In this study, we describe a psychobiological model of the structure and development of personality that accounts for dimensions of both temperament and character. Previous research has confirmed four dimensions of temperament: novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and persistence, which are independently heritable, manifest early in life, and involve preconceptual biases in perceptual memory and habit formation. For the first time, we describe three dimensions of character that mature in adulthood and influence personal and social effectiveness by insight learning about self-concepts. Self-concepts vary according to the extent to which a person identifies the self as (1) an autonomous individual, (2) an integral part of humanity, and (3) an integral part of the universe as a whole. Each aspect of self-concept corresponds to one of three character dimensions called self-directedness, cooperativeness, and selftranscendence, respectively. We also describe the conceptual background and development of a self-report measure of these dimensions, the Temperament and Character Inventory. Data on 300 individuals from the general population support the reliability and structure of these seven personality dimensions. We discuss the implications for studies of information processing, inheritance, development, diagnosis, and treatment. (Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1993;50:975-990)

https://jamanetwork.com/HttpHandlers/ArticlePdfHandler.ashx?journal=PSYCH&articleId=496431&pdfFileName=archpsyc_50_12_008.pdf

A Psychobiological Model of Temperament and Character

Counseling psychologists often work with clients to increase their well-being as well as to decrease their distress. One important aspect of well-being, highlighted particularly in humanistic theories of the counseling process, is perceived meaning in life. However, poor measurement has hampered research on meaning in life. In 3 studies, evidence is provided for the internal consistency, temporal stability, factor structure, and validity of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), a new 10-item measure of the presence of, and the search for, meaning in life. A multitrait-multimethod matrix demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity of the MLQ subscales across time and informants, in comparison with 2 other meaning scales. The MLQ offers several improvements over current meaning in life measures, including no item overlap with distress measures, a stable factor structure, better discriminant validity, a briefer format, and the ability to measure the search for meaning.

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The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the Presence of and Search for Meaning in Life

In this article, I present a theoretical perspective on the nature of "optimal" self-esteem. One of my major goals is to show that optimal and high self-esteem are different from each other. High self-esteem can be fragile or secure depending upon the extent to which it is defensive or genuine, contingent or true, unstable or stable, and discrepant or congruent with implicit (nonconscious) feelings of self-worth. Optimal self-esteem is characterized by qualities associated with genuine, true, stable, and congruent (with implicit self-esteem) high self-esteem. A second major goal is to present a conceptualization of the construct of authenticity. I propose that authenticity as an individual difference construct may be particularly important in delineating the adaptive features of optimal self-esteem. Authenticity can be characterized as the unobstructed operation of one's true, or core, self in one's daily enterprise. I argue that authenticity has 4 components: awareness, unbiased processing, action, and r...

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Toward a Conceptualization of Optimal Self-Esteem.

Six studies examined the role of positive affect (PA) in the experience of meaning in life (MIL). Study 1 showed strong relations between measures of mood, goal appraisals, and MIL. In multivariate analyses, PA was a stronger predictor of MIL than goal appraisals. In Study 2, the most consistent predictor of the experience of meaning in a day was the PA experienced that day. Later, global MIL was predicted by average daily PA, rather than average daily MIL. Study 3 demonstrated no prospective relations between measures of MIL and PA over 2 years. In Study 4, priming positive mood concepts enhanced MIL. In Study 5, manipulated positive mood enhanced ratings of MIL for those who were not given an attributional cue for their moods. In Study 6, PA was associated with a high level of distinction between meaningful and meaningless activities. Results indicate that positive moods may predispose individuals to feel that life is meaningful. In addition, positive moods may increase sensitivity to the meaning-relevance of a situation.

Positive affect and the experience of meaning in life.

The field of psychology has been slow to recognize the importance of purpose for positive youth development Until recently, purpose was understood, if at all, as a means of adapting to threatening conditions rather than as a motivator of good deeds and galvanizer of character growth Moreover, in most psychological studies, purpose has been conflated with personal meaning, a broader and more internally oriented construct This article offers a new operational definition of purpose that distinguishes it from meaning in an internalistic sense, and it reviews the existing psychological studies pertinent to the development of purpose during youth The article identifies a number of urgent questions concerning how—and whether—young people today are acquiring positive purposes to dedicate themselves to and, if so, what the nature of today’s youth purposes might be When Victor Frankl published the English edition of Man’s Search for Meaning in 1959, the book’s instant influence forced psychology to come to terms with the primary importance of high-level belief systems that had been considered derivative or epi-phenomenal by the major theories 1 The notion that ethereal constructs such as “meaning” and “purpose” could make a difference—that they could motivate someone to do something, or even shape a person’s basic choices about how to live—seemed impossibly soft-headed and sentimental to mainstream psychologists of that time If the behaviorist and psychoanalytic schools (the two best-known bodies of psychological work at midcentury) agreed on anything at all, it was that meaning, purpose, and other such belief systems were the products of more fundamental drives; that they were dependant on the drives for their shape, substance, and very existence; and that meaning and purpose were no more than marginal factors in behavioral development To this entrenched materialist position, Frankl (1959) wrote (in the non-“degenderized” language of his day): Man’s search for meaning is a primary force in his life and not a “secondary rationalization” of instinctual drives This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning There are some authors who contend that meanings and values are “nothing but defense mechanisms, reaction formations and sublimations” But as for myself, I would not be willing to live merely for the sake of my “defense mechanisms,” nor would I be ready to die merely for the sake of my “reaction formations” Man, however, is able to live and even to die for the sake of his ideals and values! (p 121)

