part 4: personality developmentchapter 12: personality dev… where personality leads us copyright...

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV…

Where Personality Leads Us

Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach

Where Personality Leads Us…

Theme and Variation on

Topic 12. Personality Development in Adulthood

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The Lecture and the Book…

• Chapter 12: Personality Development in Adulthood?

1. What is the Nature of Adult Development?

2. What Are Young Adults Like?

3. How Does the Individual Traverse Middle Adulthood?

4. Where is Personality Headed in the Concluding Parts of Life?

• Lecture 12: Where Personality Leads Us

1. Adult Stages2. Dating, Career Choice 3. Marriage, Work Success,

& Health 4. Adjusting5. Optimal development




Stage Theories Stages 6 through 8 of Erikson’s Eight Stages

Stage and Age: Personal Social

Intimacy vs. Isolation Young Adulthod

Forming intimate relationships versus existing alone and in isolation

Occupations; organizations

Generativity vs. Stagnation Adulthood

Creation of a new family; contributing to society vs. repeating life on a day-to-day basis with little growth and giving

Occupation; family

Ego Integrity vs. DespairMaturity

Positive sense of self as giving, productive vs. inability to accept his or her life

Family; occupation; institutions




A Portion of Levinson’s Adult Stage ModelStage Ages Developmental tasks Possible Outcomes

Entering the adult world

22-28 Test out links between valued self and society

*Explore possibilities/ keep options open

*Create a stable life structure

*create loose structure w/o stability, not rooted

*loose at beginning and firm up commitments

*commit strongly early and question it later

Age 30 transition

28-33 *Work out flaws and limits of early adult life

*Revise entry into adulthood before too late

*excitement: “getting oneself together”

*smooth beginning, with enrichment

*Crisis: life intolerable; difficult to change; divorce, threat to own life




Finding a Desirable Partner

• Do the number of relationships matter? Do people learn from them? …There is no relationship betweem dating relationships and success in marriage.

• Success at dating can be defined in many different ways– Number of relationships– Commitment to a single relationship– Intimacy in a relationship





• Matters are different for men and women.

• Relationships Divide into Different Levels:– Early Dating: Most superficial desires– Commitment: Value correspondence– Marriage/Domestic Partners: Serious role

congruence (can you work as a team)





• Men write about their occupational status and education

• They seek attractive, youthful partners

• Women write about their attractiveness & youth

• They seek men of high occupational status and education





• People choose as mates those who are more similar to them than other random people.

• Particularly true of:– Religion– Social habits (e.g., drinking)– Sensation seeking– Conceptions of marriage– Family background– Intelligence (r = .49)




In Search of Good Work

Holland Occupational Hexagram• Realistic: farmers, mechanics, surveyors• Investigative: biologists, chemists• Artistic: writers, actors, interior decorators• Social: social workers, teachers, therapists• Enterprising: salespeople, politicians, reporters• Conventional: book-keepers, accountants,

engineers





• Similar occupational types are nearby

• Different types are opposite one another

• A good mnemonic is: RIASEC

Enterprising

(People &

Ideas,

Not Things)

Enterprising

(People &

Ideas,

Not Things)

Social

(People, not

Things)

Social

(People, not

Things)

Artistic

(Imagining &

Creating)

Artistic

(Imagining &

Creating)

Investigative

(Ideas, Math,

Science)

Investigative

(Ideas, Math,

Science)

Realitic

(Things, not

People)

Realitic

(Things, not

People)

Conventional

(Organizing

Things)

Conventional

(Organizing

Things)

Types of

Occupations

Types of

Occupations





Enterprising

(People &

Ideas,

Not Things)

Enterprising

(People &

Ideas,

Not Things)

Social

(People, not

Things)

Social

(People, not

Things)

Artistic

(Imagining &

Creating)

Artistic

(Imagining &

Creating)

Investigative

(Ideas, Math,

Science)

Investigative

(Ideas, Math,

Science)

Realitic

(Things, not

People)

Realitic

(Things, not

People)

Conventional

(Organizing

Things)

Conventional

(Organizing

Things)

