Showing papers on "Personality published in 1987"

The support of autonomy and the control of behavior.

Abstract: In this article we suggest that events and contexts relevant to the initiation and regulation of intentional behavior can function either to support autonomy (i.e., to promote choice) or to control behavior (i.e., to pressure one toward specific outcomes). Research herein reviewed indicates that this distinction is relevant to specific external events and to general interpersonal contexts as well as to specific internal events and to general personality orientations. That is, the distinction is relevant whether one's analysis focuses on social psychological variables or on personality variables. The research review details those contextual and person factors that tend to promote autonomy and those that tend to control. Furthermore, it shows that autonomy support has generally been associated with more intrinsic motivation, greater interest, less pressure and tension, more creativity, more cognitive flexibility, better conceptual learning, a more positive emotional tone, higher self-esteem, more trust, greater persistence of behavior change, and better physical and psychological health than has control. Also, these results have converged across different assessment procedures, different research methods, and different subject populations. On the basis or these results, we present an organismic perspective in which we argue that the regulation of intentional behavior varies along a continuum from autonomous (i.e.. self-determined) to controlled. The relation of this organismic perspective to historical developments in empirical psychology is discussed, with a particular emphasis on its implications for the study of social psychology and personality. For several decades American psychology was dominated by associationist theories. Assuming that behavior is controlled by peripheral mechanisms, these theories held that the initiation of behavior is a function of stimulus inputs such as external contingencies of reinforcement (Skinner, 1953) or internal drive stimulations (Hull, 1943) and that the regulation of behavior is a function of associative bonds between inputs and behaviors that develop through reinforcement processes. With that general perspective, the central processing of information was not part of the explanatory system, so concepts such as intention were considered irrelevant to the determination of be

Neurogenetic adaptive mechanisms in alcoholism

Abstract: Clinical, genetic, and neuropsychopharmacological studies of developmental factors in alcoholism are providing a better understanding of the neurobiological bases of personality and learning. Studies of the adopted-away children of alcoholics show that the predisposition to initiate alcohol-seeking behavior is genetically different from susceptibility to loss of control after drinking begins. Alcohol-seeking behavior is a special case of exploratory appetitive behavior and involves different neurogenetic processes than do susceptibility to behavioral tolerance and dependence on the antianxiety or sedative effects of alcohol. Three dimensions of personality have been described that may reflect individual differences in brain systems modulating the activation, maintenance, and inhibition of behavioral responses to the effects of alcohol and other environmental stimuli. These personality traits distinguish alcoholics with different patterns of behavioral, neurophysiological, and neuropharmacological responses to alcohol.

A Brief Measure of Social Support: Practical and Theoretical Implications:

Abstract: Two studies leading to the development of a short form of the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ) are reported. In Study 1 three items selected for high correlations with the total score (SSQ3) were administered to 182 university students together with several personality measures. SSQ3 had acceptable test-retest reliability and correlations with personality variables similar to those of the SSQ. Internal reliability was marginal although acceptable for an instrument with so few items. Study 2 employed three sets of data in developing a six-item instrument (SSQ6). The SSQ6 had high internal reliability and correlated highly with the SSQ and similarly to it with personality variables. The research findings accompanying the development of the short form social support measure suggest that perceived social support in adults may be a reflection of early attachment experience.

Creativity, divergent thinking, and openness to experience.

Abstract: Test scores of divergent thinking obtained between 1959 and 1972 were correlated with a variety of personality measures administered since 1980. In this sample of 268 men, divergent thinking was consistently associated with self-reports and ratings of openness to experience, but not with neuroticism

Attitudes, Traits, and Actions: Dispositional Prediction of Behavior in Personality and Social Psychology

Abstract: Publisher Summary In the domain of personality psychology, the trait concept has carried the burden of dispositional explanation. A multitude of personality traits has been identified and new trait dimensions continue to join the growing list. In a similar fashion, the concept of attitude has been the focus of attention in the explanations of human behavior offered by social psychologists. Numerous attitudes have been assessed over the years and, as new social issues emerge, additional attitudinal domains are explored. The chapter provides little evidence to support the postulated existence of stable, underlying attitudes within the individual, which influence both verbal expressions and actions. It examines the relation between two or more actions that were assumed to reflect the same underlying disposition. The aggregation of responses across time, contexts, targets, or actions or across a combination of these elements permits the inferences of dispositions at varying levels of generality.

