Personality Development during Early and Middle Adulthood, pp. 507-543 (Psych 211) 8.4.1 Stability versus Change 8.4.1.1 The development stage approach: - Personality development occurs according to a series of age-related stages - Stage theorist: (a) Erik Erikson: - Proposed 3 stages of psychosocial development during adulthood - Stage 6: Intimacy versus isolation: young adults’ need to learn to give up some of their own desires in order to form close relationships with others. - Stage 7: Generativity versus stagnation: moving away from one’s own selfinterest in order to contribute towards society. - Stage 8: Integrity versus despair: characterised by feelings of satisfaction regarding the life one has led, choices one has made and the goals one has attained. (b) George Vaillant - Vaillant proposed two additional stages to Erikson’s stages: Stage 6: Intimacy versus isolation - Career consolidation versus self-absorption: people focus on the establishment of a career and a family. Stage 7: Generativity versus stagnation: - Keeping the meaning versus rigidity: decrease in questioning takes place Stage 8: Integrity versus despair (c) Robert Peck - Proposed 7 psychosocial crises for adulthood: (1st four during middle adulthood, namely:) - Wisdom versus physical power: decline in physical stamina, well-adjusted individual will rather use their mental power. - Socialising versus sexualising: sexual component becomes less important during middle years. - Emotional flexibility versus emotional impoverishment: changes require new adjustments. - Cognitive flexibility versus cognitive rigidity: adults confronted with social and cultural changes and new ideas, individual need to be cognitively flexible.
(d) Daniel Levinson - Personality development takes place during the life-span within a specific framework. i.e. life structure ( the underlying pattern/design of a person’s life at a given time). - There are four seasons/eras in a person’s life during which individual’s life structures are formed. - Eras proceeds in cycles of : - Life structure building: periods of relative stability during which people expand and develop their life structures. - Life structure changes: transitional periods within and between Eras, when individuals often question their existing life structures and often consider changes. - Read: Existing stages within Era (pp.510-512 ) (e) Roger Gould - Adults undergo certain transformations (changes) - Interested in the self-consciousness of individual and gradual transformation from the consciousness of a child to that of an adult. - Primary development Task: adults must rid themselves of false, irrational and immature assumptions. (See Table 8.2 pp.514) 8.4.1.2 Personality trait approach - A personality trait: a relatively constant characteristic of a person that determines the consistency of the person’s behaviour. - Some researchers believe that personality traits remain stable throughout the life span, while others maintain that there is a degree of personality growth/change: - Personality stability - Personality change 8.4.2 The self-concept - Some researchers could find no differences in the self-concept and self-esteem of young, middle-aged/elderly adults. - Factors contributing to view of self/ - self-concept: unemployment, poverty, poor and overcrowded housing, family disorganisation and lack of loving. 8.4.3 Emotions - Stereotype: older adults experience a blunting in both inner emotional experiences and in emotional expressions. - Older adults have learnt through the years to control and regulate their emotions more effective. - Life-satisfaction - Mid-life crisis 8.4.4.2 Gender-role development - In many cultures gender roles become less rigid - Androgynous: Reasons:- Biological explanation - Psychoanalytical explanation - Role changes
8.4.5 Work - Adults’ self-esteem is related to their need to be successful in a task that gives their lives meaning, also known as Generativity. - The importance of work: - A means to survival - A form of self-expression - Determines an individual’s place and status in society. - Contributes to the individual’s feeling of self-esteem. - Defines our daily schedules - Provide opportunities for society interaction. - Provides opportunities for personal development. - Provides opportunities for intellectual growth. - Intrinsic factors: characteristics of work, e.g. interesting, skills required, etc. - Extrinsic factors: salary, working hours/environment, etc. - The career cycle: pp. 531