Toward the objective diagnosis of psychopathology: Generalizability of modal personality profiles.

Evaluated the representativeness of 8 previously identified personality prototypes among 282 male and 129 female alcoholic inpatients (mean ages, 44.9 and 44.4 yrs, respectively), 69 male prison inmates, 79 male and female chronic psychiatric patients (mean age, 33.0 yrs), 102 male and female short-term psychiatric patients (mean age, 26.8 yrs), and 197 male and female normal undergraduates. Classification hit rates ranged from 25.0% for the college student group to 53.6% for male prison inmates, compared with 56.0% for the derivation sample of male alcoholics. These figures were substantially greater than chance, as evidenced by an average hit rate of 4.9% using randomly generated targets. Two profiles were notably pervasive across all samples. A 2nd analysis compared group average profiles using multiple discriminant analysis. Three interpreted dimensions included (a) repression vs a rebellious, antisocial syndrome; (b) general symptom severity, and (c) a dimension differentiating male from female groups. It is concluded that the present modal profiles and proposed extensions offer considerable potential for developing more effective bases for diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Car-driving consistency and measures of personality.

Three groups of Ss—10 skilled police driving instructors, 10 skilled car club drivers, and 6 drivers of lesser skill—were studied to determine the relationship of driving consistency to neuroticism and to introversion-extroversion. The driving consistency measures (based on vehicle acceleration and deceleration) were found to be negatively related to the two personality measures for the skilled police drivers and the lesser-skilled drivers, but not for the skilled car club drivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between locus of control and other personality measures in drug users.

Data from 60 self-identified heroin users who completed a battery of personality tests show that previous findings relating locus of control to adjustment and self-concept among nondrug users are valid for narcotics users as well, and that locus of control in drug users is not a function of the length of drug use or age of the user. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of congruence-incongruence between locus of control and field dependence on personality functioning.

Studied H. Lefcourt and M. Telegdi's (see record 1972-00903-001) concepts of congruence and incongruence between perceptual skills and expectancies. 132 undergraduates were given Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale and the rod-and-frame test. 4 groups were formed, with 5 male and 5 female Ss with extreme scores in each group. As predicted, the 2 theoretically congruent groups demonstrated better personality adjustment on a real-self, ideal-self Q sort than did the incongruent groups. The congruent groups also proved to be less susceptible to the autokinetic effect than did the incongruent groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-monitoring personality at work: A meta-analytic investigation of construct validity.

The validity of self-monitoring personality in organizational settings was examined. Meta-analyses were conducted (136 samples; total N ?=?23,191) investigating the relationship between self-monitoring personality and work-related variables, as well as the reliability of various self-monitoring measures. Results suggest that self-monitoring has relevance for understanding many organizational concerns, including job performance and leadership emergence. Sample-weighted mean differences favoring male respondents were also noted, suggesting that the sex-related effects for self-monitoring may partially explain noted disparities between men and women at higher organizational levels (i.e., the glass ceiling). Theory building and additional research are needed to better understand the construct-related inferences about self-monitoring personality, especially in terms of the performance, leadership, and attitudes of those at top organizational levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal consistency of adult personality: Self-reported psychological characteristics across 45 years.

Examined the longitudinal consistency of personality characteristics, using data from the Kelly Longitudinal Study, a panel of 300 men and 300 women who were initially tested at age 18–35 during the 1930's. Emotional disturbance during the 1930's and 1950's, as measured by the Bernreuter Personality Inventory and the Bell Adjustment Inventory, had significant correlations in the .25–.40 range with measures of psychiatric symptoms (from the Cornell Medical Index) taken in 1979–1981. Revised inventory scales with content related to neuroticism and social introversion–extraversion had moderate longitudinal consistency across several decades of adult life and demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity. Results demonstrate the utility of personality measurements in predicting significant psychological outcomes over the full interval of the normal adult lifespan. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschool and primary locus of control scale: A reply.

