Module 11 1 NAME: ______________________________________________________________________ East Carolina University PSYC 3206 – Developmental Psychology Dr. Eppler & Dr. Ironsmith Study Questions for Chapter 11 Self and Personality Sigelman & Rider (2009). Life-span human development (6th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Copyright 2008 by Marsha Ironsmith and Marion Eppler. All rights reserved. This file was last modified on 10/14/08. Learning Objectives • Define the concepts personality, self-concept, self-esteem, and identity. • Identify ways in which Erikson’s theory of personality development differs from Freud’s theory. • Explain what is meant by Erikson’s use of the term crisis. • Identify the “big five” personality dimensions. Compare and contrast this psychometric approach with psychoanalytic theory. • Describe how social learning theory’s explanation for personality development differs from psychoanalytic theory and the psychometric approach. • Describe how researchers measure self-recognition in infancy and know when self-recognition develops. • Define Thomas and Chess’ three categories of temperament. • Describe gene and environmental influences on behavioral inhibition. • Know the significance of the concept “goodness of fit”. • Describe developmental changes in children’s self descriptions, and relate these changes to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. • Identify Harter’s five components of self-esteem. Describe how developmental changes in self-esteem relate to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. Identify family factors that are related to high self-esteem. • Define the four categories of identity status proposed by Marcia, and be able to identify new examples of each one. • Identify four factors that influence adolescents’ progress toward the development of a stable identity. • Describe the patterns of stability and change in personality development across the lifespan. • Explain how cohort effects are problematic in research on personality development. • Describe how the concepts of gene-environment correlation and goodness-of-fit help us toModule 11 2 understand stability and change in personality development. • Name each of Erikson’s eight stages of personality development, identify the age group associated with each stage, and be able to recognize new examples of each stage. • Identify the strengths and weaknesses of Erikson’s theory (which aspects have been supported by research?). Conceptualizing the Self 1. Identify the following terms. (personality, self-concept, self-esteem, identity) a. your perceptions of your personal attributes and traits b. your overall evaluation of your worth as a person c. an overall sense of who you are, where you are heading, and where you fit in society d. the organized combination of attributes, motives, values, and behaviors that is unique to each individual Three Theories of Personality Development 2. REVIEW. These theories give different perspectives on when personality develops and how it changes throughout our lives. Before reading this section, let’s do a quick review. The two theorists who are associated with psychoanalytic theory are __________ (who holds more of a psycho__________ view) and __________ (who holds more of a psycho__________ view). The theorist who is associated with social learning theory is __________. Theories of Personality Development – Psychoanalytic 3. Erikson’s point of view differs from Freud’s in several ways listed below. Complete each item so that it is correct. a. __________ placed more emphasis on biological and sexual urges as the basis of development, whereas __________ placed more emphasis on social influences such as peers, teachers, and broader culture. b. __________ placed more emphasis on the rational ego and its adaptive powers, whereas __________ placed more emphasis on the irrational id. c. __________ held the more positive view of human nature. He saw us as active in our own development and able to overcome negative early experiences. d. __________ viewed development as completed early in childhood and his stages end with adolescence, whereas __________ viewed development as continuing during adulthood. POINT OF CLARIFICATION. Erikson proposed a series of eight stages of psychosocial development. Each stage reflects a crisis that occurs at a particular point in development. Your text does not define crisis, but it is important to understand what Erikson meant by this term. It is not the typical meaning involvingModule 11 3 a catastrophe, but rather it is a developmental turning point. It is a time when the individual is mature enough to face new social requirements or opportunities. A crisis is an encounter between the individual’s maturing ego and the demands of the social world (different demands at different stages of life, e.g., establish identity during adolescence). We face new challenges with every stage, and if we don’t resolve a particular crisis, then we can keep working on it during later stages. For Erikson, resolution of a crisis means striking a balance between the two characteristics of each stage. For example, resolution of the crisis in the first stage (trust vs mistrust) does not mean trusting everyone. It means learning that you can trust some people, even though you cannot trust all people. A little distrust is actually healthy. If an infant does not develop a sense of trust during the first year, he or she may still be able to learn to trust others in later years. Note that issues of trust will be important in later stages, for example in the crisis of stage 6 (intimacy vs isolation). 4. What did Erikson mean by crisis? 5. For Piaget’s theory, you learned that both maturational forces and cognitive conflict (disequilibrium) drive one’s development through Piaget’s four stages. For Erikson’s theory, ____________________ and ____________________ drive development. 6. Optimal development (resolution of each crisis) depends on _____________________ _____________________________________________________________________ . Theories of Personality Development – Trait (Psychometric) Theory 7. How is this approach similar to the development of intelligence tests? 8. List one way that the psychometric approach is similar to psychoanalytic theory and one