PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

Loevinger’s Ego Development Theory Individualistic greater sense of individuality and ability to be emotionally dependent on others. Ability to tolerate uncertainty and contradiction Autonomous Ability to think about and cope with inner conflict. Sees reality as complex and multidimentional Integrated rarely found in adults. Similar to autonomous and also has a strong sense of identity and ability to achieve complete of the true inner life

Vailant’s Ego Development Theory Defence mechanisms are present throughout life, even though their form can change The use of defence mechanisms allows the individual to reduce the experience of conflict and restore the sense of psychological equilibrium

Vailant’s Ego Development Theory Psychotic delusional projection  attributing one’s own bizarre ideas and feeling to others denial  disclaiming the existence of a feeling to others distortion  significantly exaggerating and altering the reality of feelings and events

Vailant’s Ego Development Theory Immature projection  attributing unacceptable ideas and feelings to other hypochondriasis  expressing psychological conflict as exaggerated physical symptoms acting out  engaging in destructive behavior that express inner conflict

Vailant’s Ego Development Theory Neuroticdisplacement  transferring unacceptable feelings from the true to a safer object repression  forgetting about a troubling feelings / events reaction formation  expressing the opposite of one’s true feeling

Vailant’s Ego Development Theory Maturealtruism  turning unacceptable feelings into behavior that is helpful to others sublimation  expressing unacceptable feelings in productive way humor  being able to laugh at unpleasant or disturbing feeling or situation

3 crucial developmental tasks (Vailant) The establishment of an intimate relationship Commitment to a career The passing of one’s wisdom and knowledge on to the next generation

Studies Based on Ego Psychology Studies of defence mechanisms and coping turning against the object Using aggresion to achieve mastery over a challenging / difficult situation projection Attributing undesirable qualities in the self to others principalization Learning a ‘lesson’ from a negative experiences reversal Minimizing the negative aspects of a situation and giving it to positive / neutral meaning turning against the self Directing aggressive feelings, fantasies, or behaviors against the self, blaming for no reason

Studies Based on Ego Psychology Coping strategies 1.Problem-focused coping objectively intellectuality logical analysis 2.Emotion-focused coping empathy ego regression sublimation, substitution, suppression

THE TRAIT PERSPECTIVE Personality is equivalent to a set of stable characteristic attributes The five factor model (Costa & McRae, 1992): 1.Neuroticism 2.Extraversion 3.Openness to experience 4.Agreeableness 5.Conscientiousness

THE COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory The individual’s desire to predict and control experiences is the driving force of personality  Personal construct  People always have the ability to view themselves and their situation from another perspective Cognitive self theories View the events in their lives from the standpoint of the relevance of these events to the self

COGNITIVE SELF THEORIES People want to make sense out of their life experiences and to try to weave inconsistent events into a rational life story Possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986) Individual’s view of the self guides the choice and pursuit of future endeavors Personal control  the driving force in personality is the desire to achieve control over one’s interchanges with the environment

MIDLIFE CRISIS AND THEORIES Midlife crisis  early 1970’s as a description of the radical changes in personality that supposedly accompanied entry in the midpoint of life (40-45) People is involved in extensive and intensive questioning of goals, priorities, and accomplishments Levinson  ‘Life structure’ ( a pattern of one’s life at a given time) Characteristic : ‘Baby Boomers’