IDENTITY AND PERSONALITY The Self

Identity

Personality

SELF-UNDERSTANDING

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

Self-understanding: Self-descriptions are unrealistic

positive overestimations Understanding others:

Individual differences in social understanding linked to caregivers.

The Self

MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD

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

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

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

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

Accuracy of self-evaluations increases across the elementary school years

Majority of adolescents have positive self-image cross-culturally

Girls’ self-esteem is lower than boys’ by middle school years

The Self

SELF-ESTEEM IN ADULTHOOD

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

The Self

SELF-ESTEEM ACROSS THE LIFESPAN

Prenatal Development

SELF-REGULATION IN INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD

12-18 months

2-3 years

Preschool

Depend on caregivers for reminder signals about acceptable behaviors

Begin to comply with the caregiver’s expectations in the absence of monitoring

Learn to resist temptation and give themselves instructions that keep them focused

The Self

SELF-REGULATION IN MIDDLE/LATE CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

Self-regulation increases from about 5 or 6 years up to 7 or 8 years of age

Across elementary school years, children increase beliefs that behavior is result of own effort and not luck

From 8 to 14 years of age, children increase perception of self-responsibility for failure

Successful self-regulation in aging linked to: Selection:

Reduction in performance

Optimization: Continue practice, use of technology

Compensation: Concealment; offsetting or counterbalancing a deficiency

The Self

PERSONAL CONTROL 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.

The Self

WHAT IS IDENTITY?

Self-portrait of many identities:

Vocational/career Political Religious Relationship Achievement/intellectual

Identity

• Sexual• Cultural/ethnic• Interests • Personality • Physical

ERIKSON’S IDEAS ON IDENTITYErickson: 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.

_____________________________________________________________ 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

Identity

MARCIA’S IDENTITY STATUSES

EARLY ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD

Most important changes occur ages 18 to 25 “MAMA” cycle: pattern for positive identity

moratorium • achievement • moratorium • achievement

_____________________________________________________________ Parenting styles:

Democratic foster identity achievement Autocratic foster identity foreclosure Permissive foster identity diffusion

Identity

TRAIT THEORIES AND THE BIG FIVE FACTORS OF PERSONALITY

Trait Theories: Personality is broad dispositions or traits that tend to

produce characteristic responses.

Personality

VIEWS ON ADULT DEVELOPMENT 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

Now contemporary life-events approach.

How a life event influences individual’s development depends on: The life event Individual’s adaptation to the life event Life-stage context Sociohistorical context

Personality

GENERATIVITY VERSUS STAGNATION

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 Many longitudinal studies have found evidence

for both change and stability in personality in adulthood:

Smith College Study

Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore Study

Berkley Longitudinal Studies

Helson’s Mills College Study

Vaillant’s studies

Personality

STABILITY AND CHANGE 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:

Social contexts

New experiences

Sociohistorical changes

Personality