Speaker
Description
Traditional theories of personality, such as the HEXACO model, postulate a universal structure composed of six fundamental traits. However, aging involves significant changes in individuals' lives, including cognition and sociality, which can affect personality expression and perception. The present contribution presents two studies aimed at exploring the structure and evaluation of personality in the elderly population.
In the first study, 200 neurologically healthy participants over 65 completed two HEXACO questionnaires, as well as a well-being questionnaire (BEN-SSC). Factor analysis revealed structural differences in traits compared to young adults, suggesting a reorganization of the factors of Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness. These results indicate that aging can result in qualitative changes in the configuration of personality traits.
The second study investigated how young adults (N = 303) evaluate older adults, comparing perceptions towards a familiar senior individual and a generic group of older adults, using both the HEXACO model and the Stereotype Content Model. The results show more favorable ratings of known individuals than the group, with measures of personality being more context-sensitive than stereotypes, which remained more stable. Discrepancies between individual and group were associated mainly with the Honesty-Humility trait and warmth-related stereotypes and were related to the evaluator's degree of familiarity with older people.
Overall, these studies underscore the need to consider structural personality changes in later life and the importance of intergenerational contact in mitigating age-related stereotypes. Future research should expand these investigations to more diverse samples and investigate the long-term effects of familiarity on older people's perception.
| If you're submitting a symposium talk, what's the symposium title? | Ageing as a Process of Adaptation and Evolution |
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