Download Social and Personality Development in Early Adulthood

Table 14-1
 Components of Happiness
 Erik Erikson
 Falling in love
 Sternberg’s love triangle
 Fig 14-3
 Pg 492 cohabitation
 Pg 493 postponing marriage


Components of happiness during early
adulthood tend to be related to
psychological needs and not material ones.
› Feelings of independence, competence, self-
esteem, relation well to other people, being
chosen for a job, develop a deep relationship,
moving into their own apt.

Culture impacts what psychological needs
are most important—in the United States
satisfaction with experiences related to the
self hold primary importance.
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Each person has a
psychological timepiece
which records the major
milestones of one's life.
 Social clocks used to be
relatively uniform across
people.
 In today's society social
clocks are more
heterogeneous—the
clocks of women have
changed dramatically.

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
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There are patterns of development in the
female personality: women become
increasingly more self-disciplined and
committed to duties as they age and feel
more independent and confident and are
better able to cope with stress and
adversity.
Traditional feminine behavior increases
from 21 to 27 years old. (the increase and
decrease was found to be related to level
of involvement with children during certain
periods of life). Less tradition roles when the
children grow up.
As long as a woman selects a social clock
that is socially acceptable, her personality
is not adversely impacted.
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
Erikson explains that during early adulthood,
individuals are in the stage of
intimacy-versusisolation during which individuals
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focus on intimate relationships with others.
Individuals are confronted with issues related
to degrees of selflessness, sexuality, and
devotion.
Those who are unsuccessful resolving the crisis
of this stage are often lonely, isolated, and
fearful of relationships.
Those who are successful resolving the crisis
are able to form intimate relationships with
others on a physical, intellectual, and
emotional level.
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During early adulthood,
friendships are formed based
on:
 proximity,
 similarity,
 and the degree of trust, loyalty,
warmth and affection shared
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The stimulus-value-role theory explains that
there is a similar progression to most
relationships and that progression goes
through three stages:
› the stimulus stage is when relationships are built
on surface, physical characteristics;
› the value stage occurs between the second
and seventh encounter and is characterized by
increasing similarities of values and beliefs;
› the role stage is when specific roles are adopted
by each individual.
This theory has had some critics who
believe that not all relationships follow this
very specific pattern.
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Feelings of love typically involve intense physiological
arousal, fantasizing, mood swings, etc.; passionate love is
marked by an absorption in someone that motivates
intense physiological interest and arousal and feelings of
care for the other's needs.
Companionate love is affection we feel for those close to
us.
According to the labeling theory of passionate love,
people tend to feel passion when there is a physiological
arousal and when "love" is the appropriate label to
describe the situation.
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Sternberg explains that love is made up of
three components:
› intimacy (encompassing feelings of
closeness, affection, and
connectedness),
› passion (comprising the motivational
drives relating to sex, physical closeness,
and romance)
› decision/commitment (involving
cognition that one loves another and
the commitment to maintain that love
on a long term basis).
By considering these three components,
eight combinations of love can be formed
(e.g., when all three components are
absent, nonlove is displayed; when
all
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
What do you think these loves are?
Intimacy
Non love Ab
Liking
Present
Infatuated Ab
love
Passion
Ab
Ab
P
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Commitment
Ab
Ab
Ab
Intimacy
Empty
Ab
Romantic
P
Companion P
ate love
Fatuous
A
Love
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Passion
Ab
P
A
Commitment
P
Ab
P
P
P
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Some of the characteristics that make
for a potential spouse differ according to
culture; for example, in the United States
love and mutual attraction are significant
characteristics whereas in China, good
health is an important characteristic for
men in their future wives.
 Reasons for the cross-cultural similarities
in gender differences have been
explained as being due to evolution or
due to social gender stereotyping.

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
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People put potential mates
through filters, first looking for
factors relating to broad
determinants of attractiveness
and eventually looking for
more specific and defined
determinants of compatibility;
compatibility is often
determined by homogamy
(the tendency to marry
someone who is similar in age,
race, education, religion, and
other basic demographic
characteristics);
The marriage gradient also
impacts perceived
compatibility.
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The influence of one's
attachment style during infancy
affects romantic relationships later
in life. For example:
 Infants with a secure attachment
status tend to grow up to be adults
who readily enter into relationships
and feel positive about the future
of the relationship.
 Infants who display an avoidant
attachment status tend to grow up
to be adults who are less invested
in their relationships, break up with
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mates more often and often

Homosexuals and
heterosexuals identify
similar characteristics of a
successful relationship
and seek out the same
qualities in their
relationships (e.g., long
term, loving relationships)
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
During adulthood, couples can
› cohabit,
› get married,
› or remain committed while not sharing a living space;

Cohabitation is becoming more common with
young adults who choose cohabitation over
marriage because:
›
›
›
›

they are not ready for a lifelong commitment,
they are "practicing" for marriage,
they reject the institution of marriage,
they think spending one's life with one person is unrealistic.
Chances for divorce are somewhat higher in those
that cohabit.
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
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Marriage is the preferred way to
share a relationship during early
adulthood.
Couples decide to marry
because:
› it is the logical step in a loving
relationship,
› it is the "right thing to do" after
reaching a particular age,
› of the roles the spouse can fill,
› it is the only widely accepted way of
having children in our culture.

