Development of Talent and Motivation

Marie Steinkampf, 2036703 {Development of Talent and Motivation} Lecture 8 – Well-being across the lifespan - Research on well-being over the lifespan • Does well-being change across the lifespan? ○ Seems obvious that we think happiness changes as we mature  Well-being, happiness and life satisfaction do indeed change ○ Many ways in which well-being should change are cultural myths  Complicated relationship between age and well-being • Theoretical frameworks to understand changes in personality across the lifespan ○ Stage or growth model  Recognizable stages throughout the lifespan need to be addressed  Erikson’s 8 stages of psychosocial development Important positive psychology constructs ∙ ∙   Each life stage involves a specific ‘crisis’/challenge to be overcome Come out of comfort zone for successful resolution & adjustment to changing life circumstances → development of specific virtue ∙ Not managing obstacle: maladaptive adjustment to changes → conflict within self (ego conflict) ► Heathy balance between two poles (favoring the positive one) → similar to virtues of Aristotle  Both extremes = sign of maladjustment Evidence for Erikson’s ego integrity ∙ Seems to have direct link to subjective well-being ∙ Longitudinal study of older mothers (interviews): identity development, generativity, ego integrity, depression ∙ Focus: predictors and corelates of ego integrity  Identity formation 1951 related to generativity 1996 (includes both an inner desire and a cultural demand to participate in establishing and guiding the next generation)  Higher generativity alone positively predicted ego integrity (“All in all, I am satisfied/comfortable with my accomplishments and the choices I made regarding my life’s work.”)  Ego integrity negatively predicts depression and highly related to helping behaviors, expectations of support in times of need, quality of relationships, etc. ► Stages of psychosocial development follow, but also influence, each other → relation to well-being Measurement of Erikson’s generativity Development of Talent and Motivation 1 Marie Steinkampf, 2036703 ∙ ○ Adult’s concern for and commitment to promoting the well-being of future generations ∙ Related to factors such as maturity & personal growth ∙ High levels of generative associated with greater well-being (one of most important predictors in midlife) ∙ Life narratives  Autobiographical stories: how a person integrates and memorizes the facts and events of their life (separating and bringing back together in own subjective way)  Become form of identity that can both reflect and shape who a person is  Do not just summarize what happened chronologically, but also why important, what it means, how it defines the person  Assumptions  People construct and internalize stories to make sense of their lives  Stories about personal meanings of life events, not objective facts, that can be told to others as narrative accounts  They can be analyzed for content themes, structural properties, etc.  Evidence for Erikson’s generativity ∙ Life stories of generative people differ from those of non-generative people → themes called commitment script ∙ Redeem bad scenes into good outcomes: initial difficulties or challenges in life led to greater understanding, empathy, and compassion for others → beneficial for society, not just themselves ∙ Commitment stories sustain and reinforce the adult’s efforts to contribute in positive ways to the next generation ∙ Number or types (positive vs. negative) of events not related to generativity  Highly generative people do not experience more positive or less stressful negative events compared to less generative people  Difference between highly generative people and others in how those life events were interpreted  Generative people saw both positive & negative life events as events that foster empathy, compassion, and a deeper understanding of others (cognitive theories, optimism, etc.) ∙ Positively linked to well-being/’good life’  And other indicators of well-being, e.g., maturity, personal growth  Best predictor of well-being in midlife  Education and being at least middle-aged increase generativity (life stage developing later in life)  Study on resilience in World War II veterans  Simply being exposed to combat unrelated to maturity  High combat exposure together with high levels of generativity related to higher subsequent psychological growth, maturity and wisdom  Higher generativity more beneficial for men: seemed to help them adjust better and even thrive Lifespan and life-course theories  Lifespan models ∙ Continuous process of adjustment throughout entire lifespan instead of set stages with unique problems Development of Talent and Motivation 2 Marie Steinkampf, 2036703 ∙    Development occurs through adjustment to changes and challenges we constantly go through Life-course models ∙ Life phases characterized by social-role demands and expectations Developmental task theory ∙ Individual moves from one stage to another by solving problems and adapting to certain age-graded developmental tasks ∙ Processes important to well-being may differ across life phases ∙ Signs of maladjustment  40-year-old guy living with his parents: behavior appropriate for 14-year-old  50-year-old woman relating to the world as if she was 16 Changes in subjective well-being as ageing occurs ∙    Importance of the types of events that impact well-being and the relative importance of personal strengths may vary across age How do we handle challenges in different life phases to create well-being? ∙ Life events require adjustment and change: need to either succeed more or give up overly ambitious goals and self-evaluations (James) ∙ Dual process model (Brandstätter): two methods of adjustment  Assimilation: allow us to keep striving without major alterations in goals, assumptions or identity (working harder)  Normative “age-graded” life events: similar to people in a specific age group (and culture), e.g., university, job, marriage, parenthood  Accommodation: require us to change goals, assumptions or identity (not achievable)  Non-normative unusual life events: occurrences that have a major impact, e.g., illness, financial crisis, accident Activity/passivity issue ∙ Development may seem to be a passive process, just