Personality in Adulthood: A Five-Factor Theory Perspective

by Robert R. McCrae, Paul T. Costa Jr.

This influential work examines how enduring dispositions or traits affect the process of aging and shape each individual’s life course. From two well-known authorities in the field, the volume is grounded in a growing body of empirical evidence. Critically reviewing different theories of personality and adult development, the authors explain the logic behind the scientific assessment of personality, present a comprehensive model of trait structure, and examine patterns of trait stability and change after age 30, incorporating data from ongoing cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Written in a clear, jargon-free style, this book is an ideal text for advanced students and a timely reference for researchers and clinicians.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

268 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 1990

Reviews

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. It starts with a brief critical look at a variety of personality theories and then describes the one that the author and collaborators developed, the Five-Factor Theory, which (according to him) is based on factor analysis of a variety of personality inventories.

The FFT views individuals as differing on the following five factors:
1. emotional stability or neuroticism-->high neuroticism means low emotional stability, and vice-versa.High neuroticism correlates with (or measures, it’s hard to tell them apart) anxiety and depression.

2. Openness to Experience is harder to describe so I'll copy and paste wikipedia's description: " People high in openness are motivated to seek new experiences and to engage in self-examination. Structurally, they have a fluid style of consciousness that allows them to make novel associations between remotely connected ideas. Closed people by contrast are more comfortable with familiar and traditional experiences."

3. Conscientiousness-->corresponds to human intuitions of 'hard-working', 'reliable', being good at following through with commitments, etc.

4. Extroversion and Introversion-->the former seek stimulation in the form of people, the latter have a higher need for time alone.

5. Agreeableness-->high in agreeableness means you lean towards cooperation, harmony, kindness, cooperation; low in agreeableness means you lean towards dominance, manipulation, etc.

The key findings of the FFT research are that self-reports and reports by close produce mostly identical personality reports, suggesting that self-reports on personality are valid; that personality is very stable after adulthood (~20); that personality is substantially heritable (identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins, separated at birth identical twins are very similar); that personality has significant effects on life outcomes. There wasn’t much research documented on the actual effects of personality, since the author spent most of his time documenting the evidence for the FFT and not on research on personality in young adulthood and life outcomes.

I do wish there had been more on actual life impacts of personality: the research on young adulthood conscientiousness predicting higher income in later adulthood, extroversion/introversion affecting career choices, etc.

4/5

[Sandeep Gautam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book merges the fields of personality and developemental psychology (adult development / gerontology) and its main premise is that personality as assessed by Five Factor Theory is stable in adulthood. The major portion and energy of authors is spend in defending this position and alongside one gets a rich overview of methodological issues in measuring personality, not only traits but also other approaches like projective tests and interviews.
We now know that this simplistic interpenetration that personality is stable is not correct and picture is more nuanced with some traits showing predictable trajectory over the lifespan.
I found the last few chapters much more useful - the rest seemed polemic- defending ones turf of trait based FFT. This could have been a better book, if the authors had exercise more openness to experience and were not dismissive of other approaches.

[Kavie]

“Ask not how life’s experiences change personality; ask instead how personality shapes lives and gives order, continuity, and predictability to the life course, as well as creating or accommodating change…”

[Tom Hartung · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book by the widely respected authors of the NEO PI-R questionnaire, and will furnish a full review of it when time permits.

Thanks for your patience!

[Willa · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book finished in 2012. An excellent introduction to five factor personality theory which makes a well-supported argument that personality traits are biological in origin and stable in adulthood (past age 30). Good coverage of objections from alternate points of view and responses to them.