Chapter 5: Personality and Emotional Development PDF

Chapter 5: Personality and Emotional Development Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Overview  Personality development in late life ‒ Theoretical models of personality development Psychodynamic Trait Coping...

Chapter 5: Personality and Emotional Development Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Overview  Personality development in late life ‒ Theoretical models of personality development Psychodynamic Trait Coping ‒ Overarching model of personality development ‒ Change in personality in adulthood Mean-level versus rank-order stability Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Overview (cont’d)  Emotional functioning in late life ‒ Age and emotional well-being ‒ Attention to positive and negative stimuli ‒ Age-related differences in emotion regulation ‒ Models of emotional functioning in late life Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) Strength and Vulnerability Integration model (SAVI) Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development  Psychodynamic models ‒ Freud thought that older adults had rigid personalities that did not change. ‒ Erik Erikson was one of the first to address personality change across the life span. ‒ Modern psychodynamic theories of personality also include attachment theory and theories of the role of defense mechanisms. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Erikson  Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development ‒ Resolution of eight stages of psychosocial development ‒ Relevant to adults and older adults: Generativity versus stagnation Ego integrity versus despair (around ages 60–65) New ninth stage: Gerotranscendence Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Erikson (cont’d)  Generativity versus stagnation ‒ Generativity = some activity that supports the next generation Parenting, volunteering ‒ Erikson thought this peaked in midlife and then decreased. ‒ Research suggests that generativity may be high in middle and older adulthood. Suggests there is no decrease in older adulthood. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Erikson (cont’d)  Ego integrity versus despair ‒ When people are younger than 60, their scores on assessments that measure ego integrity tend to be close to zero. “My life has been a growth process right up to the present.” “I can accept the ups and downs of my past life.” ‒ Scores tend to not increase with advancing age after age 60. Therefore, ego integrity stabilizes after it is successfully achieved. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Erikson (cont’d)  Gerotranscendence ‒ This stage is thought to occur in the 80s and 90s. Shift from a materialistic and rational view to a view that goes beyond oneself and into the future Possibly similar to the concept of wisdom “Later life has given me a release from the stresses of life.” “The meaning of life seems more clear to me now.” ‒ When measured, gerotranscendence continues to increase with increasing age. Does not level off like ego integrity. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development—Attachment Theory  Infant attachment style is carried into romantic relationships in adulthood. ‒ Secure, anxious, or avoidant  In a study of older adults, only 22% were classified as securely attached. ‒ Adverse background circumstances may change attachment during the life span from secure to insecure. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development—Attachment Theory (cont’d)  Attachment style in infancy is highly associated with adult attachment style. ‒ More likely to go from secure to insecure attachment rather than insecure to secure  Adults who have a secure attachment to their partner report higher marital satisfaction.  Among older adult couples, secure attachment to partner is associated with positive health and well-being outcomes. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development—Attachment Theory (cont’d)  Attachment bonds in older adulthood ‒ Among caregivers, those with a secure attachment style may be more empathic toward the care recipient. ‒ Among older adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) who had an insecure attachment style, more likely to experience paranoid delusions and anxiety. ‒ Insecurely attached adults with Alzheimer’s may display more challenging behaviors. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development—Defense Mechanisms  Defense mechanisms are used by the ego to protect individuals from unacceptable urges and desires that develop in the id.  George Vaillant proposed that age increases the use of adaptive defense mechanisms and decreases the use of immature defense mechanisms. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development—Defense Mechanisms (cont’d)  Adaptive defense mechanisms: ‒ Altruism ‒ Suppression ‒ Sublimation ‒ Anticipation ‒ Humor Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development—Defense Mechanisms (cont’d)  Immature defense mechanisms ‒ Projection ‒ Passive aggression ‒ Acting out ‒ Denial Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development—Defense Mechanisms (cont’d)  The use of adaptive defense mechanisms between ages 20 and 47 was positively associated with: ‒ Income at midlife ‒ Psychosocial adjustment between ages 50 and 65 ‒ Social support ‒ Joy in living ‒ Marital satisfaction at midlife ‒ Subjective physical health Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Traits  Trait perspectives ‒ Descriptions of an individual based on certain psychological characteristics ‒ Assumed to be enduring and stable ‒ Most well-known trait approach is the Five-Factor Model Sometimes called the Big 5: Openness to experience Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Traits (cont’d)  Older adults tend to score higher on agreeableness and conscientiousness.  Younger adults tend to score higher on extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience.  Early research suggested that, after age 30, personality traits were “set in plaster.” Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Traits (cont’d)  Big 5 personality traits associated with health behaviors ‒ Higher levels of neuroticism typically associated with worse health outcomes ‒ Higher levels of conscientiousness typically associated with better health outcomes Also may be associated with slower rate of cognitive decline May be related to increased tendency to engage in preventive care Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Coping  Stress and coping models of personality ‒ Examines the ways in which people choose to cope with a stressful situation May be linked to Big 5 traits but not the same ‒ Problem versus emotion-focused coping Change the situation versus manage your reaction ‒ Approach versus avoidance coping Manage/reduce the problem versus. avoid it Avoidance coping may create more problems Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Theoretical Models of Personality Development— Coping (cont’d)  Age-related differences in coping style ‒ Older adults may engage in less avoidance coping and similar levels of approach coping. Possibly because their experience has taught them that avoidance coping is not as effective. ‒ Other research suggests that older adults engage in fewer types of coping overall. More likely to manage stressors before they turn into situations that require coping. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Overarching Model of Personality Development  How to integrate the different theoretical perspectives? ‒ Integrative framework with five factors: Evolution and human nature Dispositional signature (traits) Characteristic adaptations (values, goals) Life narratives Culture ‒ Some of these are stable (evolution, traits), whereas others have a lot of individual variability (life narratives, values, goals). Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Longitudinal Studies of Personality Change  Most have used the trait approach (Big 5)  Need to consider mean-level stability versus rank-order stability ‒ Mean-level stability refers to changes in the mean of a personality trait over the course of adulthood (for the whole sample). ‒ Rank-order stability refers to the correlation between personality scores across two or more time points within the same individual. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Longitudinal Studies of Personality Change (cont’d)  Results for mean-level stability ‒ Conscientiousness increases until around age 70, then levels out. ‒ Emotional stability and agreeableness increase with age. ‒ Social vitality (sociability) decreases with age. ‒ Some of the associations may be more complex than a linear change. For example, emotional stability may increase in young adulthood, decrease in middle adulthood, and increase again after age 70. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Longitudinal Studies of Personality Change (cont’d)  Results for rank-order stability ‒ Meta-analysis suggests that stability of personality traits is highest between ages 50 and 70 and lowest during childhood. ‒ Other research suggests an inverted U shape for stability. Traits were most stable around age 40 to 60 and less stable in younger adulthood and older adulthood. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Emotional Functioning in Late Life  Age and overall happiness ‒ Previous research assumed that late life was characterized by decreases in well-being. ‒ Even when controlling for cohort effects, research suggests a U shaped curve for happiness across the life span. Lowest in middle-age and higher among younger and older adults Similar for men and women and people from developing or developed countries Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Age and experience of specific emotions ‒ Frequency of sadness remains stable across the life span. ‒ Anger increases during younger adulthood and declines in older adulthood. Also experienced less intensely among older than younger adults ‒ Age is associated with a decline in the experience of negative emotions but no changes in the intensity of emotional experiences. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d) Figure 5.1 Decrease in negative affect with age. Source: Carstensen et al. (2000). Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Emotional experience and chronic illness ‒ Older adults with chronic illness may have lower happiness ratings than healthy older adults. Particularly for those who have had a stroke and those who have two or more chronic illnesses  Older adults and psychological distress ‒ Generally the prevalence of depression declines with age. ‒ Psychological distress tends to either decline from the 20s to the 60s or peak in middle age and then decline. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Attention to positive and negative stimuli ‒ Why is there a decrease in the experience of negative emotion among older adults? May be accounted for by the age-related positivity effect. Laboratory studies find that, with age, relatively more positive than negative information is recalled. In eye-tracking studies, older adults gaze more toward happy faces and away from sad faces. Cross-cultural research suggests that it may not necessarily be an age- related positivity effect. Instead, preference for emotionally meaningful information, which varies across cultures. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Attention to positive and negative stimuli (cont’d) ‒ Older adults may put a positive spin on autobiographical memories. Older adults may be less likely to recall negative events. When then do recall negative events, tend to rate them as neutral or positive. ‒ Other research suggests that older adults attend less to negative information. May not be a positivity bias but rather that older adults weigh positive and negative information equally. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Age-related differences in emotion regulation ‒ Older adults use different strategies to regulate their emotions than younger adults. More likely to use passive strategies, such as walking away or doing nothing. ‒ Older adults tend to choose better strategies for solving interpersonal problems than younger adults. Want to preserve harmony in relationships. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Age-related differences in emotion regulation (cont’d) ‒ Gross’s process model of emotion regulation Situation selection Situation modification Attentional deployment Cognitive change Response modulation Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Age-related differences in emotion regulation (cont’d) ‒ Gross’s process model of emotion regulation (cont’d) Older adults more likely to use situation selection by avoiding situations that provoke negative emotions Less likely to use situation modification More likely to use attentional deployment via the age- related positivity effect More likely to use some aspects of cognitive change, mostly engaging in more positive reframing Less likely to use response modulation to suppress or conceal emotional expressions Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Models of emotional functioning in late life ‒ SST Goals are always set within a temporal context. When younger, time is seen as open ended. With age, there is a shift in future time perspective such that time horizons are shorter. Due to this, older adults switch to prioritizing emotionally meaningful goals and limit exposure to negative emotional states. Explains why older adults have a more positive and complex emotional life. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d) Figure 5.2 Summary of the Strength and Vulnerability Integration (SAVI) model. Source: Charles (2010). Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Models of emotional functioning in late life (cont’d) ‒ SAVI model Strengths for older adults: Limited time perspective leads to prioritization of emotionally meaningful goals (consistent with SST). Passage of time helps older adults have a better understanding of how to avoid negative situations and keep themselves content. More likely to focus on positive stimuli (consistent with the age-related positivity effect). More likely to quickly disengage from a negative situation. Typically downplay the potentially negative sides of an event after it has passed. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  Emotional Functioning in Late Life (cont’d)  Models of emotional functioning in late life (cont’d) ‒ SAVI model (cont’d) Weaknesses for older adults Physiological impacts of sustained emotional arousal when they are unable to avoid an upsetting situation Reduced physiological flexibility in the cardiovascular system Reduced physiological flexibility in the neuroendocrine system Leads to a more difficult time recovering from a stressful event, both emotionally and physiologically Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Conclusions  Personality development: ‒ Recent longitudinal studies suggest that stability of personality traits may be greatest in midlife, between ages 40 and 60, with less stability among younger and older adults. ‒ The extent to which the Big 5 personality traits change with age is complex. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Conclusions (cont’d)  Emotional development: ‒ The experience of negative emotions tends to decrease with age, with a relative increase in attention to positive stimuli. ‒ Older adults also show more effective strategies for regulating emotions, including situation selection and attentional deployment toward more positive features of the situation. ‒ These findings are explained by SST and the SAVI model. Copyright © Springer Publishing Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.