Showing papers on "Personality published in 1993"

The proactive component of organizational behavior: A measure and correlates

Abstract: This study investigated a personal disposition toward proactive behavior, defined as the relatively stable tendency to effect environmental change. We developed an initial scale to assess the construct and administered it to a sample of 282 undergraduates. Factor analysis led to a revised, unidimensional scale with sound psychometric properties. A second sample of 130 undergraduate students was used to determine the relationships between the proactive scale and the ’Big Five‘ personality domains: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. In a third sample of 148 MBA students, we assessed the proactive scale's relationships with three personality traits and three criterion measures. Consistent with hypotheses, scores on the proactive scale correlated with need for achievement, need for dominance, and independent measures of the nature of subjects' extracurricular and civic activities, the nature of their major personal achievements, and peer nominations of transformational leaders. We discuss the potential of the proactive construct to enhance our understanding of, and ability to predict, a wide range of behaviors.

Autonomy as a moderator of the relationships between the Big Five personality dimensions and job performance.

Abstract: In this study we investigated the moderating role of autonomy on the relationships between the Big Five personality dimensions and supervisor ratings of job performance. On the basis of data from 146 managers, results indicated that two dimensions of personality, Conscientiousness (r =.25) and Extraversion (r =.14), were significantly related to job performance. Consistent with our expectations, the validity of Conscientiousness and Extraversion was greater for managers in jobs high in autonomy compared with those in jobs low in autonomy. The validity of Agreeableness was also higher in high-autonomy jobs compared with low-autonomy ones, but the correlation was negative

Half a minute: Predicting teacher evaluations from thin slices of nonverbal behavior and physical attractiveness.

Abstract: The accuracy of strangers' consensual judgments of personality based on "thin slices" of targets' nonverbal behavior were examined in relation to an ecologically valid criterion variable. In the 1st study, consensual judgments of college teachers' molar nonverbal behavior based on very brief (under 30 s) silent video clips significantly predicted global end-of-semester student evaluations of teachers. In the 2nd study, similar judgments predicted a principal's ratings of high school teachers. In the 3rd study, ratings of even thinner slices (6-s and 15-s clips) were strongly related to the criterion variables. Ratings of specific micrononverbal behaviors and ratings of teachers' physical attractiveness were not as strongly related to the criterion variable. These findings have important implications for the areas of personality judgment, impression formation, and nonverbal behavior. The ability to form impressions of others is a critical human skill. "This remarkable capacity we possess to understand something of the character of another person, to form a conception of him as a human being. . . with particular characteristics forming a distinct individuality is a precondition of social life" (Asch, 1946, p. 258). In the present article, we show that this capacity is even more remarkable than Asch suggested: Our consensual impressions of others, even when based on very brief observations of nonverbal behavior, can sometimes be unexpectedly accurate. Kruglanski (1989) outlined the following definitions of the construct of accuracy in personality and social psychological research: (a) the degree of correspondence between a judgment and a criterion (the most popular definition in psychological research), (b) interpersonal consensus, and (c) a construct possessing pragmatic utility. Much of the recent research on impression formation and personality judgment has been focused on the second definition regarding interpersonal consensus among individuals in their judgments regarding the personality traits of others. This research has revealed three quite surprising findings regarding strangers' judgments of others. First, people can concur remarkably in some of their judgments of complete strangers, thus exhibiting high consensual accuracy (Albright, Kenny, & Malloy, 1988; Kenny, Homer, Kashy, & Chu, 1992; Paunonen, 1991). Second, these judgments can be

Asian Americans: Personality Patterns, Identity, and Mental Health

Abstract: Foreword. A Diverse Population. Culture and Race. Families. Personality Patterns. Ethnic Identity. Stress. Stress and Refugees. Psychopathology in the "Model Minority". Underuse of Mental Health Services. Psychotherapy. Conclusion. Appendix A: Types of Mental Disorders. Appendix B: Mental Health Delivery Systems.

Extraversion and neuroticism as predictors of objective life events: a longitudinal analysis.

