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)     

Integrating dispositions, signatures, and the interpersonal domain.

A person's behavior across situations can be characterized in terms of a mean level (disposition), a dispersion within the person around that mean level, and a stable organization to the pattern of dispersion (signature). The authors' goals were to examine the structure and stability of behavior, both at the level of behavioral dispositions and at the level of behavioral signatures. Participants completed event-contingent records of their social interactions over a 20-day period. Participants recorded their own social behavior (dominant, agreeable, submissive, quarrelsome) in 4 situations defined by the perceived social behavior of their primary interaction partners (agreeable-dominant, agreeable-submissive, quarrelsome- submissive, quarrelsome-dominant). Findings suggest that (a) once the normative influences of situations on behavior are removed, the remaining behavioral variation reflects both consistent cross-situational differences between individuals (dispositions) and consistent situational differences within individuals (signatures); (b) both dispositions and signatures display a 2-dimensional structure in adherence to the interpersonal circle; and (c) both dispositions and signatures constitute stable aspects of personality functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal characteristics of male criminal offenders: Personality, psychopathological, and behavioral correlates.

Interest in conceptualizing the interpersonal style of individuals who engage in serious antisocial behavior has increased in recent years. This study examines the personality, psychopathological, and behavioral correlates of interpersonal dominance and warmth, as operationalized via scales of the Personality Assessment Inventory (L. Morey, 2007), across several samples of male prison inmates (combined N = 1,062). Consistent with theory, multivariate analyses indicated that low warmth and, to a lesser extent, high dominance were associated with antisocial and paranoid traits, specifically, and externalizing-spectrum psychopathology more generally, whereas borderline traits and internalizing-spectrum psychopathology were uniquely associated with low interpersonal warmth. Among smaller subsamples of inmates followed prospectively, high dominance and, to a lesser extent, low warmth predicted general and aggressive institutional misconduct, whereas dominance uniquely predicted staff ratings of treatment noncompliance/failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Altruism and Helping Behavior: Social, Personality and Developmental Perspectives.

Reviews the book, Altruism and Helping Behavior: Social, Personality and Developmental Perspectives edited by J. Philippe Rushton and Richard M. Sorrentino (1981). The book is divided into seven sections. The first consists of a chapter by the editors which reviews the historical roots of the study of altruistic behaviour. The second part consists of five chapters which examine the development of altruism from a range of perspectives - sociobiological, social learning, and motivational. The third section contains five chapters which review some of the internal mediators posited for prosocial behaviour- role-taking, empathy, personal and social norms, perceptions of justice, and affective arousal. Part four outlines research which bears on individual differences in altruism, with two chapters contributed by the editors. Part five consists of three chapters which review some of the situational constraints on helping behaviour-the inhibitory effects of group size on bystander intervention, the impact of urban density on helping, and the way in which group organization relates to naturalistic helping in children. The sixth section presents two chapters which examine the consequences of helping for both the donors and recipients of help. Finally, part seven consists of a chapter which reviews some of the major themes and issues addressed by the contributors. (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 traits, perceived risk, and risk-reduction behaviors: A further study of smoking and radon.

Personality traits and risk perceptions were examined as predictors of changes in smoking behavior. Participants (N = 697) were part of a randomized controlled trial of interventions to reduce exposure to the combined hazard of radon and cigarette smoke. Participants with higher perceived risk at baseline for the combination of smoking and radon were more likely to have a more restrictive household smoking ban in place at 12-month follow-up (p p p     

Genetic and environmental influences on personality trait stability and growth during the transition to adulthood: A three-wave longitudinal study.

