Showing papers on "Personality published in 2003"

Personality, Culture, and Subjective Well-Being: Emotional and Cognitive Evaluations of Life

Abstract: Subjective well-being (SWB), people's emotional and cognitive evaluations of their lives, includes what lay people call happiness, peace, fulfillment, and life satisfaction. Personality dispositions such as extraversion, neuroticism, and self-esteem can markedly influence levels of SWB. Although personality can explain a significant amount of the variability in SWB, life circumstances also influence long-term levels. Cultural variables explain differences in mean levels of SWB and appear to be due to objective factors such as wealth, to norms dictating appropriate feelings and how important SWB is considered to be, and to the relative approach versus avoidance tendencies of societies. Culture can also moderate which variables most influence SWB. Although it is challenging to assess SWB across societies, the measures have some degree of cross-cultural validity. Although nations can be evaluated by their levels of SWB, there are still many open questions in this area.

A personality trait-based interactionist model of job performance.

Abstract: Evidence for situational specificity of personality-job performance relations calls for better understanding of how personality is expressed as valued work behavior. On the basis of an interactionist principle of trait activation (R. P. Tett & H. A. Guterman, 2000), a model is proposed that distinguishes among 5 situational features relevant to trait expression (job demands, distracters, constraints, releasers, and facilitators), operating at task, social, and organizational levels. Trait-expressive work behavior is distinguished from (valued) job performance in clarifying the conditions favoring personality use in selection efforts. The model frames linkages between situational taxonomies (e.g., J. L. Holland's [1985] RIASEC model) and the Big Five and promotes useful discussion of critical issues, including situational specificity, personality-oriented job analysis, team building, and work motivation.

The do re mi's of everyday life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences.

Abstract: The present research examined individual differences in music preferences. A series of 6 studies investigated lay beliefs about music, the structure underlying music preferences, and the links between music preferences and personality. The data indicated that people consider music an important aspect of their lives and listening to music an activity they engaged in frequently. Using multiple samples, methods, and geographic regions, analyses of the music preferences of over 3,500 individuals converged to reveal 4 music-preference dimensions: Reflective and Complex, Intense and Rebellious, Upbeat and Conventional, and Energetic and Rhythmic. Preferences for these music dimensions were related to a wide array of personality dimensions (e.g., Openness), self-views (e.g., political orientation), and cognitive abilities (e.g., verbal IQ).

Development of personality in early and middle adulthood: set like plaster or persistent change?

Abstract: Different theories make different predictions about how mean levels of personality traits change in adulthood. The biological view of the Five-factor theory proposes the plaster hypothesis: All personality traits stop changing by age 30. In contrast, contextualist perspectives propose that changes should be more varied and should persist throughout adulthood. This study compared these perspectives in a large (N 132,515) sample of adults aged 21– 60 who completed a Big Five personality measure on the Internet. Conscientiousness and Agreeableness increased throughout early and middle adulthood at varying rates; Neuroticism declined among women but did not change among men. The variety in patterns of change suggests that the Big Five traits are complex phenomena subject to a variety of developmental influences. How does personality change during adulthood? Psychologists since William James (1890/1950) have struggled with the question of whether various aspects of personality, including personality traits, change in meaningful ways during adulthood, and when those changes take place. Contemporary hypotheses about the development of personality traits stem from theories about what personality traits are. McCrae and Costa’s (1996) five-factor theory asserts that personality traits arise exclusively from biological causes (i.e., genes) and that they reach full maturity in early adulthood; thus, this theory predicts little or no change on any personality dimension after early adulthood. By contrast, contextualist perspectives argue that traits are multiply determined, and that one important influence on traits is the individual’s social environment (Haan, Millsap, & Hartka, 1986; Helson, Jones, & Kwan, 2002). Contextualist perspectives thus predict plasticity: Change is complex and ongoing, owing to the many factors that can affect personality traits. In this study, we set out to understand how personality traits change in early and middle adulthood by examining the Big Five personality trait dimensions (Goldberg, 1992; John & Srivastava, 1999; McCrae & Costa, 1999). We used a cross-sectional design to study how mean levels of personality traits differ by age and whether those age effects are moderated by gender. 1 We were particularly interested in examining whether change on all of the Big Five dimensions stops or slows in middle adulthood, as predicted by the five-factor theory, or whether change is ongoing and differentiated, as predicted by contextualist theories.

