An abilities conception of personality: Some implications for personality measurement.

Most "psychologists have tended to regard the domains of personality and ability as separate. This unfortunate separation has resulted in a necessary confounding of 2 important response properties in personality research, i.e., response predisposition and response capability… . In the measurement of abilities, attempts are made to elicit indices of maximal performance under optimal conditions of measurement." On the other hand, personality tests based on "psychoanalytic notions of projection would imply the more ambiguity the better." Predisposition conceptions of personality "can lead to operations which are clearly at odds with those demanded by an abilities conception." From an abilities conception, "the usefulness of any measuring instrument would decrease as ambiguity in the measuring instrument is increased." The choice, to search for man "as he really is" or in terms of those things "of which he is capable" is of utmost importance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social roles and strategies in prediction: Some determinants of the use of base-rate information.

Three experiments examined the proposition that the underuse of base-rate information in predictions is due to differential judgmental orientations induced by either the context of the problem or the formulation of the problem and the features of the base-rate information. In Exp I with 40 undergraduates, a scientific or clinical judgmental orientation was experimentally induced in Ss. In subsequent prediction tasks, scientific Ss assigned much greater weight to base-rate information than clinical Ss. In Exp II with 20 1st-yr medical students and 20 residents, the effects of differential orientations were explored in a natural context among medical doctors. Medical students committed the ordinary base-rate fallacy, but residents showed a reversal of the effect and overused base-rate information in their predictions. Exp III, with 20 undergraduates, showed that Ss also appropriately employed base rates with general applicability that were indicators of the strength of a phenomenon. Findings suggest the considerable context-sensitivity of inferential judgments and the need to study people's decision criteria and objectives as determinants of the strategies and information used in predictions. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Person?×?Situation interaction in personality prediction: Some specifics of the person factor.

Attempted to determine if the multidimensionality of trait anxiety (A-Trait), as measured by the S–R Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness, was related to differential personality profiles in 278 undergraduates. Results of stepwise multiple linear regression analyses, using Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale, the California Psychological Inventory, the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, and the Interpersonal Trust Scale as predictor measures, confirmed the existence of distinct personality profiles for each of the 4 facets of A-Trait. Findings attest to the multidimensionality of the S–R Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness and to the importance of specifying the situation in the measurement of anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Computer models of personality: implications for measurement

Computer models of human behavior have long existed in the world of science fiction; however, in reality, progress has been slow. Research has concentrated, in recent years, on the simulation of memory and cognition. Computer models of personality, although fascinating and potentially useful, have been neglected. This paper reviewed the research done to date, categorizing it under five headings: (a) models of belief systems; (b) models of interpersonal behavior; (c) models of decision-making processes; (d) prediction models; and (e) theory-based simulations of specific processes. One practical application was then explored in depth, that of using the computer models in personality measurement. Although some practical development of the working simulations would have to precede their application to personality measurement, it was felt that such an application would be feasible and useful.     

Repressed memories and World War II: Some cautionary notes.

In a recent article in this journal, B. P. Karon and A. J. Widener (1997) argued that clinical data derived from WWII veterans provide unambiguous evidence for the existence of repressed and recovered memories. In response, the authors contend that (a) the research evidence for the existence of repression is considerably weaker than asserted by Karon and Widener, (b) the use of hypnosis and sodium pentathol to recover memories is more problematic than implied by Karon and Widener, and (c) the case study presented by Karon and Widener is difficult to interpret for a variety of reasons. The authors conclude that although further examination of case reports from WWII veterans is clearly warranted, it would be premature to conclude that these reports confirm the existence of repressed and recovered memories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Special feature: family-genetic research strategies for personality disorders

Personality disorders (PD) might be considered as extremes of personality dimensions varying in the general population or as attenuated variants of major psychiatric disorders. Both personality variation and major psychiatric disorders have been shown in twin and adoption studies, to be influenced by genes. Hence, it is likely that personality disorders are also under genetic control. However, direct evidence for influential familial and genetic factors is scarce. Various research strategies in this area are described and current evidence is reported. Gene-oriented approaches seem to be particularly promising. This strategy is illustrated for personality disorders in obligate carriers of mutations in the fragile-X gene.     

