CHAPTER 11
SELF AND PERSONALITY
Personality
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An organized combination of attributes,
motives, values, and behaviors
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Patterns of traits
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Unique to each individual
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Consistent across situations and time
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Self-Concept: Perceptions
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Self Esteem: Evaluation
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Identity: Overall sense of who you are
McAdams and Pals (2006) Five
Principles
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Personality shaped by evolution for
adaptation to environment
People differ in dispositional traits
People differ in characteristic adaptations
Each has a unique life story
Cultural and situational influences ever
present
Psychoanalytic Theory:
Sigmund Freud
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Three parts of the personality
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Selfish Id; Rational Ego; Moralist Superego
Stages of psychosexual development
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Biological: ends at sexual maturity
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Personality formed in first 5 years
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Childhood anxieties become adult traits
Psychoanalytic Theory: Erik
Erikson
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Emphasized
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Social influences
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Rational ego
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Life-span development
Crisis-Oriented Stages Result From:
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Maturational forces
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Social demands
Trait Theory
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Psychometric Approach
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Personality: a set of traits
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Individual differences in each trait
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Measurement approach
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“Big Five” - Universal and stable
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Evidence of genetic basis
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Universal
Social Learning Theory
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Personality: A set of behavior tendencies
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Shaped by interactions
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Found in specific social situations
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No universal stages
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Not enduring traits
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People change as environment changes
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Situational influences important
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E.g., cheating
Infancy:The Emerging Self
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First 6 months: Discover physical self
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Joint attention at about 9 mo
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Difference in perceptions can be shared
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Self-recognition about 18 months
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Categorical self (age, sex): 18 – 24 months
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Based on cognitive development
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Requires Social Experience
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The looking-glass self: a “reflection”
Temperament
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Seen in infancy
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Genetically based
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Tendencies to respond in predictable ways
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Building blocks of personality
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Goodness of Fit (Thomas & Chess)
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Parenting techniques
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Learning to interpret cues
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Sensitive responding
Changes in Self-Concept: age 8
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Include psychological, social qualities
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Previously used only physical traits
Increased Use of:
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Social comparison, multidimensionality
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Hierarchy with self-worth on top
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More accurate self evaluations
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Widening gap between ideal-self and real-self
Contributions to Higher SelfEsteem
Competence!
 Positive social feedback
 Warm democratic parents
 Social comparisons that are positive
 Some temperament traits
established
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Will develop into adult traits
The Adolescent
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Increased awareness of psychological
and abstract traits
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Self-concept more integrated
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Self-esteem dips temporarily, rebounds
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Erikson’s Stage of Identity vs. Role
Confusion
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“Who Am I?”
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Can last as long as into early 30s
Marcia’s Ego Identity Statuses
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Diffusion: “Hey wait a minute – they didn’t know
everything. Maybe I’m not who they said I was.”
(No crisis. No commitment)
Foreclosure: “I’ll be a (Catholic, Democrat,
doctor, etc.) because that’s what they told me
was right.” (Commitment without crisis)
Moratorium: “Who am I? What is right? Who will
I become?” (Crisis, no commitment)
Identity Achieved: “I can make my own life
choices.” (Commitment, evolved from crisis)
•
The Four Identity Statuses as They Apply to Religious Identity
Identity Achievement
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Ethnic Identity begins in infancy
Vocational Identity - increasingly realistic
 “Goodness of fit” becomes useful
Influential Factors
 Cognitive development
 Openness to experience trait
 Warm, democratic parenting
 Culture that encourages exploration
Self-Concept and Adulthood
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Stable Self-Esteem
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Generally good
Ability to adjust ideal to real self
 Evaluate self with different standards
 Comparisons with age-mates
 Related to stable personality traits
 Losses in self-esteem in later old
age
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Changes in Personality
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Cross-sectional studies show more changes
Longitudinal, Cross-Cultural Studies
 Adulthood: achievement and confidence
 Older adults
 Decrease: activity level, openness to
experience
 Increase: introversion, emotional stability,
conscientiousness
Influences on Personality Change
Heredity
 Earlier experiences
 Stability of environment
 Biological factors (e.g., disease)
 Poor person-environment fit
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Adulthood – Erikson and Research
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Identity provides for intimacy in young
adulthood
 More traditional women solve identity
crisis after intimacy (marriage, children)
Midlife generativity supported
“Midlife crisis” not supported
Integrity in old age supported
 Includes life review
 Life Stories: narrative identity approach
Vocational Development
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Young adults: Career exploration
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Thirties: Settling down
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Forties & Fifties: Career peaks
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Older Workers
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Competent, satisfied, and positive
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Selective optimization with
compensation
Retirement
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Average age 63
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Adjustment phases
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Success Factors:
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Person-environment fit
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Selective optimization with
compensation
Disengagement versus Activity Theory
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Support for activity theory