Psychology Chapter 11 Research The Impact Aging Stereotypes 2018 Cengage

Chapter 11

11

SELF AND PERSONALITY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading and studying the material in this chapter, the student should be able to understand

the following ideas/concepts.

11.1 CONCEPTUALIZING THE SELF AND PERSONALITY

• Define and give examples of the aspects of personality called dispositional traits,

11.2 THE INFANT

• Explain how we come to know ourselves in the first two years of life.

11.3 THE CHILD

• Summarize how children’s self-concepts typically change as they get older.

11.4 THE ADOLESCENT

• Discuss how self-descriptions and self-esteem typically change between childhood and

11.5 THE ADULT

• Discuss age and gender differences in self-esteem across the life span and strategies that

aging adults use to maintain self-esteem, as well as how self-conceptions differ in

individualistic and collectivist cultures.

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CHAPTER OUTLINE

I Conceptualizing the Self and Personality

A. Basic Concepts

1. Personality – unique, organized combinations of attributes, motives, values,

behaviors that make up an individual

2. Most people describe personality in terms of dispositional traits—relatively

enduring traits like extraversion or introversion

B. Theories of Personality

1. Psychoanalytic theory

a. Sigmund Freud

i. Children progress through universal stages of psychosexual development

ii. Gist of personality is formed in first five years

iii. Unfavorable early experience (e.g., harsh parenting) leads to permanent

mark on personality

b. Erik Erikson (neo-Freudian approach)

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vi. Traits seem universal

vii. Levels of Big Five traits vary by culture (in the way they are expressed)

d. Social learning theory

i. Developed by researchers like Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel

ii. Reject notion of stages of personality and question existence of enduring

traits

Checking Mastery

1. What is the difference between a dispositional trait and a characteristic adaptation and

an example of each?

➢ Answer: In McAdams and Pals’s view, dispositional traits are broad and

styles.

2. What is the difference between self-esteem and self-concept?

➢ Answer: Self-esteem is an overall evaluation of your worth as a person (high or

negative).

3. Why do social learning theorists think trait theorists are wrong about personality?

➢ Answer: Social learning theorists do not expect behavior to be consistent across

II The Infant

A. The Emerging Self

1. Pattern of emerging self

a. Infants born without sense of self, but quickly develop a sense through

2. Self-recognition – ability to recognize oneself in mirror or photograph

a. Researched by watching children’s reaction to self

b. Recognition in mirror indicates clear evidence of self-recognition (occurs by

18-24 months)

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3. Categorical self – classification by socially meaningful dimensions (e.g., sex, age)

(i.e., figuring out what is “like me” and what is “not like me”)

5. Self-awareness at 18-24 months paves way for later social and emotional

development

a. Become able to talk about themselves and assert their will

b. Experience self-conscious emotions such as pride

c. Coordinate their own perspectives with those of others

B. Temperament

1. Temperament – early dimension of “infant personality”; genetically-based

tendencies to respond in predictable ways that give insight into a baby’s

f. Temperament in infancy has little to do with adult adjustment

3. Behavioral inhibition – tendency to be extremely shy and reserved in unfamiliar

situations (Kagan)

a. In Big Five terms, inhibited children are low in extraversion but show

4. Surgency, negative affect, and effortful control (Rothbart): dimensions of

temperament that emerge in infancy or toddlerhood/early childhood

a. Surgency/extraversion – tendency to actively and energetically approach new

experiences

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5. Goodness of fit – extent to which child’s temperament is compatible with demand

and expectations of social world

a. Relationship between child and environment affects continuity of

temperament

Checking Mastery

1. What important breakthrough in the development of the self occurs at around 18

months of age, and what influences when it happens?

➢ Answer: At around 18 months, toddlers show self-recognition when placed in

2. How might Mary Rothbart describe Serena, a child whom Thomas and Chess would

classify as an easy baby?

III The Child

A. Elaborating on a Sense of Self

1. Toddlers tell about emerging self-concept through personal pronouns (e.g., “I,”

“Mine”)

4. Self-conceptions become more sophisticated around age eight due in part to

cognitive growth

a. First begin to describe enduring qualities or traits (“funny”)

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B. Self-Esteem

1. Harter developed self-perception scale measures

a. Self-esteem becomes more differentiated or multidimensional with age

i. Preschoolers’ self-esteem defined by competence (physical and cognitive)

and personal/social adequacy (social acceptance)

b. By mid-elementary years, children able to differentiate between five

dimensions of self-worth

i. Scholastic competence – does well in school

ii. Social acceptance – is popular

iii. Behavioral conduct – does not get into trouble

C. Influences on Self-Esteem

1. Differences exist in levels of self-esteem

a. Levels of self-esteem may lie in genes (i.e., self-esteem may be a heritable

trait)

b. More capable and socially attractive children have more success that can

contribute to more positive self-concept and to future academic achievement

c. More positive social feedback from parents

i. Parental behavior promoting self-esteem (e.g., parents who are warm and

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achievements

D. The Developing Personality

1. Temperament shaped into predictable personality during childhood

a. Some links between temperament in early childhood and later personality

4. Some characteristics do not gel until adolescence or adulthood

Checking Mastery

1. What are three major ways in which the self-description of nine-year-old Alonzo

might differ from that of his brother, four-year-old Jamal?

