CHAPTER OUTLINE
I.
Conceptualizing the self
Personality-- Unique, Organized Combinations of Attributes,
Motives, Values, Behaviors
That
Make Up an Individual
Components
of personality
a. self-concept-- perceptions (positive to
negative) of your own
characteristics
b. self-esteem--
evaluation (positive to negative) of self-worth
c. identity-- overall sense of who someone is
II.
Theories of personality
development
A. Psychoanalytic Theory
1. Sigmund Freud
a. focus on “inner dynamics” of id, ego,
superego
b. biological urges push children through
universal stages of psychosexual development
c. gist of personality is formed in first five
years
d. unfavorable early experience leads to
permanent trouble
2. Erik Erikson
a. personality evolves through systematic stages
b. placed more emphasis on social influences
c. personality continues to develop in adulthood
d. agreed with Freud that personality involves
stages and people
undergo similar personality development at
similar ages
B. Trait Theory
1. Psychometric approach-- mental measurement
2. Personality is set of measurable traits
3. Relies on factor analysis-- statistical
technique to identify items that are
correlated with each other but not with
other factors
4. Big Five model includes dimensions of--
neuroticism, extraversion,
openness to experience, agreeableness,
conscientiousness
a. big five traits may be genetically determined
and related to aspects of
temperament
b. levels of big five traits vary by culture
C. Social Learning Theory
Albert
Bandura and Walter Mischel
a. reject notion of stages of personality
b. people change as environments change--
situation is key
i. consistency
if situation is consistent
ii. we behave differently in differing
situations
iii. great variation between firstborns
c. great variation in human personality
d. direction of development driven by social
experience and social
environment
III.
The infant
A. The Emerging Self
1. Pattern of emerging self
a. born without sense of self
b. during first six months infants first
discover properties of self
c. during second six months realize that they
are separate beings from others
joint
attention-- share perceptual experience with others begins
2. Self-recognition (identification of own
image)-- 15 to 24 months
researched
by watching children’s reaction to self
3. Categorical self-- classification by socially
meaningful dimensions
4. Self-awareness driven by several factors
a. cognitive development
b. social experience/interactions
5. Looking-glass self-- our view of self
reflects others views of us
treatment
by parents and others communicate information to babies
6. Awareness of self paves way for later social
and emotional development
B. Temperament-- Dimension of “Infant
Personality” (Basic Tendencies to Respond)
1. Emotionality, activity, sociability
three
dimensions of temperament
i. emotionality(emotionally
reactive)
ii. activity (sluggish)
iii.
sociability (desire to interact with
others)
2. Behavioral inhibition-- tendency to be
extremely shy and reserved in
unfamiliar situations
a. early tendencies seen by 4 months
b. impact can be seen into the teen years
c. Kagan and colleagues conclude that
behavioral inhibition is
biologically rooted
i. impact seen into later life
ii. environment (treatment by parents) also
matters
3. Easiness/difficultness
a. Thomas and Chess propose existence of three
categories of infant
temperament
i.
easy temperament-- content, adaptable
to new experience
ii.
difficult temperament-- negative
reaction to stimuli, irritable
iii. slow-to-warm-up temperament-- relatively
inactive, somewhat
moody
b. Thomas and Chess study - 40% easy, 10%
difficult, 15% slow-to-
warm-up, 35% unclassifiable
c. by adulthood, individual adjustment has
little to do with infant
temperament
4. Goodness of fit
a. relationship between child and environment
affects continuity of temperament
b. parent’s personality may impact type of
environment they provide
i. demanding parents could be problematic
ii. level of parental empathy key to goodness of
fit
iii. parental perception of child’s temperament
key
iv. can teach parents how to better interpret and
respond to child’s
cues
IV.
The child
A. Elaborating on a Sense of Self
1. Use of personal pronouns (e.g., “I” “Mine”)
2. Preschoolers-- concrete and physical descriptions of self
few
descriptions of psychological traits
3. School-age--
inner qualities or traits and social comparisons emerge
a. social comparison-- judgment of self compared
with others
children
tend to believe they are the greatest
b. by first-grade learn about strengths and
weaknesses
c. degree of social comparison impacted by
sociocultural context
i. common in
ii. less common in Israeli kibbutz
4. Self-esteem-- judgment of self-worth
a. preschooler’s self-esteem is broadly defined
i.
physical
and social competence
ii. personal
and social adequacy (social acceptance)
b. Harter's self-perception scale measures
c. self-esteem multidimensional and hierarchical
i. scholastic
competence-- does well in school
ii. social
acceptance-- being popular
iii. behavioral conduct-- not getting into trouble
iv. athletic competence-- good at sports
v. physical
appearance-- feels good looking
d. children begin to desire to be liked
e. self-evaluations first inflated, then more
realistic by school-age (age 8)
f. formation of. ideal self--
grand idea of who they want to be (versus
who you are)
5. Influences on self-esteem
a. actual competence
b. more positive social feedback
i. parental
behavior promoting self-esteem
ii. warm
iii.
communicate approval
iv. enforce clearly stated rules
c. children may contribute to own high esteem by
seeking positive
feedback
d. self-esteem stable over school years and
correlated with adjustment
measures
B. Forming Personality
1. Temperament shaped into personality during
childhood
a. some links between temperament in early
childhood and later
personality
i. difficult 3-year-olds later impulsive
ii. easy 3-year-olds well adjusted later
b. efforts being made to match temperament with
big five factors
c. cross-cultural studies indicate that parents
see big-five dimensions in
their children as young as age 3
d. personality not set by age 5 (as suggested by
Freud)
2. Some stabilization in childhood, but then
some traits change while others
remain about the same
3. Behavioral patterns may set in motion social
interactions that evoke certain
responses
V.