Types of

Occupations

Types of

Occupations

• The greatest predictor of job satisfaction is…a person’s overall sense of satisfaction

• Beyond that, however, people with personalities that match their occupation are still more satisfied

• Gottfredson & Holland, 1990




Staying Married

Superfactors Men Women

Positive emotion -.07* -.15**

Negative emotion -.11* -.12**

Constraint .11** -.11**from Jockin, McGue, & Lykken (1996)




Staying Married

Specific Factors Men Women

Well being .05* .02*

Social potency -.21** -.18**

Achievement -.07 -.11**

Alienation -.10** -.14**

Control .06 .12**

Harm Avoidance .09** .15**

Traditionalism .16** .25**from Jockin, McGue, & Lykken (1996)




Staying Married

...one might speculate that personality in married couples...explains about a quarter of the variance in divorce risk. This is not an overly imposing figure, perhaps. But in the light of the myriad social, economic, and psychological factors that bear on the probability of a life outcome such as divorce, such a contribution to variance seems considerable (Jockin, McGue, & Lykken, 1996, p. 296).




Finding Occupational Success

• Average intelligence quotient of people in a given occupation correlates r = .80 with the prestige of the occupation

• IQ forms a “floor” for an occupation. That is, people below the floor cannot do it.

• No occupation has a “ceiling” – people of high IQ are found in all occupations.





• Best (non-ability) Predictor of Success at Work Across All Occupations Among the Big Five (Barrick & Mount, 1981):– Extroversion-Introversion– Emotionality (Neuroticism)-Stability– Openness Closedness– Friendliness-Hostility– Conscientiousness-Carelessness*** r

= .17, for objective measures





• Large, longitudinal, New Zealand sample (Caspi, Elder, & Bem, 1987)

• Studied Children with high and low levels of temper tantrums, rated by mothers at ages 8, 9, and 11

• In the military (70% entered military), achieved lower rank on average

• By age 50, less occupational success– In fact, those from a middle-class background were

downwardly mobile

• Nearly twice the divorce rate (40 vs. 22%)




Finding Occupational Success; Specifics

• There are also specific factors for occupations

• Example: Optimism and Electioneering – Candidates who employ an optimistic style in

their campaigning won in 18 of 22 presidential elections from 1900 to 1984.





• Adlai Stevenson’s Nomination Acceptance Speech:

• “That my heart has been troubled, that I have not sought the nomination, that I could not seek it in good conscience, that I would not seek it in honest self-appraisal, is not to say I value it the less.”!

• Eisenhower, Nomination Acceptance Speech:

• “Ladies and gentlemen, you have summoned me on behalf of millions of your fellow Americans to lead a great crusade -- for freedom in America and freedom in the world.”

• Both quoted in Simonton, (1994, p. 253).





• Optimism and Electioneering:Concerns…

• Of course, happy people tend to process information more superficially than sadder people.

• So, voters get a certain kind of candidate…





• Assuming a decent intelligence (above 110 for many matters; 120 for scientific work), hard work over many years seems most essential.




Personality and Health

• Some suggestive findings:– Hostility and heart disease

• Type A pattern: competitiveness, hostility, impatience, achievement striving, loud, explosive speech style; may be associated with heart disease

• Depression may be associated with heart disease, but findings remain controversial.

– Difficulty coping with stress• Leads to greater likelihood of colds and transient infections

– People with negative affect report more symptoms, but no health differences (e.g., longevity) have been reliably detected.




Personality Development in Adulthood

Focus on Adjusting Course and Concluding Aims

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Who Adjusts Course? Who Changes the Most?

(Block, 1971)In a longitudinal study of

the Berkeley Guidance and Oakland Growth Studies, Block used a Q-sort measure of adjustment to compare changers and non-changers between adolescence and adulthood.

Those most stable:• More intellectually

successful• More emotionally

successful• More socially successful• Better adjusted




Who Adjusts Course? • Who Changed? (Block, 1971) • Those who were less mature, and underwent further

maturation (late bloomers).• Individuals who are more deviant are pressured to

change: Others want them to approach the “biosocial norm.” Still, their personalities did not necessarily become more pleasant.