Delay of gratification: Some longitudinal personality correlates.

Two brief laboratory tasks measuring delay of gratification in different ways were administered to 116 4-yr-old children. Personality data were available on these children separately at ages 3, 4, 7, and 11 yrs in the form of California Child Q-Set ratings by independent sets of teachers and examiners. The 2 delay-of-gratification measures were used to generate a more broadly based index of delay of gratification, and this index was correlated with the personality ratings available at the 4 ages. Boys who delayed gratification tended to be described as deliberative, attentive, reasonable, reserved, cooperative, and able to modulate motivational and emotional impulse. Boys who did not delay gratification, by contrast, were irritable, restless, aggressive, and generally not self-controlled. Girls who delayed gratification were consistently described as intelligent, resourceful, and competent. Girls who did not delay tended to go to pieces under stress; to be victimized by other children; and to be easily offended, sulky, and whiny. Findings are interpreted in terms of the constructs of ego control and ego resiliency and the differential socialization of the sexes. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The borderline personality diagnosis: Some negative implications.

The "borderline personality" diagnosis is examined in terms of a number of dimensions, including prevailing cultural-societal pressures, the patient–therapist relationship, implications for metapsychology, and its effect on the education and training of psychotherapists. It is concluded that, although the popularity of the diagnosis is, in part, a humane response to an increasingly disturbed patient population, there are other less noble motives. They include the faddishness of the profession, an implicit pejorative statement about the patient, a distancing effect on the patient–therapist relationship, confusions in terminology and concepts, and distortions inherent in a locational-spatial metaphor (borderline) to describe psychodynamics and psychopathology. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some personality correlates of empathy.

Administered R. Hogan's Empathy Scale and the Psychological Screening Inventory to 278 female and 167 male undergraduates. Results support the prediction that high-empathy persons are significantly lower in signs depicting neurotic and psychotic disturbance (e.g., anxiety) as compared with low-empathy persons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hierarchical organization of personality and prediction of behavior.

Two studies evaluated personality trait measures and Big Five factor measures for their accuracy in predicting important behavior criteria. The results of both studies showed that the narrower traits and the broader factors, thought to define 2 levels of a hierarchy of personality variables, separately predicted most criterion variables. However, the incremental validity of the personality trait measures (the degree to which the traits increased the criterion prediction achieved by the factors) was generally much larger than the incremental validity of the Big Five factor measures. It was concluded that aggregating personality traits into their underlying personality factors could result in decreased predictive accuracy due to the loss of trait-specific but criterion-valid variance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the future of personality measurement.

Examines a number of closely related issues in personality theory and assessment that have troubled the history of personality measurement and must be dealt with in its future. These issues include the multiple determinism of behavior, the role of context, the multiple goals of personality measurement, the "subject" as potential expert and colleague, the analysis of environments, and the role of person variables. Finally, some close parallels developing between personality psychology and cognitive psychology and the emergence in psychology of a new image of the human being are considered. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex-role and socialization patterns: Some personality concomitants and environmental antecedents.

Distinguished between sex-role typing, socialization, and identification in 66 male and 69 female 30-40 yr old Ss using the Femininity and Socialization scales of the California Psychological Inventory. Ss were grouped according to their sex-role and socialization pattern: sex appropriate-socialized, sex appropriate-unsocialized, sex inappropriate-socialized, and sex inappropriate-unsocialized. The personality correlates of these patternings were highly informative, as were the family and childhood data available for these Ss. The relationships were interpreted employing an articulated version of the concept of identification. It is noted that sex-role typing for men appears to expand the personal options available to them; for women, sex-role typing seems to restrict the alternatives of action and expression that are available. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

WISC-III premorbid prediction strategies: Demographic and best performance approaches.