Why are children in the same family so different from one another

Abstract: One of the most important findings that has emerged from human behavioral genetics involves the environment rather than heredity, providing the best available evidence for the importance of environmental influences on personality, psychopathology, and cognition. The research also converges on the remarkable conclusion that these environmental influences make two children in the same family as different from one another as are pairs of children selected randomly from the population.The theme of the target article is that environmental differences between children in the same family (called “nonshared environment”) represent the major source of environmental variance for personality, psychopathology, and cognitive abilities. One example of the evidence that supports this conclusion involves correlations for pairs of adopted children reared in the same family from early in life. Because these children share family environment but not heredity, their correlation directly estimates the importance of shared family environment. For most psychological characteristics, correlations for adoptive “siblings” hover near zero, which implies that the relevant environmental influences are not shared by children in the same family. Although it has been thought that cognitive abilities represent an exception to this rule, recent data suggest that environmental variance that affects IQ is also of the nonshared variety after adolescence.The article has three goals: (1) To describe quantitative genetic methods and research that lead to the conclusion that nonshared environment is responsible for most environmental variation relevant to psychological development, (2) to discuss specific nonshared environmental influences that have been studied to date, and (3) to consider relationships between nonshared environmental influences and behavioral differences between children in the same family. The reason for presenting this article in BBS is to draw attention to the far-reaching implications of finding that psychologically relevant environmental influences make children in a family different from, not similar to, one another.

Roundtable: what is temperament? Four approaches

Abstract: 4 current approaches to understanding temperament are discussed in the roundtable. In an introductory overview, Goldsmith outlines some of the major convergences and divergences in the understanding of this concept. Theorists representing 4 positions--Goldsmith, Buss and Plomin, Rothbart, and Thomas and Chess--outline their views by responding to each of 6 questions: How do you define temperament and explain the boundaries of the concept? What are the elements of temperatment? How does the construct of temperament permit you to approach issues or organize data in ways that are possible only if this construct is invoked? How does temperament develop? To what extent do you consider temperament to be a personological versus a relational or an interactional construct? and How does your approach deal with issues of temperamental "difficulty"? In 2 commentaries on the theorists' answers, Hinde highlights differences among their positions and indicates issues that current theories of temperament must take into consideration, and McCall draws on common aspects to propose a synthesizing definition that draws on all 4 approaches.

A short-form measure of loneliness.

Abstract: The revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-20) and a four-item short form (ULS-4) are widely used in personality research (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980). In an exploratory factor analysis of the ULS-20, we identified eight items that loaded substantially on the first factor. These items were combined to form an alternative short-form measure, the ULS-8. The results of this study indicate that the ULS-8 is reliable, valid, and a better substitute for the ULS-20 than is the ULS-4. Consistent with the previous research, the loneliness measures (ULS-20, ULS-8, ULS-4) were strongly related to socially undesirable personality characteristics, but loneliness was uncorrelated with the six different health-related behaviors (exercise, meal regularity, alcohol use, hard drug use, smoking, and hours of sleep) assessed in this study.

Personality and compatibility: A prospective analysis of marital stability and marital satisfaction.

