ch 5: personality disposition over time - stability, change & coherence

what are the key parts of personality development?

stability (over time)

• rank order

• mean level stability

• personality coherence

analyzing stability & change

• population

• group differences

• individual differences

what is stability in infancy: temperament?

temperament: early differences in emotionality, behaviour, and arousability

• stable and early individual differences

• more stability over shorter intervals

• stability increases with maturity

what is stability in childhood: activity level?

block & block longitudinal study: assessed activity level via actometer & teacher ratings

main findings:

• results from both measures positively correlate (validity)

• results from same measure at different times correlated (stability)

• activity was relatively stable, with more stability over shorter intervals

what is stability in childhood: aggression among males?

bullying & related outcomes later in life

• different rater identified same youth as “bullies“

• at 24yo, 65% of “bullies“ had felony convictions

what is stability in adulthood: big 5?

• big 5 are relatively stable in adulthood - especially after 50 years of age

• but, openess, extraversion, neuroticism decline slightly until the age 50

what is change in adolescence: self-esteem?

boys tend to increase slightly in self-esteem; girls tend to decrease slightly

what is change in adulthood: ambition in business settings?

• ambition declined in group of managerial candidates (sample = men)

• increases in autonomy, dominance, leadership, motivation

→ results due to men becoming more realistic about limits in promotion

what is change in adulthood: independence among women?

divorced mothers, non-mothers, working mothers

• almost all increased in levels of independence

  • stay-at-home mom had no increases in independence (important to examine subgroups)

what is change over time: cohort effects?

personality change due to social times of individuals

what are predicting outcomes: marital dissatisfaction?

predictors of marital dissatisfaction/divorce

• neuroticism of either spouse

• husband’s lack of impulse control

• neuroticism of both + husband’s lack of impulse control

what are predicting outcomes: alcohol and emotional difficulties?

• higher neuroticism (observer ratings) → emotional difficulties & alcoholism

• higher neuroticism & lower impulse control → alcoholism

what are predicting outcomes: health and longevity?

better health + life longevity

• high conscientiousness

• high extraversion

• low hostility

what are predicting outcomes: schizophreniform disorder?

schizophreniform disorder

• involves schizophrenia symptoms:

  • hallucinations delusion, disorganized speech and behaviour, negative symptoms (e.g. flat affect)

  • lasts 1-6 months but not uncommon to later have a diagnosis of schizophrenia

*many of the above symptoms relate to personality (e.g. ways of thinking, feeling) & personality disorders

what are the findings in schizophreniform?

longitudinal study predicting symptoms from age 11-26

findings

• for those with “high“ symptoms at 11 yo

  • 25% had a diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder at age 26

  • 70% had at least one symptom (but no diagnosis) at age 26

  • 90% had impaired functioning at age 26