Personality and Individual Differences in Psychology

Personality and Individual Differences

Stability, Coherence and Change in Personality

References Larsen, R.J., & Buss, D. M. (2021). Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature (7th Edition). McGraw-Hill. Chapter 5, pp. 123-151. 2024-2025 Konstanze Schoeps, PhD (she, her)

AR GROUPLEARNING OUTCOMES

V Students will be able to understand the difference between stability, cohrence and change of personality. E= mc2 SCIENCE ENGLISH MATH

Stability, Coherence and Change in Personality

Conceptual Issues Levels of Analysis Stability over Time Change in Personality Coherence over Time

Three Fundamental Questions

How does personality change over time? Explore how personality traits evolve across the lifespan. What factors contribute to these changes (e.g., age, life experiences, social roles, and environment)? How does personality stay the same over time? Investigate the stability of core traits despite external influences. Why do some personality characteristics remain consistent over decades? What is personality development? Define personality development as the interplay between stability and change. Discuss personality as a process shaped by biological, psychological, and social influences across the life course.

Online Class Activity: Some Things Change, Some Things Stay the Same

· Think about what you were like: o As a baby o As a 10-year-old teenager · During high school o Just before starting University o Right now · How were you spending your time, what things were important for you, what were your attitudes about school, family, friends, relationships? DRINK UP

Online Class Activity: Comparing Periods

"SOME THINGS CHANGE, SOME THINGS STAY THE SAME" · Consider the period just before high school when you were 12-14 years old and compare that with the period after high school, first years of university, when you were 17-19 years old. . Identify three characteristics that have changed noticeably during this period (e.g. interests, attitudes, values, hobbies). . Then list three characteristics about you that have not changed (e.g. personality traits, core values, interests and hobbies). . Discuss them in small groups and answer the following questions:

What was I like before high-school (12-14 years) What was I like after high-school (17-19 years)

Characteristics that have changed

Characteristics that have not changed

Share Your Insights

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE A VERY DIFFERENT PERSON NOW COMPARED TO WHO YOU WERE IN THE PAST? IS THERE A CORE PART OF "YOU" THAT FEELS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME OVER THE YEARS? CAN YOU IDENTIFY AN ENDURING ASPECT OF YOURSELF THAT GIVES YOU THE SENSE THAT YOU ARE "REALLY" THE SAME PERSON NOW AS YOU WERE THEN?

Conceptual Issues

Personality Development Definition

· Personality development can be defined as the continuities, consistencies, and stabilities in people over time, as well as the way in which people change over time. · Two facets of personality development: · Stability · Change "Some things change, some things stay the same" ? 0 MIN

Conceptual Issues: Three Forms of Stability

Rank Order Stability Mean Level Stability Personality Coherence

Conceptual Issues: Rank Order Stability

Rank Order Stability x 110 100 -90 C -BO -70 50 50 -40 ¥ 30 20 Three forms of Stability · Rank Order Stability: the maintenance of individual position within a group. · Example: Between age 14-20 most people become taller, but the rank order of heights tends to remain the stable, because this form of development affects all people pretty much the same, adding some cm to everyone. The tall people at 14 tend to fall into the tall people distribution at 20. The same principle can be applied to personality traits. · If people tend to maintain their positions on a personality trait relative to the others over time, then there is a high rank order stability of that trait. · If people fail to maintain their rank order (e.g., submissive people rise up and putdown the dominant) relative to the others over time, then there is rank order instability or change.

Conceptual Issues: Mean Level Stability

Mean Level Stability · Mean level stability corresponds to the constancy of level. · Example: The average level of liberalism/conservatism of a person might remain the same over time or it might change (e.g., increasingly conservative as getting older). . If a person tends to maintain the same score on a personality trait over time, then he shows a high mean level stability. . If a person fails to maintain the same score on a personality trait over time, then he shows a mean level change.

Conceptual Issues: Personality Coherence

Personality Coherence ... Three forms of Stability · Personality coherence corresponds to a more complex form of personality development that involves changes in the manifestation of a trait (i.e., behavior) · Example 1: As a dominant 8 years old, one can manifest their dominance by showing toughness and rough and tumble play, calling their rivals "sissies" and insisting on monopolizing computer games. At 20 years old, they manifest their dominance by persuading others in discussions, boldly asking someone to out on a date, and insisting on the place where the group will eat. . Personality coherence includes both elements of continuity and elements of change, continuity in the underlying trait but change in the outward manifestation of the trait.

