to calm child down
- in secure attachment, the child calms down when mother comes back
Internal working models
- secure attachment: trust, exploration, base
- insecure: distrust, anxiety, pessimism
Mary Ainsworth
- developed strange situation to look at attachment
- % of secure/insecure 12-18mo similar to what we find in adult romantic relationships
- disorganized pattern: rare, child responds unpredictably, associated w neglect or abuse
Insecure attachment at 18mo predicts: (+stability)
- difficulty in preschool
- difficulty in early childhood
- difficulties in social competence and exploration
- can change (stability is .3-.4)
Role of parenting in attachment
- consistent, sensitive, responsive parenting in first 3m associated w secure attachment at 9-12m
Harry Harlow attachment experiments
- took monkeys away from moms and gave them the choice of spending time being fed by a bottle by a metal coil mom vs. a furry artificial mom where no milk was provided
- monkeys spent all their time w comfort mom and would go feed quickly and come back
- clear preference for warmer more secure option
Srouffe study on infant attachment and social functioning at age 5
- kids securely attached at 15m more likely to show social competence in relationships at age 5
Simpson et al. 2007 longitudinal study on attachment (+ key strength of the study)
- prospective longitudinal design; no self-report
- looked at attachment in infancy, early grade school, high school, and at age 23
- attachment at 18mo and 23y significant (0.2)
- can build a path model with this data
- strongest link with next challenge in social development
- ran twin studies, confirmed that secure attachment is more ab parenting than ab child’s traits
Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk & Adaptation
- studied children of first-time moms living below poverty line
- 48% teens, 65% single, 42% no HS education
- wanted to see if early attachment would be associated w Big 5 traits at age 32
- significant positive correlation between early secure attachment and level of A and C (social maturity), and lower N
- clear evidence that secure early attachment is associated w adaptive social, motivational, and affective regulation
Over time, attachment is ______
significantly stable (r= .3)
- 75% chance of finding securely attached partner
- more likely to have secure attachment w own children if we were securely attached
Love Actually
- can see different attachment styles
- almost all shown are secure
2 types of autonomy
reactive and reflective
Self-determination theory
- 3 basic psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness, competence (ARC!)
- most empirically supported motivational theory
- the ARC of our life is impacted by whether our need for autonomy, relatedness, and competence is satisfied or thwarted
- only theory that highlights autonomy
Race Track story
- friend John Dugan in grad school
- took Koestner to horse race track
- could use data to bet on horses
- first race bet same as John, won 80$
- went monthly with John; John won a lot but Koestner didn’t bc he refused to bet on same horse as John
- not autonomous, pretty stupid
- BUT had something to do with being self-reliant, independent, and willful (autonomy is not the same)
Defining autonomy via self-determination theory
- reflective process
- Deci & Ryan: behave w a sense of volition, willingness, and congruence
- we orient towards autonomy (don’t like being controlled/doing something bc we feel we should)
- ex if you reward someone to do something they love their interest fades
The general causality orientation scale
- individual difference measure on autonomy vs. control
- give 12 vignettes/situations and ask how likely you’d be to do different thoughts/feelings/actions (rate each of 3 options on 1-7 scale)
- can see if you’re generally autonomous, controlled, or impersonal
- scale has good reliability
Autonomous orientation
- from general causality orientation scale
- initiate and regulate behavior volitionally
- mindful and aware of needs, emotions, and goals
Controlled orientation
- from general causality orientation scale
- behavior initiated and regulated by controls in environment (reward, internally controlling imperatives)
- pressure to act, think, or feel in a specified manner
- go-to move at school!
Impersonal orientation
- from general causality orientation scale
- unable to make things happen the way you want (external locus of control)
- respond in a helpless way (eg I’m probably not up for the task)
Koestner story on motivation seminar
- in first year of teaching ran seminar (15 students)
- 10/15 control oriented (kept checking in on what he wanted and how it would be graded)
- 2 were autonomous: Sabrina (sesame street) and guy (Calvin and Hobbes cartoon)
- 3 were impersonal/helpless (started too late)
Findings based on general causality orientation scale - benefits of high autonomy
- higher autonomy ass. w greater optimism and higher psych. adjustment in pursuing goals (and initiative/persistence)
- high autonomy are more integrated in behavior
- in high autonomy, implicit and self-reported motives significantly correlated
Henry Murray and autonomy
- founder of modern personality psychology
- defined autonomy as resisting influence/coercion, defying authority, and striving for independence
- definition used by Adjective Checklist (self-report, wanted to assess motives, has autonomy scale)
Reactive/independent form of autonomy (Murray)
- resistant to hypnotism
- don’t like cooperation/collaboration
- lack persistence
- maladaptive outcomes!)
