Several things are immediately apparent from an examination of
Table 11. Most obvious are the correlations, shown in boldface, that in -
dicate the stability of individual traits. These correlations, ranging from
.68 to .85, are—by Jacob Cohen’s (1969) standards—extraordinarilyhigh. Most psychologists might expect to see correlations this high ifthe measures were administered 12 days apart but not 12 years apart;and, in fact, the stability coefficients presented here are somewhathigher than the short-term reliabilities reported in the test manual (J. S.Guilford et al., 1976). Since the mean levels change very little (as wesaw in Chapter 4), it becomes clear that most individuals obtain almostexactly the same scores on these tests on two different occasions sepa -
rated by 12 years.
What about the alternative models of personality development? We
need only consider the continuity models, because the data seemsharply inconsistent with any positions that do not recognize the conti-nuity of personality . It is hardly believable that external environmentshave remained unchanged over the 12-year period—that would be farmore puzzling than the stability of personality . Within the continuitymodels, the choice seems equally clear. The Jungian notion of balancingwould predict negative correlations for the retest of traits over long in-The Course of Personality Development 109
TABLE 11. Correlations Among GZTS Scales over 12 Years
First administration
Third administration 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
1. General Activity .80 –.13 .38 .27 .22 .21 –.15 –.01 –.03 –.09
2. Restraint –.13 .71 –.21 –.33 –.03 –.05 .13 .18 .01 .04
3. Ascendance .38 –.19 .85 .58 .33 .29 –.13 .16 .10 .04
4. Sociability .29 –.33 .54 .75 .21 .28 –.01 –.06 .04 –.13
5. Emotional Stability .15 –.02 .39 .35 .71 .66 .35 –.20 .37 .13
6. Objectivity .06 –.02 .30 .30 .51 .74 .48 –.16 .37 .24
7. Friendliness –.24 .15 –.23 –.04 .27 .41 .77 –.21 .35 .18
8. Thoughtfulness .11 .16 .11 –.03 –.16 .18 –.28 .71 –.29 –.09
9. Personal Relations –.12 –.05 .07 .05 .13 .25 .23 –.13 .68 .34
10. Masculinity –.03 –.07 .11 –.04 .19 .32 .17 –.12 .24 .73
Note. Correlations greater than .24 in absolute magnitude are significant at p< .01, N= 114. Stability
coefficients are given in boldface .