During the transition to adulthood individuals typically settle into adult roles in love and work. This transition also involves significant changes in personality traits that are generally in the direction of greater maturity and increased stability. Competing hypotheses have been offered to account for these personality changes: The intrinsic maturation hypothesis suggests that change trajectories are endogenous, whereas the life-course hypothesis suggests that these changes occur because of transactions with the social environment. This study investigated the patterns and origins of personality trait changes from ages 17 to 29 using 3 waves of Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire data provided by twins. Results suggest that (a) trait changes were more profound in the first relative to the second half of the transition to adulthood; (b) traits tend to become more stable during the second half of this transition, with all the traits yielding retest correlations between .74 and .78; (c) Negative Affectivity declined over time, and Constraint increased over time; minimal change was observed on agentic or communal aspects of Positive Emotionality; and (d) both genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for personality changes. Overall, these genetically informed results support a life-course perspective on personality development during the transition to adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 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)     

Reactivity to Alcohol-Related Cues: Relationship Among Cue Type, Motivational Processes, and Personality.

This study examined the relationship between personality traits implicated in the drinking literature (i.e., sensation seeking and anxiety) and reactivity to 2 different alcohol cues. The opportunity to consume alcohol was manipulated, and differences in urge and affective reactivity were assessed. Gray's (1987) model of impulsive sensation seeking and anxiety was adopted to investigate relationships between personality and responses to the appetitive (consumption) and aversive (no consumption, nonrewarding) alcohol cues in 40 regular social drinkers. The consumption cue produced increases in appetitive motivation and positive correlations with sensation-seeking traits. The no-consumption cue produced increases in aversive motivation and positive correlations with anxiety-related traits. It was concluded that Gray's model of impulsive sensation seeking and anxiety may provide a useful framework for examining the personality correlates of cue reactivity to different cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring the Brain's Interface Between Personality, Mood, and Emotion: Theoretical Comment on Canli et al. (2004).

T. Canli et al., 2004 (see record 2004-19432-002) use functional MRI to explore the neural interface between personality, mood, and emotional responses. Their finding of a double dissociation in brain response to emotional stimuli based on personality and mood state has significant implications for our understanding of the effects of personality traits and mood states on the neural bases of emotion and cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing the relations between impulsivity-related traits, suicidality, and nonsuicidal self-injury: A test of the incremental validity of the UPPS model.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has received significant attention as a predictor of suicidal behavior (SB) and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Despite significant promise, trait impulsivity has received less attention. Understanding the relations between impulsivity and SB and NSSI is confounded, unfortunately, by the heterogeneous nature of impulsivity. This study examined the relations among 4 personality pathways to impulsive behavior studied via the UPPS model of impulsivity and SB and NSSI in a residential sample of drug abusers (N = 76). In this study, we tested whether these 4 impulsivity-related traits (i.e., Negative Urgency, Sensation Seeking, Lack of Premeditation, and Lack of Perseverance) provide incremental validity in the statistical prediction of SB and NSSI above and beyond BPD; they do. We also tested whether BPD symptoms provide incremental validity in the prediction of SB and NSSI above and beyond these impulsivity-related traits; they do not. In addition to the main effects of Lack of Premeditation and Negative Urgency, we found evidence of a robust interaction between these 2 personality traits. The current results argue strongly for the consideration of these 2 impulsivity-related domains—alone and in interaction—when attempting to understand and predict SB and NSSI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal findings from the normative aging study: III. Personality, individual health trajectories, and mortality.

Individual differences in physical and psychological health trajectories were examined in 1,515 Normative Aging Study men. Mean age at baseline was 47.15 yrs (range 28–80 yrs), and average follow up was 18.55 yrs (range 8–25 yrs). Both linear and nonlinear growth curves were estimated with random-effects models and then clustered to identify patterns of change. Men whose physical health trajectories were characterized by high, increasing symptoms were higher in hostility and anxiety, were overweight, and smoked. Those whose trajectories were characterized by low symptoms were emotionally stable, educated, nonsmokers, and thin. Men with high, stable psychological trajectories had high hostility; those with low, stable trajectories had high emotional stability; those with moderate anxiety levels had nonlinear trajectories with peaks in psychological symptoms at different life stages. Personality had life-long effects on health trajectories, but these effects varied across traits and health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and the goal-striving process: The influence of achievement goal patterns, goal level, and mental focus on performance and enjoyment.

