CHAP5: Personality over Time: Stability, Coherence, Change

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers personality development, stability, coherence, and change over the lifespan, including predictors of life outcomes and the Big Five traits.

Personality development

The continuities, consistencies, and stabilities in people over time, as well as the ways in which people change over time.

Rank order stability

The maintenance of an individual's position within a group over time, often assessed by test-retest correlations.

Mean level stability

The constancy of the average level of a trait in a group at different points in time; significant changes are referred to as mean-level change.

Personality coherence

Changes in the manifestations of a trait over time while maintaining rank order stability; it includes both stability in the underlying trait and change in outward manifestations.

Predictors of marital dissatisfaction and divorce

Key predictors include Husbands' Neuroticism, lack of impulse control, and Wives' Neuroticism.

Low Neuroticism (High emotional stability)

A trait associated with grieving less, showing less depression, and a quicker psychological recovery after loss.

Alcoholism and emotional disturbance predictors

Associated with high neuroticism, high sensation seeking, high impulsivity, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness.

High conscientiousness

The best predictor of successful achievement at work and school, as well as involvement at work and financial security.

Sensation-seeking trajectory

Increases from childhood to adolescence, peaks at ages $16-20$, and decreases from adolescence to adulthood.

Frontal lope development

Associated with the decrease in impulsivity as individuals move from adolescence to adulthood.

Ambition Study findings

Observed a decline in ambition from the $20s$ to $40s$, with a steeper decline for those who had secondary education.

Self-esteem variability

Short-term changes in ongoing self-esteem; it declines during adolescence (more significantly for girls) and recovers more quickly in young men.

Psychological maturation

Reflected by an increase in agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability from young adulthood to middle age.

Big Five changes in adulthood

Generally involves an increase in agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and social dominance, while openness and extraversion decline.

Phineas Cage

A case of extreme personality change due to frontal lope injury, resulting in impulsive, indulgent, and disrespectful behavior.

Patient KC

A case of physical trauma resulting in extreme personality changes, including becoming less sociable, less gregarious, and no longer thrill-seeking.

Population level of analysis

Personality changes and consistencies that apply more or less to everyone, such as the increase in sexual motivation at puberty.

Group difference levels

Changes over time that affect different groups differently, including sex differences in puberty and risk-taking, or cultural differences.

Individual difference level

Analysis used to predict which specific individuals will go through a midlife crisis or are at risk for psychological disturbance.

Temperament

Individual differences that emerge very early in life, likely having a heritable basis, and often involving emotionality or arousability.

Rothbarth factors

Six factors used to study infant temperament; infants scoring high on activity level or smiling and laughter tend to score high on those same traits later.

Longitudinal studies

Research designs that examine the same group of individuals over time, which are often costly and difficult to implement.

Actometer

A recording device attached to the wrists of children during play periods to measure activity level.

Stability coefficients

Correlations between the same measures of a trait at two different points in time, also known as test-retest reliability coefficients.

Validity coefficients

Correlations between different measures of the same trait at the same time (e.g., actometer-based vs. judge-based measurements).

Volitional Personality Change

Intentional efforts to change personality, such as setting goals to be more extraverted or using mindfulness-based meditation to improve agreeableness.

Psilocybin

A substance found in psychedelic mushrooms that can increase openness and may reduce antisocial tendencies and physical violence against partners.