Rewriting the Soul: Multiple Personality and the Sciences of Memory

Abstract: Some years ago, one could list by name the tiny number of multiple personalities recorded in the history of Western medicine, but today hundreds of people receive treatment for dissociative disorders in every sizeable town in North America. Clinicians, backed by a grassroots movement of patients and therapists, find child sexual abuse to be the primary cause of the illness, while critics accuse the "MPD" community of fostering false memories of childhood trauma. Here, the distinguished philosopher Ian Hacking uses the MPD epidemic and its links with the contemporary concept of child abuse to scrutinize today's moral and political climate, especially our power struggles about memory and our efforts to cope with psychological injury. What is it like to suffer from multiple personality? Most diagnosed patients are women: why should gender matter? How does defining an illness affect the behaviour of those who suffer from it, And, more generally, how do systems of knowledge about kinds of people interact with the people who are known about? Answering these and similar questions, Hacking explores the development of the modern multiple personality movement. He then turns to a fascinating series of historical vignettes about an earlier wave of multiples, people who were diagnosed when new ways of thinking about memory emerged, particularly in France, toward the end of the nineteenth century. Made possible by these nineteenth-century developments, the current outbreak of dissociative disorders is embedded in new political settings. This study concludes with a powerful analysis linking historical and contemporary material in a fresh contribution to the archaeology of knowledge.

Using theory to evaluate personality and job-performance relations: a socioanalytic perspective.

Abstract: The authors used socioanalytic theory to understand individual differences in people's performance at work. Specifically, if predictors and criteria are aligned by using theory, then the meta-analytic validity of personality measures exceeds that of atheoretical approaches. As performance assessment moved from general to specific job criteria, all Big Five personality dimensions more precisely predicted relevant criterion variables, with estimated true validities of .43 (Emotional Stability), .35 (Extraversion-Ambition), .34 (Agreeableness), .36 (Conscientiousness), and .34 (Intellect-Openness to Experience).

Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences.

Abstract: Psychological researchers typically distinguish five major domains of individual differences in human behavior: cognitive abilities, personality, social attitudes, psychological interests, and psychopathology (Lubinski, 2000). In this article we: discuss a number of methodological errors commonly found in research on human individual differences; introduce a broad framework for interpreting findings from contemporary behavioral genetic studies; briefly outline the basic quantitative methods used in human behavioral genetic research; review the major criticisms of behavior genetic designs, with particular emphasis on the twin and adoption methods; describe the major or dominant theoretical scheme in each domain; and review behavioral genetic findings in all five domains. We conclude that there is now strong evidence that virtually all individual psychological differences, when reliably measured, are moderately to substantially heritable.

Deliberate Self-Harm in a Nonclinical Population: Prevalence and Psychological Correlates

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Research on deliberate self-harm (intentionally injuring oneself without suicidal intent) has focused on clinical and forensic populations. Studying only these populations, which typically have serious psychopathology, may lead to inflated estimates of the association between self-harm and psychiatric disorder, as well as of the prevalence of deliberate self-harm. The present study investigated the prevalence and correlates of deliberate self-harm in a large group of nonclinical subjects. METHOD: Participants were 1,986 military recruits, 62% of whom were men, who were participating in a study of peer assessment of personality traits and pathology. Individuals who did and did not report a history of self-harm were compared on measures of personality and psychopathology. RESULTS: Approximately 4% of the participants reported a history of deliberate self-harm. Compared with participants without a history of deliberate self-harm, self-harmers scored higher on self- and peer-report measures of bord...

The 'making' of an entrepreneur: testing a model of entrepreneurial intent among engineering students at MIT

Abstract: In the present study a covariance structure model is tested to identify the causes of entrepreneurial intent among engineering students. Specifically, we explore whether steady personal dispositions or whether perceptions of contextual founding conditions have an impact on the intention to found one's own business. The survey of 512 students at the MIT School of Engineering broadly confirms the model. Personality traits have a strong impact on the attitude towards self-employment. The entrepreneurial attitude is strongly linked with the intention to start a new venture. The students' personality therefore shows an indirect effect on intentions. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial intent is directly affected by perceived barriers and support factors in the entrepreneurship-related context. The findings have important implications for policy makers inside and outside universities. (authors' abstract)

Do brand personality scales really measure brand personality

Abstract: Since 1997, literature and research on the concept of brand personality have been flourishing, and specific scales have gone into widespread use in academic circles, unchallenged on their validity. Brand personality is certainly a key facet of a brand identity. As this paper will demonstrate, however, the current scales of brand personality do not in fact measure brand personality, but merge a number of dimensions of brand identity — personality being only one of them — which need to be kept separate both on theoretical grounds and for practical use. Brand research and theorising, as well as managerial practice, have nothing to gain from the present state of unchallenged conceptual confusion.

