Premium
Personality development in disruptive times: The impact of personal versus collective life events
Author(s) -
Wundrack Richard,
Asselmann Eva,
Specht Jule
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
social and personality psychology compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.699
H-Index - 53
ISSN - 1751-9004
DOI - 10.1111/spc3.12635
Subject(s) - psychology , personality , personal life , affect (linguistics) , social psychology , personal development , communication , psychotherapist , philosophy , epistemology
Personality development is related to life events that change social roles and environments. Here, we provide an overview of the differences between personal and collective life events relevant to personality development. Following some basic assumptions about the malleability of personality traits due to life events, we discuss the differences in the thematic, social, spatial, and temporal characteristics of personal and collective life events. Personal life events often cover the domains of health, work, family, and love in individual people's lives, while collective life events refer to disasters and power struggles that affect many people. Collective life events are different because they can (a) trigger different personal life events for different people, (b) indirectly affect many more individuals who identify with a directly affected group, and (c) change social role demands through cultural changes. We discuss how these, and other differences affect the way researchers should investigate collective life events.