➢ Answer: Nine-year-old Alonzo’s self-description would likely say more than his

2. What are three main reasons that Lisa may have higher self-esteem than Lula?

➢ Answer: High self-esteem is associated with being competent in important areas;

IV The Adolescent

A. Self-Concept

1. During adolescence, self-descriptions become:

B. Self-Esteem

1. Self-esteem tends to decrease from childhood to early adolescence

a. Drop may be the result of more knowledge and realism about strengths and

weaknesses

b. Drop more common among white females, especially those facing multiple

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2. Adolescence is not as hazardous to self as most people believe

a. Most adolescents emerging from the developmental period with higher self-

esteem than they had at the onset of the period

C. Forging an Identity

1. Erikson argues that adolescence is a crisis of identity versus role confusion and

moratorium period

a. Adolescence is the time to attempt to form own identity (definition of who

you are, where you are going, and where you fit into society)

2. Developmental trends

a. Marcia expanded on Erikson’s theory and proposed four levels of identity

statuses

i. Key to status level is whether person has experienced a crisis or achieved

commitment

ii. Diffusion status – no crisis, no commitment (common in 12- to 15-year-

olds)

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3. Developing a positive ethnic identity

a. Ethnic identity – a sense of personal identification with an ethnic group and its

values, customs, and traditions

b. Members of minority groups tend to place more emphasis on ethnic identity,

4. Vocational identity and choice

a. Central aspect of identity with major implications toward adulthood

b. Age 10, explore vocational possibilities but not in realistic fashion

c. Early choices tend to follow gender guidelines (boys-masculine occupations,

girls-feminine occupations)

5. Influences on identity formation

a. Identity formation product of five factors

i. Cognitive development enables one to consider possible future identities

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Checking Mastery

1. How are 17-year-old Tom’s self-descriptions likely to differ from those of his nine-

year-old brother Ben?

self-awareness than the self- descriptions of a child.

2. College student Kwan is in the foreclosure status with respect to vocational identity,

whereas his roommate Min is in the diffusion status. What does each status mean, and

what kind of parenting might give rise to it?

➢ Answer: The adolescent in the foreclosure status knows what career he wants but

rejecting.

3. What, besides warm, democratic parenting, is likely to foster identity achievement?

➢ Answer: Identity achievement is facilitated by cognitive development,

V The Adult

A. Self-Concepts and Self-Esteem

1. Age differences

a. Self-esteem high in childhood, drops in adolescence, rises gradually in

adulthood, and drops in older age

i. Little truth to stereotype that most older adults suffer from a poor self-

image and significant drops in self-esteem

b. How elderly people maintain positive self-image despite loss:

i. Reduce gap between real selves and ideal selves (i.e., scale down visions

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i. Priming older individuals with negative and positive stereotypes can

impact their rate of walking (negative prime led to slower gait)

2. Cultural differences

a. Individualistic culture – individual goal valued above group, typical of North

America, Western Europe

b. Collectivist culture – group goal valued above individual’s goals, typical of

Asia, Africa, Latin America

f. Americans more obsessed with maintaining high self-esteem and tend to see

themselves as above average on this trait, while Japanese and other East

Asians more modest and self-critical

g. Cultural differences in self-description seen as early as age three to four

i. Parents contribute to cultural differences through everyday conversation

B. Continuity and Discontinuity in Personality

1. Do people retain their rankings?

a. Big Five personality traits relatively enduring (i.e., good deal of consistency in

2. Do mean personality scores change?

a. Focus on stability in the average level of a trait

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adolescence to middle-age

d. Big Five traits appear to be biologically-based temperaments that undergo a

universal process of maturational change

i. Activity level and openness to new experience both tend to decline after

age 50

ii. Agreeableness tends to increase after age 50

e. Summary points on Big Five traits

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. Heredity (genetic inheritance)

than those fitting stereotypical feminine roles)

c. Although several factors contribute to stability, change in personality is

common (especially if there is a change in the environment or a poor fit

between personality and lifestyle)

d. Personality development impacts physical health and psychological well-

being

i. Good health linked to higher levels of conscientiousness and extraversion

and low levels of neuroticism

C. Eriksonian Psychosocial Growth

1. Psychosocial stage theory of personality development with eight psychosocial

stages

a. Both maturational forces and social demands push humans through the eight

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themselves and gain sense of autonomy

