PSYC 2600 Lecture 17: Adjustment II
20 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
As we saw in last week"s lecture, the stress process is cyclical. This week we will discuss what the effect of stress on personality is. Stressful life events lead to change in personality traits. We see this in the effects on happiness and life satisfaction specifically. As expressed in previous lectures, it is shown that after stressful live events, happiness, in some cases, decreases. For example, after unemployment, or disability, life satisfaction and happiness does not return to a higher state. It increases, but stays at a lower state that previously. More specifically, stress life events lead to cognitive-experiential aspects of personality: Goals, sense of meaning or purpose in life. Shattered assumption model: one model that explains how stress may change the self. Personal construct theory: events sometimes shatter our assumptions, goals, expectations, ways of understanding selves and the world. In rebuilding assumptions and goals, personal constructs are revised.