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III; D. Wechsler, 1991) standardization data were used to explore premorbid prediction strategies for use with children. First, demographic variables including parental education, occupation, and ethnicity were entered in regression analyses to determine demographic-based premorbid prediction equations. Predicted IQ scores correlated with Full Scale IQ, Verbal IQ, and Performance IQ at .53, .52, and .45, respectively. Second, demographic and current ability variables were used conjointly. The 10 standard subtests individually served as measures of present ability, and ethnicity and parental education served as demographic predictors. These equations doubled or tripled the amount of variance accounted for by demographic variables alone. Third, a WISC-III best performance approach was explored with use of the subtest/demographic equations that included either Vocabulary or Picture Completion, referred to as the BEST-2 approach. The utility of this BEST-2 approach and the pure demographic approach was investigated in a clinical sample of brain-injured children. Results support the validity of both approaches in estimating premorbid functioning in children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some aspects of the executive personality.

The responses of 44 top-level executives to the Tomkins-Horn Picture Arrangement Test were compared with the responses of 41 college professors and with those of a group of 25 males comparable to the executives in age, education, and intelligence level. Two characteristics were associated with executives' responses (as distinguished from the responses of the control groups): a generalized fear of illness and a tendency to react to problem situations with a feeling of some degree of helplessness and a sense of being dependent on others for a solution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accountability and judgment processes in a personality prediction task.

In this experiment, we investigated the impact of accountability—social pressures to justify one's views to others—on cognitive processing in a personality-prediction task. Subjects were presented with the responses of actual test-takers to 16 items from Jackson's Personality Research Form (PRF) and asked to predict how these individuals responded to an additional set of 16 items from the same test. Subjects were assigned to a no-accountability condition (they learned of the need to justify their responses before seeing the test-takers' PRF responses), and a postexposure-accountability condition (they learned of the need to justify their responses after seeing the test-takers' PRF responses). Preexposure-accountability subjects reported more integratively complex impressions of test-takers, made more accurate behavioral predictions, and reported more appropriate levels of confidence in their predictions than did either no-accountability or postexposure-accountability subjects. We conclude by considering possible psychological mediators of these effects as well as the broader theoretical implications of the findings for the development of contingency models of judgment and choice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in scalability: An alternative conception of consistency for personality theory and measurement.

A scalability approach to the assessment of individual differences in consistency is proposed. For a given trait, a person is scalable to the extent that his or her behavior parallels the evocativeness or difficulty level of situations or test items. Scalability can be assessed on a wide variety of data sets; measures of scalability are not formally entailed by traditional summary measures. In an empirical investigation, several measures of scalability are found to be reliable and to contribute uniquely, although modestly, to prediction. In light of both theoretical and empirical considerations, continued investigation of the scalability method is warranted; measures of scalability may fill a unique role in basic personality research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some interactions between personality variables and management styles.

Administered rating scales and Rotter's Internal-External Control scale to 110 hourly employees of a large chemical plant to investigate the interaction between management style and locus of control on workers' satisfaction with supervision and job involvement. Satisfaction with supervision was found to be a function of the interaction between management style and employee internality. Job involvement was directly related to employee internality, with the interaction of management style and employee internality having a negligible effect on this dependent variable. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The consequences of pairing questions: Context effects in personality measurement.

The effect of context on responses to questions has been a prominent focus in social and political survey research. However, little investigation of context effects has been done for the measurement of psychological constructs. A measure of anger experience and expression in development uses vignettes describing interpersonal situations that provoke varying degrees of anger and require respondents to indicate their affective and/or expressive response to the situation. In this study, the consequences of pairing the two questions for each vignette are investigated. Pairing the anger-experience and likelihood-of-expression questions changes the item's context. Item response theory analysis similar to that used to detect differential item functioning was performed. For some of the items, responding to a single or paired question affected the extremity of responses. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for personality measurement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A short questionnaire for the measurement of two dimensions of personality.

A 12-item questionnaire measuring neuroticism and extraversion was developed using a sample of 1600 adults equally divided into 8 groups on sex, an age dichotomy, and a social class index. Factor analysis yielded factors identical with those of a previous study. Statistically significant score differences were found on the 3 sampling dimensions, but only the sex differences were important. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)