of self

3. Early adult intimacy

a. Intimacy versus isolation – first psychosocial conflict in adulthood

i. Share self through intimacy in relationship with another

4. Midlife generativity

a. Psychosocial crisis of generativity versus stagnation

i. Generativity involves the capacity to produce something that will outlive

you and to care about welfare of future generations

ii. Teaching and parenting to younger generation examples of generativity

b. Research on generativity in midlife

i. Valliant’s research found that 50-something males expressed more interest

5. Old age integrity

a. Psychosocial crisis of integrity versus despair – finding meaning of life that

will help them face the inevitability of death

i. Sense of identity in early adulthood predicts generativity and integrity in

later life

adjustment than those who stew about unresolved regrets

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iii. Some use life review as a therapy for use with older adults

iv. Conducting a life review may help people develop better sense of ego

integrity and adjustment

D. Midlife Crisis?

1. Daniel Levinson proposed stage theory of personality development

a. Stages are universal and describe an unfolding “life structure”—overall

pattern of activities reflecting priorities and relationships

E. Vocational Development and Adjustment

1. Establishing a career

a. Early adulthood is time for exploring career possibilities

b. Mentors can be of great help in getting careers launched

c. From age 21 to 36, young adults tend to progress from wide-open exploration

d. Personality and person-environment fit can impact job performance

i. Job performance correlated with scores on Big Five dimensions of

conscientiousness, extraversion, and emotional stability

ii. Person-environment fit also critical

e. Gender can negatively impact vocation

i. Women in U.S. continue to earn about 80 cents for every dollar earned by

men

f. Discrimination can limit women’s vocational development by:

i. Leading to less pay for female jobs (even when as intellectually

demanding as male jobs)

ii. Limiting how far a woman can rise in an organization

g. Work can have positive impact on personality; lack of employment can

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2. The aging worker

a. Older workers as competent as younger workers and more satisfied with their

jobs

b. Older workers outperform younger workers in areas like good citizenship and

safety and have lower levels of aggression, substance use on the job, tardiness,

and absenteeism

c. Older workers use strategies to compensate for cognitive and physical decline

i. Compensation sometime referred to as “selective optimization with

3. Retirement

a. Introduction of Social Security in 1934 made retirement financially possible

i. 50% of workforce retired by age 62-64, 90% of those 70 or older are

retired

b. Some workers retire “cold turkey” (all at once), but many retire by gradually

cutting back on work hours

c. Atchley proposed model of retirement said to proceed in stages

i. Preretirement – getting ready for retirement (e.g., gather information about

retirement options)

ii. Actual point of retirement may be by choice or the result of poor health or

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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

a. Defying aging is the primary way to go about aging

2. Disengagement theory – successful aging involves planned withdrawal from

Checking Mastery

1. Identify two different senses in which there could be continuity in the Big Five

dimension of conscientiousness from age 40 to age 50?

➢ Answer: Continuity in personality can mean that there is consistency of people’s

2. According to Erikson, when and how might an adult gain a sense of generativity?

➢ Answer: Generativity, Erikson theorized, can develop in middle age if adults

3. Who theorizes that adults experience a true midlife crisis in their early 40s, and what

does research say about that?

➢ Answer: Daniel Levinson claimed that a midlife crisis in the early 40s is

4. What are three factors likely to make retirement a negative experience?

➢ Answer: Retirement is not likely to go well if it is involuntary, if the person has

SUGGESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSIONS OR PROJECTS: To develop critical thinking skills

and enhance learning with exercises that support the course learning objectives.

1. Infant and Young Child Temperament: Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1968) introduced the

labels “difficult,” “easy,” and “slow-to-warm-up” to characterize different temperament styles of

infants and young children. The labels convey much value-laden information that might inspire

the following questions:

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o What are the messages implicit in these labels?

2. Who Am I?: Have students write 10 answers to the question, “Who am I?” and then have

them analyze their answers to determine how much they emphasize physical traits, social roles

3. Ethnic Identity: For many people, ethnic identity is an important part of their sense of self.

Jean Phinney (1992) has developed a measure of ethnic identity that is relevant to diverse ethnic

groups. This questionnaire enables students to think about the importance of ethnic identity in

4. Personality Changes: The headline of an article in a local newspaper proclaimed “Personality

change after 30 unlikely.” The article described a study showing that personality changes very

5. Media Influence: Most people receive their “education” in human development through

media depictions (i.e., television shows and movies). Have students identify television shows

6. Self-Esteem: In Chapter 11, students are provided with an introduction to the topic of self-

esteem and its potential impact on human development. It should come as no surprise that a great

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7. Career Choices: Since the recession of 2008, many adults (both young and old) have

experienced the stress that accompanies unemployment. As we look forward, many people are