Abstract: Data from a 4-year longitudinal study of young adults were used to examine the causal pathways between personality and life events. To reduce measurement artifacts, analyses were conducted using reports of more objective life events. It was found that extraversion predisposed participants to experience more positive objective life events, whereas neuroticism predisposed people to experience more negative objective events. In contrast, personality was somewhat stable. and life events were found not to have a prospective influence on it. Objective positive and negative life events covaried, suggesting that people who experience more of 1 type of event are also likely to experience more events of the opposite valence as well

A Longitudinal Twin Study of Personality and Major Depression in Women

Abstract: Objective: To elucidate the nature of the etiologic relationship between personality and major depression in women. Design: A longitudinal twin design in which twins completed a time 1 questionnaire and, 15 months later, were personally interviewed for the occurrence of major depression during the last year and completed a time 2 questionnaire. Both questionnaires contained short forms assessing neuroticism and extraversion. Participants: 1733 twins from female-female pairs ascertained from the population-based Virginia Twin Registry. Results: Extraversion was unrelated to lifetime or 1-year prevalence of major depression. Neuroticism was strongly related to lifetime prevalence of major depression and robustly predicted the prospective 1-year prevalence of major depression in those who, at time 1, denied previous depressive episodes. However, controlling for levels of neuroticism at time 1, levels of neuroticism at time 2 were moderately elevated in those who had had an episode of major depression between times 1 and 2 ("scar" effect) and substantially elevated in those experiencing an episode of major depression at time 2 ("state" effect). In those who developed major depression, levels of neuroticism did not predict time to onset. In the best-fit longitudinal twin model, the proportion of the observed correlation between neuroticism and the liability to major depression that is due to shared genetic risk factors was estimated at around 70%, that due to shared environmental risk factors at around 20%, and that due to a direct causal effect of major depression on neuroticism (via both "scar" and "state" effects) at around 10%. Approximately 55% of the genetic liability of major depression appeared to be shared with neuroticism, while 45% was unique to major depression. Conclusion: In women, the relationship between neuroticism and the liability to major depression is substantial and largely the result of genetic factors that predispose to both neuroticism and major depression.

Creativity and Personality: Suggestions for a Theory

Abstract: An attempt is made in this article to relate creativity to personality in a much more definitive way than has been done previously and to use the known correlates of personality to suggest a theory of creativity that would explain many of the phenomena associated with this concept. A causal chain is suggested reaching from DNA to creative achievement, based largely on experimental findings not usually considered in relation to creativity (e.g., latent inhibition). Inevitably, the model is highly speculative, but it is testable and hence may prove useful in not only accounting for many observations and experimental results but also in suggesting new experiments and observations.

Stability of emotion experiences and their relations to traits of personality.

Abstract: The article presents a theoretical framework for studying emotion-personality relations and an empirical study of the stability of 88 normal middle-class mothers' emotion experiences and their relations to personality during the 3 years after childbirth. Ss completed the Differential Emotions Scale (DES), Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire, Jackson's Personality Research Form, and Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale. The DES demonstrated stability over 3 years. There was individual stability despite changes in group means during the postpartum period. Positive emotionality, as well as the discrete emotions of interest, enjoyment, and shyness, predicted Extraversion. Negative emotionality and the discrete negative emotions were significant predictors of Neuroticism. Positive emotionality was inversely related to Neuroticism. There were expectable correlations among specific emotions and primary traits of personality.

Does childhood personality predict longevity

Abstract: Key models relating personality and health predict that personality in childhood is indicative of later health and longevity. Longevity predictions are tested using data derived from the 7-decade longitudinal study initiated by L. M. Terman 1921 (L. M. Terman & M. H. Oden, 1947). Variables representing major dimensions of personality are used in statistical survival analyses of longevity in 1,178 males and females. Conscientiousness in childhood was clearly related to survival in middle to old age. This finding (a) establishes that childhood personality is related to survival decades into the future, (b) confirms the validity of the conscientiousness dimension in conceptualizing personality, and (c) points to likely and unlikely pathways linking personality to health. Contrary to expectation, cheerfulness (optimism and sense of humor) was inversely related to longevity, suggesting a possible need for reconceptualization of its health relevance.

