Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Lifespan: Lifespan or life expectancy in psychology is the average length of time an individual is expected to live, based on statistical averages. It's influenced by factors like genetics, lifestyle, environment, and healthcare access. See also Personality traits._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Howard S. Friedman on Lifespan - Dictionary of Arguments
Corr II 192 Lifespan Prediction/Personality/Study/Friedman/Kern: In 1990, Friedman obtained funding from the US National Institute of Aging to use an archival study, the Terman Life Cycle Study, to examine lifespan predictors of mortality. II 193 Complementing the archived data, Friedman and his colleagues collected death certificates, providing an objective indicator of how long participants lived (or an indication that they were still alive) and cause of death. Then, using the archival data, they identified variables that were theoretically relevant to personality theory. At baseline, parents and teachers rated the children on 25 different trait dimensions (e.g., ‘will power and perseverance’), comparing the child to others of the same age (…). >Personality traits, >Aging. The researchers considered the extent to which each trait rating theoretically aligned with the Big Five personality dimensions (…) and statistically analysed the items. They then used two analytic approaches to estimate mortality risk: survival analysis, which estimates the probability of dying at any given age, and logistic regression, which predicts a dichotomous outcome (…). Findings: controlling for age and gender, there were two significant child personality predictors: conscientiousness and cheerfulness. Across seven decades, a person rated in the highest quartile on conscientiousness had a significantly lower risk of dying at any given age than a person rated in the lowest quartile. In contrast, cheerfulness predicted greater mortality risk. Interestingly, although conscientiousness was protective across genders, effects were stronger for males. In addition, emotional stability showed some signs of being protective for males (…). II 196 Conscientious individuals are more likely to engage in healthy behaviours (e.g., healthy diet, moderate exercise, not smoking, no or moderate alcohol intake, proactively caring for health) than individuals low in conscientiousness (Bogg & Roberts, 2004(1); Lodi-Smith et al., 2010)(2). In contrast, neuroticism increases risk of smoking and other poor habits (Mroczek, Spiro, & Turiano, 2009(3); Shipley, Weiss, Der, Taylor, & Deary, 2007(4)). [One still has to take into account that] personality and behavioural links can be inconsistent. Other factors: (…) studies have demonstrated how important positive social relationships are for health (Tay, Tan, Diener, & Gonzalez, 2012; Taylor, 2011)(5), and personality appears to influence how one socially interacts with others. (…) hostility and aggression relate to greater risk of heart disease (Booth-Kewley & Friedman, 1987)(6), and neuroticism increases risk of loneliness, which in turn increases risk for mental and physical health problems (Cacioppo, Hawkley, & Berntson, 2003)(7). (…) personality [also] influences situations that a person selects or is drawn towards (Friedman, 2000)(8) [as well as] experiences with and perceptions of stress. II 197 Relatedly, personality may impact various physiological mechanisms, including blood pressure, heart and brain function, neurotransmitters such as serotonin and cortisol, and immune responses. II 200 VsFriedman: the Terman sample used in the study is quite unique, and care needs to be taken in generalizing findings to other populations. The participants were highly intelligent – comprising the top 2.5% of the population. Most were Caucasian and from a middle- to upper middle-class background. II 201 The measures themselves are far from ideal. The items and constructs reflect the interests of the researchers at the time rather than the constructs that we might want to study. (…) while the study found that cheerfulness predicted increased mortality risk, other studies find that cheerfulness, optimism, humour, positive affectivity and related characteristics predict better health outcomes, including longevity (Howell, Kern, & Lyubomirsky, 2007(9); Pressman & Cohen, 2005)(10). II 202 [The study by Friedman et al. (1993)](11) follows a trait-based approach and [t]raits fail to capture the dynamic and contextualized nature of individual behaviours, thoughts, feelings and motivations (McAdams & Olson, 2010(12); Mischel, 2004)(13). 1. Bogg T., & Roberts, B. W. (2004). Conscientiousness and health-related behaviors: A meta-analysis of the leading behavioral contributors to mortality. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 887-919. 2. Lodi-Smith, J., Jackson, J., Bogg, T., Walton, K., Wood, D., Harms, P., & Roberts, B. W. (2010). Mechanisms of health: Education and health-related behaviours partially mediate the relationship between conscientiousness and self-reported physical health. Psychology and Health, 25, 305–319. 3. Mroczek, D. K., Spiro, A., & Turiano, N. A. (2009). Do health behaviors explain the effect of neuroticism on mortality? Longitudinal findings from the VA Normative Aging Study. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 653–659. 4. Shipley, B. A., Weiss, A., Der, G., Taylor, M. D., & Deary, I. J. (2007). Neuroticism, extraversion, and mortality in the UK Health and Lifestyle Survey: A 21-year prospective cohort study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 69, 923–931. 5. Tay, L., Tan, K., Diener, E., & Gonzalez, E. (2012). Social relations, health behaviors, and health outcomes: A survey and synthesis. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-being, 5, 28–78. 6. Booth-Kewley, S., & Friedman, H. S. (1987). Psychological predictors of heart disease: A quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 343–362. 7. Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., & Berntson, G. G. (2003). The anatomy of loneliness. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 71–74. 8. Friedman, H. S. (2000). Long-term relations of personality, health: Dynamisms, mechanisms, and tropisms. Journal of Personality, 68, 1089–1107. 9. Howell, R., Kern, M. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). Health benefits: Meta-analytically determining the impact of well-being on objective health outcomes. Health Psychology Review, 1, 83–136. 10. Pressman, S. D., & Cohen, S. (2005). Does positive affect influence health? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 925–971. 11. Friedman, H. S., Tucker, J., Tomlinson-Keasey, C., Schwartz, J. Wingard, D., & Criqui, M. H. (1993). Does childhood personality predict longevity? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 176–185. 12. McAdams, D. P., & Olson, B. D. (2010). Personality development: Continuity and change over the life course. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 517–542. 13. Mischel, W. (2004). Toward an integrative science of the person. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 1–22. Kern, Margaret L.: “Personality, Health and Death Revisiting Friedman et al. (1993)”, In: Philip J. Corr (Ed.) 2018. Personality and Individual Differences. Revisiting the classical studies. Singapore, Washington DC, Melbourne: Sage, pp. 191-208._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Econ Fried I Milton Friedman The role of monetary policy 1968 Corr I Philip J. Corr Gerald Matthews The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology New York 2009 Corr II Philip J. Corr (Ed.) Personality and Individual Differences - Revisiting the classical studies Singapore, Washington DC, Melbourne 2018 |
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