Personality Development in Late Adulthood - Research Paper Example

?Running head: Personality development in late adulthood and successful aging theories Personality development in late adulthood and successful agingtheories Name Course Tutor Date Introduction Many research projects have been conducted by psychologists in search of the facts behind personality development in late adulthood. Some researchers have come up with theories to explain the personality changes that people in their late adulthood experience. Through these studies, there have been many successful aging theories that have been suggested by renowned psychologists. Today, many psychologists believe that as adults approach their old age, their behaviors change and they develop new personalities. Different people develop different personalities. Some personalities have been found to affect individual aging. Studies done on personalities have aided in the formulation of theories to successful aging. Over time, psychologists have come to accept that old age goes hand in hand with a decline in learning ability, intelligence and memory. It is also common for aging adults to alienate themselves from society. This could be due to the neglect they experience from other people who are close to them. There are many negative experiences that occur during this period of the aging process that would influence personality change. There are also positive changes that influence an individual’s personality change. Generally, the number of old people in the world has been increasing over the years and gerontologists have intensified their study on this particular group. Hypothesis The main hypothesis in the present research is that as old age sets in, individuals start developing new personalities depending on their immediate surroundings and their emotional states. Recently, a group of scientists conducted a study working under the hypothesis that personality changes are influenced by self-insight, social learning processes, social roles, life events, and social environments (Allemand, Zimprich, & Hertzog, 2007). These scientists believed that certain psychological and other factors in an individual’s life decrease the prevalence for facing a lowering in intelligence and other age associated limitations (Alea, Diehl & Bluck, 2004). Within the study "Cross-Sectional Age Differences and Longitudinal Age Changes of Personality in Middle Adulthood and Old Age," several research works have been highlighted with researchers working under the hypothesis that late adulthood personality changes are influenced by a combination of the individual's ability and tendency for self-insight (watching oneself) and social learning such as the ability to watch and learn from others. Many researchers also now believe that successful aging is determined by the immediate social factors surrounding an individual. An individual’s relationships in the society determines personality (Ferri, James, & Pruchno, 2009). Psychology theorists have identified five different aspects in which personality might change across the lifespan. These are known as structural, absolute, differential, ipsative, and coherence. The Allemand et al study only focuses on structural, absolute, and differential continuity. Structural continuity is "the degree of continuity in the interrelations among a set of variables over time" (325). In other words, this measurement looks at how much the personality structure remains constant as the person ages and suggests that personality structure doesn't really change through the life span. Absolute continuity measures how much a certain trait remains constant within a given age group or time period. It is this measurement that has led researchers to believe that "people become more agreeable, more conscientious, and less neurotic through midlife and into old age" (327) and strongly suggest that personality traits continue to change through adulthood. Differential continuity looks at the relative rank-order of personality traits over time and suggests a high level of individual personality change over time. The degree to which an individual's personality changed was highly dependent on the individual and was generally consistent across the big five traits. Methods The main method of study that was implemented by Allemant et al was analyzing data originally gathered from the Interdisciplinary Study on Adult Development. The researchers administered the NEO-personality inventory once at baseline and again four years later to the same two groups of participants. One group was, on average, around 43 years old and was approximately half male and half female. The other group was, on average, 62 years old and was closer to half male and half female. Once results were returned for both tests from each participant (those who didn't take both tests were removed from the study), the big five dimensions were compared against age groups and across time shifts. Results The researchers found that both continuity and change happen to personality across an adult's life span. Adults tended to show a great deal of continuity in the structure of their personality as well as continuity in the rate and degree of change that occurred in their personalities over time. However, they also demonstrated mean personality change over time as well as numerous individual differences in personality change. "What may be most striking about the present results is that these changes occur in a context of virtually perfect structural equilibrium, such that individual differences in change do not alter the relations among personality