Conceptual Issues: Personality Change

Important distinctions between personality development and external/internal change: · External: If you change the environment (going from one class to the other) it does not corresponds to developmental change because it is external and not enduring. · Internal: If you get sick and your body temperature changes, it does not correspond to developmental change because it is temporary. · Others: taking drugs or alcohol does not constitute development change because it is temporary unless they produce more enduring changes in personality. Personality change has two qualities: CHANGES ARE INTERNAL AND ENDURING OVER TIME E.g., If you become consistently more conscientious or responsible as you age = personality development

Levels of Analysis

Three Levels of Analysis

Population Level Individual Differences Level Group Differences Level

Levels of Analysis: Population Level

Three Levels of Analysis

· Psychologist have theorized about changes that we all go through in navigating from childhood to adulthood (e.g. Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development). · A general trend that might be part of what it means to be human throughout the life. . Regards change and consistencies that apply more or less to everyone. · Example: decrease in risk taking while people getting older or increase in sexual motivation at puberty. Population Level

Levels of Analysis: Group Differences Level

Three Levels of Analysis

· Some changes over time affects different groups of people differently. · Sex/gender differences: man are more risk takers at adolescence, while women develop a stronger awareness and understanding of other's feelings. . Cultural and ethnic differences: body image satisfaction is greater in Afro-American women that in European American women, and European women are more at risk for developing eating disturbances such as anorexia y bulimia. Group Differences Level -

Levels of Analysis: Individual Differences Level

Three Levels of Analysis

· Personality psychologist also focus on individual differences in personality development. · Predictions based on personality on social relevant outcomes. · Example: predicting based on one individual's personality which individual will go through middle crisis? Who will be at risk for psychological problems? Which individuals will change over time and which ones will remain the same? Individual Differences Level

Stability Over Time

Stability of Temperament During Infancy

* Definition: individual differences that emerge very early in life and are likely to have heritable basis, often involved with emotionality and arousability. 6 factors of temperament according to Mary Rothbart: 1. Activity level: overall motor activity, including arm and legs movements. 2. Smiling and laughter. how much the child smiles/laught? 3. Fear. the infant has a distress and/or reluctance when approaching the novel stimuli. 4. Distress to limitation: child's distress at being prevented to have an Access of desired object (e.g., refused food). 5. Soothability. how quickly the child relaxed when being sootherd 6. Duration of orienting: the degree to which the child sustain attention to objects in the absense of suden changes.

Stability Over Time: Temperament Scales

Stability of Temperament During Infancy

Table 5.1 Stability Correlations for Temperament Scales

MONTHS Scale 3-6 3-9 3-12 6-9 6-12 9-12 AL-activity level 0.58 0.48 0.48 0.56 0.60 0.68 SL-smiling and laughter 0.55 0.55 0.57 0.67 0.72 0.72 FR-fear 0.27 0.15 0.06 0.43 0.37 0.61 DL-distress to limitations 0.23 0.18 0.25 0.57 0.61 0.65 SO-soothability 0.30* 0.37* 0.41 0.50 0.39 0.29 DO-duration of orienting 0.36* 0.35* 0.11 0.62 0.34 0.64

• Higher stability over time in top two rows (higher correlations than the others).
• Personality traits seems to become more stable toward the end of infancy (9-12m) as compared to 3-6m as can be seen comparing two columns left and right.

Source: Adapted from Rothbart, 1981.

Stability Over Time: Temperament Conclusions

Stability of Temperament During Infancy

Conclusions: 1. Stale individual differences appear to emerge very early in life, when they can be assessed by observers. 2. Most temperament variables there are moderate levels of stability over time during first year of life. 3. The stability of temperament tends to be higher over short intervals of time than over long intervals of time (same as in adulthood). 4. Level of stability of temperament tends to increase as infants mature.

Stability Over Time: Childhood

Stability During Childhood

· Longitudinal studies: examine the same group of individuals over time, however costly and difficult to conduct. · Block and Block Longitudinal Study testing a sample of 100 children from California (USA) when they were 3, 4, 5, 7, 11 years old into adulthood. · Measurements: activity levels were assessed in two ways. . Actometer. recording device attached to the child's wrist · Teacher observation: ratings of behaviour and personalities • Results base on two analyses: . Stability coefficients: correlations between same measure and different time points. · Validity coefficient: correlations between different measures of the same trait obtained during the same time point.