Describe in a sentence or two dispositional traits, personal concerns, and life narrative
What will be an ideal response?
ANS: One theorist suggested that personality continues to develop over time on three levels: dispositional traits, personal concerns, and life narrative (McAdams, 1994).
Dispositional traits are inherited traits of the kind discussed by McCrae and Costa, those characteristics found to remain stable and relatively unchanging from age 30 on.
Personal concerns refer to conscious feelings, plans, and goals; what we want, how we try to achieve it, and how we feel about the people in our lives. These may change often over the life span as a result of the diverse situations and influences to which we are exposed. Although these situations can alter our feelings and intentions, our underlying dispositional traits (such as our basic level of neuroticism or extraversion) with which we confront these life situations may remain relatively stable.
Life narrative implies shaping the self, attaining an identity, and finding a unified purpose in life. We are constantly writing our life story, creating who we are and how we fit into the world. Like personal concerns, the life narrative changes in response to social and environmental situations. As adults we may adjust our narrative to adapt to each stage of life and its needs, challenges, and opportunities.
In sum, then, this view holds that the underlying dispositional traits of personality remain largely constant, while our conscious judgments about who we are and who we would like to be are subject to change.
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