Psy 216 - Psychology of Personality

PSY-216 Psychology of Personality: Final Project Paper

April Shown

Southern New Hampshire University

Literature Review

Summary of Studies for Track

The studies I have reviewed for my chosen track, Environmental Influences on Personality. My topic is Childhood Experiences on Personality, which focuses on whether a person’s personality is fully formed as a child based on the biological perspective.

Resources

Listed below are the five resources selected for research for my topic, Childhood Experiences on Personality, which are:
1.) Article Title: “Birth Order Effects on Personality and Achievement within Families”.

Article Summary:

This article describes Sulloway’s theory that birth order and personal achievement within families has strong and consistent effects on the Big Five Personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Firstborns are more conscientious, more socially dominant, less agreeable and less open to new ideas compared to laterborns. It also describes the confluence model, which explains birth-order differences in intellectual performance by quantifying the changing dynamics within the family. Wichman, Rodgers, and MacCallum claimed that these differences are a between family phenomenon and not directly related to birth order itself.
2.) Article Title: “Attachment theory and research: Resurrection of the psychodynamic approach to personality”.

Article Summary:

This article describes biological and evolutionary information concerning the relationship between an attachment figure and a child. It measures the relationship from the first two to three years of life, and consequently the socio-emotional development of personality and relationships.

3.) Article Title: “Interlinkages between attachment and the Five-Factor Model of personality in middle childhood and young adulthood: A longitudinal approach”.

Article Summary:

This article describes attachment and personality dimensions as being meaningfully related, concurrently and longitudinally between middle-aged children and adults. Attachment security is associated with the Five Factor of openness, and the duality of this factor is discussed together with other theoretical considerations regarding attachment theory in relation to the Big Five. Many studies have looked at the effects of the Big Five personality traits on parenting. Researchers have studied how parental traits, as well as child traits, affect parenting behaviors; however, there has not been a lot of attention given to the relationship between Big Five traits and their relationship to attachment, and specifically if parents who develop a secure attachment to their children possess certain Big Five traits.