Theme 9

1
Theme 9

• Development of Personality in Adulthood

2

• Do Our Personalities Change or Remain Stable
  During Adulthood and Old Age?
• Models of features Continuity
• Models of Discontinuity
• Development of I
• Models of life histories

3
Models of Features

• Kansas City Study (Neugarten)
• Stability in lifestyle, attitudes and emotions
• Personas dominance declines beginning at 50
  years old
• Theory of disconnection
• Tendency towards androgyny
• Strong paternal tendency in early adulthood
  (Gutman 1987)
• Androginy depends on cultural factors

4
Modelos de rasgos

• Baltimore Study (Costa MacCrae)
• High stability has been found in the big five
  personality traits
• Neuroticism (emotional instability)
• Extroversion - Introversion
• Conscientiousness
• Openness to experience
• Agreeableness

5
Emotional Instability and Age
6
Results of Studies Focused on Big Five Traits

• Transverse studies
• Neuroticism
• Extroversion
• Openness to experience
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness

• Longitudinal Studies
• Neuroticism
• Extroversion
• Openness to experience
• ? Agreeableness
• ? Conscientiousness

Related to life events
7
Models of Development of I

• Models that emphasize goals and objectives as
  directing our behavior throughout life
• The I as essence self-conception
• The I as action adaptation and self-regulation

8
The I as content Self-Conception

• Criteria
• Continuity
• Discriminative Relevance
• Biographical significance
• Diverse Content
• Many Dimensions
• The self conception does not worsen
• Negative affect decreases, as does positive
  affect
• A Paradox of Aging?

Posible Is Sense of Control Self-esteem
9
Hedonic Wellbeing, Happiness, and Age
Stability in hedonic wellbeing decline in
eudaimonic wellbeing
10
I as a Process Self-regulation and Adaptation

• Processes which regulate personal resources
  decide lifes trajectory
• Continuity and positive valuation of
  self-conception are possible

11
J. Brandtstädter and the Theory of the Action of
Self

• We look for coherence between our present
  self-conception and our goals
• Two fundamental mechanisms
• Assimilation and Accommodation

Importance
Perception of control
Paliative significance
12
Development of I and Aging

• Assimilation and accommodation during aging
  maintain levels of wellbeing
• Assimilation declines with age
• Accommodation augments with age

13
Assimilation, Accommodation and Continuity of I
Throughout the Life Cycle

• Strategies of Assimilation
• Compensative activities External influences,
  alternative activities
• Strategies of accommodation
• Change in the standards of comparison
• Changes in reference groups
• Pessimistic vision of normal aging
• Change in the vision of personal trajectory

14
Assimilation, Accommodation, Regulation of the
Loss and Reorganization of Self-Conception

• Strategies of Accommodation
• Reassessment of goals Tamping of ideals
• Older people are more satisfied with their roles
  and activities than younger people.
• Substitution of some goals for others
• More realistic goals
• Changes in the priorities of life domains
  health and physical environment.

15
Assimilation, Accommodation, and Growth of I

• Model of stages Erikson
• Intimacy vs. Isolation (6th stage) 20-35 años
• Emotional compromise or the achievement of
  intimacy
• Generative vs. Stationary (7th stage) 35-60
• The search for transcendence
• Not limited to the adult years
• Integrity vs. Desperation (8th stage) 60-
• Preparing to die, evaluating ones lifes
  trajectory

16
Generativity and Age
17
Assimilation, Accommodation, and the Growth of I

• Gerotranscendence
• A quality that some people achieve in the last
  decades of their lives
• Connected to concepts like interiority, wisdom,
  and integrity
• Three Dimensions
• Cosmic Dimension
• Dimension of Self
• Social Dimension

18
Levinsons Model of Stages

• Empirical study of 40 middle aged men (The
  seasons of a Mans Life, 1978)
• Focus on mid-life crisis
• Meticulous interviews about family life, work,
  meaningful relationships, compromises, etc.
• Structure of life
• Follow-up study with female subjects

19
Levinsons Model of Stages
Changes in the structure of ones life
20
Mid-Life Crisis

• Occurs in many adults during some part of middle
  age
• Can last 2-5 years
• Involves changes in friends, family and work
• Subjects display depressive and
  addictive symptoms renewed
  focus on physical self

21
Models of Life History

• A person looks to narrate his own history in
  order to understand himself, those around him,
  and project himself into the future.
• This process allows an individual to better grasp
  lifes events and the transitions that provoke
  changes in our persona provides a sense of
  individuality.
• It facilitates normative transitions
• There is a tendency to maintain a positive life
  history

22
Models of Life History

• Provides support fundamental to our identity
• Directive Function
• Social Function

23
Some Concepts

• Reminiscence
• Making memories of the past
• Life Reflection
• Source of growth
• Not of daily life but decisive moments
• Revision of life
• Evaluative and therapeutic
• Necessary?

24
Some Concepts

• Continuity or Stability
• Evolutionary Transitions
• Turning Points
• Chance Encounters (Bandura)
• Beginning of the accentuation of psychological
  characteristics