IDENTITY AND PERSONALITY
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The Self
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Identity
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Personality
The Self
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
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Self:
 All characteristics of a person
 Self-understanding, self-esteem, self-concept
Identity:
 Who a person is.
Personality:
 Enduring personal characteristics of individuals.
 Young children perceive self as external characteristics.
 Older children recognize difference between inner and
outer states.
The Self
EARLY CHILDHOOD
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Self-understanding:
 Self-descriptions are unrealistic
positive overestimations
Understanding others:
 Individual differences in
social understanding linked
to caregivers.
The Self
MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD
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Self-understanding: (5 key changes)
 Internal characteristics emphasized
 More referencing in social descriptions
 More use of social comparisons
 Distinguish between real self and ideal self
 Realistic in self-evaluations
Understanding others:
 Increased perspective taking.
Perspective-taking:
 Ability to assume another’s perspective and understand
his or her thoughts and feelings.
The Self
SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN
ADOLESCENCE
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Abstract and idealistic
Self-conscious; preoccupied with self
Contradictions within the self – multiple roles in
different contexts realized
Fluctuating self over time and situations
Compare real and ideal selves
 Possible selves: what persons may be, would like
to be, and are afraid of becoming
Self-integration in sense of identity
The Self
CHANGES IN SELF-UNDERSTANDING
IN ADULTHOOD
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Self-Awareness:
 Awareness of strengths and weaknesses
 Improves in young and middle adulthood
Possible Selves:
 Get fewer and more concrete with age
 Some revise throughout adulthood
Life Review:
 Some in middle age, common in older adults
 Evaluations of successes and failures
The Self
ISSUES WITH SELF-ESTEEM
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Modest correlations link self-esteem and school performance; links vary
between adult job performance and self-esteem
Self-esteem related to perceived physical appearance across life-span
Depression lowers high self-esteem
Persons with high self-esteem:
 Increased happiness
 Have greater initiative
 Prone to both prosocial and antisocial actions
Undeserved high self-esteem:
 Narcissism: self-centered, self-concerned
 Conceited
 Lack of awareness linked to adjustment problems
The Self
SELF-ESTEEM IN CHILDHOOD
AND ADOLESCENCE
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Accuracy of self-evaluations increases across the
elementary school years
Majority of adolescents have positive self-image crossculturally
Girls’ self-esteem is lower than boys’ by middle school
years
The Self
SELF-ESTEEM IN ADULTHOOD
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Some researchers find drops in self-esteem in late
adulthood; others don’t.
Older adults with positive self-esteem:
 May not see losses as negatively
 Decrease in knowledge-related goals
 Increase in emotion-related goals
 Compare themselves to other older adults
Prenatal Development
SELF-ESTEEM ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
The Self
SELF-REGULATION IN
INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD
12-18
months
Depend on caregivers for reminder
signals about acceptable behaviors
2-3 years
Begin to comply with the caregiver’s
expectations in the absence of
monitoring
Preschool
Learn to resist temptation and give
themselves instructions that keep
them focused
The Self
SELF-REGULATION IN MIDDLE/LATE
CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
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Self-regulation increases from about 5 or 6 years up to 7 or 8 years of age
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Across elementary school years, children increase beliefs that behavior is result of
own effort and not luck
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From 8 to 14 years of age, children increase perception of self-responsibility for
failure
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Successful self-regulation in aging linked to:
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Selection:
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Optimization:
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Reduction in performance
Continue practice, use of technology
Compensation:
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Concealment; offsetting or counterbalancing a deficiency
The Self
PERSONAL CONTROL
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Primary control striving:
 One’s efforts to change external world to fit needs and desires.
 Attain personal goals, overcome obstacles.
Secondary control striving:
 Targets one’s inner worlds: motivation, emotion, and mental
representation.
Identity
WHAT IS IDENTITY?
Self-portrait of many identities:
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Vocational/career
Political
Religious
Relationship
Achievement/intellectual
•
•
•
•
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Sexual
Cultural/ethnic
Interests
Personality
Physical
Identity
ERIKSON’S IDEAS ON IDENTITY
Erickson:
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Identity versus identity confusion:
 Adolescents examine who they are, what they are about,
and where they are going in life.
Psychosocial moratorium:
 Gap between childhood security and adult autonomy, part of
adolescent identity exploration.
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Marcia:
 Individuals go through periods of Crisis: exploring alternatives during identity
development.
 Commitment: individuals show personal investment in
what they are going to do.
Identity
MARCIA’S IDENTITY STATUSES
Identity
EARLY ADOLESCENCE TO
ADULTHOOD
Most important changes occur ages 18 to 25
 “MAMA” cycle: pattern for positive identity
moratorium • achievement • moratorium • achievement
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Parenting styles:
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Democratic foster identity achievement
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Autocratic foster identity foreclosure
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Permissive foster identity diffusion
Personality
TRAIT THEORIES AND THE BIG FIVE
FACTORS OF PERSONALITY
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Trait Theories:
 Personality is broad dispositions or traits that tend to
produce characteristic responses.
Personality
VIEWS ON ADULT DEVELOPMENT
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Stage-Crisis View:
 Levinson’s Seasons of a Man’s Life Stage and transitions occur in life span.
 Tasks or crisis in each stage shape personality.
 Levinson’s midlife crisis in 40s.
Personality
AGE AND
WELL-BEING
Personality
THE LIFE-EVENTS APPROACH
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Now contemporary life-events approach.
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How a life event influences individual’s development depends on:
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The life event
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Individual’s adaptation to the life event
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Life-stage context
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Sociohistorical context
Personality
GENERATIVITY VERSUS STAGNATION
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Seventh stage in Erikson’s life-span theory:
Generativity Encompasses adults’ desire to leave legacy to next
generation
 Middle-aged adults develop in number of ways
Stagnation Also self-absorption, develops when one senses s/he has
done nothing for next generation
Personality
STABILITY AND CHANGE
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Many longitudinal studies have found evidence for
both change and stability in personality in
adulthood:
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Smith College Study
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Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore Study
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Berkley Longitudinal Studies
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Helson’s Mills College Study
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Vaillant’s studies
Personality
STABILITY AND CHANGE
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Cumulative Personality Model:
 With time and age, people become more adept at
interacting with environment in ways that promote
stability
Overall, personality is affected by:
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Social contexts
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New experiences
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Sociohistorical changes