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The Development of Purpose During Adolescence

Fraiikl's^' "• ' ' method of psychotherapeusis, logotherapy, is an application of the principles of existential philosophy to clinical practice. His basic contention is that a new type of neurosis is increasingly seen in the clinics today in contrast to the hysterias and other classical patterns, and that this new syndrome—which he terms noogcnic neurosis, and which supposedly constitutes about 55 per cent of the typical present-day case load^^^ — arises largely as a response to a complete emptiness of purpose in life. The chief dynamic is "existential frustration" created by a vacuum of perceived meaning in personal existence, and manifested by the symptom of boredom. According to Frankl, the essence of human motivation is the "will to meaning" {Der Wille zum Sinn); when meaning is not found, the individual becomes "existentially frustrated." This may or may not lead to psychopathology, depending upon other dynamic factors, but he feels that the incidence of clinical cases thus rooted is of major significance.^ The fact that existentialism accepts intuitive as well as rational and empirical knowledge in arriving at values and meanings has been anathema to American behavioral scientists, who have tended to write it off as a conglomeration of widely divergent speculations with little thread of consistency or operational sense. If, however, one may, by approaching mental illness from this frame of reference, specify a symptomatic condition which is measurable by an instrument constructed from this orientation, but which is not identical with any condition measured from the usual orientations, then there is evidence that we are in truth dealing with a new and different syndrome. Frankl has specified such a condition, but has made only rather informal and loosely quantitative attempts to measure it (as will be shown later). Kotchen^*^ has published a quantitative attack upon the relation of mental illness to existential concepts. He analysed the literature for the traits pertinent to mental health as conceived by the existential writers, found seven characteristics of the kind of life meaning which is supposed to be present in good mental health (such as uniqueness, responsibility, etc.), and then constructed an attitude scale with items representing each of these seven categories. He predicted that the level of mental health operationally defined by the nature of each of five population samples of 30 cases each, from locked-ward patients in a mental hospital to Harvard summer school students, would agree with the scoring level on the (questionnaire. The prediction was affirmed at a generally satisfactory level of statistical significance. His scale, however, had some open-end items which could be quantified only by a rating code, and three items applied only to hospital patients and had to be omitted from the scoring. Further, his samples were composed entirely of males, and this is an area in which there may well be sex differences, as will be seen later.

An experimental study in existentialism: the psychometric approach to frankl's concept of noogenic neurosis.

Cross-validation of Purpose-In-Life test based on Frankl's concepts.

Psychotherapy and Existentialism: Selected Papers on Logotherapy

A new attitude scale to measure the strength of motivation to find meaning in life is herein developed to complement the Purpose in Life Test (PIL), which measures the degree to which meaning has been found. Both instruments were designed from the orientation of Frankl's logotherapy, which holds the “will to meaning” to be the strongest human motivation. Ss were: Group 1 “abnormal,” 128 logotherapy patients, 30 methadone patients, 262 alcoholics; Group 2 “normal,” 19 seminary students, 64 mixed college students, 123 female college freshmen. (Subgroup fractionations were studied independently.) Results support a predicted moderate negative correlation with the PIL and statistically significant construct validity in separating normal from abnormal populations. PIL - SONG combinations in the prediction of therapeutic outcome support the usefulness of the SONG as a supplementary instrument. The predicted differences are small, but in the expected direction.

James C. Crumbaugh

Papers

An experimental study in existentialism: the psychometric approach to frankl's concept of noogenic neurosis.

Cross-validation of Purpose-In-Life test based on Frankl's concepts.

Psychotherapy and Existentialism: Selected Papers on Logotherapy

The Seeking of Noetic Goals Test (SONG): A complementary scale to the Purpose in Life Test (PIL).

Manual of Instruction for The Purpose-in-Life Test