The adolescent
A. Self-conceptions
1. Self-conceptions become less physical and
more psychological
2. Self-conceptions become less concrete and
more abstract
3. Self-awareness increases in adolescence
can
lead to increase in self-consciousness
4. Self-concept becomes more differentiated
5. Older adolescents have more integrated and
coherent self-portraits
a. become aware of inconsistencies
b. most adolescents overcome uncomfortable
feelings
B. Self-esteem
1. Young adolescents may experience drop in
self-esteem
a. drop greatest among white females
b. drop most likely in individuals with
self-approval based on approval of
others
2. Adolescence is not as hazardous to self as
most people believe
revise
self-concept in minor ways as they experience physical, cognitive,
and
social change
C. Forming a Sense of Identity
1. Erikson: Adolescence is crisis of
identity versus role confusion and
moratorium
a. adolescence time attempt to form own identity
b. search involves grappling with many questions
c. may experience identity crisis
i. changing body image and adjust to being
sexual being
ii. cognitive
growth allows for more sophisticated understanding
of
self
iii.
social demands force children to “grow
up”
d. society supports “moratorium period”-- time
of relative freedom from
responsibility
2. Developmental trends
a. Marcia proposed four levels of identity
statuses
b. key is whether person has experienced a
crisis or achieved commitment
i. diffusion
status-- no crisis, no commitment
ii. foreclosure
status-- no crisis, commitment made
iii.
moratorium status-- crisis experienced,
no commitment
iv.
identity achievement status-- crisis
experienced, commitment
made
c. identity formation takes a long time and
occurs at different rates for different domains
d. some longitudinal studies fail to support
this identity theory
3. Influences on identity formation
product
of four factors
i.
cognitive
development-- enables one to consider possible
future identities
ii. relationships
with parents-- youth in diffusion most rejected
while
those in achievement have high support, parents can be
“too
loving” and allow adolescents few chances to make own
decisions
iii. experiences outside the home-- college often
time of
moratorium,
allows for exposure to diverse ideas
iv. broader social and historical context--
culture plays role in
formation
of identity, Navajo adolescent experience differs
from
that in Western society
D. Vocational Identity and Choice
1. Central issue in identify formation for
adolescents and adults
2. Ginzberg proposed a three-stage theory of
vocational choice
a. fantasy stage (through age 10)-- based on
wishes whims
b. tentative stage (age 11-18)-- preliminary
decisions based on interests
c. realistic stage (18-22)-- specific choices
based on opportunity, value,
capability, interests
3. Main developmental trend is increasing
realism about vocational options
4. Key is to find optimal fit between one’s self
and occupation
5. Minority status, sex status, and
income-status can affect career plans
6. Many teenagers do not explore a wide range of
career options
goodness
of fit between person and vocation important
VI.
The adult
A. Self-conceptions
1. Age differences
a. self-esteem high in childhood, drops in
adolescence, rises gradually in
adulthood, drops in older age
b. correlations between self-esteem at different
ages high (+.50 to .70)
c. how elderly people maintain positive
self-image despite loss
i. close
gap between present and ideal self
ii. change
goals and standards to lessen perception of failure
iii.
change comparison group-- often to older
unhealthy people
d. negative stereotypes damaging to
self-perception
2. Cultural differences
a. individualistic culture-- individual goal
valued above of group
typical
of North America,
b. collectivist culture-- group goal valued
above individual’s goals
typical
of Asia, Africa,
c. American tend to focus on unique aspects of
general self and attempt to
maintain high self-esteem
d. Japanese tend to focus on behavior in
specific context and are more
self-critical
e. Americans describe themselves in terms of
generalized personality traits (see selves as sense of internal consistency)
f. Japanese expect others to react differently
in different situations
g. cultural differences in self-description seen
as early as age 3 to 4
h. cross-cultural differences challenge many
assumptions about healthy
personality development
Western
assumption is that you cannot function without a well
developed
sense of identity
B. Continuity and Discontinuity in Personality
1. Do people retain their rankings?
a. Big Five personality traits relatively
enduring but some change is
possible
b. tendency to be consistent increases with age
2. Do mean personality scores change?
a. focus on stability of a trait
b. differences may be due to generational or
cohort effects
c. there is much cross-age consistency in
rankings on Big Five, although
some small changes possible
d. there are few ways in which personality
traits of adults systematically change in similar directions as they age
i.
