Stability, chapter 5

Question 1

personality development

Answer 1

Continuities, consistencies, and stabilities in people over time, and the way in which people change over time

Even though people change and develop as they age, each person still has a sense of self as the same person from year to year.

Question 2

three key forms of stability

Answer 2

Rank order stability

Mean level stability

Personality coherence

Question 3

three key forms of stability: Rank order stability

Answer 3

Maintenance of individual position within a group

Think test-retest reliability

Question 4

three key forms of stability: Mean level stability

Answer 4

Constancy of level
Average of a group over time

Question 5

Personality Change: Two Defining Qualities

Answer 5

internal

enduring

Question 5

three key forms of stability: Personality coherence

Answer 5

Maintaining rank order relative to others, but changing in the manifestations of the trait

Can go from overt to covert

Question 6

Personality Change: Two Defining Qualities
Internal

Answer 6

Changes are internal to a person, not changes in the external surroundings

Question 7

Personality Change: Two Defining Qualities
Enduring

Answer 7

Changes are enduring over time, not temporary

Question 8

3 levels of analysis

Answer 8

population level

group differences level

individual difference level

Question 9

3 levels of analysis: population level

Answer 9

Changes or constancies that apply more or less to everyone

Question 10

3 levels of analysis: group differences level

Answer 10

Changes or constancies that affect different groups differently

Question 11

3 levels of analysis: individual difference level

Answer 11

Changes or constancies that affect individual people differently

E.g., Can we predict who is at risk for psychological disturbance later in life based on earlier measures of personality?

Question 12

Personality stability over time: infancy

Answer 12

temperament

Question 13

Personality stability over time: infancy– temperament

Answer 13

Individual differences that emerge very early in life, are heritable, and involved behaviours are linked with emotionality

As assessed by caregivers, temperament factors include activity level, smiling and laughter, fear, distress to limitations, soothability, and the duration of orienting

Research points to the following conclusions
—Stability of temperament is higher over short intervals of time than over long intervals of time
—Level of stability of temperament increases as infants mature
—Stable individual differences emerge early in life, where they can be assessed by observers
—For most temperament variables, there are moderate levels of stability over time during the first year of life

Question 14

Personality Stability over time: Childhood

Answer 14

Measures taken early in life can predict personality later in life, but the predictability decreases over time

Stability of childhood aggression

Question 15

Personlality stability over time: childhood– stabiltiy of childhood aggression

Answer 15

Individual differences in aggression emerge early in life, by three years of age

Individuals retain rank order stability on aggression over many years

Stability coefficients decline as interval between two times of measurement increases

Question 16

Personality Stability Over Time: Adulthood

Answer 16

rank order stability in adulthood

mean level stability in adulthood

Question 17

Personality Stability Over Time: Adulthood
Rank Order Stability in Adulthood

Answer 17

broad personality traits show moderate to high levels of stability

Stability also found using spouse-report and peer-report

Personality consistency tends to increase in stepwise fashion with increasing age—personality appears to become more and more “set in plaster” with age

Question 18

Personality Stability Over Time: Adulthood–
Mean level stability in Adulthood

Answer 18

“Big five” personality factors show a consistent mean level stability over time

Especially after 50, very little change in the average level

Small but consistent changes, especially the during 20s

Openness, extraversion, neuroticism decline with age until 50

Conscientiousness and agreeableness show gradual increase with time

Question 19

Changes in Self-Esteem from Adolescence to Adulthood

Answer 19

Transition from early adolescence to early adulthood appears to be harder on women than on men, in terms of the criterion of self-esteem

Females tend to decrease in self-esteem, males tend to increase in self-esteem

Appears to be a coherent set of personality variables linked with changes in self-esteem over time for females and males

Question 20

Self-esteem variability:

Answer 20

Magnitude of short-term changes in ongoing self-esteem

Self-esteem variability is an indicator of vulnerability to stressful life events

Self-esteem variability is related to the extent to which one’s self-view can be influenced by events, particularly social events

Question 21

Both participants with and without post- secondary education tend to become ___________ autonomous or independent as they grow older

Answer 21

more

Question 22

sensation seeking

Answer 22

Increases with age from childhood to adolescence

Peaks in late adolescence, around ages 18–20

Falls more or less continuously with age after the 20s

Question 23

impulsivity

Answer 23

Is distinct traits with divergent patterns of age-related change compared to sensation seeking

Impulsivity as the tendency to act on behavioural impulses without planning or consideration of consequences

Declined from late adolescence to early adulthood

The decline in impulsivity was much steeper and began earlier than the decline in sensation seeking

Question 24

Personality (in)stability: Why?

Answer 24

reduction in other pathology (e.g., depression) significant changes in life situations (e.g., domestic violence or custody case) treatment facilitated the improvement of other psychological difficulties or stressful life situations Conceptualization and measurement are incongruent (e.g., personality disorders include both acute distress and stable traits) misdiagnosis of symptoms methodological artifact where measurement error is confused with substantive change

Question 25

Personality Change: Increasing Openness and Creativity

Answer 25

Some evidence suggests that openness to experience may change with age Most findings point to a slight decrease at the mean level as people get older

Question 26

mindfulness-based meditation

Answer 26

A form of meditation aimed at increasing attention to present experiences, may also increase openness to experience and creativity specifically

Question 27

cohort effects

Answer 27

Changes over time that are attributable to living in different social time periods rather than to “true” change

Question 28

“In most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has ____________ (James, 1890, p. 126).

Answer 28

"...set like plaster, and will never soften again”

Question 29

“Traits develop through childhood and reach mature form in adulthood; thereafter they are ____________” (McCrae & Costa, 1999, p. 145).

Answer 29

"...stable in cognitively intact individuals"

Question 30

personality coherence

Answer 30

Predictable changes in manifestations or outcomes of personality factors over time, even if underlying characteristics remain stable

Question 31

Three aspects of personality strongly predicted marital dissatisfaction and divorce

Answer 31

Husband’s neuroticism Husband’s impulsivity Wife’s neuroticism

Question 32

Conscientiousness is the best predictor of _________

Answer 32

school and work achievement

Question 33

The most important traits conducive to living a long life are:

Answer 33

High conscientiousness Positive emotionality (extraversion) Low levels of hostility, and low levels of neuroticism

Question 34

Why does personality predict how long you are likely to live

Answer 34

Your personality can literally kill you (think impulsivity) Other traits are protective

Question 35

People married to a spouse highly similar to themselves showed most personality ______, while people married to a spouse least similar to themselves showed most personality ________

Answer 35

stability change