Abstract: The antecedents of marital stability (divorce or remaining married) and marital satisfaction (within the group that remains married) were investigated with a panel of 300 couples who were followed from their engagements in the 1930s until 1980. Twenty-two of the couples broke their engagements; of the 278 couples who married, 50 got divorced at some time between 1935 and 1980. Personality characteristics (measured by acquaintance ratings made in the 1930s) were important predictors of both marital stability and marital satisfaction. The three aspects of personality most strongly related to marital outcome were the neuroticism of the husband, the neuroticism of the wife, and the impulse control of the husband. In combination, the 17 major antecedent variables were moderately predictive of a criterion variable composed of both marital stability and marital satisfaction (R = .49). The three major aspects of personality accounted for more than half of the predictable variance. The remaining variance was accounted for by attitudinal, social-environment, and sexual history variables.

Accountability and judgment processes in a personality prediction task.

Abstract: In this experiment, we investigated the impact of accountability--social pressures to justify one's views to others--on cognitive processing in a personality-prediction task. Subjects were presented with the responses of actual test-takers to 16 items from Jackson's Personality Research Form (PRF) and asked to predict how these individuals responded to an additional set of 16 items from the same test. Subjects were assigned to a no-accountability condition (they learned that all of their responses would be anonymous), a preexposure-accountability condition (they learned of the need to justify their responses before seeing the test-takers' PRF responses), and a postexposure-accountability condition (they learned of the need to justify their responses after seeing the test-takers' PRF responses). Preexposure-accountability subjects reported more integratively complex impressions of test-takers, made more accurate behavioral predictions, and reported more appropriate levels of confidence in their predictions than did either no-accountability or postexposure-accountability subjects. We conclude by considering possible psychological mediators of these effects as well as the broader theoretical implications of the findings for the development of contingency models of judgment and choice.

Differences between traits: properties associated with interjudge agreement.

Abstract: The present study concerns the relation between properties of personality traits and the agreement with which they are applied to real individuals. Subjects rated the 100 personality items of the California Q-Set on nine subjective dimensions, six of which loaded highly on a first principal component. This factor was interpreted as reflecting each trait's "easy visibility" to an outside observer. Actual interjudge agreement in applying each trait to real individuals was assessed in two ways: Selfother agreement was assessed in two independent samples, and interpeer agreement was assessed in three samples. Impressive and stable agreement was found for most Q items. The traits that were applied to individuals with the greatest interjudge agreement were the same ones that seemed most easily visible and tended to be positively relevant to extraversion and negatively relevant to neuroticism (identified through a factor analysis by McCrae. Costa, & Busch, 1986). The results suggest (a) that traits defining extraversion are revealed relatively directly in social behavior and, therefore, are easy to judge, (b) that traits denning neuroticism are less visible and. so, arejudged less accurately, and (c) that lay perceivcrs of personality are generally sensitive to this difference between traits. An important kind of judgment in daily life concerns the personality traits of other people and ourselves. Evaluations of the people in our social environment are central to our decisions about who to befriend and avoid, trust and distrust, hire and fire, and so on. Moreover, descriptive judgments rendered by a subject's friends and acquaintances can provide a valuable tool for personality assessment and research (Funder. 1983; Funder & Harris. 1986; Moskowitz, 1986). A natural concern, there

Temperament, personality and personality disorder.

Abstract: It is now over 2000 years since Hippocrates put forward his idea that there were four body †̃¿ humours', each associated with a characteristic personality style: black bile with melancholic; blood with sanguine; yellow bile with choleric; and phlegm with phlegmatic (Mora, 1980).The proposition that human beings are constitutionally different in ways that shape their personality style caught on with the lay public. Indeed the notion of body humours determined the very words that we use to describe such styles. Yet the view has not had such a smooth journey in scientific circles. There is a surprising lack of uniformity in both concept and terminology, as is all too evident in the controversies surrounding the terms †̃¿ tempera ment', †̃¿ personality' and †̃¿ personality disorder'. Paradoxically, personality psychology went out of fashion just at the time that the study of temperament was becoming firmly established. But the recent up surge of research and of writing on temperament has not brought general agreement. Kagan et al(1987) see temperament in terms of those behavioural styles that have a strong biological basis; somewhat similarlyBuss & Plomin (1986) defined temperament as inherited personality traits present in early childhood. By contrast, Bates (1980) suggested that much of temperament lay in parental percepts rather than child behaviour; Mischel (1968) argued that situational influences were so strong that the role of personality traits could be ignored; Stevenson-Hinde & Hinde (1986) accepted that there is an individual component to behaviour but pointed out that most behaviour as observed is a property of social interactions rather than just one person; and Graham & Stevenson (1986) maintained that temperament represents only sub clinical manifestations of psychiatric disorder. Where does the truth lie? What value have these concepts for clinical practice if their meaning and basis is in such dispute? My purpose in this paper is to attempt some clarification of the rather complex mesh of ideas that fall under the general rubric of tempera ment, personality and personality disorder. In so doing, I shall seek to provide tentative answers to these difficult questions and, more hesitantly, I shall suggest some possible ways forward. Temperament