Replies to S. H. Herzberger et al (see record 1979-27662-001), who argued that the internal consistency of the Preschool and Primary Nowicki-Strickland Internal–External Control Scale (PPNS-IE) is not sufficiently high to justify the scale's use. It is argued that in one instance, these authors made major changes in the scale that may have altered the scale significantly. The present authors also offer some possible explanations for differences between their data and those of Herzberger et al; they provide further evidence that the PPNS-IE has obtained significant evidence of construct validation from a variety of other researchers. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A locus of control scale for children.

Presents reliability and validity evidence concerning a new measure of a generalized locus of control for children. Construction procedures (with an initial sample of 152 3rd through 9th grade children and a validating sample of 1,017 3rd through 12th grade Ss) leading to the final 40-item scale are described. Preliminary work showed that scores were not related to social desirability or intelligence test scores but to achievement. Continued research with the instrument conducted over a wide range of S populations has provided additional construct validation across variables such as popularity, ability to delay gratification, and prejudice. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cognitive style of breadth of categorization: Longitudinal consistency of personality correlates.

Four tasks measuring breadth of categorization in different ways were administered to 128 4-yr-old children. Independent personality data were available on these Ss at ages 3, 4, and 7 in the form of behavior ratings by independent sets of teachers using the California Child Q-Set and by independent sets of examiners. The 4 category breadth measures were standard-scored and composited to generate a domain-representative index of category breadth. This index was then correlated with the independent personality ratings available at each of the 4 ages. A core set of relationships, common across both age and sex, indicated that broad categorizers had difficulty in stimulus exclusion, lacked autonomous structuring, and generally behaved with few internal constraints. Boys were significantly broader in their categorization than girls, although there was appreciable overlap between the sexes. Personality correlates of breadth of categorization observed as early as 3 yrs of age were also observed at age 7. Results are placed in a larger theoretical context by introducing the concept of under- and overperceptualization. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A personality dimension of consistency versus variability without the use of self-reports or ratings.

34 university students enacted scenes in which they portrayed junior high school mathematics teachers giving a short "lesson." Ss portrayed the teachers in 3 different ways: natural, extraverted, and introverted. Objective measures of time talking, eye contact time, and total lesson time were employed to construct cross-trial variability scores. The relationships between these cross-trial variability scores were highly significant, suggesting that an individual difference measure of intraindividual behavioral variability may be constructed without resort to ratings. Behavioral variability was also related to variability in self-ratings. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuity and change: Assortative marriage and the consistency of personality in adulthood.

How is personality stability possible amid the myriad of social changes and transformations that characterize a human life? We argue that by choosing situations that are compatible with their dispositions and by affiliating with similar others, individuals may set in motion processes of social interchange that sustain their dispositions across time and circumstance. To test this proposition we examined mate selection, using data on married couples from two ongoing longitudinal studies at the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. Consistent with other research, the results point to homogamy as a basic norm in marriage. More important, the results show that marriage to a similar other promotes consistency in the intraindividual organization of personality attributes across middle adulthood. We offer some speculations for a more relational approach to the problem of individual continuity and change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hysterical personality: An experimental investigation of sex-role conflict.

Divided 39 female hysterical personalities and 39 nonhysterics, selected with the hysterical personality measure, into 3 groups receiving no threat, academic threat, and sex-role threat. 3 measures were obtained: (a) GSR, (b) visual recognition thresholds for sexual and neutral phrases, and (c) personality ratings of male and female Es. Results showed that: (a) both types of threat produced heightened GSR for all Ss; (b) sex-role threat produced lower thresholds for sexual words among hysterics; and (c) hysterics' ratings were more positive for the male E compared with the female E under no threat, but reversed under threat conditions. It is concluded that anxiety over inadequacy and sex-role competency in particular are significant variables affecting the behavior of the hysterical personality. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of personality disorder descriptions.

A study of 14 abnormal psychology textbooks suggests that such textbooks present very little information on personality disorders. Antisocial personality disorder was the most thoroughly covered disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internal-external locus of control: Parental antecedents.