happens to us when reacting upon changing contexts ∙ Modern developmentalists: view lifespan as contextual, but believe people are active agents who shape, control and direct the course of their own development ∙ Positive psychology: adult development = continuous process of anticipating the future, appraising and reappraising goals, adjusting to current realities, regulating expectations, etc. → maintain well-being in changing circumstances  Cognitive processes and personality traits can have an influence on how we deal with events (anticipation, emotion regulation, coping) Folk wisdom ∙ Development of happiness throughout lifespan Development of Talent and Motivation 3 Marie Steinkampf, 2036703 -  Carefree childhood: no responsibilities, play (happiest time of life)  Teenage years full of self-doubt and misery  Quarterlife crises, midlife crisis: miss youth  Old age: being sick, lonely, and miserable  Positive youth development ∙ Previous conceptualization: emotional storm and stress → wrong turns and bad decisions could have lasting impact on adulthood  Problems associated with growing up had be managed and controlled in adolescence ∙ Current conceptualization: positive youth development (Lerner) → a process that fosters competence, confidence, connection, character and caring/compassion  Adolescents possess characteristics that can be developed, nurtured and cultivated  Young people have positive traits that may help them flourish (e.g., hope, optimism)  Youth that actively tries to develop these qualities = thriving youth (more likely to thrive)  Suggested that contribution (effort to be involved in helping or serving others) should be added to the 5 C’s of positive youth development  Midlife crisis ∙ Cross-sectional evidence across different cohorts from eight European countries (not generalizable beyond western world)  Relationship between age and well-being, controlling for education, income, marital status, etc.  U-shaped curve: well-being reaches lowest point around age 40  Issue with cross-sectional studies: cannot account for within-person changes → longitudinal studies necessary ∙ Newer longitudinal evidence from 18-43 years and 23-37 years  Happiness increased between age 18 and the early 30s, and then slightly decreased by the early 40s  Happiness only increased to age 37 (positive linear relationship) ► No midlife crisis  Summary of evidence ∙ Myth incorrect: older age does not just make miserable ∙ SWB only marginally correlated with age: mixed evidence due to measures, controls, cross-sectional vs. longitudinal ∙ People can be happy and satisfied at any age, even in the face of health-related, cognitive or social losses: paradox of well-being ∙ But there are some general age trends  Certain components of well-being not stable, but rather improve with age, particularly from midlife into early old age  Most significant change: decline in SWB during last four years of life Individual differences in lifespan development • Mills study: followed women who graduated from Mills College in 1958/1960 for 50 years Development of Talent and Motivation 4 Marie Steinkampf, 2036703 ○ ○ ○ 4 groups based on Ryff’s dimensions of maturity1  Environmental mastery: sense of mastery in managing environmental factors and activities, including managing everyday affairs (making good use of opportunities) ∙ “In general, I am in charge of the situation in which I live.”  Personal growth: welcoming new experiences, recognizing improvement in behavior and self over time ∙ “I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how you think about yourself and the world.” Different paths people take to manage challenges in life  Positive adult development ∙ Achievers: highly motivated, competent, career-oriented, very ambitious, generative, maximize positive but minimize negative emotions, most integrated sense of self ∙ Seekers: open to new experiences, self-reflective, challenge themselves, values personal growth over success, highest on wisdom and ego development, searching for stable identity  Do not accept conventional definitions of who they should be  Amplified emotions so that they can feel more deeply ∙ Conservers: less open to change, competent in conventional way, emotionally reserved/dampened, comfortable with own identity, accepting identity of others  Depleted: unresolved emotional difficulties in life Emotional regulation  Three paths to positive adult development create positive sense of subjective wellbeing, but handle emotional lives in different ways 1 Ryff’s 6 dimensions of psychological well-being: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, personal growth Development of Talent and Motivation 5 Marie Steinkampf, 2036703 • - Study on adult emotional development (assessed self-descriptions): people regulate their emotions based on 2 independent strategies ○ Affect optimization: tendency to maximize positive and minimize negative emotions (hedonism) ○ Affect complexity: coordinate positive & negative emotions with past and future feelings into cognitive-emotional schemas that are flexible and integrated, trying to synchronize own feelings with those of other people  Realize that sometimes positive emotions should not be experienced/delayed, sometimes negative emotions must be experienced (difference to affect optimization) ○ Classification of 4 groups with different emotional regulation styles (extent to which they adopted the two aforementioned strategies)  Integrated: high on both optimization and complexity, use of certain defense mechanisms → reality distortion (positive illusions) to maintain positive emotions ∙ Smallest percentage of younger people between 15-29 years ∙ Oldest people between 60-80 years used more defense mechanisms  Complex (over-differentiated): high complexity, moderate optimization → high complex sense of self, low score on defensiveness  Self-protective (under-differentiated): high optimization, low complexity → underdeveloped sense of self, stronger defense mechanisms to maintain positive emotions  Dysregulated: low on both optimization and complexity • Both studies show that different styles of emotional regulation across the lifespan can create different types of positive adaptation to life events ○ Adaptation can be understood by relative emphasis of positive emotions over negative emotions, complexity of emotional experience and type of defense mechanisms used (focus of regulation) Adjusting to difficult life events • Resilience: how we deal with adversities and challenges in life → how be strong and still manage to do well? ○ Broad array of abilities for constructively and positively adapting to risk, adversity, or some monumental negative event ○ When person responds positively to event that would normally result in decrease of wellbeing ○ Benefit finding: common but potentially transient adjustment to adversity → trying to reappraise things more positively ○ Post-traumatic growth: significant changes in life goals, sense of identity & life narrative • What does not kill you makes you stronger (Nietzsche) ○ Do we always learn from our mistakes and misfortunes? Do they always lead to growth and an increase in well-being?  