1. Identity and Personality
The Self
Identity
Personality

2. Self-Understanding Self: All characteristics of a person
The Self
Self-Understanding
Self:
All characteristics of a person
Self-understanding, self-esteem, self-concept
Identity:
Who a person is.
Personality:
Enduring personal characteristics of individuals.
Young children perceive self as external characteristics.
Older children recognize difference between inner and outer states.

3. Early Childhood Self-understanding: Self-descriptions are unrealistic
The Self
Early Childhood
Self-understanding:
Self-descriptions are unrealistic
positive overestimations
Understanding others:
Individual differences in
social understanding linked
to caregivers.

4. Middle and Late Childhood
The Self
Middle and Late Childhood
Self-understanding: (5 key changes)
Internal characteristics emphasized
More referencing in social descriptions
More use of social comparisons
Distinguish between real self and ideal self
Realistic in self-evaluations
Understanding others:
Increased perspective taking.
Perspective-taking:
Ability to assume another’s perspective and understand his or her thoughts and feelings.

5. Self-Understanding in Adolescence
The Self
Self-Understanding in Adolescence
Abstract and idealistic
Self-conscious; preoccupied with self
Contradictions within the self – multiple roles in different contexts realized
Fluctuating self over time and situations
Compare real and ideal selves
Possible selves: what persons may be, would like to be, and are afraid of becoming
Self-integration in sense of identity

6. Changes in Self-Understanding in Adulthood
The Self
Changes in Self-Understanding in Adulthood
Self-Awareness:
Awareness of strengths and weaknesses
Improves in young and middle adulthood
Possible Selves:
Get fewer and more concrete with age
Some revise throughout adulthood
Life Review:
Some in middle age, common in older adults
Evaluations of successes and failures

7. Issues with Self-Esteem
The Self
Issues with Self-Esteem
Modest correlations link self-esteem and school performance; links vary between adult job performance and self-esteem
Self-esteem related to perceived physical appearance across life-span
Depression lowers high self-esteem
Persons with high self-esteem:
Increased happiness
Have greater initiative
Prone to both prosocial and antisocial actions
Undeserved high self-esteem:
Narcissism: self-centered, self-concerned
Conceited
Lack of awareness linked to adjustment problems

8. Self-Esteem in Childhood and Adolescence
The Self
Self-Esteem in Childhood and Adolescence
Accuracy of self-evaluations increases across the elementary school years
Majority of adolescents have positive self-image cross- culturally
Girls’ self-esteem is lower than boys’ by middle school years

9. Self-Esteem in Adulthood
The Self
Self-Esteem in Adulthood
Some researchers find drops in self-esteem in late adulthood; others don’t.
Older adults with positive self-esteem:
May not see losses as negatively
Decrease in knowledge-related goals
Increase in emotion-related goals
Compare themselves to other older adults

10. Self-Esteem Across the Lifespan
Prenatal Development
Self-Esteem Across the Lifespan

11. Self-Regulation in Infancy and Early Childhood
The Self
Self-Regulation in Infancy and Early Childhood
months
Depend on caregivers for reminder signals about acceptable behaviors
Begin to comply with the caregiver’s expectations in the absence of monitoring
2-3 years
Learn to resist temptation and give themselves instructions that keep them focused
Preschool

12. Self-Regulation in Middle/Late Childhood and Adolescence
The Self
Self-Regulation in Middle/Late Childhood and Adolescence
Self-regulation increases from about 5 or 6 years up to 7 or 8 years of age
Across elementary school years, children increase beliefs that behavior is result of own effort and not luck
From 8 to 14 years of age, children increase perception of self-responsibility for failure
Successful self-regulation in aging linked to:
Selection:
Reduction in performance
Optimization:
Continue practice, use of technology
Compensation:
Concealment; offsetting or counterbalancing a deficiency

13. Personal Control Primary control striving:
The Self
Personal Control
Primary control striving:
One’s efforts to change external world to fit needs and desires.
Attain personal goals, overcome obstacles.
Secondary control striving:
Targets one’s inner worlds: motivation, emotion, and mental representation.

14. What is Identity? Self-portrait of many identities: Sexual
Vocational/career
Political
Religious
Relationship
Achievement/intellectual
Sexual
Cultural/ethnic
Interests
Personality
Physical

15. Erikson’s Ideas on Identity
Erickson:
Identity versus identity confusion:
Adolescents examine who they are, what they are about, and where they are going in life.
Psychosocial moratorium:
Gap between childhood security and adult autonomy, part of adolescent identity exploration.
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Marcia:
Individuals go through periods of-
Crisis: exploring alternatives during identity development.
Commitment: individuals show personal investment in what they are going to do.

16. Marcia’s Identity Statuses

17. Early Adolescence to Adulthood
Identity
Early Adolescence to Adulthood
Most important changes occur ages 18 to 25
“MAMA” cycle: pattern for positive identity
moratorium • achievement • moratorium • achievement
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Parenting styles:
Democratic foster identity achievement
Autocratic foster identity foreclosure
Permissive foster identity diffusion

18. Trait Theories and the Big Five Factors of Personality
Personality is broad dispositions or traits that tend to produce characteristic responses.

19. Views On Adult Development
Personality
Views On Adult Development
Stage-Crisis View:
Levinson’s Seasons of a Man’s Life-
Stage and transitions occur in life span.
Tasks or crisis in each stage shape personality.
Levinson’s midlife crisis in 40s.

20. Personality
Age and Well-Being

21. The Life-Events Approach
Personality
The Life-Events Approach
Now contemporary life-events approach.
How a life event influences individual’s development depends on:
The life event
Individual’s adaptation to the life event
Life-stage context
Sociohistorical context

22. Generativity versus Stagnation
Personality
Generativity versus Stagnation
Seventh stage in Erikson’s life-span theory:
Generativity-
Encompasses adults’ desire to leave legacy to next generation
Middle-aged adults develop in number of ways
Stagnation-
Also self-absorption, develops when one senses s/he has done nothing for next generation

23. Personality
Stability and Change
Many longitudinal studies have found evidence for both change and stability in personality in adulthood:
Smith College Study
Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore Study
Berkley Longitudinal Studies
Helson’s Mills College Study
Vaillant’s studies

24. Stability and Change Cumulative Personality Model:
With time and age, people become more adept at interacting with environment in ways that promote stability
Overall, personality is affected by:
Social contexts
New experiences
Sociohistorical changes