Plaster or Plasticity: Are Adult Work Experiences Associated with Personality Change in Women?

Abstract

The present study tested whether work experiences were associated with personality change across two periods of adulthood (age 21 to 27 and 27 to 43) in a longitudinal sample of women (N = 81). Two competing theoretical perspectives were tested: the plaster theory, which claims that personality does not change after age 30, and the plasticity theory, which claims that personality can change at any time in adulthood. Evidence was found for both correlational consistency of personality in adulthood and for the socialization effect of work on personality change. Work experiences were not associated with personality change in young adulthood but were associated with changes between young adulthood and midlife. In the period from age 27 to age 43 women who worked more became more agentic, and women who were more successful in their work became both more agentic and more normadhering. This pattern of associations between personality change and work experience provided support for the plasticity model of personality change.

Personality change following unemployment.

“…Work, like many normative life events, can have a crucial socialization influence (Roberts, 1997). The ability to interact socially, convey ideas, and make compromises are typical aspects of day-to-day activities within the workplace (Cohen, Gottlieb, & Underwood, 2000).…”

“…As well as using more detailed self-report personality scales, future work into personality change may benefit from the use of neurological assessments of personality (such as eye blink measures of extraversion; Blumenthal, 2001). Although the validity of self-report measures of personality is established (Goldberg, 1993;McCrae & Costa, 1987, 1997, with perceptions of the self often motivating behavior and being strongly linked to biological functioning (O'Cleirigh, Ironson, Weiss, & Costa, 2007;Ryff et al, 2006;Sedikides, 2012), it would be useful to examine whether the same patterns emerge when personality is measured with overt behavior (e.g., agreeableness in a laboratory setting).…”

Persönlichkeitsentwicklung im mittleren Erwachsenenalter

“…In Tabelle 3 sind die Prozentwerte in den drei Gruppen "reliable Abnahme", "keine reliable Veränderung", "reliable Zunahme" und die Chi-Quadrat-Werte dargestellt. (Roberts et al, 2008;Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000 (Carstensen & Charles, 1999 (Feldman, 2009 Elder, 1969;Roberts, 1997;Sturaro, Denissen, Van Aken & Asendorpf, 2008). Erst die Untersuchung anderer Alterskohorten, die unterschiedlichen historischen und ökono-mischen Entwicklungsbedingungen ausgesetzt sind, werden zeigen können, welchen genauen Anteil Selektivität von Umwelten, Reifung, Sensitivität und Adaptation an der Persönlichkeitsentwicklung im mittleren Alter haben.…”

Personality Trait Change in Adulthood

“…These are changes that deviate from the population mean-level pattern of change. Over the past 10 years, a growing number of researchers have placed the concept of individual differences front and center in the study of personality development (Mroczek & Spiro, 2003;Roberts, 1997). This new perspective holds that personality change (and stability) is an individualdifferences variable and that a complete understanding of personality development is only possible if individual differences in personality-trait change are examined alongside more traditional indices of development.…”

“…For example, in studies like Roberts (1997), personality traits are seen as the consequence of work experiences. One reason to consider personality traits as dependent variables is that personality-trait change may be quite consequential for people.…”