Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Lecture 4: Personality dispositions over time (Personality coherence…
Lecture 4: Personality dispositions over time
Personality development
Continuities, consistencies & stabilities in people over time
AND the ways in which people change over time
Stability
Mean level stability
eg. eye colour stays constant all the way into adulthood
Longitudinal studies show that ppl who were agreeable when young are more likely to be agreeable in adulthood
constancy of level of personality trait over time
for traits like conscientiousness, start slow, but after a certain point, there is mean level stability
Rank-order stability
demonstrated using
longitudinal studies
in adolescence and adulthood
eg. Olweus (1978) followed grade 6 teacher-nominated bullies & victims into adulthood--> bullies more likely to be the juvenile delinquents or criminals in adulthood
maintenance of an individual's relative position within a group
average stability coefficient from all the studies= 0.65
eg. height-->tall ppl at 14 are usually the taller ones at 20
Change
Age related changes in personality traits
Autonomy, dominance, leadership increased during the 20 yr period as one gets older
self-esteem
changes at age of 18 or certain ages
ambition
after some time, drop in ambition cos ppl become more realistic in expectations
Howard and Bray (1988) conducted a 20 yr longitudinal study of managerial candidates
Sensation seeking
study with children and young adults between 12-24 yrs old
sensation seeking peaks during teenage years & declines steadily over time
Due to social and cultural influences in a certain era
eg. women's assertiveness scores rose between 1931-1945-->contributed to employment then dropped between 1951-1967 after WW2, then rose again between 1968-1993 due to gender equality movement
narcissism scores rose from 1982-2006
Personality coherence
eg. a conscientious child does his homework, then as an adult, he's also organised and meets deadlines
although the acts of conscientiousness are diff, the person is still conscientious
maintaining rank order in relation to other individuals but changing the manifestations of the trait
Prediction of Socially Relevant Outcomes (HE ARM)
Religiosity & Spirituality
high in conscientiousness & agreeableness predicts religiosity-->they like others, adhere to social norms & follow rules
adolescents high in openness to experience tend to gravitate toward non-church centered spirituality later in life
Educational Outcomes
conscientiousness
strongest longitudinal predictor of success in school & work
impulsivity
-vely correlated with academic performance
Marital stability & Divorce
neuroticism of husband & wife & lack of impulse control of husband were strong predictors of divorce
these 3 major aspects of personality accounted for more than half of predicable variance
Alcoholism
those low on agreeableness & conscientiousness
tend to abuse alcohol more than peers
those high on sensation seeking and impulsivity
Health & Longevity
conscientiousness
makes ppl engage in health promoting practices eg. good diet, regular exercise
Extraversion
+ve emotionality and low levels of hostility are conducive to living a long life