The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanisms by which personality traits influence performance and satisfaction. Specifically, the authors examined how 3 personality characteristics derived from self-determination theory (autonomy, control, and amotivated orientations) influence performance and enjoyment through achievement goal patterns, goal level, and mental focus. Data were collected from 284 students at 5 points in time. In particular, mental focus emerged as an important aspect of the self-regulation process. The results suggest that global personality traits can help researchers to understand and predict the motivational strategies that people use while working toward goals in achievement settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"When are social judgments made? Evidence for the spontaneousness of trait inferences": Correction to Winter and Uleman.

Reports an error in "When are social judgments made? Evidence for the spontaneousness of trait inferences" by Laraine Winter and James S. Uleman (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1984[Aug], Vol 47[2], 237-252). There are errors in the labeling of Figure 1 on p. 244. The ordinate percentages should be three times greater than indicated. In addition, the algebraic formula in the note for Table 2 on p. 245 is incorrect. The correct ordinate percentages and the correct algebraic formula are provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-01259-001.) Adapted E. Tulving and D. M. Thomson's (see record 2005-09647-002) encoding specificity paradigm for 2 recall experiments with 153 undergraduates to investigate whether Ss would make trait inferences without intentions or instructions at the encoding stage of processing behavioral information. Under memory instructions only, Ss read sentences describing people performing actions that implied traits. Later, Ss recalled each sentence under 1 of 3 cuing conditions: a dispositional cue (e.g., generous); a strong, nondispositional semantic associate to an important sentence word; or no cue. Results show that recall was best when cued by the disposition words. Ss were unaware of having made trait inferences. Interpreted in terms of encoding specificity, findings indicate that Ss unintentionally made trait inferences at encoding. It is suggested that attributions are made spontaneously, as part of the routine comprehension of social events. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality traits and the development of nicotine, alcohol, and illicit drug disorders: Prospective links from adolescence to young adulthood.

The personality traits constraint (CN) and negative emotionality (NE) have been more (CN) or less (NE) consistently associated with alcoholism. The authors examined the association of personality at age 17 with timing of onset and with prospective prediction of nicotine, alcohol, and illicit drug disorders 3 years later in a twin sample (569 females; 432 males). Earlier onset of alcohol and drug disorders (by age 17) was related to significantly lower CN compared with later onsets (by age 20); high NE was related to either onset. NE, as well as CN, uniquely predicted new onsets of all 3 types of substance use disorders by follow-up, with preexisting substance disorders taken into account. Personality traits confer generalized risk for developing any substance disorder, though some traits are more strongly linked with some substance disorders than with others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling Growth in Boys' Aggressive Behavior Across Elementary School: Links to Later Criminal Involvement, Conduct Disorder, and Antisocial Personality Disorder.

The present study used general growth mixture modeling to identify pathways of antisocial behavior development within an epidemiological sample of urban, primarily African American boys. Teacher-rated aggression, measured longitudinally from 1st to 7th grade, was used to define growth trajectories. Three high-risk trajectories (chronic high, moderate, and increasing aggression) and one low-risk trajectory (stable low aggression) were found. Boys with chronic high and increasing trajectories were at increased risk for conduct disorder, juvenile and adult arrest, and antisocial personality disorder. Concentration problems were highest among boys with a chronic high trajectory and also differentiated boys with increasing aggression from boys with stable low aggression. Peer rejection was highest among boys with chronic high aggression. Interventions with boys with distinct patterns of aggression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Most of the girls are alright, but some aren't: Personality trajectory groups from ages 14 to 24 and some associations with outcomes.

Personality traits show normative patterns of development toward maturity during adolescence. Yet individuals follow these normative patterns to differing degrees. This study used growth mixture modeling to characterize personality development patterns and their associations with outcomes in a population-based sample of 1,537 girls aged 14 to 24. The authors used latent class analysis to identify 3 trajectory groups labeled alright (47%), growing up (42%), and trouble (11%). Alright group members were more likely at age 24 to have completed college, remained involved with their families, and obtained good jobs. Trouble group members were more likely to be involved with drugs and alcohol, to display interpersonal problems, and to behave antisocially. Growing up group members fell in between. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)