The Divided Self: Concurrent and Longitudinal Effects of Psychological Adjustment and Social Roles on Self-Concept Differentiation

Abstract: The relation between self-concept differentiation (SCD), the tendency to see oneself as having different personality characteristics in different social roles, and psychological adjustment was examined in a sample of college students and a sample of middle-aged women. In both studies, Ss with high levels of SCD showed poor emotional adjustment (e.g., depression) and tended to reject social norms and conventions (e.g., low socialization). Longitudinal analyses demonstrated that these same characteristics measured at age 21 predicted SCD measured more than 30 years later in middle age. These findings provide strong evidence that SCD is a sign of fragmentation of the self rather than specialization of role identities. The social context was also an important determinant of SCD; both dissatisfaction with role performance and frequent role changes in relationships and jobs predicted SCD measured 9 years later.

The Remembered Self: Emotion and Memory in Personality

Abstract: In The Remembered Self Jefferson A. Singer and Peter Salovey persuasively argue that memories are an important window into one's life story, revealing characteristic moods, motives, and thinking patterns. Through experimental evidence, clinical case material, and examples from literature, the authors offer a fresh perspective on the role of memory in personality and clinical psychology. They demonstrate how certain repetitive memories help shape our emotional responses to present situations. These same memories are in turn re-remembered and mis-remembered through the lens of our most passionate goals. Singer and Salovey discuss the specific role of mood's influence on what and how we remember, and they explain how a person's self-defining memories may serve as archetypes of the personality's most central themes. The authors also show how identifying and understanding key narrative memories can lead to more effective psychotherapy. Finally, the authors propose that a renewed emphasis on conscious thought and narrative memory may provide an integrative bridge among personality, social, clinical, and cognitive psychologists. Such an approach, the authors argue, could reduce the tension between heavily quantitative psychologists and qualitatively oriented phenomenologists, leading to a more inclusive and complex vision of the whole person. Organized in four parts, the book begins by introducing a new theoretical perspective on memory content and organization in personality and goes on to present research evidence in support of this theory. The second part illustrates how memory content can be influenced by mood states, attentional processes, and biases of the self. The third part ofthe book links the previous theoretical and experimental work to the practice of psychotherapy. Finally, the last chapter attempts to locate the philosophy and methods advocated in the book into a larger debate occurring at present in psychology. Unlike the conventional psychoanalytic approach to memory which concentrates on what is forgotten, Singer and Salovey treat memory in a new and different way with an emphasis on what is remembered. Theirs is a bold new theory of memory and self that is both comprehensive and accessible.

Psychological and Socio‐cultural Adjustment during Cross‐cultural Transitions: A Comparison of Secondary Students Overseas and at Home

Abstract: The study further explores the distinction of psychological and socio-cultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions. One hundred and seventy-eight New Zealand American Field Service (AFS) students residing in 23 different countries completed questionnaires which contained assessments of the following: Personality (extraversion and locus of control); life changes (Social Readjustment Rating Questionnaire); homesickness, cultural distance, acculturation (cultural identity and cultural integration-separation); attitudes toward host country; language ability; amount of contact with host and conationals; relationship satisfaction with co-nationals, host nationals and host family; and outcome measures of socio-cultural (social difficulty) and psychological adjustment (Profile of Mood States). Stepwise repressions revealed that homesickness, external locus of control, life changes, and social difficulty accounted for 55% of the variance in psychological adjustment. In contrast, cultural distance...

Psychic Retreats: Pathological Organizations in Psychotic, Neurotic and Borderline Patients

Abstract: Essentially clinical in its approach, Psychic Retreats discusses the problem of patients who are 'stuck' and with whom it is difficult to make meaningful contact. John Steiner, an experienced psychoanalyst, uses new developments in Kleinian theory to explain how this happens. He examines the way object relationships and defences can be organized into complex structures which lead to a personality and an analysis becoming rigid and stuck, with little opportunity for development or change. These systems of defences are pathological organisations of the personality: John Steiner describes them as 'psychic retreats', into which the patient can withdraw to avoid contact both with the analyst and with reality. To provide a background to these original and controversial concepts, the author builds on more established ideas such as Klein's distinction between the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, and briefly reviews previous work on pathological organizations of the personality. He illustrates his discussion with detailed clinical material, with examples of the way psychic retreats operate to provide a respite from both paranoid-schizoid and depressive anxieties. He looks at the way such organizations function as a defence against unbearable guilt and describes the mechanism by which fragmentation of the personality can be reversed so the lost parts of the self can be regained and reintegrated in to the personality. Psychic Retreats is written with the practising psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in mind. The emphasis is therefore clinical throughout the book, which concludes with a chapter on the technical problems which arise in the treatment of such severely ill patients.

