Wize University Psychology Textbook > Personality
Personality Stability
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Personality Stability
Heterotypic stability - stability in underlying personality traits across development
- Tricky to study because the same trait can be expressed differently at different ages
- Shyness and aggressiveness seem relatively stable across lifespan
Homotypic stability - consistency of the same observable manifestations (behaviours) of a personality trait
- Absolute stability - consistency of the level of a personality trait across time
- Example - getting the same score on a test of introversion at 25 and 45
- Extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness increase with age
- Neuroticism and openness decline with age
- Young adulthood shows the greatest changes
- Differential stability - consistency of the rank of a personality trait across time
- Example - getting a score in the top 25% for introversion at 25 and 45
- Differential stability increases with age
Person-environment transactions
Person-environment transactions - interactions between a person and their environment that influences/changes both the person and their environment
- Active person-environment transactions - people seek out environments consistent with their personality traits
- Example - an introverted person seeks out an environment that is calming and isolated
- Reactive person-environment transactions - individuals react differently to the same situation because of their personalities
- Example - an introvert and an extrovert react very differently to the same busy party
- Evocative person-environment transactions - person draws out particular responses from the environment because of their personality
- Example - a person high in agreeableness finds that the people in their class do them favours like sending them copies of lecture notes, whereas a person who is low in agreeableness struggles to get anybody to share their notes
Mechanisms that produce stability vs. change
ASTMA - method of categorizing mechanisms that lead to stability vs. change
Corresponsive principle of personality development - existing personality traits and environmental contexts work together to promote stability
As we get older we have more control over our environments. This may explain why differential stability increases with age