Temperament, activity, and expectations for later personality development.

Temperament is assumed to be the biologically based, emotional core of personality. Adult personality is presumed to emerge developmentally from temperament. One mechanism that may link temperament to subsequent personality development involves caregiver expectancies. Stability in personality may be associated with caregiver expectancies about the meaning of temperament-based behavior. The expectancies, in combination with implicit theories of personality development, support stability and patterned change. This multimethod study examined the relations among motor activity differences, temperament, and expectations about future personality characteristics in preschool children. It was hypothesized that motor activity and temperament differences would be linked to teachers' expectations about later personality development. The hypothesis that expectations about such links would be moderated by the sex of the child was also examined. Outcomes generally corroborated hypotheses. Results are discussed in terms of personality development and age-related adaptations to social contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nature over nurture: Temperament, personality, and life span development.

Temperaments are often regarded as biologically based psychological tendencies with intrinsic paths of development. It is argued that this definition applies to the personality traits of the five-factor model. Evidence for the endogenous nature of traits is summarized from studies of behavior genetics, parent–child relations, personality structure, animal personality, and the longitudinal stability of individual differences. New evidence for intrinsic maturation is offered from analyses of NEO Five-Factor Inventory scores for men and women age 14 and over in German, British, Spanish, Czech, and Turkish samples (N?=?5,085). These data support strong conceptual links to child temperament despite modest empirical associations. The intrinsic maturation of personality is complemented by the culturally conditioned development of characteristic adaptations that express personality; interventions in human development are best addressed to these. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament and personality: Origins and outcomes.

This article reviews how a temperament approach emphasizing biological and developmental processes can integrate constructs from subdisciplines of psychology to further the study of personality. Basic measurement strategies and findings in the investigation of temperament in infancy and childhood are reviewed. These include linkage of temperament dimensions with basic affective–motivational and attentional systems, including positive affect/approach, fear, frustration/anger, and effortful control. Contributions of biological models that may support these processes are then reviewed. Research indicating how a temperament approach can lead researchers of social and personality development to investigate important person–environment interactions is also discussed. Lastly, adult research suggesting links between temperament dispositions and the Big Five personality factors is described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament, personality, and the mood and anxiety disorders.

Reviews the literature on temperament, personality, and mood and anxiety disorders. The review is organized primarily around L. A. Clark and D. Watson's (1991) tripartite model for these disorders, but other influential approaches are also examined. Negative affectivity (or neuroticism) appears to be a vulnerability factor for the development of anxiety and depression, indicates poor prognosis, and is itself affected by the experience of disorder. Positive affectivity (or extraversion) is related more specifically to depression, may be a risk factor for its development, suggests poor prognosis, and also may be affected by the experience of disorder. Other personality dimensions (e.g., anxiety sensitivity, attributional style, sociotropy or dependency, autonomy or self-criticism, and constraint) may constitute specific vulnerability factors for particular disorders. It is suggested that more longitudinal and measurement-based research that jointly examines anxiety and depression is needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament, character, and personality disorders

This study compares two self-report instruments--the Dutch version of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Questionnaire on Personality Traits (VKP)--in a Dutch sample of 148 people in a healthy population. The aims of this study are to create a norm group for the Dutch TCI, to investigate the psychometric properties of the TCI, and to examine the relationship between temperament, character (as measured by the TCI), and personality disorders (as measured by the VKP). The Dutch TCI has a good internal consistency. Some scales do intercorrelate. Seven factors can be identified with principal components analysis. T-tests show differences between the mean score of this Dutch population and Cloninger's community sample. According to the results of correlations and multiple regression of the TCI and the VKP, the self-directedness scale can predict the presence or absence of a personality disorder. Other scales might predict the type of personality disorder. It is concluded that the TCI can be a useful aid in the assessment of personality disorders.     

Genetic influences on the organization and development of personality.

Analyzed data from a longitudinal twin study of personality using Wilson's repeated measures analysis of variance for twin data obtained from 42 pairs of twins. Average age of Ss in adolescence was 15.9 yrs, and at follow-up 27.9 yrs. Genetic influences on the MMPI and the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) profile contour and profile elevation at adolescence and at adulthood, and on the age-to-age changes in profile contour and profile elevation, were examined. Results provide evidence of significant genetic variance in the organization of personality as reflected by the CPI profile contour and in the global facets of personality reflected by the MMPI and CPI profile elevations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego development and personality change in adulthood.