Gender-related traits and gender ideology: Evidence for a multifactorial theory.

Abstract: Male (n = 95) and female (n = 221) college students were given 2 measures of gender-related personality traits, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, and 3 measures of sex role attitudes. Correlations between the personality and the attitude measures were traced to responses to the pair of negatively correlated BSRI items, masculine and feminine, thus confirming a multifactorial approach to gender, as opposed to a unifactorial gender schema theory.

Personality Stability and Change in Early Adulthood: A Behavioral Genetic Analysis

Abstract: Seventy-nine monozygotic and 48 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire twice, averaging 20 years of age at first and 30 years at second testing. There were significant mean decreases in measures of Negative Emotionality (NE), increases in measures of Constraint (CO), but no significant mean changes for measures of Positive Emotionality (PE). Variance decreased for measures of NE but remained stable for measures of PE and CO. Biometrical analyses revealed that (a) NE variance reduction was due to diminishing genetic influences, (b) personality stability change was due largely to genetic factors, and (c) although some evidence for genetic influence on personality change was observed, change was largely determined by environmental factors

Integrating bottom-up and top-down theories of subjective well-being : the case of health

Abstract: As a means of integrating bottom-up and top-down theories of subjective well-being (SWB), a framework was proposed that, in part, posits that both objective life circumstances and global personality dimensions indirectly affect SWB through their effects on the interpretation of life circumstances. This proposition was tested both cross-sectionally and longitudinally among a sample of approximately 375 men and women. Personality was operationalized in terms of the dispositional trait negative affectivity (NA), and the life circumstance investigated was health. Strong support was obtained for the hypothesized indirect effects of NA and objective health on SWB. Implications of the integrative framework for the study of SWB are discussed.

A longitudinal study of consistency and change in self-esteem from early adolescence to early adulthood.

Abstract: In a longitudinal study of 47 girls and 44 boys, developmental change in self-esteem (SE) was examined from early adolescence through late adolescence to early adulthood. Males tended to increase and females tended to decrease in SE over time. There was appreciable rank-order consistency in SE over time. Within each gender, the considerable individual differences in developmental trajectories were coherently related to personality characteristics independently assessed in early adolescence. Boys and girls with high SE possessed quite different personality characteristics in early adolescence; by early adulthood, although important differences remained, the personality characteristics associated with high SE were similar for the 2 sexes. Discussion focuses on the implications of our findings for the "consistency versus change" debate, the influence of gender-role socialization on SE development, and the importance of examining normative, gender-specific, and individual developmental change in SE.

When Do Individual Differences Matter? A Paradoxical Theory of Personality Coherence

Abstract: We propose that individual differences in personality should be studied during periods of environmental change because these periods provide an opportunity to discern the general mechanisms that govern the functions and processes of personality. We delineate the circumstances wherein personality differences are accentuated and then specify the conditions whereby change is produced. Personality differences are likely to be revealed during transitions into unpredictable new situations, when there is a press to behave but no information about how to behave adaptively. Dispositional differences are thus accentuated as each person seeks to transform novel, ambiguous, and uncertain circumstances into familiar, clear, and expectable social encounters. Our theory also accounts for turning points in behavioral development: Systematic change is likely to occur during transitions into new situations, when there is a press to behave and when previous responses are actively discouraged while clear information is provi...

Gender differences in substance use disorders.