variables" (Allemand, Zimprich, & Hertzog, 2007). This supports the concept that personality change occurs both as a result of ability to self-reflect and the degree to which the individual is engaged in a social realm. The findings of Allemand et al's study have helped to shape further studies looking into personality change among older adults. In the article "Personality Trait Change in Adulthood," researchers Brent Roberts and Daniel Mroczek focus their study on mean level change and individual differences in change because this is where the greatest amount of change has been measured. Other studies also support Allemand et al's findings by noticing trends among individuals traveling a continuum of personality change. Roberts and Wood (2006) helped to define social maturity in which the individual becomes more confident, warm, responsible, and calm while Roberts et al (2007) indicate those who reach a level of social maturity early are generally more effective in their relationships with others and are able to lead healthier and longer lives as a result. Generally speaking, Roberts et al find that the personality changes experienced by adults into their old age tend to move in a positive direction, but this isn't always the case and can tend to reverse to some degree the older the individual becomes. Just as positive life experiences can help adults develop their personalities in positive ways, negative life events can have negative impacts on the developing personality. Death, for example, is a contributing factor in the development of personality in the late adulthood. Many people at this age have either lost their spouses or lost their friends. The depression that is associated with such loss may force them to assume solitude. Some individuals develop phobias related to death since they realize that they are also approaching their last days in life (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006). People in their late adulthood generally portray denial in research studies, presumably as a means of convincing themselves that they are not actually in their last years of life. They also showed anger signs. This could be due to envy on those who theoretically have a longer time left to live. According to the continuity theory, people in their late adulthood also tend to engage in the same activities that they have been undertaking throughout their lives to make them feel the same as when they were younger. This is also in keeping with Allemand et al's findings as the structure of the personality remains relatively stable. Older individuals attempt to take on challenges that they were used to tackling when they were younger as a means of proving that their age doesn’t affect them physically or in order to hold onto their youth as long as they can (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006). Discussion Jack Block suggests that the most efficient method of studying personality is through longitudinal processes. Longitudinal techniques ensure that information gained is comprehensive and time bound. These longitudinal studies are most commonly divided among the categories discussed in the beginning of the Allemand article, namely ipsative continuity, absolute continuity and differential continuity. Ipsative continuity involves looking at an individual’s personality and relating it to a certain time in the past. The aim of the comparison is to see how much similarity there is with respect to their personality. Differential continuity on the other hand entails studying the persistence of individuals’ holding certain ranks in the society over time. Absolute continuity relates to the stagnant personality factors in an individual. As was found in the Allemand study and others, these are the characteristics in people that do not change even in their old age (Alea, Diehl & Bluck, 2004). However, Allemand et al suggest that the degree of change in other aspects of personality can depend on a number of different factors such as internal reflection and the ability to learn from external examples. One variable that affects personality change is one's cognitive ability. This term refers to a range of thought processes including speed, working memory, executive functions, memory, and linguistic abilities and knowledge (Zelinski, Dalton, & Hindin, 2011). With some of these elements, it should not be surprising that studies have shown cognitive ability retention is directly related to the level of education that an individual has. The reality is that the higher the level of education that an individual has, the slower the rate of cognitive ability decline in his or her old days. Educated adults have better communication skills overall and their social skills are often sharper as a result hence their personalities are less likely to change in their late adulthood (Mather & Cartensen, 2005). Learned people also keep enhancing their knowledge through the use of the latest technology and become better able to cope with changing life circumstances (Blanchard-Fields, 2007). This passion for knowledge keeps their neuropsychology stimulated, unlike those who neglect broadening their knowledge in their late adulthood. In addition to the individual's cognitive ability affecting his or her ability to self-reflect and to participate more actively with a social group, personality can be shaped by the individual's physical condition and ability to interact with others. Hertzog et al (2009) suggest that cognitive skills in older adults can also be enhanced through participation in aerobic exercise and training, meaning that cognitive ability helps older adults be