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Personality and Aging: A Historical Review of the Research

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Encyclopedia of Geropsychology
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Synonyms

Dispositional traits; Individual characteristics; Life stories; Personal action constructs; Self-narration; Self-regulatory processes; States

Definition

The construct of personality encompasses individual characteristics as well as the active processes of the individual’s interactions with the environment. This includes relatively enduring characteristics of one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions (i.e., traits), as well as dynamic interplays of social-cognitive processes (i.e., personal-action constructs, self-narration). Under a lifespan developmental approach, research on personality now involves both personality stability and change, growth and decline and recognizes the heterogeneity of development due to processes of adaptation across the lifespan.

Overview

Throughout the aging process, individuals encounter unique age-related challenges that have stimulated a myriad of health-related investigations from lifespan researchers in the last 50 years. Incorporating the study of...

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Correspondence to Eric Cerino .

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

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Cerino, E., Hooker, K. (2016). Personality and Aging: A Historical Review of the Research. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_100-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_100-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3

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