The attitudes of research chemists.

Principal component analysis of questionnaire data from roughly ? of the nation's PhD graduates in chemistry in 1960-1961 isolated 3 basic attitude patterns: (a) attitudes valuing freedom and "pure science"; (b) materialistic attitudes accepting business values, possibly at the expense of science values; and (c) attitudes which see little conflict between industry and science values. New PhD's with high pure science attitudes tended to enter academic employment; others to enter industry. For an independent sample of 286 industrial chemists, both the orientation to "applied science" and the materialistic orientation were stronger for chemists with high number of years experience than for recent hires. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paul E. Meehl's Contributions to Personality Assessment.

Many of Meehl's interests converged in his work on personality assessment. In empirical research, development of the K scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and various scales of other tests are noteworthy, but his most profound contributions were conceptual and philosophical. Essays on the role of base rates in clinical decision and on construct validity in psychological tests provided vital insights on core issues in assessment. The concept of nomological nets allowed systematic investigation of unobservable theoretical entities, with liberating effects on all natural sciences. An active clinician, Meehl understood deeply the complexities of professional service, but his insistence on empirical validation as the ultimate arbiter of the value of any procedure required all attainable rigor in the scientific foundations of clinical practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family patterns correlated with adolescent personality structure.

This study measured the relationships between basic elements in personality structure and certain characteristics of family emotional and regulatory patterns. 34 adolescents were interviewed and tested each year from age 10 to 18. Among the findings were the observation that the ego strength occurred in association with a stably consistent and warm family life and that superego strength was chiefly related to the regularity and consistency of family life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simulation of normal and psychopathic MMPI personality patterns.

Previous work with the simulation of normalcy on personality tests has suggested that good adjustment involves an adequate understanding of socially approved behavior. 27 well-adjusted and 42 maladjusted college males took the MMPI under instructions to simulate very good adjustment, and again under instructions to simulate psychopathic personality. Both groups simulated very good adjustment satisfactorily; however, well-adjusted Ss were superior to maladjusted Ss in the simulation of psychopathic personality. The findings were consistent with the literature on role-taking and empathy, supporting the view that good adjustment involves an ability to understand and predict socially adequate and inadequate behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Architecture of Personality.

This article presents a theoretical framework for analyzing psychological systems that contribute to the variability, consistency, and cross-situational coherence of personality functioning. In the proposed knowledge-and-appraisal personality architecture (KAPA), personality structures and processes are delineated by combining 2 principles: distinctions (a) between knowledge structures and appraisal processes and (b) among intentional cognitions with varying directions of fit, with the latter distinction differentiating among beliefs, evaluative standards, and aims. Basic principles of knowledge activation and use illuminate relations between knowledge and appraisal, yielding a synthetic account of personality structures and processes. Novel empirical data illustrate the heuristic value of the knowledge/appraisal distinction by showing how self-referent and situational knowledge combine to foster cross-situational coherence in appraisals of self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between response style and personality variables: I. The measurements of response acquiescence.

"This study is the first in a series of investigations designed to evaluate the currently popular hypothesis that response styles are based on personality traits, and thereby have utility in personality assessment. Responses of 218 subjects in six different scales of acquiescence, varying in degree of meaningful verbal content, were intercorrelated. The results revealed that only those scales containing similar verbal content in the items were related. Apparently verbal content is quite important, whereas the amount of structure of the items is less important in determining agreement responses, than has been previously supposed. The data are interpreted as suggesting that there is no general trait of response acquiescence independent of specific instruments used to measure it." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structuralization, borderlineopathy, and schizoid phenomena.

Borderline conditions reflect disturbances on the level of personality organization that have common developmental and structural features despite vast differences in clinical symptomatology. Otto Kernberg (1975) argues that many personality disorders, including schizoid, paranoid, narcissistic, and antisocial classifications, generally function at the borderline level, thus accounting for the overlap in personality traits, defensive features, and dysfunctional patterns of behavior among this cluster of disorders. For these reasons, it may prove useful to view borderlineopathy on a continuum of organizational levels of severity, from more benign manifestations to chronic instantiations, each showing functional degrees of variance in symptomatology and etiological influence. The author highlights the nature of attachment-related trauma on psychic structure that manifests on borderline and schizoid levels of organization and functioning. He introduces 2 subclassifications of structuralization by examining case presentations gathered from his clinical phenomenology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Studies in the scope and method of "The Authoritarian Personality'.