Collected retrospective reports of parental behavior and a measure of internal-external locus of control from 192 male and 235 female undergraduates. Data were analyzed in a 2 * 2 analysis of variance design (sex * parent behavior). Relatively stronger internal control orientations held for ss who described their mothers as more nurturant, having more predictable standards for their children's behavior, and using more achievement pressure. Fathers were described as more nurturant, and as using more physical punishment (males only). Ss who reported that their mothers were (a) more protective, (b) more inclined to use deprivation of privileges, and (c) more inclined to use affective punishment (males only) were found to have stronger external control orientations. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies.

The present study used meta-analytic techniques to test whether trait consistency maximizes and stabilizes at a specific period in the life course. From 152 longitudinal studies, 3,217 test–retest correlation coefficients were compiled. Meta-analytic estimates of mean population test–retest correlation coefficients showed that trait consistency increased from .31 in childhood to .54 during the college years, to .64 at age 30, and then reached a plateau around .74 between ages 50 and 70 when time interval was held constant at 6.7 years. Analysis of moderators of consistency showed that the longitudinal time interval had a negative relation to trait consistency and that temperament dimensions were less consistent than adult personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, education, and the internal consistency of personality scales.

Investigated whether the internal consistencies of personality scales increase with age and education and, if so, what causes these increases. Between 96 and 106 respondents in each of the age groups 13–24 yrs, 15–26 yrs, 17–28 yrs, and 19–20 yrs and 198 adults (aged 21–25 yrs) with varying amounts of formal education completed the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, the California F-Scale, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, a dogmatism scale, the Extraversion subscale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, a self-monitoring scale, and a private self-conscious scale. Results show that age and education were both linearly related to the internal consistency with which Ss responded to all 8 personality scales. The relations were stronger for education than for age, the correlations between individuals' consistency scores across scales revealed a strong consistency response set. Stepwise regression showed that this internal consistency was related to age, education, the failure to understand items, and private self-consciousness. These last 2 contributions suggest that lower consistencies are partly a measurement problem and partly due to real lower personality consistencies on trait constructs. It is suggested that, because most personality research has used nonadults, the lower internal consistency of the younger Ss has contributed to the limited predictive power of personality scales. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between social desirability and internal consistency of personality scales.

3 hypotheses concerning the relationships between psychometric characteristics of 61 personality scales were tested. A measure of internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson Formula 21) was found to be positively correlated (.62) with the degree of imbalance in the social desirability keying of the scales. Internal consistency was also negatively correlated (-.46) with the proportion of neutral items in the scales. The mean probability of a keyed response to the items in a scale was positively correlated (.83) with the proportion of items keyed for socially desirable responses. These results are consistent with predictions based upon social desirability considerations. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beliefs in paranormal phenomena and locus of control: A field study.

Investigated beliefs in paranormal phenomena and their relationship to locus of control for 4 groups that varied in terms of their involvement with paranormal practices. 51 psychic readers, 81 undergraduates, and 205 adults interested in ESP completed a questionnaire designed to assess degree of involvement and beliefs in paranormal phenomena, locus of control, sociopolitical attitudes, and demographic characteristics. It was predicted and found that (a) paranormal beliefs increased as involvement increased; (b) internality increased as involvement increased; and (c) involvement and locus of control interacted so that with high and moderate involvement, paranormal beliefs were associated with an internal locus of control, whereas with low involvement, there was a slight tendency for paranormal beliefs to be related to an external locus of control. Analyses of the paranormal beliefs questionnaire and the relationship between paranormal beliefs and sociopolitical attitudes, demographics, and locus of control scores are reported. Reevaluation of previous studies of personality dimensions associated with esoteric belief systems that have relied solely on low-involvement (student) samples is suggested. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Desirability of control versus locus of control: Relationship to paralinguistics in the Type A interview.

Examined the relationship between heightened preference for control of the physical and social environment and Types A (coronary-prone) and B (noncoronary-prone) personality ratings derived from structured interviews, using 67 undergraduates. There was a significant relationship between scores on the Desirability of Control Scale (DSC), the structured interviews and the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS). Scores on Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale and the DCS correlated only with the JAS. Findings suggest that autonomic nervous system arousal can create psychological discomfort that may serve to increase both need for control and Type A vocal stylistics and that such vocal mannerisms may actually facilitate control of the social environment. Evidence implicating genetic factors in these processes is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)