Personality Change and Stability Flashcards
What does the marshmallow experiment predict?
academic achievements
drug use
health
what are the three stabilities
rank-order: the correlation between the rank order of the traits of a person at timepoint 1 and timepoint 2 in a population (test-retest stability)
mean-level: the difference/correlation in terms of the traits
individual stability
what are the four insights of the rank-order stability, and what are the explanations for rank-order stability
the correlations are pretty stable ( r= .3 - .6)
the rank-order stability increases across lifespan
the stability decreases if the measuring interval is increased
does not vary across
B5 traits, reporting method and gender
genetic influence
environmental channeling
environmental selection
Evidences to the above explanations
genetic influence
McGue thinks that genetics play a huge role (.7-.9) to the stability, and the environment plays a big role (.7) to the instability of rank-order stability
however, Johnson thinks both genetics and environment play a huge role in rank-order stability
note that they measure different stuff
McGue measured the degree of genetics account for rank-order stability
Johnson measured the degree of stability of the heritable and inheritable components of the traits
Environmental channeling
showed that people with spouse that is highly similar = the rank-order stability is higher
but even low similarity the stability is .4, not low
Environmental selection
assortative mating: trait correlation between friends or partners can be up to .35
vocational choice
migration
note that the results of environment to rank-order stability is still a question mark
what are the different tendencies of the changes of the traits, and what do the trends uncover
and what are the predictions of laypeople on the changes in personality
A and C increase
E (dominance increase, vitality decrease), O (increase in the early adulthood and then tends to become more stable afterwards) and N (emotional stability increase) decrease over time
Uncover that personality changes can be explained by the psychological maturity
psychological maturity
broadly positive
adaptive > to the stage that the person is in, and therefore leading to a good outcome during that life stage
desirable > positively evaluated during that life stage
pretty accurate, apart from E (complex)
accurate for rank-order stability also (that people’s overall personality is more stable as people age)
what are the explanations to mean-level personality changes
genetic influences
Loehlin showed that trait change scores correlate higher with MZ twins (.5) vs DZ twins (.18), proposing that there might be a “genetic switch” to mean-level personality trait
however, Hopwood showed that genetic components > environmental only played a role in the change conscientiousness
N only significant environmental effect
environmental
cross-cultural study
the idea is: if the environment plays a role in mean-level personality changes, then the observed mean-level change patterns for different cultures should be different
however, showed that pretty similar, apart for N
Chopik = different in conscientiousness comparing US and Japan
transition in life
transition to work
Roberts (1997) showed that women who were working were associated with a higher E (however, this might be a environmental selection problem)
transition to parenthood
Avison suggested that being a parent = leading to higher E and A, and lower O (however, again suffering from the environmental selection dilemma)
Sheppington showed that there is environmental selection, in the sense that parents have a higher baseline in E and lower in O
what is the claim of the cohort effect and the responses to the claims
cohort effect proposes that personality mean-level stability can be predicted by the cohort and the experience that they have gone through
Jean’s book suggested that millennials are more egoistic (generation X)
however, the study was flawed
sample size not representative enough and the scores were aggregated
later studies show that the effect is very weak
only moderate effects on higher aspiration to higher education and less participation in social activities
what is the trend of individual change, practical implications of individual change, and also work and travelling experiences leading to the individual change
the change magnitude of the traits are lower when a person ages (apart from N)
practical implications
health (C) and mortality (N)
work experience (E and N) and (working attainment and financial security)
showed that personality predicts the working experience
and working experience predicts personality change
people with higher E started off with higher working attainment, then high attainment leads to higher E
people with lower N started off with higher financial security, then higher financial security leads to a more steeper drop (i.e., lower N) in neuroticism
travelling
selection effect:
higher E and C > short-term exchange
higher E an O > long-term exchange
travelling effect
increases O and A; decreases N
higher C maybe for building a CV, whilst higher O maybe really want to experience the world
how does clinical interventions change individual-level stability, and when does personality changes happen
long lasting effect on decreasing N and increasing E
the type of therapy does not matter
but some problems bring a stronger effect
the effect is minimal just a month after the intervention, then tappered off after 8 months
prior to major events
employment
unemployment
marriage
divorce
childbirth
can people change their personality accordingly
short-term: yes
showed that the personality expression (short-term) can be changed by the goal that the person is trying to achieve
long-term: yes
three research questions by Hudson & Fraley
1. Do people want to change
2. Do change change as wanted
3. How do they change
- Yes, mostly by increase O, C, E, A and drop of N
- Yes
- Through counter-dispositional behavior (E, A, N)
goals > expression > change in trait
identity (E, C, N)
goals > change in trait > expression