Reviews "Studies in the scope and method of 'The Authoritarian Personality'" edited by Richard Christie and Marie Jahoda (see record 1954-07213-000). "The Authoritarian Personality," published in 1950, presented a half million word report on an ambitious program of social and personality research. Begun as a study of anti-Semitism and prejudice, the work spread to related personality origins, life attitudes, and political beliefs. The scope and methodology of the project unfolded gradually, sometimes clumsily, and was often forced on the workers by new insights and the importance of the material uncovered. The contributions to method are not neat, perfectionist models of old methods: they are rather new applications, modifications, and combinations of techniques. Now, four years after the publication, the present book on Scope and Method attempts to evaluate the original work, both in terms of significance and techniques. The seven authors review, weigh, and criticize every detail; point out defects and omissions; praise the overall project. They leave the rigor-trained reader, and themselves, a little puzzled as to how a study with so many defects can contribute so much. Their answer seems to be "scope" and the pioneering significance of content and methodology. While the current volume on Scope and Method builds on the earlier work, it may prove to be the more useful of the two as a reference and source of stimulation for future studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Clinical Exchange.

The Clinical Exchange invites eminent clinicians of diverse persuasions to share, in ordinary language, their clinical formulations and treatment plans of the same psychotherapy patient--who was not selected or nominated by those therapists--and then to discuss points of convergence and contention in their recommendations. This special Exchange focuses on the psychotherapy of borderline personality traits in the case of Ms. S, a female college student in her 20s presenting for treatment because of depression, "flashbacks" of sexual abuse, and poor interpersonal relationships. Amy Wagner, Kathleen Chard and Thomas Widiger, Joel Paris, Kenneth Silk, and Jeffrey Young, all researchers into personality disorders, are the featured commentators. Finally, Sidney Ornduff, the case contributor, provides a few closing comments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extending the search for folk personality constructs: The dimensionality of the personality-relevant proverb domain.

College students (95 men and 264 women) rated how well 211 familiar proverbs described their behavior and beliefs. A factor analysis of these data yielded 7 major dimensions; many of the factors were similar to recognized lexical personality factors. Big Five Conscientiousness and Neuroticism were each strongly associated with a single proverb dimension (interpreted as Restraint and Enjoys Life, respectively). Big Five Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Intellect/Imagination were all associated with several proverb dimensions. Agreeableness was most strongly associated with proverb dimensions representing Machiavellian behavior and strong Group Ties, and both Extraversion and Intellect showed particularly notable associations with an Achievement Striving dimension. The 2 remaining proverb dimensions, which represented a belief that Life is Fair and an attitude of Cynicism, could not be accounted for by the Big Five. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On grandiosity in personality psychology.

Responds to the comments by A. Wood and S. Joseph (see record 2006-23492-015); S. R. Maddi (see record 2006-23492-016); and S. Epstein (see record 2006-23492-017) on the current author's original article (see record 2006-03947-002) "A New Big Five: Fundamental Principles for an Integrative Science of Personality" (McAdams & Pals, April 2006). Here, McAdams responds to the objections raised in the three commentaries to his and Pals' characterization of the grand theories of personality provided by Freud, Jung, Rogers, and other luminaries from the first half of the 20th century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of music and lyrics on personality.

An experiment tested whether music can produce significant changes in the experience of one's own personality traits under laboratory conditions. Participants were 87 first-year undergraduates at a large Canadian university (58 women and 29 men; mean age = 18.3 years). After completing a set of questionnaires including the Big Five Inventory, they were divided into 3 groups: the music-and-lyrics group listened to a classical song while reading the English translation of lyrics, the music-only group listened to a classical song and followed along the text of lyrics in German, and the lyrics-only group listened to the English translation of the lyrics, while following its text as well. Participants were then readministered the Big Five Inventory within another set of questionnaires. The results show that music produced significant increases, and lyrics significant decreases, in the short-term self-reported experience of change of one's personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Grand theories of personality cannot be integrated.

