CHAPTER 11

SELF AND PERSONALITY

 Learning Objectives

• How is the personality typically defined,

and what are the five principles of
defining personality?

• How do psychoanalytic, trait, and social

learning theories explain personality
development?
 Personality
• An organized combination of
attributes, motives, values, and
behaviors
– Patterns of traits
• Unique to each individual
• Consistent across situations and
time
• Self-Concept: Perceptions
• Self Esteem: Evaluation
• Identity: Overall sense of who you
are
 Five Principles ~ McAdams and Pals
(2006)
• 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
• Three parts of the
personality
– Selfish Id;
– Rational Ego
– Moralist Superego
• Stages of psychosexual
development
– Biological: ends at sexual
maturity
– Personality formed in first
5 years
– Childhood anxieties
become
adult traits
 Psychoanalytic Theory:
Erik Erikson
• Emphasized
– Social influences
– Rational ego
– Life-span development
• Crisis-Oriented Stages Result
From:
– Maturational forces
– Social demands
 Trait Theory
• Psychometric Approach
– Personality: a set of
traits
– Individual differences
in each trait
– Measurement
approach
– “Big Five” - Universal
and stable
– Evidence of genetic
basis
– Universal
 Social Learning Theory
• Personality: A set of behavior
tendencies
– Shaped by interactions
– Found in specific social situations
• No universal stages
• Not enduring traits
• People change as environment
changes
• Situational influences important
– E.g., cheating
 Learning Objectives

• How does self-concept emerge during

infancy and how does it change
across the life span?
• How has infant temperament been
categorized?
• How do these temperament styles
interact with caregiver
characteristics?
• How does temperament relate to later
personality?
 Infancy:The Emerging Self

• First 6 months: Discover physical self

• Joint attention at about 9 mo
– Difference in perceptions can be shared
• Self-recognition about 18 months
• Categorical self (age, sex): 18 – 24 months
• Based on cognitive development
• Requires Social Experience
– The looking-glass self:
a “reflection”
 Temperament
• Seen in infancy
• Genetically based
• Tendencies to respond in predictable ways
• Building blocks of personality
• Goodness of Fit (Thomas & Chess)
– Parenting techniques
– Learning to interpret cues
– Sensitive responding
 Learning Objectives

• What changes occur in the

development of children’s self-
esteem?
• What factors influence self-esteem?
• How does personality evolve over
childhood and what do children
understand of their personality?
 Changes in Self-Concept: Age
8
• Include psychological, social
qualities
– Previously used only
physical traits
• Increased Use of:
– Social comparison,
multidimensionality
– Hierarchy with self-worth
on top
• More accurate self
evaluations
• Widening gap between ideal-
self and real-self
 Contributions to Higher Self-Esteem

• Competence!
• Positive social feedback
• Warm “democratic” parents
• Social comparisons that are positive
• Some temperament traits established
– Will develop into adult traits
 Learning Objectives

• How do adolescents conceptualize

their selves, including self-esteem
and personality?
• What factors influence the
development of identity during
adolescence?
• How do adolescents make vocational
choices and how does work affect
adolescents’ identities?
 The Adolescent
• Increased awareness of
psychological and abstract
traits
• Self-concept more
integrated
• Self-esteem dips
temporarily, rebounds
• Erikson’s Stage of Identity
vs. Role Confusion
– “Who Am I?”
– Can last as long as into
early 30s
 Marcia’s Ego Identity
•
Statuses
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

• 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
 Learning Objectives

• How does personality change

during adulthood?
• Why do people change or remain
the same?
• How does culture influence
personality?
 Self-Concept and
Adulthood
• Stable Self-Esteem
– 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
 Changes in Personality

• 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
 Learning Objectives

• What is the focus of each of

Erikson’s psychosocial stages?

• What factors can influence how

each crisis is resolved?
 Adulthood – Erikson and
Research
• 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
 Learning Objectives

• How do career paths change during

adulthood?
• How do adults cope with age-
related changes that affect their
working selves?
• How are older adults influenced by
retirement?
• How can we characterize successful
aging?
 Vocational Development

• Young adults: Career exploration

• Thirties: Settling down
• Forties & Fifties: Career peaks
• Older Workers
– Competent, satisfied, and positive
– Selective optimization with
compensation
 Retirement
• Average age 63
• Adjustment phases
• Success Factors:
– Person-environment fit
– Selective optimization
with compensation
• Disengagement versus
Activity Theory
– Support for activity
theory