Personality, coping style, emotion and cancer: towards an integrative model

Abstract: What this paper attempts, which may be different than previous reviews of the literature regarding the role of certain psychosocial factors and cancer initiation/progression, is to propose a model wherein seemingly discrepant findings may be integrated and understood. For this task, a representative but not an exhaustive review of studies was conducted, which revealed surprising consistencies, given the heterogeneity of designs, measures and cancer sites. Evidence converges on a constellation of factors that appears to predispose some individuals to develop cancer more readily or to progress more quickly through its stages. These factors include (a) certain personality traits or coping styles, which were discussed under the rubric of 'Type C'; (b) difficulty in expressing emotions; and (c) an attitude or tendency toward helplessness/hopelessness. Next, illustrative discrepancies across studies were presented. In order to make sense of these seemingly discrepant results, a process model of coping style and psychological-physiological homoeostasis was proposed. This model may be used to understand why some studies have found that Type C is associated with cancer outcome measures, while others have found that helplessness/hopelessness or emotional expression is related to outcome. We would expect that these differences are attributable to the point in the cancer and coping process at which psychological assessment was conducted.

Handbook of juvenile delinquency.

Abstract: An Historical and Theoretical Introduction (A. Binder) Epidemiology (D. Farrington) Social Ecology (M. Gold) Intelligence (H. Quay) Patterns of Delinquent Behavior (H. Quay) Personality (J. Arbuthnot et al.) Biogenetic Factors (G. Trasler) Family Interaction and Delinquent Behavior (J. Snyder & G. Patterson) Institutional Treatment (H. Quay) Community-based Interventions (R. Gottschalk et al.) Individual, Group, and Family Interventions (D. Gordon & J. Arbuthnot) Prediction (R. Loeber & M. Stouthamer-Loeber) Prevention (R. Lorion et al.) Research Methods (L. Sechrest & A. Rosenblatt).

The Personality Disorder Examination: A preliminary report.

Abstract: There are unanswered questions about the reliability and validity of some of the personality disorders in DSM-III. There has been a need for a structured interview that would facilitate the pursuit of these and other issues of interest to clinicians and research investigators. The Personality Disorder Examination (PDE) was developed to systematically survey the phenomenology and life experiences relevant to the diagnosis of all of the personality disorders in DSM-III. It provides suspected Axis II diagnoses and dimensional scores for every subject on each disorder. The interrater reliability of the PDE proved to be excellent in a preliminary study of 60 patients.

Cognitive vulnerability to depression: An investigation of two hypotheses

Abstract: Two hypotheses concerning cognitive vulnerability to depression were examined. One suggested that there are persistent individual differences in cognitive processing related to neuroticism which predispose to depression. The other suggested that individuals in whom depressogenic processes are activated by mildly depressed mood are particularly vulnerable to becoming more seriously depressed. Compared to women who had never met Research Diagnostic Criteria for depressive disorders, women who had recovered from such disorders scored higher on measures of depression as an enduring characteristic; scored higher on measures of neuroticism; used more globally negative words, highly descriptive of depressed patients, to describe their personality; showed poorer recall of self-referred positive words, suggesting reduced activation of positive aspects of the self-schema; and in induced depressed mood showed better recall of self-referred global negative words, suggesting greater activation of related aspects of the self-schema. Results provided support for both hypotheses.