Comments on the original article "A New Big Five: Fundamental Principles for an Integrative Science of Personality," by Dan P. McAdams and Jennifer L. Pals (see record 2006-03947-002). McAdams and Pals (April 2006) presented a new model to integrate the field of personality psychology. Cultural and evolutionary factors interact with an individual's basic traits, characteristic adaptations, and life narratives, which in turn are linked to roles, demands, and behaviors. The current authors welcome McAdams and Pals's (2006) model for providing a way to integrate much of the previously disparate empirical findings in personality psychology. However, the current authors also think that McAdams and Pals (2006) overstated the inclusiveness of the model, and more generally, the current authors dispute their assertion that the grand theories of personality can be integrated within a single model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The construct validity of depressive personality disorder.

This study examined the construct validity of depressive personality disorder (DPD; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Adult Psychiatric outpatients (N=900) underwent comprehensive Axis I and II evaluations and provided data on 4,768 of their 1st-degree relatives. Despite modest overlap, DPD was not redundant with any Axis I or II disorder. Participants with DPD exhibited more Axis I and Axis II comorbidity, and greater psychosocial dysfunction, than participants without DPD. Relatives of participants with DPD had higher rates of mood disorders, alcohol abuse, and antisocial personality. Results are consistent with findings of several other similar investigations. The authors argue that DPD is a valid construct and should be conceptualized as a personality disorder as opposed to a mood disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and Slycology.

On the basis of his experience with his class, who were required to read "What Makes Sammy Run" in an effort to develop values, the author wonders if differentiation between psychology which is science centeredm, and Slychology which is technique centered is not long overdue. He argues that Slychologist rather than psychologist would seem the more fitting appellation for word-smart, jargon-wise, technique happy Sophists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The implicit personality theory of Islam.

Almost every traditional personality theorist had something to say about religion, but the topic of how religious beliefs might affect individuals’ views of human nature remains largely unstudied. All religions, however, contain certain implicit ideas regarding personality that are likely to impact individual behavior. This article draws on Islamic sources to consider what a practicing Muslim might believe about motivation, personality development, the self, the unconscious, psychological adjustment, and the individual and society. In general terms, understanding these beliefs can be useful in the broader study of how cultural issues affect personality. More specifically, understanding Islamic beliefs related to personality can assist in planning for the provision of psychological services to Muslims, as well as understanding the psychological perspectives of Muslims who are not extremists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Negro stereotype and perceptual accentuation.

3 hypotheses were tested: (1) There is no difference in the degree of personality stereotyping of Negro photographs varying widely in physiognomic Negroidness; (2) Anti-Negro judges exaggerate the personality stereotype of Negroes, whereas pro-Negro judges de-emphasize it; and (3) Both anti- and pro-Negro judges perceive the Negro as more Negroid in physiognomic traits than do neutral judges. The first 2 hypotheses were supported by the data. Although a comparison of the mean Negroidness scores for the 3 groups of judges supported the third hypothesis, the difference between the neutral group and the pro-Negro group was not statistically significant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Cambridge handbook of personality psychology.

Reviews the book, The Cambridge handbook of personality psychology edited by Philip J. Corr and Gerald Matthews (see record 2010-05179-000). A comprehensive review of personality psychology, this book covers a range of topics, including those that are standard in personality texts (conceptualisation, biological and cultural perspectives) as well as more unique additions (social pain and hurt feelings, animal models, and politics). Although the introductions are lengthy (approximately 33 pages), these chapters do provide a useful guide to the book and key issues addressed in remaining chapters. The chapters are generally written in a manner appropriate for graduate students, professionals, or academics. Given the broad scope and careful attention to the defining of key constructs and methods, this book will appeal to an audience with varying familiarity with personality psychology. Overall, I would highly recommend this book as a comprehensive source on the broad field of personality psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)