Cover

TOC$Contents

CH$CHAPTER 1 Facts and Theories of Adult Development

The Pendulum of Opinion on Personality Stability

In Search of a Phenomenon

A Note on Psychotherapy

When Does Adulthood Begin?

Other Views: Theories of Change

CH$CHAPTER 2 A Trait Approach to Personality

Perspectives on Human Nature

Basic Principles of Trait Psychology

How Many Traits? Which Ones?

The Quest for a Unified System

Natural Languages and the Five-Factor Model

CH$CHAPTER 3 Measuring Personality

From Concepts to Data

Self-Reports and Observer Ratings

A Questionnaire Measure: The NEO Personality Inventory

Facets of N, E, and O

Facets of A and C

Making Distinctions

The Comprehensiveness of the Five-Factor Model

CH$CHAPTER 4 The Search for Growth or Decline in Personality

Cross-Sectional Studies of Personality Differences

Sampling Bias

Cohort Effects

Longitudinal Designs: Tracking Changes over Time

Stability in the 16PF

Sequential Strategies: Avoiding Practice and Time Effects

An Integrated Approach

Recent Developments

Small, Slow Changes

Another Mystery

A Different Analysis

Implications: Debunking Some Myths of Aging

CH$CHAPTER 5 Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Personality and Aging 8

A Universal Structure

Adult Development across Cultures

History, Culture, and Cross-Sectional Comparisons

Some Possible Interpretations

Cross-Cultural Evidence on Stability

CH$CHAPTER 6 The Course of Personality Development in the Individual 9

Two Different Questions: Stability and Change in Groups and in Individuals

Developmental Patterns in Individuals

Investigating the Course of Personality Traits

Longitudinal Evidence

The Time Course of Stability

CH$CHAPTER 7 Stability Reconsidered: Qualifications and Rival Hypotheses 1 1

Methodological Issues in the Assessment of Stability

The Self-Concept and Stability

Accounting for Variance and Correcting for Unreliability

Retrospection and Self-Perceived Change

Moderators of Change

Psychological Characteristics

Life Events

Physical and Mental Health

Case Studies in Stability

Implications: Planning for the Future

CH$CHAPTER 8 A Different View: Ego Psychologies and Projective Methods 1 3

Dynamic or Ego Psychologies

Developmental Sequences

Dynamic Dispositions

Contrasting Traits with Ego Processes

Conflict and Its Resolution

Temporal Organization

Individual Differences in Ego Processes

Traits and Metatraits?

Developmental Changes in Ego Processes

Projective Assessments of Personality

Problems in Projective Methods

Conscious versus Unconscious Elements

Projective Testing and the Stability of Personality

Inkblot Tests

TAT Studies

Age and the Spontaneous Self-Concept

CH$CHAPTER 9 Adult Development as Seen through the Personal Interview 1 6

Form and Content in Psychological Interviews

Interview-Based Theories of Adult Development

Levinson’s Seasons

Gould’s Transformations

In Search of the Midlife Crisis

CH$CHAPTER 10 A Five-Factor Theory of Personality

The Birth of a Theory

Five-Factor Theory

Components of the Personality System

Postulates of FFT: How the System Works

The Origins of Traits

Trait Development and the FFT

Changes in Individual Differences

Evaluating Five-Factor Theory

CH$CHAPTER 11 The Influences of Personality on the Life Course

What Changes?

The Objective Biography

Characteristic Adaptations

The Self-Concept

Studying Life Structure and Life Course

Psychological Adjustment across the Lifespan

Personal Projects, Social Clocks, and Psychobiography

Marriage and Divorce

Careers

Trait Influences on the Self-Concept

Identity

The Life Narrative

REFERENCES

IDX$INDEX