ing core of the individual, a basis on which adaptation is made to an
ever-changing life.
It is only fair to warn the reader that the interpretations we make
are not universally shared (although they are much more mainstreamnow than when we first proposed them). A number of theories of adultpersonality development have been proposed, and many researchers be -
lieve that they provide a more insightful account of adulthood than the
stability view offers. The evidence on which the stability view rests, likeall empirical evidence, is open to alternative interpretations, and a num -
ber of these have been advanced. In particular, as we will see in detail in
Chapter 10, there is fundamental division on what exactly is meant bypersonality. It may turn out that the aspects we emphasize in personality
are stable whereas what others emphasize changes (McAdams, 1994).Special attention will have to be paid to the issue of defining and mea -
suring personality .
A Note on Psychotherapy
An account of some of our research published in the popular press was
headlined, “Your personality—you’re stuck with it” (Hale, 1981). Asclearly as anything else, that phrase illustrates how findings of stabilityare often seen and why they are frequently unpopular. Our findingsseem to be read as a sentence of doom for all people who are unhappywith themselves. But the findings do not necessarily mean that at all.We hope to show in the remainder of this book that the process of agingin itself does not bring about substantial changes in personality and thatmost people change little from age 30 to age 80 in some of the most cen -
tral aspects of their social and emotional makeup. Most people do not
change—but that does not mean they cannot change. It does suggest,
however, that the change will not come of itself, nor will it come easily .Effective psychotherapy or major life experiences (such as war or reli -
gious conversion) may profoundly alter us, but usually this occurs only
if we are ready for a change and willing to work to make it happen.
What is “effective psychotherapy”? Each major school of therapy is
able to claim its own victories (e.g., Chambless & Ollendick, 2001;Rogers & Dymond, 1954; Stuart, 1977) and research (VandenBos,1986) confirms the value of psychotherapy in general. But virtually allpsychotherapists would agree that real change in personality cannot beachieved at all without intensive and generally long-term efforts byFacts and Theories of Adult Development 9