At age 43, 90 women in a longitudinal study were classified on the basis of J. Loevinger's (J. Loevinger and R. Wessler, 1970) Sentence Completion Test into 3 levels of ego development: self-aware or below, conscientious, and individualistic or above. Retrospective multivariate analyses of variance showed that ego level was associated with differential personality change on scales of the California Psychological Inventory from ages 21–43. In a path analysis, verbal aptitude in high school, psychological mindedness in college, and stimulation of life path between ages 21 and 43 each independently predicted ego level at age 43. Accounts of difficult times that involved construction of new schemas (accommodation rather than assimilation) were associated with high ego level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of congruity between parental personality types on offspring's personality development.

Tested J. L. Holland's (1973) hypothesis that individual parents' personality types encourage similar personality development in offspring, focusing on the development of offspring personality types when both parents possess the same personality type. Personality types were determined according to occupational choices. Female offspring tended to develop personality types more congruent with their parental-pair type. The degrees of congruence between male offspring and their parents' personality types conformed to chance expectation. Findings are discussed in terms of cultural sex role expectations and implications for exploration in career counseling. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on personality development.

For years the author has been struck by the oddity of having two separate fields that study personality--one in children and one in adults--with relatively little contact between the two. Those who study adult personality rarely refer to the child disposition literature, for example, and those who study childhood temperament infrequently describe how it unfolds into adult personality. Admittedly, part of the problem is that data that shed a bright light on the transition from childhood to adult personality have been hard to obtain and are scarce. Nonetheless, it is crucial to both developmental psychology and personality psychology for researchers to study transitions and continuities in personality throughout the life course. It is to this end that this special section was created. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament and personality features in panic disorder with or without comorbid mood disorders

We treated a patient with a 30-year history of ethanol and benzodiazepine abuse who, on emerging from general anesthesia, was combative and confused. Our working diagnosis was acute ethanol withdrawal, and the patient received intravenous (i.v.) propofol, and midazolam. Initially small doses (10 to 20 mg) of propofol, combined with a midazolam infusion (50 mg/hr), produced sedation. Later, however, the patient became increasingly combative, confused, hypertensive, and tachycardic despite an i.v. propofol infusion at doses up to 1,000 micrograms/kg/min (total propofol dose: 1,755 mg). Immediate sedation was produced by thiopental bolus (500 mg) and i.v. infusion (200 mg/hr). The implication of the patient's initial appropriate response to propofol, followed by the lack of effect when much higher doses were employed, is discussed. While tachyphylaxis has been reported after long-term propofol use, we believe this to be the first case of acute tachyphylaxis.     

Work experiences and personality development in young adulthood.

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factor-analytic methods of scale development in personality and clinical psychology.

Many clinical and social psychologists need to develop scales to carry out their research. Without adequate training in psychometric methods, they can easily run into difficulty. This article is designed to address some of the more common pitfalls in homogeneous scale construction. Empirical scale development by the criterion-group method is not considered. Suggestions are offered about item writing, answer scale formats, data analysis procedures, and overall scale development strategy. Particular emphasis is placed on the effective use of factor-analytic methods to select items for the scale and to determine its proper location in the hierarchy of factor constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-cultural investigation of the validity of Erikson's theory of personality development.

Constructed a self-report questionnaire for measuring the personality components that, according to E. H. Erikson (1950, 1959, 1968) are formed before the onset of old age. This applied to a sample of 1,859 15–60 yr old South African White and Black males and females. Results indicate that the reliability of the total scale was high for both Black and White Ss. The reliabilities of the subscales were adequate. Evidence of the validity of the scale is discussed. The components of personality that theoretically develop in childhood seemed strongly interrelated in adolescent and adult Whites. White women appeared to solve the identity crisis earlier, and they experienced a higher degree of intimacy than did White men, although the difference narrowed with age. In both sexes, psychosocial development was related to well-being. Black men seem to resolve the identity crisis only after age 40 yrs and there were indications that the psychosocial development of Black adult women was frustrated. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental representations in personality development, psychopathology, and the therapeutic process.

This article considers the construct of mental representation from the perspectives of psychoanalytic object-relations theory and cognitive developmental psychology and the congruence of these formulations with research and theory in cognitive science and social cognition. Concepts of mental representation are applied to the study of psychopathology, personality assessment, interpersonal relationships or attachment styles, and therapeutic progress in the long-term, inpatient treatment of seriously disturbed adolescents and young adults. Understanding of personality development, psychopathology, and the therapeutic process is greatly enhanced by this constructivist perspective, which considers the construction of mental representations or cognitive–affective schemes to be a central constituent of personality development and organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type D personality and the development of PTSD symptoms: A prospective study.