Ryan definition of autonomy
- no one can live without external influences
- issue is whether following them reflects obedience/coercion or reflective valuing
- true autonomy means consulting your own interests AND listening to those around you
Correlation between reactive autonomy and collaborative autonomy
- none!
- high reactive ppl also high on control
- men more likely to be reactive, women collaborative
Autonomy and Big 5 traits
- reflective autonomy unrelated (so it’s level 2!)
- reactive autonomy: high E (social dominance), high O (Koestner doesn’t know why), very low A – kinda like narcissism (me vs we autonomy)
Koestner study of autonomy and quality of social interactions
- tracked any interaction over 10mins for a week
- high reflective autonomy have better peer interactions (more disclosure and honesty)
- high reactive autonomy bothered by interactions w authority figures
Koestner Race Track Study
- gave undergrads 6$ to bet on 3 races (2$ each)
- gave data from last 3 races and taught them how to use info to place bets
- gave two groups handicapper’s picks (expert predictions); some experts were credible, some not
- high reflective followed experts (and won more $)
- reactive followed non-credible experts only
Koestner COVID vaccination survey
- did big survey in Southern US
- 3-wave prospective longitudinal study in QC
- measured 2 forms of autonomy (me vs we)
- high reflective use credible info sources
- high reactive use “own research” (social media)
- reflective want to follow guidelines, reactive don’t
- suggests it’s more adaptive to include others in our understanding of autonomy!
According to McAdams, the most individuating aspect of our personality is ______
the life story!
Narrative identity definition (McAdams)
- internalized and evolving story of the self that a person consciously and unconsciously constructs to bind together the many aspects of the self
- humans are by nature storytellers!
The basics of a story
- set in a time and a place
- expected to have a beginning, middle, and end
- should evoke suspense and curiosity
- involve characters who act on their beliefs and desires over time
- should be some kind of barrier or challenge
Amish woman example
- turned 12 and had to stop going to school
- left her community at 19-20
- mom eventually came to get her but she left again and got married in Burlington Vermont
According to McAdams, constructing an identity through a life story is a ______________ phenomenon
modern, mostly western, and developmental
(100-200+ years ago life was scripted for us)
Neurobiology and autobiographical memories
- most skillful and nimble in accessing and integrating autobiographical memories from 20-22
Special contribution of the life narrative in personality
- allows us to integrate various aspects of personality and historical periods in our lives
McAdams says facts aren’t as important as ______
the meaning we attribute to them
(we color and shade our life story!)
McAdams preemie birth
- dad told him story at age 8
- doctor told his dad there was a 50/50 chance baby would survive
- has always been cautious and responsible and worried about things going wrong (thinks its bc of preemie birth)
- when he was 50 he learned he was actually born late
- shows that facts don’t rly matter, meaning does
Koestner Sister Julia example
- remembered her as rly hot (not true)
- also made up story that she left and married a priest
- example of distorting things for life story
Mark Baldwin story
- would tell story ab losing 5th grade spelling bee
- at age 40 realized he had stolen story from brother
- the fact he chose a story where he lost probably says something about the kind of story he’s writing with his life
Creating a life story is a ____ process
recursive
(we relate to others by telling stories, if they go over well we incorporate them into life story)
Developmental milestones in narrative identity
2-3y: start to form basic memories
3-4y: theory of mind (need to be able to understand story characters as agents)
5-6y: story grammar
10-14y: cultural scripts (menu of possibilities)
12-25y: autobiographical reasoning and advanced storytelling skills
Although our young adult years are ___% of our lifespan, they’re about ___% of our autobiographical narrative
15%, 60%
Reminiscence bump
- remember more from late teens and young adult years than any other period