increased achievement orientation and
self-confidence
ii. activity
level declines in later age
e. Big Five conclusions
i. biologically based temperaments
ii. relatively resistant to environmental
influences
iii. undergo a universal process of maturational
change
iv. evolution behind maturation
v. responsibility and helpfulness (raising
children adaptive)
f. McCrae and Costa acknowledge impact of
culture and social factors
g. Helson (and others) disagree with McCrae and
Costa
i. personality does change in adulthood
ii. societal impact critical
h. summary points
i. good deal of cross-age consistency in Big
Five traits
ii. historical context impacts personality
iii. personality growth in adulthood differs by
factor
iv. little personality change in middle to later
adulthood
3. Why do people change or remain the same?
a. stability may be accounted for by…
i. genetic
inheritance (heredity)
ii.
lasting effects of childhood
experiences
iii. stability of environments
iv. gene-environment correlations promote
continuity
b. changes may be explained by…
i. biological
factors
ii. changes
in social environments (including major life events)
iii. poor fit between person and the environment
iv. gene-environment correlation (people seek and
experience
environments
that match and reinforce earlier predispositions)
C. Eriksonian Psychosocial Growth
Psychosocial
stage theory of personality development with 8 stages
1. The path to adulthood
a. trust versus mistrust-- infants learn to
trust caregiver
b. autonomy versus shame and doubt-- toddlers
learn self as they assert
themselves
c. initiative versus guilt-- gain sense of
self/pride in accomplishment
d. industry versus inferiority-- elementary
school students begin to make
social comparisons
e. identity versus role confusion-- adolescent
crisis of establishing unique
sense of self
2. Early adult intimacy
a. intimacy versus isolation-- first
psychosocial conflict in adulthood
i. share self through intimacy in relationship
ii. failure
may lead to being threatened by commitment
b. women may gain identity by choosing mate and
role of wife
c. masculine women follow identity before
intimacy route (like men)
d. theory better fit for men than women
3. Middle-age generativity
a. psychosocial crisis of generativity versus
stagnation
i. capacity
to produce something that will outlive you
ii. teaching
and parenting to younger generation examples of
generativity
b. Valliant-- few males experience full-blown
midlife crisis
c. McAdams-- middle-age individual more
generativity than younger
adults
d. people high on generativity are more caring
and productive
4. Old age integrity
a. psychosocial crisis of integrity versus
despair
i. handling
of death based on review of life
ii. life
review-- process of reflecting on past and resolving
conflicts
iii. life reviews can be beneficial, but older
people do not spend
that
much time thinking about death
b. conducting a life-review may help people
develop better sense of ego
integrity and well-adjusted
D. Midlife Crisis?
Daniel
Levinson proposed stage theory of personality development
a. life structure-- overall pattern reflecting
one’s life (personality)
b. life structure built across time
c. mid-life crisis-- intensely unsettled time of
life between age 40 and 45
i. Levinson
popularizes concept (especially in men)
ii. many question existence of genuine
“midlife crisis” for
majority of people during middle age
iii. midlife crisis may be more appropriately referred to as “midlife
questioning”
E. Vocational Development and Adjustment
1. Establishing a career
a. adulthood is time for exploring career
possibilities
b. personality factors influence vocational
choice
aggressive
boys-men with unstable careers
c. gender (being female) can negatively impact
vocation
i. discrimination
concerning pay
ii. gender-role
norms affects expectations and choice of
subordinate
careers
iii. women without children achieve more in their
careers
iv. women move into and out of the workforce more
frequently
d. work can have positive impact on personality
2. The aging worker
a. older workers as competent as younger workers
and are more satisfied
with their jobs
b. older workers use strategies to compensate
for cognitive and physical
decline
i. compensation
sometime referred to as “selective optimization
with
compensation” pattern
ii. selection (focus on needed skills),
iii. optimization (practice)
iv. compensation (getting around needed skills)
c. competence of older workers has led to raise
or elimination of
retirement ages
3. Retirement
a. introduction of social security in 1930s lead
to retirement boom
b. Atchley proposed model of retirement said to
proceed in stages
i. pre-retirement-- getting ready
ii. honeymoon
phase-- initial pleasure following retirement
iii. disenchantment-- novelty wears off and
unhappiness sets in
iv. reorientation-- set more realistic lifestyle
c. research supports this basic pattern
d. most consistent impact is loss of income
(three-fourths of previous
income)
e. declines in health not directly the result of
retirement
f. retirement does not disrupt marriages, life
satisfaction, or mental health
F. Personality and Successful Aging
1. Activity theory-- aging adults more satisfied
if they can maintain previous
lifestyle and/or activity level
may
involve substitution of new activity with old
2. Disengagement theory-- successful aging
involves planned withdrawal from
society/activity
aging
involves reducing activity and leaving old roles behind
3. Quality of activity more important than
quantity of activity
4. Both models have some merit and neither alone
can describe personality
change in adulthood
5. Optimal satisfaction experienced when good
fit between lifestyle, needs, and
personality