Personality, attitudes and risk Perceptions as predictors of risky driving behaviour among young drivers

Abstract: Within psychology, different research traditions have attempted to explain individual differences in risky driving behaviour and traffic accident involvement. The present study attempts to integrate two of these research traditions, the personality trait approach and the social cognition approach, in order to understand the mechanisms underlying young drivers' risk-taking behaviour in traffic. The study was based on a self-completion questionnaire survey carried out among 1932 adolescents in Norway. The questionnaire included measures of risk perception, attitudes towards traffic safety and self-reported risk-taking in traffic. Personality measures included aggression, altruism, anxiety and normlessness. The results of a structural equation model suggested that the relation between the personality traits and risky driving behaviour was mediated through attitudes. On this basis it was concluded that personality primarily influences risky driving behaviour indirectly through affecting the attitudinal determinants of the behaviour. Practical implications for traffic safety campaigns are also discussed.

Work experiences and personality development in young adulthood.

Abstract: This longitudinal study provides an analysis of the relationship between personality traits and work experiences with a special focus on the relationship between changes in personality and work experiences in young adulthood. Longitudinal analyses uncovered 3 findings. First, measures of personality taken at age 18 predicted both objective and subjective work experiences at age 26. Second, work experiences were related to changes in personality traits from age 18 to 26. Third, the predictive and change relations between personality traits and work experiences were corresponsive: Traits that "selected" people into specific work experiences were the same traits that changed in response to those same work experiences. The relevance of the findings to theories of personality development is discussed.

Factor structure of the psychopathic personality inventory: validity and implications for clinical assessment.

Abstract: Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by impulsive antisocial deviance in the context of emotional and interpersonal detachment. A factor analysis of the subscales of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) yielded evidence for 2 factors. One factor showed relations with external criteria mirroring those of the emotional-interpersonal facet of psychopathy, including high dominance, low anxiety, and venturesomeness. The other factor showed relations paralleling those of the social deviance facet of psychopathy, including positive correlations with antisocial behavior and substance abuse, negative correlations with socioeconomic status and verbal ability, and personality characteristics including high negative emotionally and low behavioral constraint. Findings support using the PPI to assess these facets of psychopathy in community samples and to explore their behavioral correlates and genetic-neurobiological underpinnings.

Personality differences in childhood and adolescence: measurement, development, and consequences.

Abstract: Child psychologists and psychiatrists are interested in assessing children's personalities. This interest is fueled by the practical desire to identify differences between children that have predictive utility, and by recognition that future advances in developmental theory, especially in relation to gene-environment interplay, can only be as good as the measures on which they rely. The aim of this article is to facilitate these practical and theoretical advances. First, we delineate a taxonomy of measurable individual differences in temperament and personality in childhood, and point the reader to proven and/or promising measuring instruments. Second, we describe the processes through which early temperament differences may become elaborated into adult personality structure and lifelong adaptation, and identify gaps in the empirical research that need to be filled. Third, we explore the various connections between temperament/ personality traits and psychopathology, and direct attention to promising questions and strategies.

The impact of chief executive officer personality on top management team dynamics:one mechanism by which leadership affects organizational performance.

Abstract: This article explores 1 mechanism by which leader personality affects organizational performance. The authors hypothesized and tested the effects of leader personality on the group dynamics of the top management team (TMT) and of TMT dynamics on organizational performance. To test their hypotheses, the authors used the group dynamics q-sort method, which is designed to permit rigorous, quantitative comparisons of data derived from qualitative sources. Results from independent observations of chief executive officer (CEO) personality and TMT dynamics for 17 CEOs supported the authors' hypothesized relationships both between CEO personality and TMT group dynamics and between TMT dynamics and organizational performance.

Interpersonal analysis of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism.

Abstract: This article examines the validity of grandiose and vulnerable subtypes of narcissistic character styles through an analysis of personality disorder criteria, interpersonal problems, and adult attachment styles in a nonclinical population. The grandiose personalities in this sample were rated high in the dramatic traits associated with narcissistic, antisocial, and histrionic personality disorders based on a diagnostic interview, and they reported domineering and vindictive interpersonal problems. However, despite the observation of narcissistic personality pathology, they denied interpersonal distress related to their interpersonal problems and the majority reported adult attachment styles reflective of positive self-representations (Secure, Dismissive). Vulnerable narcissistic individuals were represented by high ratings on avoidant personality disorder based on a diagnostic interview. They reported high interpersonal distress and greater domineering, vindictive, cold, and socially avoidant interpersonal problems. The majority reported adult attachment styles reflective of negative self-representations (Fearful, Preoccupied). The validity of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism based upon the results of this study was discussed in terms of clinical theory and with reference to the implications of two subtypes of narcissism for diagnosis and treatment.

