You will be writing a paper on the two competing views of personality change in middle adulthood. Here is a little background on middle adulthood(Midlife). This stage typically runs from forties to the fifties. Research found that half of people in their sixties and early seventies consider themselves middle-aged. An 80-year-old who is still at the peak of her career might consider herself middle-aged. Bottom line, middle age is as ill-defined as emerging adulthood.
The two different perspectives are:
1) Personality does not change over time (the big 5 people):
*Neuroticism
>Tendency toward mental health vs. psychological disturbance
>Resilient, stable and well-adjusted vs. hostile and high-strung
*Extraversion
>Outgoing attitudes (warmth, gregariousness)
>Social and friendly
*Openness to experience
>Tendency to be risk-takers, seeking out new experiences
*Conscientiousness
>Industrious worker
>Hardworking, self-disciplined, reliable vs. erratic, irresponsible, forgetfulness
>Tend to live longer
*Agreeableness
>Kindness, empathy, ability to compromise
>Pleasant, loving, easy to get along with vs. stubborn, hot-tempered, prone to fights
When/After describing the different Big 5 traits, comment on whether or not the test seemed to capture your personality/my personality. I took this Big Five personality test, and it captured my personality to a certain extent. However, it wasn’t quite accurate according to the Openness to experience category. I love to seek out new experiences, depending on what it is.
2) Personality does change (generativity people):
*Generativity – focus on nurturing the next
generation and enriching the lives of others
>Hedonic Happiness: feeling good
>Eudaimonic Happiness: having purpose and
meaning in life.
*Highly generative people rate their lives as much more fulfilling
than non-generative people.
>Life events such as grandparenting are positive.
>Less generative people report worrying about getting older.
Highly generative people have a positive impact on their
children.
*Highly generative people report having positive childhoods.
In telling their life stories, highly generative people:
>Describe a COMMITMENT SCRIPT – childhood memories of feeling
special and an enduring generative mission
>Describe REDEMPTION SEQUENCES – “bad” events that turned out for the good.
P.S. It needs to be typed (times new roman, double spaced, 12 pt font), no more than two pages.
