Sound Body, Sound Mind? The Interrelation Between Health Change and Personality Change in Old Age

in EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY (2018), 32(1), 30-45

Personality development is characterized by increasing maturation, that is, people become more conscientious, agreeable and emotionally stable as they age. In late life, however, these trends seem to be ... [more ▼]

Personality development is characterized by increasing maturation, that is, people become more conscientious, agreeable and emotionally stable as they age. In late life, however, these trends seem to be reversed. Because many changes and transitions in older age are related to health, we investigated correlated changes in health problems and personality traits, the sources of health changes in later life and the directionality of effects. Our sample consisted of older adult twins, aged 64-85years at time 1 (n=410; 135 male/275 female; 134 monozygotic/63 dizygotic twin pairs), assessed at two different time points about five years apart, and we ran bivariate latent change and latent change twin model analyses. Increasing health problems were associated with decreases in agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability and conscientiousness. Changes in health problems were only due to environmental influences, implying that the association between health and personality changes was exclusively environmental. Directional effects were largely absent, but health and personality were significantly related at the second measurement occasion (age 69-89years). Our results support the link between health change and personality change in late life and spark the assumption of normative personality adaptations to deterioration of health status as a means of developmental regulation. Copyright (c) 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology [less ▲]

Exploring the Interplay of Trait Self-Control and Ego Depletion: Empirical Evidence for Ironic Effects

in European Journal of Personality (2014), 28(5), 413-424

Trait self-control (TSC) has been conceptualized as a general and abstract ability to exert self-regulation across multiple domains that has mostly beneficial effects. However, its relationship to ... [more ▼]

Trait self-control (TSC) has been conceptualized as a general and abstract ability to exert self-regulation across multiple domains that has mostly beneficial effects. However, its relationship to situational depletion of self-regulatory resources has received little attention. We systematically explore the interplay of trait and situational self-control in two studies (total N = 264). In contrast with a positive view of TSC, the results show greater ego depletion effects for high (vs. low) self-control abilities across such diverse domains as candy consumption (Study 1), risk-taking behaviour (Study 2) and achievement motivation (Study 2). It is proposed that these ironic effects are attributable to high-TSC individuals' less frequent active inhibition of impulses in everyday life and their resulting lack of experience in resisting acute temptations. A third study (N> = 358) corroborated this general reasoning by showing that TSC is indeed associated with less frequent impulse inhibition in daily routines. Our data point to a downside of dispositional self-control in ego depletion paradigms. Other explanations and potential future avenues for resolving inconsistent findings across the literature are discussed. [less ▲]

Not every g is g.

in European Journal of Personality (2007), 21

The target paper identifies a common factor underlying measures of intelligence and student achievement on the cross-national level. Given the level of analysis applied, however, this factor cannot be ... [more ▼]

The target paper identifies a common factor underlying measures of intelligence and student achievement on the cross-national level. Given the level of analysis applied, however, this factor cannot be interpreted as general cognitive ability (g). Rather it is an indicator of a nation's prosperity. g operates at the individual level and not at the cross-national level. [less ▲]