Predicting Registered Nurse Job Satisfaction and Intent to Leave

Abstract: BackgroundNurse job dissatisfaction has been the primary predictor of intent to leave; however, although many predictors of job satisfaction have been identified, little is known about the influence of variable nurse attitudes, such as psychological empowerment and hardiness, on job satisfaction.Obj

Core self‐evaluations: a review of the trait and its role in job satisfaction and job performance

Abstract: Over the past five years there has been a growing body of literature that examines the relationships among some of psychology’s most studied traits (Neuroticism, self-esteem, and locus of control). Core self-evaluation theory posits a conceptual and empirical relationship between these traits and job satisfaction. After briefly reviewing core selfevaluation theory, we examine the empirical evidence documenting a relationship between these traits and the two central criteria of interest to I/O psychologists—job satisfaction and job performance. We then examine the relationship between core self-evaluation traits and the Big Five personality traits. We conclude with a discussion of the contributions and limitations of core self-evaluation research and opportunities for future research. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. In 1997, Judge, Locke, and Durham published a conceptual paper linking an integrative personality trait—termed core self-evaluations—to job satisfaction. In the five years since the publication of that paper, more than a dozen core self-evaluation studies have been conducted, addressing issues ranging from the construct validity of the trait to its role in explaining and predicting job satisfaction and job performance. Amir Erez, Ed Locke, Carl Thoresen, and the authors of this paper have conducted a focused program of research, which will be reviewed in this paper. We begin by reviewing the theoretical foundations of core self-evaluation research and summarizing empirical findings. Next, we discuss the construct validity of the trait and its relationship to the Big Five. We conclude with an appraisal of the state of this research literature and an agenda for future research.

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) differentiates smokers and nonsmokers.

Abstract: In trying to better understand why individuals begin and continue to smoke despite the obvious health consequences, researchers have become interested in identifying relevant personality variables, such as risk taking. In this study, the authors compared the ability of 2 behavioral measures of risk taking, the Bechara Gambling Task (BGT) and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), to differentiate smokers and nonsmokers. Self-report measures of impulsivity and sensation seeking were taken for comparison with the 2 behavioral risk-taking tasks. Results indicate that behavior on the BART, and not the BGT, was related to smoking status. Further, when considered in a logistic regression analysis, only the Sensation Seeking total score and the BART score contributed uniquely to the differentiation of smokers and nonsmokers.

Personality and social psychology

Abstract: Handbook of Psychology Preface (I. Weiner). Volume Preface (T. Millon and M. J. Lerner). Contributors. PART I: CONTEXTS. 1. Evolutionary Perspectives on Personality and Social Psychology (T. Millon). 2. Cultural Perspectives on Personality and Social Psychology (J. G. Miller & L. Schaberg). PART II: PERSONALITY. 3. Genetic Basis of Personality Structure (W. J. Livesley, et al.). 4. Biological Bases of Personality (M. Zuckerman). 5. Psychodynamic Models of Personality (R. F. Bornstein). 6. A Psychological Behaviorism Theory of Personality (A. W. Staats). 7. Cognitive--Experimental Self--Theory of Personality (S. Epstein). 8. Self--Regulatory Perspectives on Personality (C. S. Carver & M. F. Scheier). 9. Interpersonal Theory of Personality (A. L. Pincus & E. B. Ansell). 10. Structures of Personality Traits (W. K. B. Hofstee). PART III: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. 11. Social Cognition (G. V. Bodenhausen, et al.). 12. Emotion, Affect, and Mood in Social Judgments (J. Fernandez--Dols & J. Russell). 13. Attitudes in Social Behavior (J. M. Olson & G. Maio). 14. The Social Self (R. F. Baumeister). 15. Persuasion and Attitude Change (R. E. Petty). 16. Social Influence and Group Dynamics (A. Nowak & R. R. Vallacher). 17. Environmental Psychology (G. Moser). 18. Close Relationships (M. S. Clark). 19. Altruism and Prosocial Behavior (C. D. Batson). 20. Social Conflict, Harmony, and Integration (J. F. Dovido). 21. Prejudice, Racism, and Discrimination (K. Dion). 22. Justice, Equity and Fairness in Human Relations (L. Montada). 23. Aggression, Violence, Evil and Peace (J. deRivera). 24. Personality in Political Psychology (A. Immelman). Author Index. Subject Index.

The Effectiveness of Psychodynamic Therapy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy in the Treatment of Personality Disorders: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The authors conducted a meta-analysis to address the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavior therapy in the treatment of personality disorders. METHOD: Studies of psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavior therapy that were published between 1974 and 2001 were collected. Only studies that 1) used standardized methods to diagnose personality disorders, 2) applied reliable and valid instruments for the assessment of outcome, and 3) reported data that allowed calculation of within-group effect sizes or assessment of personality disorder recovery rates were included. Fourteen studies of psychodynamic therapy and 11 studies of cognitive behavior therapy were included. RESULTS: Psychodynamic therapy yielded a large overall effect size (1.46), with effect sizes of 1.08 found for self-report measures and 1.79 for observer-rated measures. For cognitive behavior therapy, the corresponding values were 1.00, 1.20, and 0.87. For more specific measures of personality disorder patholog...