Fewer people are married now
than in the last century due to
increase in divorce rates and
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decisions to postpone marriage.
Partners in successful marriages:
 show visible affection for one
another.
 communicate with little
negativity.
 think of themselves as part of an
interdependent couple.
 and experience social
homogamy.
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Perceptions of marital
quality decline over the
first 10 years of marriage.
 Conflict is often related to:

› difficulties in making
transition to adulthood,
› difficulty having a separate
identity from one's spouse,
› difficulty finding time to
spend with one's spouse.
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Couples decide to have
children for many reason
including psychological
reasons related to the
pleasure received from
watching children grow and
developing close relationships
with them;
 Couples decide for more
selfish reasons to have
children so that there will be
someone around to take
care of them and be their
companion when they are
old.
 Some (mostly the socially
and economically
disadvantaged) have
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children unintentionally.

There has been a decline in the birth rate
as a result of:
 availability of birth control,
 a desire for fewer children in decades
past,
 an increase in the number of women
entering the workforce,
 less attractive incentives for having more
children,
 the cost of raising children,
 and fear of the work involved in raising
children.
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When both members of a couple work,
there is a definite economic benefit from
two salaries.
 Women however tend to spend more
time taking care of the children than males
(who do spend more time with their
children than they did in past generations).
 Husbands tend to take on roles and
duties that can be prescheduled while
wives take on activities that need
immediate attention, causing stress and

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Having children can lead to greater
marital satisfaction, at least for couples
who are already satisfied with their
marriage.
 For marriages in which satisfaction is
low, having children may make a bad
situation worse.

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Parenthood ( 495- 499)
 Work (500-505)
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Vailliant explains that, during early
adulthood, becoming centered
on a career happens to be very
important.
He describes the stage as the
career consolidation stage and
proposed it should be added on to
Erikson's conception of identity
development and, in fact,
supplant one's focus on intimacy.
Critics question Vaillant's sample
and generalizability of his findings.
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According to Ginzberg, people typically move through a series
of stages when choosing a career:
› during the fantasy stage, which lasts until about age 11,
career choices are made and discarded without thought
to skills or opportunities but, rather, are based on what
sounds appealing;
› during the tentative period, which occurs during
adolescence, people begin to think more practically and
consider their own values and goals when deciding upon
a career;
› during the realistic period, which occurs in early
adulthood, people have actual experience with different
careers by taking on jobs and/or internship/volunteer
experiences which enables
them to narrow their career
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Six personality types affect vocational choice (Holland).
›
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Investigative person enjoys working with
ideas; selects a scientific occupation
Social person likes interacting with people;
selects human services
Realistic person prefers real-world problems;
selects a mechanical occupation
Artistic person is emotional and high in need
for individual expression; selects an artistic
field
Conventional person likes well-structured
tasks, values material possessions and social
status; selects business fields
Enterprising person is adventurous,
persuasive, a strong leader; selects sales
and supervisory positions
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
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Many people are blends of
personality types and do well at
more than one kind of
occupation.
however, not all people fit neatly
into one personality type and
people often have to choose a
career for which their
personalities do not fit.
Decisions are made in the
context of family background,
educational opportunities, and
life circumstances.
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Traditionally, men have been
considered appropriate for agentic
professions (associated with getting
things accomplished, such as
carpentry) and women for
communal professions ( associated
with relationships, such as nursing).
There is a significant wage gap
between men and women in the
workforce.
55% of the workforce is made up of
women.
There are significantly more
opportunities available to women of
today's generation than of
generations past.
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
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People are motivated to work for
extrinsic reasons, like money and
prestige.
And also for intrinsic reasons:
› work brings a sense of personal identity,
› adds to one's social life,
› and brings a certain sense of status to
one's identity.

The kind of work that people do is a
factor in determining status.
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Job satisfaction is partly
determined by
› the status of one's job,
› control of management over
workers,
› level of input workers have
into the nature of their jobs,
› and the amount of influence
employees have over others.
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