Developmental Psychology

Year 11

Semester 1 2011

Amended slightly from the Slideshow created by Geoff Taylor, Canberra College

What is Personality?Background Factors

Longitudinal Studies of Note:- Australian Temperament Study – still going- http://www.aifs.gov.au/atp/- Commenced in 1983, in VIC- 2,400 babies, data captured every 18 months- Mothers fill out questionnaires- Teachers record their impressions- The study is more quantitative than qualitative- Do the early temperaments of babies and infants

predict adolescent or adult personality?

What is Personality?Background Factors

Australian Temperament Study Results:- Premature babies over time are not developmentally

hampered. Also, they do not develop problematic temperaments or personalities.

- There is no difference in the aggression levels of male and female babies (up to one year of age).

- After one year of age, on the whole, boys tend to be more aggressive than girls.

- Patterns of aggressive behaviour seem to start forming at two, three and four years of age.

- Early intervention is crucial in changing behaviour.

What is Personality?Background Factors

Australian Temperament Study Results:- By twelve, aggressive personalities and

characters are more or less fixed for life.- Therefore, there are clear early warning signs (i.e.

patterns of aggressive behaviour or aggressive temperaments) for adolescents who become mal-adjusted or for problem adult personalities.

- However, hyperactive babies / infants do not necessarily turn into hyperactive adolescents or highly active and energetic adults.

What is Personality?Background Factors

Australian Temperament Study Results:- A key predictive factor for adolescents developing

problem or aggressive personalities is parenting styles.

- Responsive parenting is crucial to the nurturing of well-adjusted children.

- Parents who are ‘in tune’ with their child’s unique temperament, characteristics and developing personality are more likely to nurture well-adjusted individuals

What is Personality?Background Factors

Australian Temperament Study Results:- This is on the proviso that the parents use this

knowledge and adjust their parenting style to best suit / handle the child.

- This can be difficult sometimes because parents can operate emotively and reactively to situations that arise rather than taking a considered and reflective approach that produces well-thought out actions.

- It can also be difficult for parents because each sibling in a family can be quite different and therefore requires a different ‘tailored’ approach.

What is Personality?Background Factors

Australian Temperament Study Results:- Therefore, reactive and emotive parents could

exacerbate a child’s already developing aggressive temperament and be creating a potential bully.

- What about the children who are not developing as potential bullies, i.e. with aggressive temperaments?

What is Personality?Background Factors

Australian Temperament Study Results:- However, unresponsive and out of tune parents

that ignore a sensitive child’s needs or doesn’t readily pick up on the child’s vulnerabilities and sensitivities may be exacerbating their susceptibility to teasing and bullying.

- They become easy targets for bullies because they are sensitive and / or do not have well articulated or rehearsed coping strategies.

Good Parenting Prevents Bullying- Why do some adolescents deal with bullying and

teasing better than others? - how well adolescents deal with bullying or

teasing.

- A responsive and in tune parenting style is a key predictive factor in why some adolescents deal with bullying and teasing better than others.

- Children with in tune parents are neither the bully nor those that get systematically bullied or teased.

Development & PersonalityBackground Factors

Australian Character Study:- Focuses on the path from adolescence to young

adulthood- Predictors of negative and positive behaviours,

anti-social behaviour- Early intervention strategies- Prevention strategies- Conducted by University of Wollongong and the

N.S.W Department of Juvenile Justice

Development & AgingBackground Factors

Professor Adrian Bauman (Sydney University):

- A recently commenced 30 year study (it is hoped) on how people age

- Focusing on those over 45 years old- 250,000 participants

What is Personality?Background Factors

Longitudinal Studies of Note:• “Child of Our Times” Series (BBC)• British, commenced 1999 and still going (2008, 2010)• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_of_Our_Time

- Subjects found during pregnancy, i.e. not long after the point of conception

- Subjects interviewed and followed on a more frequent basis (i.e. several times a year)

- Subjects are from a variety of background, parents feature as important participants throughout the study, particularly prior to the birth of the children

What is Personality?Background Factors

Longitudinal Studies of Note:• The “Up” Series (Michael Apted) • British, commenced in 1963 and still going• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series

- Subjects found / introduced at seven years of age, after they had already had a bit of a life

- Subjects interviewed intermittently every seven years from the age of seven

- Subjects are from a variety of backgrounds, parents do not directly feature in study

What is Personality?Background Factors

The “Up” Series - at seven year intervals

• 7 – 1963• 14 – 1970• 21 – 1977• 28 – 1985• 35 – 1992• 42 – 1998• 49 – 2005• 56 – 2012?

What is Personality?Background Factors

The “Up” Series

• Key questions:– Is it helpful to think of personality as being ‘set in

concrete’ or changeable over time?– Is it helpful to think of personality as being

determined by factors outside our control or by internal factors within our control?

