Chapter
The Pendulum of Opinion on Personality Stability
In Search of a Phenomenon
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
Self-Reports and Observer Ratings
A Questionnaire Measure: The NEO Personality Inventory
The Comprehensiveness of the Five-Factor Model
CH$CHAPTER 4 The Search for Growth or Decline in Personality
Cross-Sectional Studies of Personality Differences
Longitudinal Designs: Tracking Changes over Time
Sequential Strategies: Avoiding Practice and Time Effects
Implications: Debunking Some Myths of Aging
CH$CHAPTER 5 Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Personality and Aging 8
Adult Development across Cultures
History, Culture, and Cross-Sectional Comparisons
Some Possible Interpretations
Cross-Cultural Evidence on Stability
CH$CHAPTER 6 The Course of Personality Development in the Individual 9
Two Different Questions: Stability and Change in Groups and in Individuals
Developmental Patterns in Individuals
Investigating the Course of Personality Traits
The Time Course of Stability
CH$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
Psychological Characteristics
Physical and Mental Health
Case Studies in Stability
Implications: Planning for the Future
CH$CHAPTER 8 A Different View: Ego Psychologies and Projective Methods 1 3
Dynamic or Ego Psychologies
Contrasting Traits with Ego Processes
Conflict and Its Resolution
Individual Differences in Ego Processes
Developmental Changes in Ego Processes
Projective Assessments of Personality
Problems in Projective Methods
Conscious versus Unconscious Elements
Projective Testing and the Stability of Personality
Age and the Spontaneous Self-Concept
CH$CHAPTER 9 Adult Development as Seen through the Personal Interview 1 6
Form and Content in Psychological Interviews
Interview-Based Theories of Adult Development
In Search of the Midlife Crisis
CH$CHAPTER 10 A Five-Factor Theory of Personality
Components of the Personality System
Postulates of FFT: How the System Works
Trait Development and the FFT
Changes in Individual Differences
Evaluating Five-Factor Theory
CH$CHAPTER 11 The Influences of Personality on the Life Course
Characteristic Adaptations
Studying Life Structure and Life Course
Psychological Adjustment across the Lifespan
Personal Projects, Social Clocks, and Psychobiography
Trait Influences on the Self-Concept