Personality across the Lifespan

1. Personality across the Lifespan

2. What is temperament and how can we measure it? • Biologically based individual differences in behaviour that are present in early life, and are relatively stable across situations and time (Bates, 1987) • What are the issues about measuring personality/temperament in children?

3. Type of study • Prospective vs Retrospective - what are the advantages and disadvantages of each type of study? • What are the problems with retrospective reports?

4. Types of study II • Volunteer, birth cohort, selected sample – what are the issues with each type of study? • Longitudinal studies versus cross-sectional? • Confounding factors may be?

5. Method of measurement • Self versus other report? • Observer report • Parent versus carer report?

6. Tool of measurement • Test-retest? • Developmental change with maturation and learning – what would this affect? • Can not use the same tool • What tools are available?

7. Predictions of temperament • What aspects of behaviour do you think temperament can predict? • From what age? • How would you go about designing such a study?

9. Are there differences in children? • Behavioural differences can be noticed in children • Are these individual differences due to differences in temperament / personality or due to parenting style or other factors?? • Does the behaviour in childhood predict the personality of the adult?

10. Approaches • First approach pioneered by Thomas and Chess (1977) • Distinction between personality and temperament is blurred. • Some researchers see temperament and personality traits as almost the same • Second approach pioneered by Strelau (1983) • Draws a distinction between temperament and personality, between biological and socialisation

11. (Thomas and Chess 1977; Chess and Thomas, 1996) • 9 categories of behaviours: • Activity-level • Rhythmicity • Approach-withdrawal • Adaptability • Threshold of responsiveness • Intensity of reaction • Quality of mood (predominant) • Distractability • Attention span/persistence

12. Normal temperaments(Thomas and Chess) Temperament Types • Easy (40%) • Slow-to-warm-up (15%) • Difficult (10%) • ?35%

13. Categorical and Dimensional approaches to personality • Categorical models: people can be divided into types eg.astrology • Dimensional models: assume that scores are distributed continuously in the population

14. Further work on temperament • Problems with Thomas and Chess – small samples • Rothbart and Bates asked parents about specific behaviours in specific contexts • Rothbart and Bates asked questions such as: • “When put in the bath, how often did the baby kick and splash? Or: “When meeting a stranger, how often did the baby cry?” Response on 7 point scale, never to always. • They had two strands of behavioural-type research • parental report • home observations.

15. Rothbart and Bates • Two main dimensions: • positive (smiling, laughter, activity) • negative reactivity (fear, frustration) • BUT: problems – Can you think of any???? • They had no control in either self-reports or observations for actual level of stimulus baby experienced: eg. Bath time: • They developed the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Inventory

16. Laboratory Temperament Assessment Inventory • Goldsmith & Rothbart (1991) • Assessed • Smiling and laughter • Fear • Frustration • Attention • Soothability

17. Seven factor Model of Temperament? • Martin, Wisenbaker and Hattunen (1994) • Activity level • Negative emotionality • Task persistence • Adaptability / agreeableness • Inhibition • Rhythmicity • Threshold

18. Comparisons • Parent ratings - 6 factors (Presley & Martin (1994)); teacher ratings –3 (Martin, 1988) • Activity-level Activity • Rhythmicity Rhythmicity • Approach-withdrawal Social inhibition yes • Adaptability Adaptability • Threshold of response • Intensity of reaction • Quality of mood Negative emotionality yes • Distractability • Attention span/persistence Task persistence yes

19. Why different Dimensions • Different raters? • Different behaviours shown at different times? • Parental Bias? • Individual differences in raters?

20. Psychobiological approaches • Rothbart & Derryberry • Children’s Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) • Strelau

21. Reactivity and self-regulation: (Rothbart, Bates, Derryberry) • Temperament (and personality) has basis in neural systems • Motivation, attention and emotion

22. Reactivity and self-regulation: (Rothbart, Bates, Derryberry) • Temperament (and personality) has basis in neural systems • Motivation, attention and emotion • Children’s Behaviour Questionnaire: • higher order factors: extraversion/surgency, negative affectivity, effortful control

23. Defensive/fearful motivation system. Novel stimuli, fear, punishment. Appetitive system: approach Affiliant/nurturant system. Social rewards Vigilance system. Alertness Temperament Frustrative/aggressive behaviour system. Irritation, rage. Rothbart & Derryberry

24. Neo-Pavlovian approach: (Strelau) • Strength of nervous system activation • Derives from the hypotheses of Pavlov, Teplov and Nebvlitsyn • The cns has general formal characteristics which can be assessed psychophysiologically and behaviourally • Individuals differ on the strength of excitation of their nervous system • The length of time that the cns maintains its response in the face of intense or prolonged stimuli.

25. Strelau II • Strength of excitation can be measured by techniques such as testing the effect of an extra, intense stimulus on a person’s visual threshold (Mangan, 1982). • Behaviourally – ability to maintain performance on a task under high levels of stimulation. • Extraversion : Strength of the nervous system? • extraverts appear to tolerate stimulation better than introverts (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1985). • Behaviour-Temperament Inventory: • Briskness, perseverance, sensory sensitivity, emotional reactivity, endurance, activity • Conceptual overlap with structural approaches

26. Distinctions between temperament and personality (Strelau)

27. Linking temperament, later outcomes, personality • Can be related psychometrically • NEO-FFI, EAS-TS: • N: Fearfulness, distress, anger • E: Sociability • O: Activity • A: Anger • C: ?Impulsivity • Longitudinal studies

28. Can Behaviour in childhood tell us about adulthood • Temperament • Personality • Learning styles • Cognition • Can it predict mental health?

29. Temperament and personality from childhood to adulthood • New Zealand: Dunedin Study (Caspi et al) • 1037 infants, 1972-73 • longitudinal study assessed at age 3 then again at 5,7,9,11,13,14,15,18 and 21 • Children - divided into three temperamental types • well-adjusted, undercontrolled, inhibited

30. Age-3 temperament and later outcomes • What outcomes would you predict? • What aspects of life? • Children’s behaviour problems • ‘Adult’ Personality • Interpersonal Relationships • Employment • Psychiatric Disorders • Criminal Behaviour To answer these questions you need to read Caspi (2000) The Child is Father of the Man: Personality Continues From Childhood to Adulthood JPSP 78: 158-172

31. Basic reading • Personality Traits Matthews, Deary and Whiteman Further Reading Caspi, A. (2000) The child is the father of the man: personality continuities from childhood to adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 158-172. (not on reserve, see journal in psych library) Rothbart, M.K,Ahadi, S.A., & Evans, D.E. (2000). Temperament and personality: origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 122-135. (see journal in psych library). McCrae, R.R., Costa, P.T., Pedrosa de Lima, M, et al (1999) Age differences in Personality Across the Adult Life Span: Parallels in Five Cultures