Abstract: Objective The goals of this study were to explore gender differences in demographic variables, psychiatric comorbidity, and personality disorders in individuals with substance use disorders. Method A total of 100 treatment-seeking substance users (50 men and 50 women) admitted to a university-based and a university-affiliated private chemical dependency hospital were compared with regard to demographic variables and comorbid psychiatric and personality diagnosis according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R after 14-21 days in treatment. Results Men were significantly more likely to have a higher household income and to be alcohol dependent. Women were significantly more likely to have another axis I disorder in addition to substance use disorder, particularly anxiety disorders, but these gender differences were not substantially different from the gender prevalence of these disorders in the general population. Men had more affective disorders relative to women than would be expected from the general population data. Female alcoholics had substantially more psychopathology than male alcoholics, and generally these differences were consistent with the ratios of these disorders in the general population. For cocaine users, female/male ratios of anxiety and affective disorders were inconsistent with general population ratios and indicated more psychopathology than would be expected in male cocaine users. There were no gender differences in axis II diagnoses. Conclusions Some of the gender differences in psychopathology in substance users are at odds with gender differences for psychopathology in the general population. Further exploration of these differences could have important theoretical and treatment implications.

Long-term recidivism of child molesters

Abstract: We examined the long-term recidivism rates of 197 child molesters released from prison between 1958 and 1974. Overall, 42% of the total sample were reconvicted for sexual crimes, violent crimes, or both, with 10% of the total sample reconvicted 10-31 years after being released. Incest offenders were reconvicted at a slower rate than were offenders who selected only boys, with offenders against girls showing a rate intermediate between these two groups. Other factors associated with increased recidivism were (a) never being married and (b) previous sexual offenses. None of the mental health and personality tests used in this study (e.g., the Eysenck Personality Inventory and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) was significantly associated with recidivism. Language: en

Studying Lives Through Time: Personality and Development

Abstract: "Studying Lives Through Time" presents a state-of-the-art survey of the methodology and substance of longitudinal research in personality development. Chapters focused on the methodology of longitudinal study examine the use of longitudinal data archives, the comparison of longitudinal studies with one another, the use of observer judgements in personality research, the use of Q-sorts, the structure of the personality trait domain, the analysis of overlapping yet distinctive constructs (such as conformity and consciousness), and the necessity of considering the interaction of many factors in understanding developmental processes. Chapters focused on substantive findings examine the use of interpersonal memories to assess the important themes of an individual's life, the basis of depression, the consequences of poor child-rearing practices, the long-term processes of secure and insecure attachment in early childhood, the basis of vulnerability and resilience in relation to risky environments, and cognitive-experiential self-theory.

Personality and behavioral vulnerabilities associated with risk status for eating disorders in adolescent girls.

Abstract: This article presents first-year cross-sectional findings from a study of the development of eating disorders. Adolescent female (N = 937) 7th through 10th graders completed measures that included information on personality, self-concept, eating patterns, and attitudes. A risk status score was calculated on the basis of comprehensive information regarding DSM-III-R eating disorders criteria and other weight and attitudinal data. All personality measures showed significant differences according to risk, based on subject classification into high, moderate, and mild risk status and comparison groups. Early puberty was not associated with increased risk. The strongest predictor variables for risk were body dissatisfaction, negative emotionality, and lack of interoceptive awareness. The possible diathesis of personality including temperamental factors in the later development of an eating disorder is discussed.

Implicit Theories Individual Differences in the Likelihood and Meaning of Dispositional Inference

Abstract: In their research, the authors have identified individuals who believe that a particular trait (intelligence, personality, or moral character) is a fixed disposition (entity theorists) and have contrasted them with those who believe the trait to be a malleable quality (incremental theorists). Research shows that an entity theory consistently predicts (a) global dispositional inferences for self and other; even in the face of limited evidence, as well as (b) an over reliance on dispositional information in making other judgments and decisions. An incremental theory, by contrast, predicts inferences that are more specific, conditional, and provisional The implicit beliefs seem to represent not only different theories about the nature of traits but also different mental models about how personality works-what the units of analysis are and how they enter into causal relations. Implications for the literature on person perception are discussed.

