Powerpoint presentation on Personality Development

1. Personality Development Two questions of personality development How do we come to have the personalities we do? 1. Personality class provided various theoretical perspectives 2. Genes and gene-environment transactions What happens to personality across development? Change Stability Person-environment transactions

9. Rank-Order Stability of Personality Roberts, B. & DelVecchio, W. (2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from Childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 3-25. Meta-analysis (combines multiple studies) 152 longitudinal studies 3,217 test-retest correlations Organized according to Big Five

11. Relative Stability of Personality

13. Relative Stability of Personality

14. Relative Stability of Personality

15. Relative Stability of Personality

17. Relative Stability of Personality Important conclusions: Trait consistency increases with age 0.31 in childhood 0.54 in college years 0.64 at age 30 Plateaus between 50 and 70 at .74 The longer the interval the lower the stability Personality more stable than temperament No differences among Big 5

19. Example: Stability in Children McCrae, R.R., Costa, P.T., Terracciano, A., Parker, W.D., Mills, C.J., de Fruyt, P., & Mervielde, I. (2002). Personality trait development from age 12 to age 18: Longitudinal, cross-sectional, and cross-cultural analyses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83 , 1456-1468. Longitudinal study of intellectually gifted students 4 years: 12 to 16 N = 230 NEO-PI-R

20. Example: Stability in Children

21. Example: Stability in Children

22. Example: Stability in Children

23. Example: Stability in Children

24. Example: Stability in College Students Robins, R.W., Fraley, R.C., Roberts, B.W., & Trzesniewski, K.H. (2001). A longitudinal study of personality change in young adulthood. Journal of Personality, 69 , 617-640. Longitudinal study of college students N = 270 Assessed when first entered college and 4 years later FFI

25. Example: Stability in College Students

26. Example: Stability in College Students

27. Mean-level Consistency of Personality Srivastava, S., John, O.P., Gosling, S.D., & Potter, J. (2003). Development of personality in early and middle adulthood: Set like plaster or persistent change? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84 , 1041-1053 Internet study N = 132,515 Aged 21 to 60 (cross-sectional) Completed BFI on-line Aimed at countering C & M—no changes after 30

28. Mean-level Stability of Personality

29. Mean-level Stability of Personality

30. Mean-level Stability of Personality

31. Mechanisms of Continuity Environmental stability Three types of person-environment transactions Reactive Different individuals exposed to the same environment, experience it, interpret it, and react to it differently Example: schemas Evocative An individual's personality evokes distinctive responses form others Examples: coercive child, happy child Proactive/Selective Individuals select or create environments of their own