Which theory is associated with aging and personality changes?

• A. Neugarten's personality theories of aging
• B. Erikson's psychosocial stages
• C. Freud's psychosexual stages
• D. Maslow's hierarchy

Answer: (A)

In aging, how a person’s personality can shift is best explained by theories that focus specifically on aging and psychosocial adaptation. Neugarten’s work centers on how older adults adjust to changes in roles, social expectations, and life events, and how these factors shape personality expression and overall adjustment. This approach treats personality in late life as something that can vary with context and experiences like retirement, changes in family roles, and shifting norms, rather than as a fixed product of early development.

Erikson’s psychosocial stages cover development across the entire life span and include a late-life stage (ego integrity versus despair), but it’s a broad developmental framework rather than a theory focused specifically on aging and personality changes. Freud’s psychosexual stages are anchored in early childhood development, not aging. Maslow’s hierarchy centers on motivation and needs across life, not on how aging alters personality.

So the theory that most directly addresses aging and personality changes is Neugarten’s personality theories of aging.