Personality Stability and Change

Question 1

Absolute stability

Answer 1

Consistency in the level or amount of a personality attribute over time.

Question 2

Active person–environment transactions

Answer 2

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that occurs whenever individuals play a key role in seeking out, selecting, or otherwise manipulating aspects of their environment.

Question 3

Age effects

Answer 3

Differences in personality between groups of different ages that are related to maturation and development instead of birth cohort differences.

Question 4

Attraction

Answer 4

A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment that occurs because individuals with particular traits are drawn to certain environments.

Question 5

Attrition

Answer 5

A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment that occurs because individuals with particular traits drop out from certain environments.

Question 6

Birth cohort

Answer 6

Individuals born in a particular year or span of time.

Question 7

Cohort effects

Answer 7

Differences in personality that are related to historical and social factors unique to individuals born in a particular year.

Question 8

Corresponsive principle

Answer 8

The idea that personality traits often become matched with environmental conditions such that an individual’s social context acts to accentuate and reinforce their personality attributes.

Question 9

Cross-sectional study/design

Answer 9

A research design that uses a group of individuals with different ages (and birth cohorts) assessed at a single point in time.

Question 10

Cumulative continuity principle

Answer 10

The generalization that personality attributes show increasing stability with age and experience.

Question 11

Differential stability

Answer 11

Consistency in the rank-ordering of personality across two or more measurement occasions.

Question 12

Evocative person–environment transactions

Answer 12

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that occurs whenever attributes of the individual draw out particular responses from others in their environment.

Question 13

Group level

Answer 13

A focus on summary statistics that apply to aggregates of individuals when studying personality development. An example is considering whether the average score of a group of 50 year olds is higher than the average score of a group of 21 year olds when considering a trait like conscientiousness.

Question 14

Heterotypic stability

Answer 14

Consistency in the underlying psychological attribute across development regardless of any changes in how the attribute is expressed at different ages.

Question 15

Homotypic stability

Answer 15

Consistency of the exact same thoughts, feelings, and behaviors across development.

Question 16

Hostile attribution bias

Answer 16

The tendency of some individuals to interpret ambiguous social cues and interactions as examples of aggressiveness, disrespect, or antagonism.

Question 17

Individual level

Answer 17

A focus on individual level statistics that reflect whether individuals show stability or change when studying personality development. An example is evaluating how many individuals increased in conscientiousness versus how many decreased in conscientiousness when considering the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Question 18

Longitudinal study/design

Answer 18

A research design that follows the same group of individuals at multiple time points.

Question 19

Manipulation

Answer 19

A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment that occurs whenever individuals with particular traits actively shape their environments.

Question 20

Maturity principle

Answer 20

The generalization that personality attributes associated with the successful fulfillment of adult roles increase with age and experience.

Question 21

Person–environment transactions

Answer 21

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that ends up shaping both personality and the environment.

Question 22

Reactive person–environment transactions

Answer 22

The interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances that occurs whenever attributes of the individual shape how a person perceives and responds to their environment.

Question 23

Selection

Answer 23

A connection between personality attributes and aspects of the environment that occurs whenever individuals with particular attributes choose particular kinds of environments.

Question 24

Stress reaction

Answer 24

The tendency to become easily distressed by the normal challenges of life.

Question 25

Transformation

Answer 25

The term for personality changes associated with experience and life events.