Great Consistency Change Debate Understanding Personality

Psychology

In the 1950's in Kansas City married couples ages 40 through 90 were put through a series of psychological tests to gain insight into the optimal idea of aging (USC, 2010). The Kansas City study lent to the idea of the disengagement theory which states that optimally aging adults gradually withdraw from society and social obligations as they age. Cumming and Henry, whom devised the disengagement theory, argued that the theory sufficiently explained why the elderly reduce their workload, social interactions, amount of new activities, and seem to have increased wisdom (USC, 2010). One suggested reasoning for adults' disengagement in life is because of the departure from society that takes place with death. In order to reduce emotional pain, many adults attempt to sever ties with friends and loved ones beforehand (USC, 2010). The other possibility is that lessening social obligations and commitments essentially frees elderly people as they age (USC, 2010). The contrasting theory to the disengagement theory is the activity theory.

The activity theory states that healthy aging requires adults to remain involved in social activities and participation as well as psychological engagement. This theory views frequent interaction with others as highly important to health (USC, 2010). Loneliness and despair are major enemies to health particularly in older people and seclusion only feeds a negative atmosphere (USC, 2010). Psychological engagement is of high value too in the activity theory in order to maintain a functioning level of mental health as aging progresses. Essentially, if the brain's capacity and abilities are not being utilized, they will be wasted and eventually decrease in performance (USC, 2010). That is why it is recommended for older adults to continually be participants in several different types of psychological exercises and activities. The reason the two theories have been so tightly contested for so long is because it is impossible to fully prove one or the other. Humans' vastly differing personalities and characteristics have too much effect on aging according to scientists to provide one way in which adults "should" age.

Scientists Costa and McCrae have shown that people's personality traits stay surprisingly similar throughout their whole lives. As part of this study, they categorized humans' different personality traits into five broad traits (Fruyt, 2004). These five traits are Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. According to Costa and McCrae, if aging theories were accurate, adults extraversion and openness would decline with the disengagement theory (Fruyt, 2004). But perhaps their conscientiousness and agreeableness would increase with the activity theory. However, the volunteers who participated in Costa and McCrae's study showed little fluctuation in these traits from ages 35 to 85 (Fruyt, 2004).

Costa and McCrae's personality traits have done wonders for the field of psychology. Most psychologists have agree with the five traits believing that all human traits can be distilled into one of the five broader categories because of Costa and McCrae's self-report test (Belsky, 1999). In the test, subjects rated and described themselves using the five traits. Friends and family would then rate the subjects as well as observers at social situations such as parties and work. The groundbreaking data showed that if the subject described themselves as introspective for example, others would too (Belsky, 1999). Therefore, the way people view and describe their personality traits are generally accurate and are viewed similarly by others. In addition to this, their studies showed that a pessimistic outlook on life is generally a stressful burden older people will carry with them if not altered in youth (Belsky, 1999).

When the elderly pass away, people often speak of the legacy of the deceased and what they have left behind. This is also generally something the elderly contemplate often before their passing (Belsky, 1999). The idea of leaving behind a legacy and having hope for future generations of humanity to strive is referred to as generativity in the psychological sense. Psychologists Dan McAdams proved through several charts and tests that generativity is heightened at later stages of life (Belsky, 1999). This appears to be because older adults have had a long amount of time to contemplate life and it's priorities. Also, the elderly have more time to establish an emotional connection with the world and its inhabitants before they leave and therefore may have more desire than their younger counterparts for the world and life to continue (Belsky, 1999).