Children's Implicit Personality Theories as Predictors of Their Social Judgments

Abstract: Social judgment and trait ascription have long been central issues in psychology. Two studies tested the hypothesis that children who believe that personality is a fixed quality (entity theorists) would make more rigid and long-term social judgments than those who believe that personality is malleable (incremental theorists). Fourth and fifth graders (mean age 10.2 years) viewed a slide show of a boy displaying negative behaviors (Study 1--being shy, clumsy, and nervous; Study 2--lying, cheating, and stealing) and then made a series of ratings. Half of the subjects saw a consistent (negative) ending, and half saw an inconsistent (more positive) ending. Even when they viewed positive counterevidence, entity theorists did not differ in their ratings of the focal traits, but incremental theorists did. Entity theorists in Study 2 also predicted significantly less change in the short term and the long term than did incremental theorists. Study 2 further revealed that, when the behaviors were more negative, entity theorists made more generalized and global negative trait evaluations of the target, showed less empathy, and recommended more punishment. Differences in the social judgment processes of entity and incremental theorists are discussed, and implications for issues (such as stereotyping) are explored.

Narcissism and Self-Evaluation Maintenance: Explorations in Object Relations

Abstract: This study examined effects of threat to the sef on efforts to maintain a positive self-evaluation in individuals with varying levels of narcissism Male students (N= 216) with varying levels of narcissism, as measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, were given feedback that they had been either slightly or substantially outperformed on an ego-relevant task Subjects completed personality ratings of the better-performing other believing that the other would or would not see the evaluation According to Tesser's self-evaluation maintenance model, one way to reduce threat from a better-performing other is to derogate the other More narcissistic individuals reacted to such a threat to self by rating the other more negatively than less narcissistic individuals However, in contrast to prediction, narcissists were somewhat less negative in public than in private Discussion centers on the utility of translating a psychoanalytic construct into social cognitive processes

Genetic and environmental contributions to dimensions of personality disorder.

Abstract: Objective: The authors estimated the heritability of the basic dimensions of personality disorder and the relative proportions ofthe variance attributable to genetic and environmental sources. Method: The subjects were I 75 volunteer twin pairs (90 monozygotic and 85 dizygotic) from the general population. Each twin completed the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology, a questionnaire that assesses 18 dimensions of personality disorder. The questionnaire was developed on the basis of factor analytic studies that identified a stable structure underlying personality disorders in clinical and nonclinical subjects. Structural equation model-fitting methods were used to estimate the influence of additive genetic, common environmental, and unique environmental effects. Results: The estimates of broad heritability ranged from 0%, for conduct problems, to 64%, for narcissism. Behaviors associated with submissiveness and attachment problems had low heritability. For most dimensions, the bestf itting model was one that specified additive genetic and unique environmental effects. � clusions: These results are similar to those reported for normal personality and suggest a continuity between normal and disordered personality. (Am J Psychiatry 1993; 150:1826-1831)

The phenomenological and conceptual interface between borderline personality disorder and PTSD.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The authors explore the conceptual and phenomenological interface between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder as well as the therapeutic and research implications of this interface. METHOD: They systematically review the relevant empirical, conceptual, and clinical literature. RESULTS: These seemingly separate disorders are related. Borderline personality disorder is often shaped in part by trauma, and individuals with borderline disorder are therefore vulnerable to developing PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: The authors draw a distinction between the enduring effects that traumas can have on formation (or change) of axis II personality traits (including those found in borderline personality disorder) and acute symptomatic reactions to trauma, called PTSD, that are accompanied by specific psychophysiological correlates. They describe the implications of these conclusions for DSM-IV, therapy, and future research. Language: en

Dopamine‐related personality traits in Parkinson's disease

Abstract: Studies suggest that Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with a particular group of personality characteristics With relative uniformity, PD patients are described as industrious, rigidly moral, stoic, serious, and nonimpulsive In this controlled study, we used a recently developed personality questionnaire, Cloningers's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire, to test the hypothesis that these personality traits are behavioural manifestations of damaged dopaminergic pleasure and reward systems We found significantly less (p < 001) of a group of traits called "novelty seeking" in PD patients compared with matched medical controls Patients with low novelty seeking are described as being reflective, rigid, stoic, slow-tempered, frugal, orderly, and persistent, characteristics similar to those in the clinical description of PD patients We review evidence supporting the claim that novelty seeking is dopamine-dependent, and suggest that damage to the mesolimbic dopaminergic system causes the described personality profile of PD patients