Life story study w 50yo (2008)
- list 20 “I am” statements
- pick 3 and generate 10 memories for each
- mean age was 23
North American vs. Asian life stories
- NAs have detailed childhood memories that are very “me” focused, show how we are unique
- asians start w parents and grandparents, more aware of previous generations; theme of learning to be better
2 psychological functions of the life story
- gives life meaning and purpose
- provides unity to our experiences
Big 5 traits and telling the life story
- high C: perseverance, achievement, successes
- high A: joy, social connections/gatherings
- high N: more negative affect
- high O: complex, multiple plots, more coherent
our traits make us more likely to have certain types of experiences AND more likely to remember them and incorporate them into the life story
McAdams - types of life story plots
- redemptive (best)
- contamination: everything is going well and then something ruins it (more frequent in high N ppl)
Big 3 motives and life stories
- nAch: trying to achieve excellence, succeeding
- nPow: impact you’ve had
- nAff/Int: closeness and relationships
Attachment and life stories
more securely attached –> more optimistic story
Autonomy and the life story
- how much you’re engaging in your own story
- nAch, autonomy, and nPow all link to AGENCY
- agency associated w better well-being
McAdams’ life story method
- get ppl to spend 2h engaging in autobiographical reminiscences
- often ask ppl to break story into chapters
- can ask about key episodes, life challenges, main characters, future plot, ideology, life theme
Key features of a life story
- genre
- ideological setting
- themes
- characters
- imagery
Trailer for Brooklyn
- Irish girl who immigrates to Brooklyn in 1950
- thought his mom would love it but she said that girl had it too easy (bc she spoke English, had a boarding house and good job, had a priest looking out for her)
Koestner’s mom’s life story
- escaped from Nazi youth camp at age 7 (Koestner doesn’t think this is credible) – highly agentic story
- met husband, “bewitched him” – attributes power to herself
- quit bad job, husband left but then came to win her back
- themes of agency and survival; fighting against the odds; recurrent guardian angels
Two basic themes of life stories
- Agency: individual accomplishments, ability to control one’s life
- Communion: interpersonal connections
- mom’s story is high agency and low communion
Qualities of a good life story
- coherence (causal, thematic, characters)
- openness
- credibility (verisimilitude)
- differentiation (not same story over and over again)
- reconciliation (key conflicts)
______ could be a common factor that accounts for finding that many different kinds of therapy are successful
the opportunity to narrate your life story
3 common factors in helpful therapy
- therapeutic alliance
- autonomous motivation
- narrative disclosure
Adler study on narrative and psychotherapy (and ego dev)
- 50 therapy patients followed over 12 sessions
- full life narrative interview at start
- every week wrote ab how life was changing
- assessed ego development (complete sentences like “change is _____” and gets coded)
- agency themes most related to reducing psychological problems
- coherence related to ego development
- N reduced over course of therapy
Koestner concerns ab Life Narrative Method
- takes too long to elicit and transcribe life narratives
- many ppl aren’t prepared to tell their life story
- sometimes hard to code for themes
- instead we can ask for a few self-defining memories and tap into network of associated memories
Self-defining memories
- emotionally intense event that link to personal issue prompts a script
- defines you in some way
Fred Philippe UQAM study 1 - memories and well-being (+ stats, nAch, nPow)
- asks about defining memories and then asks for connected memories
- codes memories for how needs satisfying vs needs frustrating they are
- hierarchical multiple regression
- valence (pos or neg) has effect on well-being
- achievement memories pos related to well-being, power memories neg related
- after controlling for things, need satisfaction still has highly significant effect on well-being
Fred Philippe UQAM study 2
Redid study w coders so no self-report bias
- C pos ass. well-being, N neg ass.