• Sometimes, the person looks different because norms change: Women labeled “rebellious” in the period 1945-1960, looked more adjusted in the period of the late 1960’s, after the beginning of the women’s movement.




Who Adjusts Course?

Ryff’s Model of Well Being

High Environmental Mastery

Low Personal Growth

Conservers Achievers High Personal Growth

Depleted Seekers

Low Environmental Mastery




Who Adjusts Course? Examples of three types (from Helson & Srivastava)

Cathy: Conserver Sarah: Seeker Andrea: Achiever*Married young to man approved by family*Supported his career problems by going to work in people-oriented job*Quit after 20 years of high competence because people disrespectful*Much sought out by church & commun. groups

*Described by interviewer as unusually perceptive, but with tendency to disengage abruptly*Dropped out of graduate school when unexpectedly became pregnant*Worked at becoming more sociable*In helping profession, where must work around bureaucracy*Hopes to write great American novel

*Did not want to marry or have children*Straight from college to professional school *Continued career progress but drank heavily*Overcame drinking at age 40*Married a charming and successful man, good relations with his children*Retired, and had second career as volunteer




Who Adjusts Course?

Traversing Middle Adulthood: Helson Study

Achiev’s Conserv’s Seeker’s DepletedLife Satisfaction .11 .41 .09 -.61Convent. Adjust -.53 .45 .19 -.11

Polit. Liber. -.04 -.58 .74 -.12Occup. Creativity .22 -.58 .52 -.16

Satis. with job secur./ben.

.34 .20 -.46 -.08




Good Functioning

– One definition of a good personality is simply freedom from psychopathology.

• Freud: To Love and to Work• DSM-IV [free from] Social and occupational

dysfunction

– Is that enough?




Adding Strengths

– Another approach is to identify positive personality traits

– The individual is assessed depending upon the number of such positive characteristics.

– Some examples include: • Subjective Well-Being: A person’s positive emotional and

intellectual evaluation that he or she is experiencing a good life, that that he or she is likable, and that the life he or she lives is satisfying (Diener, Lucas, & Oishi, 2002, p. 63).




Adding Strengths

• More examples of positive traits: – Resilience: A person’s capacity to adjust and adapt positively in

the face of significant challenges, bad luck, and risk (Masten & Reed, 2002, p. 74)

– Creativity (Simonton, 2002, p. 192). A person’s independent, nonconformist perspective, coupled with wide interests and openness to new experiences, and cognitive flexibility

– Humility: A person’s ability to accurately assess his or her strengths and weaknesses, to acknowledge his or her limitations in social contexts, and to de-emphasize her or his self in social settings (Tangney, 2002, p. 411).




Strengths, and Weaknesses, in Context There are issues with counting strengths

• Some strengths contradict one another – …creativity and loyalty…– ...empathy and fairness...– …courage and realistic caution...

• Other strengths can be weaknesses in some contexts– Optimism– Courage

• Some weaknesses can be strengths:– Defensive Pessimism




Strengths, and Weaknesses, in Context

• Defensive Pessimism defined (25% most extreme in this regard):– Set low standards for themselves– Consider all the possible negative outcomes– Are highly anxious– Perform so as to cope with negative possible outcomes

• Perform as well as optimists – and better than when they (pessimists) use more optimistic approaches.




Optimal Types

Self-Actualized Person

• A global ability to perceive reality, be flexible, and appreciate the world (my interpretation)

• Prevalence: Non-existent before age 35 or so




Optimal Types

Characteristics of Maslow’s Self- Actualized Person

• Efficient Reality Perception

• Acceptance

• Spontaneity

• Problem Centering

• Detachment




Optimal Types

Characteristics of Maslow’s Self- Actualized Person (cont.)

• Autonomy (Gilligan: Relatedness?)

• Freshness of Appreciation

• Peak Experiences

• Special Relationships




Optimal Types

Characteristics of Maslow’s Self- Actualized Person (cont.)

• Gemeinschaftsgefuhl (helping the world)

• Democratic Character

• Unhostile Humor




~ end ~

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