Intraindividual stability in the organization and patterning of behavior: Incorporating psychological situations into the idiographic analysis of personality.

In nomothetic analyses, the cross-situational consistency of individual differences in social behavior, assessed in vivo in a camp setting, depended on the similarity in the psychological features of situations. As predicted by the social-cognitive theory of personality, idiographic analyses revealed that individuals were characterized by stable profiles of if… then…, situation–behavior relationships that formed "behavioral signatures" of personality (e.g., he aggresses when warned by adults but complies when threatened by peers). Thus, the intraindividual organization of behavior variation across situations was enduring but discriminatively patterned, visible as distinctive profiles of situation–behavior relationships. Implications were examined for an idiographic reconceptualization of personality coherence and its behavioral expressions in relation to the psychological ingredients of situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit personality theory: A review.

A review of the literature on implicit personality theory reveals that there has been considerable concentration on various techniques for measuring the theory. While such measures do have considerable overlap they also vary in a variety of ways. The major theoretical questions have involved personality correlates of individual implicit personality theory, relationship of the theory to linguistic structure, and whether it reflects the actual distribution of traits in other people. Questions are raised about whether traits are the most appropriate units of person cognition and whether perceivers see traits as distributed across situations as well as stimulus persons. (91 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting unpredictability: Do measures of interpersonal rigidity/flexibility and distress predict intraindividual variability in social perceptions and behavior?

Maladjusted individuals have been theorized to exhibit problematic intraindividual variability of social behavior across situations. This variability is either excessively high (i.e., unpredictable) or low (i.e., rigid), or the behavior is inappropriately matched to the interpersonal context (noncomplementary). However, research has not tested systematically whether interpersonal distress and purported measures of rigidity actually predict these different types of variability across a broad range of social situations. Participants completed measures of interpersonal functioning and then responded to a range of hypothetical interpersonal scenarios, rating perceptions of others and their own expected behavioral responses (Study 1). A subset of participants also rated others’ and their own social behaviors across a week of naturalistic social interactions (Study 2). Results most consistently suggested that interpersonal distress predicts high intraindividual variability, with little support for the measurement or theory of rigidity. Moreover, variability of social perceptions partially mediated the link between distress and behavioral variability. Results largely persisted even after accounting for gender and variables’ mean levels, and cannot be fully explained by interpersonal complementarity. The implications of these dynamic processes for understanding personality and interpersonal adjustment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting actual behavior from the explicit and implicit self-concept of personality.

The authors present a behavioral process model of personality that specifies explicit and implicit aspects of the self-concept of personality as predictors of actual behavior. An extensive behavioral study (N = 130) including a variety of relevant social situations was conducted. This approach allowed reliable measurement of more than 50 behavioral indicators. A priori assignment of indicators to the Big Five dimensions was conducted on the basis of theory and expert ratings. In line with the authors’ model, 3 main findings were revealed: First, direct measures (questionnaires) of personality predicted actual behavior for all Big Five dimensions. Second, indirect measures (implicit association tests) of neuroticism and extraversion also predicted actual behavior. Third, the predictive validity of these indirect measures was incremental. The authors were additionally able to show that controlling for valence did not affect any of these results. Implications and future prospects for the study of personality and actual behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward an interactionist taxonomy of personality and situations: An integrative situational—dispositional representation of personality traits.

This article has 2 goals: first, to present and test a hierarchical representation of personality that jointly incorporates both situational and personality (e.g., Big Five) factors into a trait conception, and second, to explicate the dimensions along which situations differ in their effect on responses, providing the conceptual and empirical groundwork for the development of a joint taxonomy of traits and situations. A study of the effects of situational differences on trait self-reports indicated that conscientiousness and agreeableness can be represented hierarchically, with lower levels jointly constrained by both personality content and situational breadth. This representation establishes a methodological framework allowing for the explanation of the ways that situations interact with personality to affect responses. Implications of this representation for personality theory and prediction to and from personality inventories are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coherence and cross-situational generality in personality: A new analysis of old problems.