Violence in dating relationships.

Abstract: This paper examines violence in white, heterosexual, dating relationships among college students and highlights the gender differences that are found. Our analysis focuses on particular individual and relationship-specific characteristics that influence the propensity for men and women to use and receive violence. The results strongly suggest that seriousness of the relationship and the personality dimensions of instrumentality and expressiveness explain dating violence for men, while a situation of jealousy explains dating violence for women. Additionally, though men and women do not significantl' differ in the rate at which they use violence, women are more likely than men to receive violence. These findings are understood in terms of the aspect of control which we argue underlies violent relationships.

Frequency and implications of personality disorders in a sample of depressed outpatients.

Abstract: The frequency of DSM-III, Axis II personality disorders and their relationship to selected demographic and clinical characteristics were investigated in a sample of 249 outpatients with major depressive disorder. Thirty-five percent of the sample had at least one personality disorder using stringent criteria; an additional 40% had a probable personality disorder. The most frequent disorders were in the “anxious' cluster of Axis II, including avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive. Paranoid, histrionic, and borderline were the next most common disorders. Personality disorder patients had more prior episodes of depression and were more likely to be diagnosed as recurrent MDD. They also had a longer duration of current episode, were more likely to have a diagnosis of endogenous depression, and had higher ratings of distress on multiple dimensions of general symptomatology. In addition, patients in the Axis II “odd” and “dramatic” clusters were less likely to be married, and dramatic patients were youn...

Longitudinal Analyses of Psychological Well-being in a National Sample: Stability of Mean Levels

Abstract: Maturational changes, cohort differences, and time of measurement effects on psychological well-being were examined in data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) I Epidemiologic Followup Study. A 9-year longitudinal study of 4,942 men and women initially aged 25 to 74 was supplemented by cross- and time-sequential analyses using an independent sample of 4,986 participants who were first administered the well-being measures at the time of the follow-up. Older participants in the study tended to be lower in both Positive and Negative Affect, but longitudinal changes in these two subscales were not found, and Total Well-Being showed no significant age, birth cohort, or time effects in any of the analyses. Given the size and representativeness of the sample, this is strong evidence of the stability of mean levels of psychological well-being in adulthood, and points to the importance of enduring personality dispositions and processes of adaptation in determining levels of well-being.

Personality, Type A behavior, and coronary heart disease: The role of emotional expression.

Abstract: The nature of the relation between personality factors and coronary heart disease (CHD, the nation's greatest killer) is one of the most important if controversial issues in the field of psychology and health. Although there is still a great deal of conceptual confusion, progress is being made in refining the key components of a predisposition to heart disease. In this article we examine the construct of a coronary-prone personality in the context of the relations among personality, emotional expression, and disease. Special consideration is given to mode of measurement of the Type A behavior pattern--Structural Interview (SI) versus Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS)--and to components and non-Type A correlates of the general coronary-prone construct. Fifty middle-aged men who had had a myocardial infarction were compared with 50 healthy controls in terms of relevant aspects of their psychological functioning. Results indicate that the SI is better than the JAS as a predictor of coronary heart disease (CHD) because of its attention to emotional expressive style. Traditional emphases on hurry sickness in coronary proneness are deemed wholly inadequate. Furthermore, the results indicate that depression, anxiety, or both may relate to CHD independently of and in addition to Type A behavior. Other aspects of personality and social support are also discussed in the context of improving the construct of coronary proneness.

The press of personality: A study of conversations between introverts and extraverts.

Abstract: In a study of the transactional impact of personality, 52 women were grouped in pairs to get acquainted in two conversations, one with an introvert and one with an extravert. The women were selected from their scores on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and were asked to provide accounts of their conv