Development of the Ego Throughout the Lifespan - 7/26/11 republication

Due to the brief nature of my last post, here is another republication from my (now archived blog).  All content is provided in its original state and may not accurately reflect my current views, practices, beliefs, or academic in put.

  Another recent article in Psychology Today examined different psychological traits and their development and strength of their influence at different stages in the  human life.  Again, this post is only supplemental.  Please read the the full article for the author's comments and a graph that will make the below descriptions easier to comprehend.

"Researchers from the University of Basel examined  the self-reported emotions of thousands of 13-to-89-year-olds and discovered trends in how we evaluate ourselves over the lifespan. The overall forecast? The older, the happier." —Katherine Schreiber

Shame - Is highest during highest during adolescence and lowest from adulthood through middle age.  There is a sharp decrease from adolescence to post-young adulthood and a sharp increase from post-middle age to old age.

Pride - Is lowest during adolescence and highest during old age with a steady increase throughout the lifespan.

Guilt - Is lowest during adolescence and steadily increases throughout the lifespan from adolescence to old age, thought it begins to decrease as old age progresses.

Hubris - Is highest during adolescence, sharply decreases from adolescence to middle age.  It is lowest during middle age, is fairly constant from middle age through old age and increases as old age progresses.

Well Being - Is lowest during adolescence, steadily increases from adolescence to pre-middle age, and sharply increases from pre-middle age to old age, continuing to increase as old age progresses.

Adolescence - Hubris and Shame are high.  Well Being, Pride, and Guilt are low.

Young Adult - Hubris is high, though not as high as in Adolescence.  Well Being is low, though not as low as during adolescence.  Pride, Shame, and Guilt are moderate and very comparable to each other.

Middle Age - Hubris is as low as Well Being was during Adolescence.  Shame is moderate.  Guilt, Well Being, and Pride as high as Hubris and Shame during Adolescence.  The are comparable thought Pride is the highest, followed by Well Being, then Guilt.

Old Age - Hubris is low but slightly higher than Middle Age and increasing throughout Old Age.  Shame is moderately high, though nearly as high as during Adolescence and increasing through Old Age.  Guilt is as high as Shame in Adolescence but decreasing though Old Age.  Pride is as high as Hubris in Adolescence.  Well Being is very high and increasing through Old Age.

This blog is not sponsored or supported in any way by Psychology Today.  I do not own any part of the magazine nor am I sponsored or benefited by the publicity of the magazine or it's authors.  I do not exclusively endorse, support, or receive benefit from any of the authors contributing to Psychology Today or the magazine's enterprise.