An analysis of personality constructs indicates that the research supporting these beliefs has failed to provide an adequate test of either coherence or cross-situational generality. Specifically, it is proposed that when personality constructs are measured by sampling the occurrence of multiple referents of the construct in multiple situations, both coherence and cross-situational generality can be demonstrated. To test this, 56 3–5 yr olds' dominance and dependency behaviors were observed in multiple situations. Results indicate that (a) multiple-referent sampling increased the coherence of both constructs, (b) dominance exhibited greater coherence than dependency, and (c) predictive accuracy across situations was enhanced by multiple-situation sampling for dominance but not for dependency. Data support the usefulness of appropriately measured personality constructs in predicting behavior. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rigid and extreme: A geometric representation of personality disorders in five-factor model space.

Personality disorder rigidity and extremity can be geometrically defined and operationalized within the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality. A series of geometric and substantive assumptions were derived and then tested in samples of college students (N?=?1,323) and psychiatric patients (N?=?86). Normal and disordered personalities were found to coexist in a variety of regions of the FFM multivariate space. Within regions, the profiles of normal and disordered personalities were very similar in characteristic configuration but notably different in profile variability. Personality-disordered individuals tended to be located in the perimeters or outer regions of the FFM space, as indicated by their longer vector lengths. These findings generalized across 2 measures of personality disorders and across 2 measures of normal personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality differentiation, effectiveness of personality integration, and mood in female college students.

Personality differentiation was measured by an index computed from 72 female undergraduates' rod-and-frame test and Embedded Figures Test scores. Effectiveness of personality integration was measured by the Ego Identity Incomplete Sentences Blank. Personal Feelings scales were used as the mood assessment instrument. The final sample of 31 Ss rated their moods 3 times daily on each of the 16 Personal Feelings scales for 33 consecutive days. Measures of 3 characteristics of mood—affective complexity, mood level, and mood variability—were constructed by factor analysis of mood-rating records. Psychological differentiation theory was used to generate hypotheses concerning mood/personality relationships. Results indicate that (a) greater personality differentiation was associated with less affective complexity; (b) neither personality differentiation nor effectiveness of personality integration was significantly associated with mood level; and (c) greater effectiveness of personality integration was associated with less mood variability. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traits, tests, and personality research.

Skepticism regarding the utility of personality tests seems widespread in contemporary personality, clinical, and social psychology. Five sources of this skepticism can be identified. First, the trait concept has been widely criticized in the recent literature; since tests are assumed to measure traits, their role in developing psychological theory is also questioned. Second, it is frequently claimed that tests simply don't work very well, that social behavior is largely a function of situational constraints. Third, current enthusiasm for experimental research tends to minimize the importance of individual differences and the tests that are used to assess them. Fourth, behavior therapy and labeling theory have encouraged the view that tests are irrelevant as adjuncts to psychotherapy. Finally, the ease with which test data can be collected encourages mindless research. Each of these issues is reviewed, and arguments are presented to suggest that personality assessment continues to be an intellectually and scientifically defensible enterprise. (70 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cortical inhibition, figural aftereffect, and theory of personality.

"An attempt has been made in this paper to work out a dynamic theory to account for a number of experimental findings in the field of personality related to the concept of extraversion-introversion. Following Pavlov and Hull, a theory of cortical inhibition was developed to account for observed differences in behavior and a deduction from this principle was made by extending it to the perceptual field. It was predicted that hysterics (as a prototype of the extraverted personality type) would be differentiated from dysthymics (as a prototype of the introverted personality type) in the speed of arousal, strength, and length of persistence of figural aftereffects." Experimental results presented are in accord with the predictions. 46 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the nature of intraindividual personality variability: Reliability, validity, and associations with well-being.

Intraindividual personality variability is a construct that reflects the extent to which a person's self-reported personality changes over time or across social roles. Past studies have linked variability with important outcomes such as adjustment and well-being. However, existing variability measures conflate mean-level variance with true change over time, and thus these past findings are questionable. Three studies were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of existing variability indexes and to develop a new index that does not suffer from the problem of conflated variance. This new index is reliable and valid and can predict actual changes in self-reports over time. However, once mean-level variance is removed, intraindividual variability is no longer related to well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality conflict, originality of response, and recall.