more active in their environment which helps to shape their personality in positive ways, but also that participation in social environments can help develop cognitive ability and shape personality in positive ways. It's an interactive system in which one helps to build the positive influences of the other. However, this also suggests that the reverse is true; the lack of physical participation or the lack of cognitive ability can denote the decline of personality into depression, isolation and neurosis. Individual choice of behavior can also have long-term effects on an individual's personality growth as has already been suggested by Roberts et al (2007). In that study, it was found that individuals with healthy relationships were more likely to be cognitively active and live longer than their counterparts in less successful relationships while the studies by Hertzog et al (2009) suggest that what occurs on the outside can have an effect on the inside development. "People who conduct problematic, counterproductive activities at work, such as theft, aggression, and malingering, are prone to decrease on measures of conscientiousness and emotional stability" (Roberts, Walton, Bogg, & Caspi, 2006). Mroczek and Spiro (2007) found that those who scored high on neuroticism in early adulthood and increased over the next ten years had higher mortality rates than their less neurotic counterparts. Conclusion Aging is inevitable for all living things. Aging in humans comes with different characteristics in different people. Theories have been made on the reasons why different people have different aging characteristics and why they develop new personalities. Researchers are still conducting studies to further explain this phenomenon in humans. The current world’s population is made up of many people in the old age and as the days go by, the number keeps increasing. It is therefore, important that gerontologists provide relevant information in order for the society to be enlightened on how to deal with the people in their late adulthood. People in their late adulthood should also know how to deal with the issues that face them at this age. They should try all possible ways to lengthen their lives while remaining healthy and active. They should ensure that their emotional state is always positive and they should strive to be satisfied with the lives that they have lived. Cognitive training as well as physical training can help improve the individual's older ages tremendously as both of these activities help to increase the individual's level of social involvement and build on each other. In addition, individuals should strive to live healthy, moral lives that are in keeping with the values they wish to have in themselves as it has been proven that participation in good activities and actions increases the individual's development in that area while participation in destructive activities causes the personality to develop in a negative direction. Maintaining a positive personality ensures that one achieves successful aging. Everyone is subject to death so they should not fear death or keep on denying their eventual fate. Acceptance is the key to a happy life in the late adulthood age. References Alea, N., Diehl, M., & Bluck, S. (2004). Personality and emotion in late life. Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, 1 - 10. San Diego, CA: Elsevier. Allemand, M, Zimprich, D., & Hertzog, C. (2007). "Cross-Sectional Age Differences and Longitudinal Age Changes of Personality in Middle Adulthood and Old Age." Journal of Personality. Vol. 75, N. 2: 323-58. Blanchard-Fields, F. (2007). "Everyday Problem Solving and Emotion: An Adult Developmental Perspective." Current Directions in Psychological Science. Vol. 16, N. 1: 26-31. Ferri, C., James, I., & Pruchno, R. (2009). "Successful Aging: Definitions and Subjective Assessment According to Older Adults." Clinical Gerontologist. Vol. 32: 379-88. Hertzog, C., et al. (2009). "Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults be Preserved and Enhanced?" Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Vol. 9. Washington D.C. - Association for Psychological Science. Mather, M. & Carstensen, L. L. (2005). Ageing and motivated cognition: The positivity effect in attention and memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(10), 496–502. Mroczek, D, & Spiro, A., III. (2007). "Personality change influences mortality in older men." Psychological Science. Vol. 18: 371-76. Roberts, B.W., Kuncel, N., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L.R.. (2007). "The Power of Personality: A comparative analysis of the predictive validity of personality traits, SES, and IQ. Perspectives on Psychological Science. Vol. 2: 313-45. Roberts, B.W., & Mroczek, D. (2008). "Personality Trait Change in Adulthood." Current Directions in Psychological Science. Vol. 17, N. 1. Roberts, B.W., & Wood, D. (2006). "Personality development in the context of the Neo-Socioanalytic Model of personality." in D. Mroczek & T. Little (eds), Handbook of Personality Development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum: 11-39. Roberts, B.W., Walton, K., Bogg, T., & Caspi, A. (2006). "De-investment in work and non-normative personality trait change in young adulthood." European Journal of Personality. Vol. 20: 461-74. Stuart-Hamilton, Ian (2006). The Psychology of Ageing: An Introduction. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Zelinski, E., Dalton, S., & Hindin, S. (2011). "Cognitive Changes in Healthy Older Adults." Generations: Journal of the American Society on Aging. Vol. 35, N. 2: 13-20. Read More