What does not kill you makes you weaker and then eventually kills you ○ Longitudinal study  People with a history of some lifetime adversity reported better mental health and well-being than not only people experiencing a lot of adversity, but also than people with no history of adversity at all Development of Talent and Motivation 6 Marie Steinkampf, 2036703  • • • In moderation, what does not kill us may indeed make us stronger (depends on type of adversity, e.g., severity, timing during lifespan) ∙ Example: dropping out of high school can decrease chances of finding job and lead to changes in personality (lack of perseverance) → difficult to hold on to job ∙ Different effect of dropping out of university at later age Resilience in children ○ Assumption of child development theories: poor family environment (e.g., addiction, violence) detrimental and causes impairments that can last throughout adulthood → negative personality development ○ BUT: poor childhood environment does not necessarily result in psychological problems (third developed well)  Some children are very resilient, learn to adjust to difficult environments and are less negatively affected than others ○ Core characteristics/protective factors across ethnicities, different social classes, and geographical locations  Within resilient children ∙ Ability to emotionally detach from disturbed parent, and find a nurturing surrogate parent for close relationship (e.g., teacher as role model) ∙ Good social and communication skills, at least one close friend, and desire to help others (empathy & altruism) ∙ Creative outlets, activities or hobbies they can focus on when life becomes even more difficult than normal (detachment) ∙ Optimistic personality, internal locus of control, positive self-concept ∙ Religious beliefs that provide meaning in life and difficult times to protect from adversities ∙ Developed style of coping that combined autonomy with ability to ask for help when necessary  In environment Boys Girls Household with good structure and rules Home that emphasizes risk-taking and independence Male role model Reliable support from older female Encouragement of emotional Mother steadily employed expressiveness Resilience in adulthood ○ Strong social support predicts well-being ○ Positive emotionality moderating reactions to stressful events ○ Task-/problem-focused coping ○ Commitment to goals ○ Humor, patience, optimism, faith, altruism ○ Mindfulness, self-compassion ○ Use of mature defense mechanism ○ Emotion regulation styles which are adaptive APA ○ Resilience is not a trait, but rather a way of dealing with adversity and can be developed (learned through interventions)  Making connections with family, friends, and community  Avoid seeing crises as unsurmountable problems Development of Talent and Motivation 7 Marie Steinkampf, 2036703 -  Accept that change is part of living (related to well-being)  Move towards your goals  Take decisive action, use problem-/task-focused coping  Look for opportunities for self-discovery  Nurture a positive view of yourself  Keep events in perspective  Maintain a hopeful outlook (optimism)  Take care of yourself, attend to your needs and feelings • How do adults become more resilient and how can they promote post-traumatic growth after experiencing an adversity? ○ Hardiness: combination of three broad personality traits/attitudes (commitment, control, viewing events as challenges people can conquer and learn from)  Helps people to improve health and well-being  Allows a person to withstand physical and psychological stress without developing physical illness ○ Sense of coherence model by Antonovsky: unique set of personality traits that creates an orientation to life and flourishing allowing people to interpret life stressors in a positive and adaptive way (coherent and understandable despite adversity)  Captures post-traumatic growth more adequately  Humans do not want to go back to equilibrium/normative state, but instead grow, develop and even flourish  Three major factors ∙ Meaningfulness: extent to which life makes sense to people on emotional level  Willingness to take challenges in life  Helps to accept disappointment & that sufferings and bad/negative events are inevitable in life  “It’s worth it” ∙ Comprehensibility: extent to which life events appear ordered, predictable, consistent, structured, clear and explainable  “It makes sense to me” ∙ Manageability: personal coping skills and external resources are available and adequate enough to meet the demands of tasks  Sense of control  “I have what it takes to do this”  Stable across midlife and adulthood ∙ Associated with well-being: e.g., psychological well-being, higher job satisfaction, more perceived social support, better health status → sense of coherence beneficial and helps people deal with negative events Summary • Lifespan perspective views development as contextual: we are faced with life events and challenged to adjust in order to reach well-being • Erikson’s generativity is linked to concepts of “the good life” • Different styles of emotional regulation across the lifespan create different types of positive adaptation • Resilience research shows that despite difficult early environments, some children grow into healthy adults and thrive • Many adults adapt with remarkable ingenuity to difficult life circumstances and changes as they age (learn to become more resilient) Development of Talent and Motivation 8