The present study used meta-analytic techniques to test whether trait consistency maximizes and stabilizes at a specific period in the life course. From 152 longitudinal studies, 3,217 test-retest correlation coefficients were compiled. Meta-analytic estimates of mean population test-retest correlation coefficients showed that trait consistency increased from .31 in childhood to .54 during the college years, to .64 at age 30, and then reached a plateau around .74 between ages 50 and 70 when time interval was held constant at 6.7 years. Analysis of moderators of consistency showed that the longitudinal time interval had a negative relation to trait consistency and that temperament dimensions were less consistent than adult personality traits.

http://jenni.uchicago.edu/Spencer_Conference/Representative%20Papers/Roberts%20&%20DelVecchio,%202000.pdf

The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: a quantitative review of longitudinal studies.

The author explores the viability of a comparative approach to personality research. A review of the diverse animal-personality literature suggests that (a) most research uses trait constructs, focuses on variation within (vs. across) species, and uses either behavioral codings or trait ratings; (b) ratings are generally reliable and show some validity (7 parameters that could influence reliability and 4 challenges to validation are discussed); and (c) some dimensions emerge across species, but summaries are hindered by a lack of standard descriptors. Arguments for and against cross-species comparisons are discussed, and research guidelines are suggested. Finally, a research agenda guided by evolutionary and ecological principles is proposed. It is concluded that animal studies provide unique opportunities to examine biological, genetic, and environmental bases of personality and to study personality change, personality-health links, and personality perception.

From mice to men: what can we learn about personality from animal research?

In this article, we introduce this special issue by establishing a conceptual foundation for the distinction between approach and avoidance motivation. We do so primarily by explicating several reasons why the approach–avoidance distinction should be viewed as fundamental and basic to the study of human behavior. In addition, we compare and contrast the “approach–avoidance” designation with other designations that have been used in the motivational literature to cover the same or similar conceptual ground. Finally, we conclude by briefly overviewing the other contributions to this special issue, specifically highlighting how they make use of the approach–avoidance distinction.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/23363527

Approach and avoidance motivation.

A comparative method of studying the biological bases of personality compares human trait dimensions with likely animal models in terms of genetic determination and common biological correlates. The approach is applied to the trait of sensation seeking, which is defined on the human level by a questionnaire, reports of experience, and observations of behavior, and on the animal level by general activity, behavior in novel situations, and certain types of naturalistic behavior in animal colonies. Moderately high genetic determination has been found for human sensation seeking, and marked strain differences in rodents have been found in open-field behavior that may be related to basic differences in brain neurochemistry. Agonistic and sociable behaviors in both animals and humans and the trait measure of sensation seeking in humans have been related to certain common biological correlates such as gonadal hormones, monoamine oxidase (MAO), and augmenting of the cortical evoked potential.The monoamine systems in the rodent brain are involved in general activity, exploratory behavior, emotionality, socialization, dominance, sexual and consummately behaviors, and intracranial self-stimulation. Preliminary studies have related norepinephrine and enzymes involved in its production and degradation to human sensation seeking. A model is suggested that relates mood, behavioral activity, sociability, and clinical states to activity of the central catecholamine neurotransmitters and to neuroregulators and other transmitters that act in opposite ways on behavior or stabilize activity in the arousal systems. Stimulation and behavioral activity act on the catecholamine systems in a brain–behavior feedback loop. At optimal levels of catecholamine systems activity (CSA) mood is positive and activity and sociability are adaptive. At very low or very high levels of CSA mood is dysphoric, activity is restricted or stereotyped, and the organism is unsocial or aggressively antisocial. Novelty, in the absence of threat, may be rewarding through activation of noradrenergic neurons.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0140525X00018938

Sensation seeking: A comparative approach to a human trait

While two factors are currently thought to underlie individual differences in schizotypal personality, three factors may best explain schizotypal traits. This study used confirmatory factor analysis to assess five competing models of schizotypal personality in the general population: null model, one-factor model, simple two-factor model, Kendler two-factor model, and three-factor model. The computer program LISREL was used to analyze Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire subscale scores that reflect the nine traits of schizotypal personality. The scores were obtained from (1) a sample of 822 undergraduates and (2) a replication sample of 102 subjects drawn from the community. Results indicate replicable support for a three-factor model reflecting cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganized latent factors. Low intercorrelations between the first two factors and the lack of fit by a one-factor model are partially inconsistent with recent notions that a single vulnerability dimension underlies schizotypal personality. It is argued that future investigations should assess the correlates of all three schizotypal factors in clinical and nonclinical samples in addition to the two more traditional factors. It is hypothesized that three factors of schizophrenic symptomatology observed in recent studies may reflect an exaggeration of three analogous factors found in the general population.

Cognitive-perceptual, Interpersonal, and Disorganized Features of Schizotypal Personality

Personality dimensions, schizotypal and borderline personality traits and psychosis proneness

Extraversion and neuroticism in rats

The reversal of acute alcohol intoxication by naloxone is controversial. Naloxone increases cortisol secretion but there are no reports of this effect during acute alcohol intoxication. This study examines the effect of 20 mg naloxone on alcohol-induced intoxication using a balanced placebo design to investigate the role of cortisol, participant expectancy of treatment, and possible pharmacokinetic interactions during intoxication. Our results show differences in the time course of subjective self-evaluation of drunkenness in the presence of naloxone. Also, changes are observed in naloxone pharmacokinetic parameters with the ingestion of alcohol, specifically a decrease in plasma clearance. Whereas the cortisol response induced by naloxone was greater in the subgroup of participants with positive expectancy, in the presence of alcohol the naloxone effect on cortisol response was not observed. These observations may help explain the observed reversal of alcohol-induced coma by naloxone in a subgroup of patients.

Alcohol antagonism of hypercortisolism induced by naloxone.

Conditionability and open field measures

This work concerned the scalability of heterosexual behavior developing Bentler's scale (1967) for a Catalan sample of 263 subjects of both sexes and from three different educational levels. Analysis of responses to a questionnaire of 34 items showed that heterosexual experiences could be scaled according to a fairly fixed cumulative ordinal pattern. No differences were found between the patterns by sex or educational level. Some applications of the scale are suggested.

Lluis Garcia-Sevilla

Papers

Personality dimensions, schizotypal and borderline personality traits and psychosis proneness

Extraversion and neuroticism in rats

Alcohol antagonism of hypercortisolism induced by naloxone.

Conditionability and open field measures

A guttman scale to measure heterosexual behavior in three different catalan samples