- controlled for need satisfaction in everyday life
- need satisfaction in self defining memory had incremental predictive usefulness for well-being
Fred Philippe UQAM study 3
- study of uni students over a semester
- need satisfaction in self defining memory significantly positively related to change in well-being
Fred Philippe UQAM research on burnout
- when more work-related memories are need satisfying there is more resistance to burnout over time
Fred Philippe UQAM research on holiday memories
- best memory from winter holidays predicts well being a month or two later
Fred Philippe UQAM research on relationships
- if people have need satisfying memory in relationship, more likely to increase in RQ and not break up
Fred Philippe UQAM research on emotion regulation (2 types)
- integrative emotion regulation: learning from negative emotions (more accepting of negative events and better at maintaining well-being over time)
- dysregulation of emotion: negative emotions impact thoughts and behavior
Hedonic & Eudaimonic well-being
- Hedonic: maximize positive experiences, subjective well-being
- Eudaimonic: Aristotle thought this was more important, living in accord w your true self, psychological well-being
Neil Pasricha - The Happiness Equation (and his traits/motives)
- hedonic well-being
- high A, high E, high nPow
Stability of hedonic well-being
very high! (we have a set point)
- others can see it accurately too
- highly heritable
Diener subject life satisfaction scale
- 5 items on 1-7 Likert scale
- most ppl are pretty high, there’s a normal distribution
- measures hedonic well-being
- high scores ass. w high E and low N
3 important suggestions from the happiness equation
- 10mins writing ab good things from day
- 10mins meditation each day
- random act of kindness each day
Sources of hedonic well-being
- high E low N
- married ppl are higher (esp men)
- unemployed are lower
- for most SLEs we are back to set point within 6m
Emmons studies on well-being and luck
- 40 wheelchair bound and 40 matched controls
- no differences in hedonic well-being
- also found winning lottery has slightly neg effect
U-bend of hedonic well-being
- downward trend from 20-46, then goes up
- stress highest in 20s
- worry highest in 30s
- sadness highest in 40s
- anger goes down after 20s
Measurement of eudaimonic well-being
- purpose, meaning, & self-actualization
- maturity or ego development
Self-Actualization scale (+ corr. w hedonic wb)
- measures eudaimonic well-being
- self-report; 1-7 agree/disagree
- whether your life is purposeful and has meaning
- acceptance, authenticity, purpose, efficient perception of reality
- correlates .7 or .8 w hedonic well-being
Sentence completion task for ego development
- Jane Loevinger, 1960s but still used
- 36 item projective test
- code responses to determine level ( /7)
- 40% of us are at level 4 (conscientious)
- ppl who score high fucntion better in the world
- only small correlation w hedonic
Laura King divorce study
- women divorced after 20y+
- focused on lost possible self (high or low elaboration responses)
- low elaborative decreased less in short term for hedonic (but odes decrease after 2y)
- high elaborative score much higher eudaimonically
- so happiness might require avoiding thinking ab loss but maturity requires awareness
Distinguishing hedonic and eudaimonic well-being
- high pos correlations if measured in self-report
- deal with difficult life events differently
Ken study on both types of well-being
- can’t change hedonic w-b even if we want to
- can improve eudaimonic w-b
- better to focus on eudaimonic
Foreclosed status and well-being
- have high hedonic but low eudaimonic
Achieved identity status and well-being
- high on both hedonic and eudaimonic
Attachment style and well-being
- secure attachment associated w both types
Life narrative and well-being
- full complex narrative will include negative stuff so might limit hedonic but is great for eudaimonic
According to Koestner, what is the one thing that for many of us changin it would make the biggest difference in our lives?
assertiveness/social dominance
Pam’s advice in The Office finale
- uses lots of agentic terms (opposite of inhibition)
Benefits of social assertiveness (7)
- hedonic well-being
- self-esteem and social inclusion
- free trait theory (need assertiveness to push ourselves outside comfort zone)
- uninhibited expression of motives
- exploration efforts for identity
- finding secure attachment relationships
- making things happen for life story
Amy Cuddy and power poses
- power pose associated w giving better job talk
- power poses raised testosterone and lowered cortisol
- more likely to gamble after power pose
- lesson is fake it until you become it
- not replicable
Assertiveness training
- ass w lower levels of depression, anxiety, higher self-esteem, better relationships
- assertiveness training could be a transdiagnostic intervention
- part of first wave of CBT (essentially just BT)
- goal is to help clients verbalize what they want
- done in a group over 6-8 sessions
4 main goals of assertiveness training
- ability to openly communicate ab desires/needs
- ability to say no
- ability to communicate openly ab feelings
- establishing contacts; conversations
Key advice for the shy or socially anxious
- just be warm and friendly!
3 waves of CBT
- 1: behavioral therapy (rehearsing)
- 2: focus on cognitions behind inhibition
- 3: mindfulness and self-awareness
Motivation and assertiveness
- if you believe intelligence can be developed, you’ll set more challenging goals and you can grow and change
- if you believe it’s fixed you avoid challenge
- also true for personality traits (implicit theories)
- easiest thing to change is belief that you can change!
Beer study on beliefs ab shyness (2002)
- coded how shy students acted in 3 interactions
- if they have malleable theory thy can feel like someone who’s less shy (BUT come across as just as shy to observers)
Lynn Alden research on social anxiety interventions
- socially anxious don’t necessarily avoid situations, just find safety behaviours
- developed intervention to limit safety behaviours and encourage mastery behaviours
Fundamental values: Conservation
- conformity
- tradition
- security