Psychological trauma and prolonged stress may cause mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Pretrauma personality is an important determinant of posttraumatic adjustment. Specifically, trait neuroticism has been identified as a risk factor for PTSD. Additionally, the combination of high negative affectivity or neuroticism with marked social inhibition or introversion, also called Type D personality (Denollet, 2000), may compose a risk factor for PTSD. There is no research available that examined pretrauma Type D personality in relation to PTSD. The present study examined the predictive validity of the Type D personality construct in a sample of Dutch soldiers. Data were collected prior to and 6 months after military deployment to Afghanistan. Separate multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the predictive validity of Type D personality. First, Type D personality was defined as the interaction between negative affect and social inhibition (Na × Si). In a second analysis, Type D was defined following cutoff criteria recommended by Denollet (2000). Results showed that negative affectivity was a significant predictor of PTSD symptoms. Social inhibition and the interaction Na × Si did not add to the amount of explained variance in postdeployment PTSD scores over the effects of childhood abuse, negative affectivity, and prior psychological symptoms. A second analysis showed that Type D personality (dichotomous) did not add to the amount of explained variance in postdeployment PTSD scores over the effects of childhood abuse, and prior psychological symptoms. Therefore, Type D personality appears to be of limited value to explain development of combat-related PTSD symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament characteristics of suicide attempters.

Administered temperament assessment measures to 45 suicide attempters (aged 15–67 yrs) to test the hypothesis that suicide attempters have arousable and submissive temperaments. Data support the hypothesis. A significant positive correlation between lethality of the suicide attempt and trait arousability reinforced the importance of high arousability as a temperament characteristic of suicide attempters. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking proactive personality and the Big Five to motivation to learn and development activity.

The authors investigated links between the Big Five, proactive personality, and motivation to learn. Web-based survey data were collected at 2 points in time from 183 employees of a financial services firm. Results showed that proactive personality was, only in part, a composite of Big Five facets, which accounted for 26% of its variance. Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that proactive personality, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness predicted motivation to learn. In addition, motivation to learn was positively related to objectively assessed development activity. Proactive personality, extraversion, and openness had significant indirect links to development activity. Hierarchical regression results suggested that proactive personality had significant incremental validity in the prediction of motivation to learn over all relevant Big Five facets. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence on the results of a conventional personality inventory by changes in the test situation: A study on the Human-Wadsworth Temperament Scale.

In testing the hypothesis that results of the H-W Inventory are sensitive to the setting 24 Ss were used in both "clinical" and "applicant" situations. No-responses increased significantly in the latter situation. Analysis of individual item responses revealed the "inability of Humm's corrections to restore profile values to the 'control' level was due to… increase in the number of No-responses implied a change in response patterns." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego development and individual differences in personality

The relation between individual differences in personality and differences in developmental maturity was studied by relating observations of personality by multiple, independent judges to level of ego development. The personality characteristics of longitudinally followed Ss (104 at age 14; 98 at age 23) were evaluated by the California Adult Q-Set (CAQ); ego level was evaluated by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development (SCT). A priori personality dimensions--consisting of CAQ items for which a common developmental pathway was expected--were constructed and related to the SCT: (a) Ego-resiliency and interpersonal integrity were associated with increasing ego development, (b) conformity was associated with the Conformist level and, unexpectedly, to the Conscientious level, (c) need regulation was associated with the Conscientious level, and (d) self-ease and expressiveness-playfulness were not associated with ego level.     

The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualization and the development of the Authenticity Scale.

This article describes the development of a measure of dispositional authenticity and tests whether authenticity is related to well-being, as predicted by several counseling psychology perspectives. Scales were designed to measure a tripartite conception of authenticity, comprising self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence, which was supported with exploratory factor analysis. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor loadings were invariant across sample, ethnicity, and gender. The scale showed substantial discriminant validity from the Big Five personality traits, nonsignificant correlations with social desirability, and 2- and 4-week test-retest correlations ranging from r = .78 to .91. Each subscale was strongly related to self-esteem and aspects of both subjective and psychological well-being. This article provides the first direct test of several theoretical models that view authenticity as integral to well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)