Further explorations in personality

Normal Personality Assessment in Clinical Practice: The NEO Personality Inventory.

Despite widespread belief that violence begets violence, methodological problems substantially restrict knowledge of the long-term consequences of childhood victimization. Empirical evidence for this cycle of violence has been examined. Findings from a cohort study show that being abused or neglected as a child increases one's risk for delinquency, adult criminal behavior, and violent criminal behavior. However, the majority of abused and neglected children do not become delinquent, criminal, or violent. Caveats in interpreting these findings and their implications are discussed in this article.

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The cycle of violence

Issues in the cognitive representation and control of action are broached from the perspective of action identification theory. This theory holds that any action can be identified in many ways, ranging from low-level identities that specify how the action is performed to high-level identities that signify why or with what effect the action is performed. The level of identification most likely to be adopted by an actor is said to be dictated by processes reflecting a trade-off between concerns for comprehen- sive action understanding and effective action maintenance. This means that the actor is always sensitive to contextual cues to higher levels of identification but moves to lower levels ofidentification if the action proves difficult to maintain with higher level identities in mind. These respective pro- cesses are documented empirically, as is their coordinated interplay in promoting a level of prepotent identification that matches the upper limits of the actor's capacity to perform the action. The im- plications of this analysis are developed for action stability, the psychology of performance impair- ment, personal versus situational causation, and the behavioral bases of self-understanding. People always seem to be doing something. They also seem for seemingly unbounded constructions of behavior. As philos- to be quite adept at identifying what they are doing. What is less ophers have long noted, any segment of behavior can be con- clear is how these two observations relate to one another. The sciously identified in many different ways (Anscombe, 1957; theory of action identification (Vallacher & Wegner, 1985; Weg- Austin, 1961; Danto, 1963; Goldman, 1970; Ryie, 1949; Witt- ner & Vallacher, 1986) is explicitly concerned with this issue. At genstein, 1953). Something as simple as "meeting someone," the heart of the theory are three interacting processes that spec- for instance, could be recognized by anyone with an even mildly ify a causal interdependence between what people are doing and active mental life as "being social," "exchanging pleasantries," what they think they are doing. Through a delineation of these "learning about someone new," "revealing one's personality," processes, we hope to reveal how action constrains one's identi- or even "uttering words." But while representations of action fication of action and, in turn, how action identification exerts a admit to considerable variability and seem subject to notewor- selecting and guiding force in subsequent action. The proposed thy change from moment to moment, behavior seems to follow causal interdependence between action and action identifica- a more constrained path, often exhibiting a press toward COIn- tion proves useful in understanding a host of issues in human pletion in the face of situational forces, biological needs, and psychology that center on the mental control of action. These reinforcement contingencies. Thus, as interesting as cognitive issues are thus discussed in detail, with attention given in each representations may be in their own right, they are considered case to the points of contact between our analysis and prior con- by many to operate independently of the causal mechanisms ceptualizations. We begin by reviewing the background and promoting overt action. principles of the theory.

/pdf/what-do-people-think-they-re-doing-action-identification-and-3wpq5rx221.pdf

What do people think they're doing? Action identification and human behavior.

The 5-factor approach (FFA) to personality description has been represented as a comprehensive and compelling rubric for assessment. In this article, various misgivings about the FFA are delineated. The algorithmic method of factor analysis may not provide dimensions that are incisive. The "discovery" of the five factors may be influenced by unrecognized constraints on the variable sets analyzed. Lexical analyses are based on questionable conceptual and methodological assumptions, and have achieved uncertain results. The questionnaire version of the FFA has not demonstrated the special merits and sufficiencies of the five factors settled upon. Serious uncertainties have arisen in regard to the claimed 5-factor structure and the substantive meanings of the factors. Some implications of these problems are drawn.

A contrarian view of the five-factor approach to personality description.

The constructs of intelligence and ego-resiliency are discussed. The personality implications of "pure intelligence" and "pure ego-resilience" were identified. Intelligence (IQ) was indexed by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and ego-resiliency by an inventory scale. Residual scores measuring "pure intelligence" and "pure ego-resilience" were correlated with the items of the observer-based California Q-sort, used to describe participants. Persons relatively high on ego-resilience tend to be more competent and comfortable in the "fuzzier" interpersonal world; persons defined primary by raw IQ tend to be effective in the "clearer" world of structured work but tend also to be uneasy with affect and less able to realize satisfying human connections. Gender differences exist in the relations of ego-resilience and intelligence and in their adaptive relevance.

Further explorations in personality

Citations

Normal Personality Assessment in Clinical Practice: The NEO Personality Inventory.

The cycle of violence

What do people think they're doing? Action identification and human behavior.

A contrarian view of the five-factor approach to personality description.

IQ and ego-resiliency: conceptual and empirical connections and separateness.

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