Origins of individual differences in infant shyness.

Explored the origins of individual differences in infant shyness by studying its relationship to parental shyness, sociability (the tendency to prefer being with others rather than alone), and introversion–extraversion (a factor that combines shyness, low sociability, and lack of impulsivity). The parents of 152 adopted and 120 nonadoptive infants (aged 12–24 mo) rated their child's shyness on a 5-item scale and completed the 16PF and measures of emotionality, activity, sociability, and impulsivity. In addition, information on biological mothers was obtained. The Family Environment Scale and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment were used to assess each infant's environment. Results show that infant shyness was positively related to shyness and negatively related to sociability and extraversion in nonadoptive mothers who shared both heredity and family environment with their infants. Genetic influence on infant shyness at 24 mo of age was shown by significant correlations of shyness and low sociability of biological mothers with shyness of their adopted-away infants. Infant shyness was also related to low sociability of adoptive mothers. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactive effects of extraversion, neuroticism, and social relationships on subjective well-being.

Previous research has indicated that there is a relation between extraversion and subjective well-being (SWB), and that the sociability component of extraversion primarily accounts for this relation. Interactive effects of extraversion and social relationship variables on SWB were hypothesized and found in Study 1 using the Extraversion scale from the 16 PF, the Well-Being subscale of the Differential Personality Questionnaire, and several social relationship scales administered to 291 college students. Several multiple regression analyses indicated that strength of social relationships was a strong predictor of SWB only for introverted individuals. Study 2 replicated these findings with the Eysenck Personality Inventory and revealed important interactive relations between extraversion, neuroticism, and social relationships in predicting SWB. A strong relationship between extraversion and SWB occurred only among individuals who were highly neurotic or who had poor social relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Misgivings about the Matching Familiar Figures Test: A brief reply to Block, Gjerde, and Block (1986).

This reply to a recent article by Block, Gjerde, and Block (1986) questioning the validity of the construct of reflection–impulsivity points to flaws in the logic of the authors' argument and the inferences drawn from their data. Additionally, the current author's data indicate that intellectually competent children are often shy and fearful. Finally, Block et al. must specify the meaning of "broad competence." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The construct validity of the extraversion subscales of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Examined the construct validity of the extraversion and introversion subscales of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Howarth Personality Questionnaire (HPQ). The unitary nature of extraversion was also explored. A conjoint factor analysis undertaken at the scale level produced 4 factors: MBTI extraversion/introversion, Inferiority/Anxiety, Sociability/EPQ/Impulsiveness, and Dominance. A subsequent higher-order factor analysis revealed 1 factor. Results suggest that the MBTI subscales are largely a measure of sociability and that extraversion as represented in these 3 measures is not, at 1st glance, unitary, although interfactor correlations do exist in varying degrees. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of impulsivity and sociability on subjective well-being.

To investigate the influence of sociability and impulsivity on positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction, 140 undergraduates (68 in Study 1 and 72 in Study 2) completed daily mood reports and were administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory, as well as other well-being measures. Results show that sociability but not impulsivity was strongly related to positive affect, whereas impulsivity tended to correlate more with negative affect. Similarly, sociability but not impulsivity was significantly related to life satisfaction. Possible reasons for the relations observed in this study are offered, and factors underlying the independence of positive and negative affect are discussed. It is contended that the purpose of the present study was not to challenge P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae's (see record 1981-10468-001) argument that 2 sets of factors are responsible for producing the independent positive and negative effect. However, given the magnitude of the correlations obtained, both in Costa and McCrae's and in the present study, it is questioned whether these 2 sets of personality factors are sufficient to account for the independence of the 2 classes of effects. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactions in predicting mood from extraversion and neuroticism.

Many researchers have found evidence that, when only marginal distributions are examined, extraversion is related primarily to positive affect, whereas neuroticism is related primarily to negative affect. Recent findings have suggested that extraversion and neuroticism interact in predicting mood so that marginal relations could be misleading. The present study used extraversion (and its components, sociability and impulsivity) along with neuroticism in regression equations including interactive and curvilinear components to predict measures of positive and negative affect among 384 undergraduates. Results confirm earlier findings that extraversion and neuroticism interact in predicting both positive and negative affect. The interaction pattern was similar to previous findings: Both positive and negative affect were strongly related to extraversion only among neurotic Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impulsive motor behavior: Effects of personality and goal salience.

