Personality Development in Adulthood: Getting Started

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV
Getting Started
Personality Development in
Adulthood
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Copyright 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach
Getting Started
Topics
The Nature of Adult Development

What Are Young Adults Like?
Traversing Middle Adulthood
Where Is Personality Headed?
Copyright 2007 Allyn & Bacon
Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach
What Is the Nature of Adult Development?
General Ideas of Adult Development

General Stage Conceptions (Levinson; Stewart):
Longer term periods of stability
Punctuated by times of adjustment and, sometimes,
crisis
General Tasks:
Family (intimacy, generativity)
Career (generativity)
Personal and social growth (wisdom)
Stage Theories
Stages 6 through 8 of Eriksons 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;

Occupation;
contributing to society vs. repeating family
life on a day-to-day basis with little
growth and giving
Ego Integrity vs.

Despair
Maturity
Positive sense of self as giving,

Family;
productive vs. inability to accept his occupation;
or her life
institutions
A Portion of Levinsons Adult Stage Model

Stage
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 *excitement: getting

of early adult life
oneself together
*Revise entry into
*smooth beginning, with
adulthood before too late 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
Conventional
(Organizing
Things)
Enterprising
(People &
Ideas,
Not Things)
Realitic
(Things, not
People)
Types of
Occupations
Social
(People, not
Things)
Investigative
(Ideas, Math,
Science)
Artistic
(Imagining &
Creating)

Conventional
(Organizing
Things)
Enterprising
(People &
Ideas,
Not Things)
Realitic
(Things, not
People)
Types of
Occupations
Social
(People, not
Things)
Investigative
(Ideas, Math,
Science)
Artistic
(Imagining &
Creating)
The greatest predictor of

job satisfaction isa
persons overall sense of
satisfaction
Beyond that, however,
people with personalities
that match their
occupation are still more
satisfied
Gottfredson & Holland,
1990
How Does the Individual Traverse Middle Adulthood?
Staying Married
Superfactors
Positive emotion
Negative emotion
Constraint
Men
-.07*
-.11*
.11**
from Jockin, McGue, & Lykken (1996)
Women
-.15**
-.12**
-.11**
Staying Married
Specific Factors
Well being
Social potency
Achievement
Alienation
Control
Harm Avoidance
Traditionalism
Men
.05*
-.21**
-.07
-.10**
.06
.09**
.16**
from Jockin, McGue, & Lykken (1996)

Women
.02*
-.18**
-.11**
-.14**
.12**
.15**
.25**
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 Stevensons
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.
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 nonchangers 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 19451960, looked more adjusted in the period of the late
1960s, after the beginning of the womens movement.
Who Adjusts Course?

Ryffs Model of Well Being
High
Environmental Mastery
Low
Personal
Growth
Conservers Achievers
Depleted
Seekers
Low
Environmental Mastery
High
Personal
Growth
Who Adjusts Course?

Examples of three types (from Helson & Srivastava)
Cathy: Conserver
Sarah: Seeker
Andrea: Achiever
*Married young to man

*Described by interviewer as*Did not want to marry or
approved by family
unusually perceptive, but
have children
with tendency to disengage *Straight from college to
*Supported his career
problems by going to work abruptly
professional school
*Dropped out of graduate *Continued career progress
in people-oriented job
*Quit after 20 years of high school when unexpectedly but drank heavily
became pregnant
competence because
*Overcame drinking at age
*Worked at becoming more 40
people disrespectful
sociable
*Much sought out by
*Married a charming and
church & commun. groups *In helping profession,
successful man, good
where must work around
relations with his children
bureaucracy
*Retired, and had second
*Hopes to write great
career as volunteer
American novel
Who Adjusts Course?

Traversing Middle Adulthood: Helson Study
Achievs
Life Satisfaction .11
Convent. Adjust -.53
Conservs
.41
.45
Seekers Depleted
.09
-.61
.19
-.11
Polit. Liber.
-.04
Occup. Creativity .22
-.58
-.58
.74
.52
-.12
-.16
Satis. with job

secur./ben.
.20
-.46
-.08
.34
Where is Personality Headed in the Conclusion of Life?
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 persons 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 persons 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 persons independent,
nonconformist perspective, coupled with wide interests and
openness to new experiences, and cognitive flexibility
Humility: A persons 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 Maslows Self- Actualized
Person
Efficient Reality Perception
Acceptance
Spontaneity
Problem Centering
Detachment
Optimal Types
Person (cont.)
Autonomy (Gilligan: Relatedness?)
Freshness of Appreciation
Peak Experiences
Special Relationships
Optimal Types
Person (cont.)
Gemeinschaftsgefuhl (helping the world)
Democratic Character
Unhostile Humor
~end of Chapter 12~

Personality Development in Adulthood: Getting Started

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PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

The Nature of Adult Development

Copyright 2007 Allyn & Bacon

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

What Is the Nature of Adult Development?

General Ideas of Adult Development

Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

What Is the Nature of Adult Development?

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Forming intimate relationships

Creation of a new family;

Ego Integrity vs.

Positive sense of self as giving,

Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

What Is the Nature of Adult Development?

A Portion of Levinsons Adult Stage Model

Test out links between

*create loose structure w/o

*Work out flaws and limits *excitement: getting

Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

What Are Young Adults Like?

Finding a Desirable Partner

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

What Are Young Adults Like?

Finding a Desirable Partner

Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

What Are Young Adults Like?

Finding a Desirable Partner

Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

Women write about

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

What Are Young Adults Like?

Finding a Desirable Partner

Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

PART 4: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY DEV

What Are Young Adults Like?

In Search of Good Work

Holland Occupational Hexagram

Copyright 2006 Allyn & Bacon

Mayers Personality: A Systems Approach

Work out flaws and limits excitement: getting