Psychology GCSE: Development of Personality

Thomas, Chess and Birch
Aim: To discover whether ways of responding to the environment remain stable throughout life
Method: They studied 133 children from infancy to early adulthood (longitudinal study). The children’s behaviour was observed and their parents were interviewed at various intervals. The parents were asked about the child’s routine and its reaction to change

Thomas, Chess and Birch
Results: Children fell into 3 types: ‘easy’, ‘difficult’, or ‘slow to warm up’. The ‘easy’ children were happy, flexible and regular. The ‘difficult’ children were demanding inflexible and cried a lot. The children who were ‘slow to warm up’ didn’t respond well to change or new experiences to begin with but once they had adapted they were usually happy
Conclusion: These ways of responding to the environment stayed with the children a they developed. Thomas, Chess and Birch concluded that temperament is innate

Kagan and Snidman:
Aim: To investigate whether temperament is due t biological differences
Method: The reactions to new situations of 500 babies aged 4 months were studied. The baby was settled in a seat by it’s caregiver for 3 minutes. The caregiver then moved out of view while a researcher showed toys to the baby for 3 minutes

Kagan and Snidman
Results: 20% of the babies reacted by crying and flailing their arms and legs about; these were classed as high reactive. 40% showed little movement or emotion and were classed as low reactive. The remaining 40% were somewhere between these classifications. Kagan and Snidman followed up the experiment 11 years later and found that differences still existed between the 2 groups. High reactives were shy in new situations, low reactives were calm
Conclusion: These temperaments are due to inherited differences in the brain’s responses

Eysenck
Aim: To investigate the personality of 700 servicemen
Method: Each soldier completed a questionnaire (EPI). Eysenck analysed the results using a statistical technique called factor analysis

Eysenck
Results: He identified two dimensions of personality: extroversion-introversion and neuroticism-stability
Conclusions: Everyone can be placed along these two dimensions of personality. Most people lie in the middle of the scale

Farrington
Aim: To investigate the development of offending behaviour and antisocial behaviour in males
Method: A longitudinal study was carried out with 411 males. They all lived in a deprived, inner-city area of London. They were first studied at the age of 8 and were followed up till they were 50. Their parents and teachers were also interviewed and searches were carried out at the Criminal Records Office to discover if they or members of the family, had been convicted of a crime

Farrington
Results: 41% of the males were convicted of at least one criminal offence between the ages of 10 and 50. The most important risk factors for offending were criminal behaviour in the family, low school achievement, poverty and poor parenting
Conclusion: Situational factors lead to the development of antisocial behaviour

Elander et al
Aim: To investigate the childhood risk factors that can be used to predict antisocial behaviour in adulthood
Method: Researchers investigated 225 twins who were diagnosed with childhood disorders and interviewed them 10-25 years later

Elander et al
Results: Childhood hyperactivity, conduct disorders, low IQ and reading problems were strong predictors of APD and criminality in adult life
Conclusion: Disruptive behaviour in childhood can be used to predict APD in adulthood

Raine et al
Aim: To support the theory that abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex cause APD
Method: MRI was used to study 21 men with APD and a control group of 34 healthy men. All of the participants were volunteers

Raine et al
Results: The APD group had 11% less prefrontal grey matter compared with the control group
Conclusion: APD is caused by a reduction in the brains grey matter

1. As researchers cannot decide on the cause of APD, it is difficult to know how to prevent and treat it

2. If APD has biological causes then it cannot be prevented

3. Psychologists have attempted to treat APD using medication but research has found this to be ineffective, suggesting it is untreatable

4. If APD has a situational cause, then reducing childhood problems should lower the risk of APD developing

5. Identifying risk factors for APD can mean some childhood are overlooked

at least 18. the individual will show 3 or more of the following characteristics:

1. not following the norms and laws of society

2. being deceitful, conning others

3. being impulsive and not planning ahead

4. being irritable and aggressive, often involved in physical fights or assaults

5. being careless about their safety and safety of others

6. being irresponsible, failing to hold down a job or pay back others

7. lacking remorse by being indifferent to or finding reasons for hurting, mistreating or stealing from others