This experiment used a circle tracing paradigm to extend our recent theoretical development concerning the contributions of extraversion and neuroticism to impulsive performance on continuous motor tasks. Ss (N?=?137) completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 circle conditions: The goal condition provided subjects with a salient behavioral end point for their tracings, whereas the no-goal condition promoted behavioral uncertainty. In both conditions, Ss were asked to trace the circle under neutral and inhibition instructions. Using J. A. Gray's impulsivity and anxiety dimensions to group subjects, impulsive subjects under inhibition instructions displayed significantly faster tracing speed than nonimpulsive subjects in the presence of a salient goal, whereas anxious subjects appeared behaviorally impulsive in a situation promoting uncertainty and response conflict. Conceptualizing impulsivity and anxiety in terms of extraversion and neuroticism, with impulsive Ss as neurotic extraverts and anxious Ss as neurotic-introverts, it is proposed that Ss' level of extraversion determines the type of stimuli to which they are responsive and that level of neuroticism influences the magnitude of this reaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What lies beyond E and N? Factor analyses of scales believed to measure basic dimensions of personality.

The study was designed to investigate the dimensions underlying some of the personality traits measured by questionnaires that have been used in research on the biological bases of personality. Forty-six scales from eight tests were selected to provide markers for seven hypothesized factors. Subjects were 271 students taking the tests as part of a personality course. Factor rotations were done for solutions that extracted three, five, or seven factors. Five of the seven postulated factors were found with the seven-factor rotation: sociability, activity, impulsivity, socialization, and emotionality. In the five-factor rotation, asocialization, impulsivity, and many elements of sensation seeking blended in a P factor, and anger and anxiety formed a broader emotionality factor. The three-factor solution approximates the model proposed by Eysenck, and his own scales provide excellent markers for the three factors. Correlations of factor scores derived from data for men and women and applied to data for the opposite sex show very good correspondence of factors at the three-factor level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

GSR conditioning, anxiety, and extraversion.

"Hypotheses by Eysenck and Spence relating GSR conditioning to extraversion and anxiety, respectively, were examined… [Ss] scoring on the extremes of anxiety and extraversion were selected… . Using a conditioned response amplitude measure,… a significant positive relationship was found between anxiety and conditioning. No significant relationship was found between extraversion and conditioning… . The results give clear support to Spence's theory while failing to support that of Eysenck." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4CG27B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and conditioning: A test of four models.

Four experiments were conducted to test hypotheses derived from 4 alternative models of individual differences in instrumental conditioning. A standard go–no-go discrimination learning task was used in each of the 4 experiments. The results indicate that individual differences in performance of this discrimination are more consistently and strongly associated with impulsivity and anxiety than with extraversion and neuroticism. In each of the experiments, high anxiety hindered the learning of a go–no-go discrimination more among high-impulsive Ss than among low impulsive Ss, and in 2 of the experiments high anxiety actually facilitated learning among low impulsive Ss. These findings are incompatible with H. J. Eysenck's (1967) and J. A. Gray's (1982) hypotheses regarding extraversion but are not inconsistent with the hypotheses of J. P. Newman et al (see record 1985-22847-001). Aspects of these results do support J. T. Spence and K. W. Spence's (1966) and Gray's models of anxiety and instrumental conditioning. However, both of these models were contradicted by other trends in the data. A modification of Gray's model of impulsivity and anxiety that emphasizes the role of expectancies was proposed to fit these data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cattell, Comrey, and Eysenck personality factors compared: More evidence for the five robust factors?

We administered the Cattell 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF), the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS), and the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) to a sample of 669 Australians that was controlled in composition for age, sex, and social class. Factor analyses derived from analyzing scales of the three inventories in the same matrix produced a group of factors that were similar to the five robust factors of personality found in studies that used ratings by others. Two of the factors were similar to the two EPI scales and five were similar to five of the eight CPS scales. One of these five factors was similar to a single 16PF scale. The 16PF scales were highly overlapping and factorially complex, an indication that fewer than 16 separate constructs are measured at the primary level. There were, however, clear relations between the five factors and the second-order factor structure of the 16PF, as Karson and O'Dell (1976) described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does working memory load lead to greater impulsivity? Commentary on Hinson, Jameson, and Whitney (2003).

Previous research by J. M. Hinson, T. L. Jameson, and P. Whitney (2003; see record 2003-02055-011) demonstrated that a secondary task in a delayed discounting paradigm increased subjects' preference for the immediate reward. J. M. Hinson et al. interpreted their findings as evidence that working memory load results in greater impulsivity. The present authors conducted a reanalysis of the data from J. M. Hinson et al.'s Experiment 1 at the individual-subject level. Difference scores were calculated by subtracting the digit memory load condition from the control condition for k (discounting parameter) and a measure of "erroneous" responses. The results indicated that the secondary task increased random responding, which in turn can account for the increased mean estimates of k. Thus, the data do not support the claim that cognitive load affects impulsivity per se. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-cultural evidence for the fundamental features of extraversion.

