In contrast to the proposition that adults pass through
distinct stages which shape their personality, like reviewed earlier Disengagement
Theory, more contemporary psychological researchers have argued that
personality is defined as a set of traits that follow the individual throughout
the life course. Personality is made of five traits which dispose an individual
to particular thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These traits are:
(a) Neuroticism,
(b) Extroversion,
(c) Openness to experience,
(d) Agreeableness, and
(e) Conscientiousness.
Baltimore Study
The Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging is regarded as the
most definitive study of personality traits. Paul Costa and Robert McCrae
tested the personalities of individuals between 19 to 80 years old for over
twelve years and specifically measured their levels of neuroticism,
extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
Costa and McCrae concluded that these five personality traits remained
relatively stable with age. Furthermore, trait stability especially
characterized individuals after the age of 30.
The first trait, neuroticism,
refers to an individual's level of anxiety, hostility, impulsiveness, and self
consciousness. Neuroticism is measured by self-reported responses to a variety
of statements such as "I often look in the mirror before I go
outside." Someone who would strongly agree with this statement, as well as
the others which measure this trait, would be identified as having a high
amount of neuroticism. In contrast, someone who was neutral or strongly
disagreed with these statements would have average to lower levels of
neuroticism.
Given the general conclusion that personality traits remain
stable after age 30, Costa and McCrae would argue that if a 30 year old woman
worried excessively about whether or not her husband's salary was enough to
make mortgage payments, then she also is likely to be worried about having
saved enough for her children's college tuition when she is 45 and is likely to
be worried about the adequacy of her husband's pension income at age 70. Since
Costa and McCrae suggest that personality traits remain stable through
adulthood a high degree of neuroticism, as reflected by a consistent and
excessive level of anxiety and worry, is likely to persist and find new focal
points over time.
In regard to the second personality trait, the extroverted personality trait is
characterized by assertiveness, excitement seeking, and positive emotional
experiences. Costa and McCrae would suggest that extroversion remains stable
through adulthood. A thirty five year old oil wildcatter is more likely to be a
75 year old skydiver; conversely, someone who spent the majority of his middle
age as an introverted and unassertive biomedical researcher is not likely to
become a socially competent and effective university administrator in older
age. Such a transformation of personality traits, from introversion to
extroversion, is not a normal feature of personality maturation.
Further, in regards to the third personality trait,
individuals who are open to experiences
when they are young are also likely to be engaged in novel experiences when
they are old. For example, celebrated artists Wilhelm de Kooning and Pablo
Picasso spent their entire lifetimes exploring and refining new methods of
artistic expression.
Moreover, agreeable
persons are less likely to become antagonistic as the age. Stubborn,
cantankerous, mistrustful older men were likely stubborn and mistrustful in
middle age. Similarly, individuals with high levels of conscientiousness in
middle age tend to remain ambitious and energetic over time.
Costa and McCrae were careful to point out that personality
traits reflect enduring personal qualities and cannot predict how individuals
may respond to any given situation. Extroverted individuals, for example, are
not always interested in starting conversations with strangers.
How personality traits manifest themselves may also vary
across individuals and over time. One person with a high degree of openness to
novel experiences may actively change jobs but maintain a stable family
environment. Conversely, another person who is open to new experiences may keep
the same job but engage in several intimate relationships over the life course.
Over time, people with a high level of neuroticism find new
reasons to complain, worry, and be dissatisfied. A younger woman may express
unhappiness with her suburban homestead in her thirties and find something else
to complain about, like her meddling mother-in-law, in her forties. She
maintains a high level of trait neuroticism but how exactly this is expressed
changes as her life situations change.
In contrast to Costa and McCrae's position that personality
traits remain stable over the life course, other researchers including
Neugarten, Havinghurst, and Tobin (1968) found that other aspects of personality
are modified with age. They argued that gender roles become less distinct as
men retire from the workforce and women finish raising their children. Older
men may express more emotion than when they were younger and appear more
feminine, older women may be more assertive than when they were younger and
appear more masculine.
In summary, research suggests that personality traits remain
relatively stable over the life course. So, if an older adult appears
cantankerous or eccentric, it is probably because he or she was that way as a
younger adult. Moreover, Costa and McCrae conceded that their studies were not
definitive, and variability across individual personality is possible. Some
individuals may become more introverted as they age, others may become less
neurotic.
Dramatic alterations in personality
traits, however, should not be considered normative. If an individual becomes
significantly more depressed or mistrustful as he ages, then it is possible
that this change in personality is caused by a non-normative event such as the
onset of Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia.
Stanford Study
After conducting an online study of
130,000 people aged 21 to 60, researchers at Stanford University, led by Sanjay
Srivastava, proposed a conflicting viewpoint that the theory that the 5 key
personality characteristics change throughout lives.
"We found a mixture of
different patterns of how people change," reported Srivastava. "On
average people were getting better at dealing with the ups and downs of life.
In particular they were more responsive and more caring [with age]."
This is how our personalities
tend to change with age:
- Conscientiousness: Our ability to handle tasks and our organizational skills grow dramatically in our 20s and continue to improve as we age. The initial growth in our 20s is likely due to new work and family commitments.
- Agreeableness: Our warmth, generosity, and helpfulness make the biggest improvement in our 30s and 40s; like conscientiousness, changes in agreeableness are probably due to new work and family commitments.
- Neuroticism: Worry and our sense of instability actually decrease with age for women--but not for men.
- Openness: Our desire to try new experiences declines slightly with age for both genders.
- Extroversion: Our need to seek social support declines slightly for women as they age, but changes little in men.
On average, we get better as we get
older. We care more about work, family, and our responsibilities. At the same
time, we become less open to meeting new people. Women, but not men, worry less
and as they age. "People are getting better at things as they age,"
Srivastava continued. "They're not becoming grumpy old men."
The supplementary studies validated
better the later point of view, that personality traits continue to change in
adulthood and often into old age, and that these changes may be quite
substantial and consequential. However, on the global scale, the main core of the
personality virtues remain unchanged over the lifetime.
Sources and Additional
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