– Is it helpful to focus on what makes people different from one another, even unique, or what makes them similar?

What is Personality?Background Factors

The “Up” Series

• Key questions:

– What is the relative influence of genetics versus environmental factors in influencing one’s personality?

– What does it mean to have ‘a genetic predisposition’?

– How does a general approach to life, like being proactive or reactive, affect personality development?

– How does a general approach to life, like being optimistic or pessimistic, affect personality development?

Summary – Longitudinal Case Studies

• Other “Up” style studies conducted in other countries

• Russia

• Japan

• South Africa

Summary – Longitudinal Case Studies

• Other “Up” style studies conducted in other countries

• Australia

• The Gillian Armstrong film “Love, Lust & Lies”

• Chronicles the lives of three women: Josie, Kerry & Diana.

• 5 episodes / films over 34 years between 1976 – 2010.

• At age 14, 18, 26, 32, 48.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg4LG5rZMZI

Summary – Longitudinal Case Studies

• The Grant Study (George Vaillant)• http://adultdev.bwh.harvard.edu/research-

SAD.html• United States• Commenced in 1937 by Grant & Bock• Selected 268 Harvard graduates between 1939 -

1944• The study lost focus and funding throughout the

1950’s and most of the 1960’s • The study was then picked up and re-energised

by Valliant in 1967

Summary – Longitudinal Case Studies

• The Grant Study (George Vaillant)• Studied the importance of being able to adapt

(e.g. flexibility versus rigidity?)• Psychological defence mechanisms are

important in aiding adaptive capacity and adult development by distorting reality for a time

• It wasn’t important, so much, what negative events or circumstances people in the study experienced throughout life but how they perceived those circumstances at the time and dealt with them in a positive light.

The Grant Study (George Vaillant)

Vaillant's Defence Taxonomy

Healthiest 'Mature' Adaptations• Altruism

– unselfish interest in the welfare of others • Humour • Anticipation

– looking ahead and planning for future events • Suppression

– a conscious decision to postpone attention to an impulse or conflict, to be addressed in good time

• Sublimation – finding outlets for feelings – examples: putting aggression into sport, or lust into

courtship

The Grant Study (George Vaillant)

Vaillant's Defence Taxonomy

Normal 'Neurotic' Adaptations

• Intellectualization – mutating the primal stuff of life into object of formal

thought • Dissociation

– intense, often brief, removal from one's feelings • Repression

– may involve inexplicable naivete, memory lapse, or failure to acknowledge input from a particular sense organ

The Grant Study (George Vaillant)

Vaillant's Defence Taxonomy

'Immature' Adaptations

• Acting Out / Playing Up

• Passive Aggression

• Hypochondria

• Projection

• Fantasy

The Grant Study (George Vaillant)

Vaillant's Defence Taxonomy

Unhealthiest 'Psychotic' Adaptations

• Paranoia

• Hallucination

• Megalomania

Adaptation Frequencies throughout Life

• Toddlers: 'Psychotic' adaptations are prevalent

• Later Childhood 'Immature' adaptations are essential, but fade with maturity

• Adolescents Twice as likely to use 'immature' defences than'mature' ones

The Grant Study (George Vaillant)

Adaptation Frequencies throughout Life • Mid-life

Four times as likely to use 'mature' defences • Between 50 and 75 years of age

'Mature' adaptations grow more prevalent Immature defences grow more rare

The Grant Study (George Vaillant)

In the Long run - Childhood Temperament Doesn’t Matter!

• The Grant Study on adult development concludes in regard to childhood temperament:

• Shy, anxious children tend to do poorly in young adulthood, but.....

• By age 70, they are just as likely as the outgoing kids to report being “happy & well”.

The Grant Study (George Vaillant)

Summary – Longitudinal Case Studies

• The Glueck Study (George Vaillant)• http://adultdev.bwh.harvard.edu/research-

SAD.html• United States• Commenced in 1939 by Sheldon & Glueck• 456 men selected between 1940 – 1945• Grew up in inner city neighbourhoods of Boston• Were juvenile delinquents – a very different

demographic to the Harvard graduates in the Grant Study.

Summary – Longitudinal Case Studies

• The Glueck Study (George Vaillant) • The study was picked up and continued by

Valliant in the 1970’s

The Grant & Glueck Studies (George Vaillant)

Overall Findings / Conclusions on Adult Development

• Smoking and drinking alcohol affects longevity and long term health

What is Personality?Background Factors

Summary of Longitudinal Studies:- All seven longitudinal studies (two Australian, two

British, three U.S ) have different methodologies.- All have advantages and disadvantages and sit on the

continuum between quantitative and qualitative in nature.

- The two British longitudinal studies and the Australian film are more intimate in their revelations about particular individuals and are therefore actual case studies.

- The Australian study has created the largest single database of it’s kind in the world and is less intimate.