The general hypothesis states that variability in response to the same repeated stimulus is a function of intraindividual conflict. Applying this formulation to personality conflict, it is expected that the conflicted individual will show greater variability as a function of competing responses which appear alternately in subsequent similar situations. A measure of approach-avoidance personality conflict is described. High and low scorers on this conflict scale were exposed to a word-association task and were then required to recall their own responses. On the basis of the competing-tendency hypothesis, it was predicted that the conflicted subjects would show a higher frequency of original responses and reduced efficiency of recall. Both predictions were confirmed. Four instructional conditions preceding the word-association task failed to affect the conflict groups differentially, but personality and achievement instructions resulted in higher recall for both conflict groups. Some suggestions are offered for an improved measure of personality conflict. The results are discussed in terms of the conflict-variability hypothesis, and some implications are drawn for research on creativity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in big five behavior averages and variabilities across the adult life span: Moving beyond retrospective, global summary accounts of personality.

In 3 intensive cross-sectional studies, age differences in behavior averages and variabilities were examined. Three questions were posed: Does variability differ among age groups? Does the sizable variability in young adulthood persist throughout the life span? Do past conclusions about trait development, based on trait questionnaires, hold up when actual behavior is examined? Three groups participated: young adults (18–23 years), middle-aged adults (35–55 years), and older adults (65–81 years). In 2 experience-sampling studies, participants reported their current behavior multiple times per day for 1- or 2-week spans. In a 3rd study, participants interacted in standardized laboratory activities on 8 occasions. First, results revealed a sizable amount of intraindividual variability in behavior for all adult groups, with average within-person standard deviations ranging from about half a point to well over 1 point on 6-point scales. Second, older adults were most variable in Openness, whereas young adults were most variable in Agreeableness and Emotional Stability. Third, most specific patterns of maturation-related age differences in actual behavior were more greatly pronounced and differently patterned than those revealed by the trait questionnaire method. When participants interacted in standardized situations, personality differences between young adults and middle-aged adults were larger, and older adults exhibited a more positive personality profile than they exhibited in their everyday lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and variability of affective experience and interpersonal behavior in borderline personality disorder.

This study examined both mean levels and intraindividual variability in the mood and interpersonal behavior of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and nonclinical control participants over a 20-day event-contingent recording period. Individuals in the BPD group experienced more unpleasantly valenced affect and were less dominant, more submissive, more quarrelsome, and more extreme in overall levels of behavior than control participants. In addition to these mean-level differences, individuals with BPD also reported more intraindividual variability in overall affect valence and in pleasantly valenced affect; displayed greater variability in dominant, quarrelsome, and agreeable behaviors; and exhibited an increased tendency to "spin" among interpersonal behaviors relative to nonclinical control participants. The findings document behavioral and affective manifestations of BPD in the context of naturally occurring interpersonal situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adaptation level, personality theory, and psychopathology.

Adaptation-level (AL) theory represents a quantitative approach to the concept of adjustment and offers an experimental psychological point of departure for a science of personal and social behavior. It is suggested that a personality theory develop from classification of response types specifying relevant aspects of the focal, background, and residual factors. The various psychopathologies may be similarly viewed in terms of specific behavioral excesses or impairments within the framework of AL theory. A proposal for the use of AL theory in regard to personality and psychopathology is outlined and representative studies are cited. (58 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personalities of octopuses (Octopus rubescens).

Large individual differences are commonly found in the behavior of octopuses, even in standardized situation. 44 Octopus rubescens were tested in 3 situations (alerting, threat, and feeding) to quantify this variation. A factor analysis of resulting behaviors isolated 3 orthogonal dimensions of their variability, Activity, Reactivity, and Avoidance, which accounted for 45% of the variance. The similarity of these factors to dimensions of personality in humans and individual differences in animals suggests there may be commonalities in such variation across phyla. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality in the life course.

Using elements borrowed from psychology, sociology, and history, this article outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of personality in the life course. It is proposed that the interactional framework toward which personality psychology aspires may be conceived of as a sequence of interactions of personality with age-graded roles and social transitions in historically changing environments. To the extent that one can (a) identify the age-graded role paths in the social structure, (b) select the age-relevant situations in which these roles are enacted, and (c) identify measures relevant to the culture pattern across these age-relevant situations, it should be possible to uncover the coherence of personality—ways of approaching and responding to the world—across time and in diverse situations. Each of these steps is delineated and then illustrated with a longitudinal study of explosive, undercontrolled children. This is not an effort to articulate a theory of personality development but to outline the parameters of social life—temporal and situational—to which personality research should attend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)