Psychologists have not determined the defining characteristics of extraversion. In four studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that extraversion facets are linked by reward sensitivity. According to this hypothesis, only facets that reflect reward sensitivity should load on a higher order extraversion factor. This model was tested against a model in which sociability links the facets. The authors also tested the generalizability of the model in a diverse sample of participants from 39 nations, and they tested the model using widely used extraversion scales. Results of all studies indicate that only facets that reflect reward sensitivity load on a higher order extraversion factor and that this factor correlates strongly with pleasant affect. Although sociability is undoubtedly an important part of extraversion, these results suggest that extraverts' sociability may be a by-product of reward sensitivity, rather than the core feature of the trait. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consensual validation of personality traits: Evidence from self-reports and ratings.

Self-reports from 281 21–89 yr olds were correlated with their spouses' ratings of them on a set of 18 traits in the domains of neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience. Correlations ranged from .30 to .58 for the individual scales and from .51 to .60 for the 3 global domain scores. A multitrait, multimethod analysis, including the Eysenck Personality Inventory as a 2nd self-report instrument, showed evidence of convergent and divergent validity in both men and women. The use of a personality inventory format for ratings and the choice of spouse as rater contributed to the relatively high agreement, and agreement was probably moderated by the observability of the trait as well as S's gender. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-sectional studies of personality in a national sample: II. Stability in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness.

Investigated age differences in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study conducted by J. Cornoni-Huntley et al (1983). Cross-sectional analyses of data from 10,063 32–88 yr old Ss showed that older Ss were slightly lower in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness; that age trends were not curvilinear; and that there were no differences in personality scores that might be attributable to a mid-life crisis or transition. Comparison with data from 654 20–96 yr old Ss in the Augmented Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (ABLSA) showed that the ABLSA sample was lower in extraversion and higher in openness than the national sample, although the differences were small in magnitude. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Convergence of stranger ratings of personality and intelligence with self-ratings, partner ratings, and measured intelligence.

Several studies have shown above-chance agreement of self-reports on extraversion and conscientiousness with ratings by strangers, indicating that ratings by strangers might be quite accurate. Because self-reports are a less-than-ideal criterion to evaluate the accuracy of stranger ratings, however, the present study compared them also with ratings by acquaintances and with targets' performance on an intelligence test. Ratings of extraversion, conscientiousness, and intelligence by strangers having been exposed to a videotape of targets were significantly related to self-reports of these traits as well as to ratings by acquaintances. Moreover, ratings of intelligence by strangers were related to targets' measured intelligence, provided that judges had been exposed to a sound film of the targets. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the existence of discrete classes in personality: Is self-monitoring the correct joint to carve?

Two studies evaluate Gangestad and Snyder's (1985) self-monitoring typology. In Study 1, a variety of results (e.g., external relations, factor structures, internal reliabilities) imply that continuously distributed scores perform better than a typological measure of self-monitoring. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analyses of the Self-Monitoring Scale were performed. Gangestad and Snyder's 1-factor model does no fit the data for either of 2 item sets, and although Briggs and Cheek's (1988) 2-factor model fits the data quite well, it is outperformed by the 3-factor model of Briggs, Cheek, and Buss (1980). These results imply that a binary typology is not possible. Studies 1 and 2 together suggest that maintaining a nontypological conception of self-monitoring is desirable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the relation between IQ, impulsivity, and delinquency: Remarks on the Lynam, Moffitt, and Southamer-Loeber (1993) interpretation.

A recent report by D. Lynam, M. Moffitt, & M. Stouthamer-Loeber (see record 1993-29924-001) examined the inverse relation between IQ and delinquency and concluded that the observed relation represents "an influence of compromised intelligence on delinquent behavior" (p. 193). Specifically, the role of impulsivity in understanding this relation was discounted. The author considers the conceptual, operational, and analytical bases of the Lynam et al. report and argues that their neurologically based view of "executive dysfunction" as underlying delinquency is selectively portrayed. It is further contended that IQ scores, used as their index of brain–behavior relations, are only remotely related to specifiable neurological functioning. The Lynam et al. conclusion that impulsivity cannot appreciably explain the relation between IQ and delinquency is shown to depend on the analytical approach used. Analyzed alternatively, impulsivity emerges as the more important predictor that can mediate the observed IQ and delinquency relation. Social policy implications of these differing interpretations are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repetition effects in word and pseudoword identification: Comment on Salasoo, Shiffrin, and Feustel.

Discusses 2 recent articles by T. C. Feustel et al (see record 1984-08643-001) and A. Salasoo et al (see record 1986-03032-001), which argue that word identification is based on episodic and semantic memory. Feustel et al argued for separate processing stages affected by repetition (episodic memory) and lexicality (semantic memory). To account for the finding that number of repetitions interacts with lexicality, Salasoo et al invoked the same 2 types of memory, operating in parallel rather than serially. It is argued that data by Salasoo et al are compatible with a wide variety of competing theories, including some that do not involve episodic memory. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)