Showing papers by "Oliver P. John published in 1996"

Resilient, Overcontrolled, and Undercontrolled Boys: Three Replicable Personality Types

Abstract: Three replicable personality types were identified in a sample of 300 adolescent boys and shown to generalize across African Americans and Caucasians. The types had conceptually coherent relations with the Big Five dimensions, ego resiliency, and ego control, and converged with three of the types identified by J. Block (1971). The behavioral implications of the types were explored using several independent data sources. Residents were intelligent, successful in school, unlikely to be delinquents, and relatively free of psychopathology; Overcontrollers shared some of these characteristics but were also prone to internalizing problems; and Undercontrollers showed a general pattern of academic, behavioral, and emotional problems. This research demonstrates that replicable and generalizable personality types can be identified empirically, and that the unique constellation of traits denning an individual has important consequences for a wide range of outcomes. We are each characterized by a unique constellation of personality traits that defines who we are and how we behave. Still, "none of us is so exquisitely different as to defy a useful categorization" (Block, 1971, p. 110). Typological approaches aim to discover the basic categories of human nature and in so doing to "carve nature at its joints." More specifically, personality typologies define categories of individuals who have similar configurations of characteristi cs and share the same personality structure.

On the Nature of Self-Monitoring: Construct Explication With Q-Sort Ratings

Abstract: To explicate M. Snyder's (1987) construct of self-monitoring (SM), a new Q-sort prototype is introduced. Analyses of Q-sorts by both observers and self demonstrated cross-method convergent validity for the revised 18-item Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS-R) and its Public Performing subscale; however, neither scale showed discriminant validity against measures of extraversion. The Other-Directedness items remaining on the SMS-R correlated neither with the other measures of SM nor with extraversion. These findings suggest that the scale revision led to a conceptual shift toward extraverted (and away from other-directed) features of self-presentation. To adequately assess the conceptual domain of SM phenomena, researchers should administer the original 25-item SMS (not the abbreviated 18-item SMS-R) and score Public Performing and Other-Directedness separately to examine their individual and joint effects.

Toward a Broader Agenda for Research on Self- and Other Perception

Abstract: It is not uncommon for psychologists to grumble about the disarray in their field. Once in a while, we hear our colleagues muttering something like, "What we really need to do is clean up the field and systematize the findings-someone should do all the basic studies using a common design and put it all together to establish some clear facts about what's going on." Rarely does any one researcher devote that kind of sustained attention to a set of basic problems. Yet, this is exactly what David Kenny has done for the area of social perception. In his recent book, Interpersonal Perception: A Social Relations Analysis, he summarizes more than 40 studies that he and his collaborators have conducted over the past 15 years. Kenny's book is testimony to the excitement and vibrancy that once again pervade research on how people perceive themselves and others. Interpersonal Perception is a milestone in the field, and we believe it will have a lasting impact. The book is essentially a manifesto for research on interpersonal perception, simultaneously accomplishing three broad goals. First, it provides researchers with powerful new conceptual and methodological tools to explore both new and long-standing questions about interpersonal perception. Second, it establishes a set of basic findings, providing a knowledge base upon which the field can build. Third, it specifies a set of basic questions researchers should explore and thus defines an agenda for the future. In this review, we first describe the research tools Kenny offers the field and then discuss some of the major themes of the book, identifying possible directions for future research to expand the agenda set forth by Kenny.