Homogeneity and variation in measuring personality.

"The measurement of personality variables is in a highly unsatisfactory state at the present time." Models for measuring personality traits, kinds of variance in test response data, difficulties in personality measurement, and some courses of action for meeting these problems are discussed. "The cumulative homogeneity model should be given a more intensive trial. It is appropriate not only for standard inventories but also for the perceptual and cognitive tests." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Content and style in personality assessment.

"It has been suggested that stylistic determinants, such as acquiescence, over-generalization, and a tendency to respond in a socially undesirable manner, as distinct from specific content, account for a large proportion of response variance on some personality scales, particularly the California F scale, the MMPI, and the California Psychological Inventory. Research involving response style may contribute to a more systematic measurement in personality and may pay off handsomely in helping to further the common ground between personality theory and personality assessment." 60 references. (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)     

Consistency of the adult personality.

Data "… concerning consistency of selected personality variables in the adult personality" were studied in a sample originally composed of 300 engaged couples. "Each of these 600 individuals was assessed with an elaborate battery of techniques including anthropometric measures, blood groupings, a battery of psychological tests, and a 36-variable personality rating scale." Retesting occurred after a lapse of 16 to 18 years. "Our findings indicate that significant changes in the human personality may continue to occur during the years of adulthood. Such changes… are potentially of sufficient magnitude to offer a basis of fact for those who hope for continued psychological growth during the adult years." 20 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training clinical students in personality theory.

In training graduate clinical psychology students at the University of North Dakota, "Using Hall and Lindzey's Theories of Personality as a basic text, the student studies each of the major theorists and is required to write a confidential personality evaluation of himself within the framework of the theory under consideration… . Aside from making the course more meaningful personally, students are found to become more introspective and to raise questions about their role in the clinical situation without ever having been exposed to such notions as counter-transference in any formal sense. The positive transfer to the course in projective techniques is also noteworthy." The student seems to approach clinical report writing in a more mature manner; he recognizes the advantages and inadequacies of a variety of personality theories. "To us it seems that a course in personality theory is one of the most fundamental in the training of clinical psychologists and can be enriched by relating the formulations of various theorists to the personal life of the student." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a concept of personality integration.

A central idea in thinking about effective behavior is "organismic integration" which suggests an inclusive phenomenon and suggests also "some form of interaction which takes place among subsystems of the organism—more specifically, an interaction which is adaptive or self-enhancing." Personality integration "is a many vectored thing, that is defined by events which go on within a variety of specific behavioral planes within the organism." Systems are grouped "on a continuum ranging from microcosmic to macrocosmic, or from molecular to molar, or even from the inside of the organism out… . The model covers events from a single heartbeat to the behavior of peoples… . The variables tentatively identified as relevant to personality integration include stability, high environmental contact, high internal communication, and affective complexity." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The structure of personality capabilities.

Wallace (1966) proposed that personality be construed as a set of abilities. Rather than assessing typical performance, as in trait ratings, he recommended assessing an individual's ability to perform social behaviors. We have elaborated this notion by distinguishing between personality abilities and capabilities. In this article we focus on the capability, that is, the ease with which an individual can display a certain category of social responses. A capability X is assessed with self-reports of (a) likelihood of performing X when perceived to be required, (b) perceived difficulty in performing X, (c) anxiety in performing X, and (d) tendency to avoid performing X. In Study 1 we examined the relations among six measures of 16 interpersonal behaviors in the context of the interpersonal circumplex. The four capability-related measures were shown to be measuring something distinct from the two trait measures. Unlike trait measures, which showed a circular structure in two dimensions, capability measures exhibited a positive manifold structure (i.e., no negative intercorrelations). The first two orthogonal factors were interpreted as Hostility and Nurturance, which are normally bipolar opposites on trait measures. The only dimension to remain bipolar was introversion–extraversion. In Study 2, the nomological network of the capability measures was shown to be consistent with the theoretical construct. For example, high self-esteem and interpersonal control were associated with almost all of the interpersonal capabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"An item response theory integration of normal and abnormal personality scales": Correction to Samuel et al (2010).

Reports an error in "An item response theory integration of normal and abnormal personality scales" by Douglas B. Samuel, Leonard J. Simms, Lee Anna Clark, W. John Livesley and Thomas A. Widiger (Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 2010[Jan], Vol 1[1], 5-21). In the acknowledgments, Douglas Samuel was incorrectly listed as the author of the DAPP-BQ instrument. John Livesley is the correct author of the DAPP-BQ instrument. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-01479-005.) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–IV–TR) currently conceptualizes personality disorders (PDs) as categorical syndromes that are distinct from normal personality. However, an alternative dimensional viewpoint is that PDs are maladaptive expressions of general personality traits. The dimensional perspective postulates that personality pathology exists at a more extreme level of the latent trait than does general personality. This hypothesis was examined using item response theory analyses comparing scales from two personality pathology instruments—the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ; Livesley & Jackson, in press) and the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP; Clark, 1993; Clark, Simms, Wu, & Casillas, in press)—with scales from an instrument designed to assess normal range personality, the NEO Personality Inventory–Revised (NEO PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992). The results indicate that respective scales from these instruments assess shared latent constructs, with the NEO PI-R providing more information at the lower (normal) range and the DAPP-BQ and SNAP providing more information at the higher (abnormal) range. Nevertheless, the results also demonstrated substantial overlap in coverage. Implications of the findings are discussed with respect to the study and development of items that would provide specific discriminations along underlying trait continua. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A goal systems–self-regulatory perspective on personality, psychopathology, and change.

A motivational framework is presented linking personal goals and self-regulatory functions to normal personality, psychopathology, and the processes of change. First, the utility of goals as a "final common analytic pathway" or integrative unit is considered. Next, the premises of an emerging, goal-centered conception of adaptive functioning are discussed as a prelude to the author's outlining of a multidimensional working model of "goal systems." Reactive depression is reconceptualized in terms of specific self-regulatory dysfunctions under the influence of goal systems to illustrate how dysfunctional goal systems can serve as the central organizing component of psychopathology. A set of 10 propositions pinpoints goal-based sources of vulnerability to self-regulatory dysfunction in depression. A set of 5 propositions details the potential goal-based sources of maintenance of self-regulatory deficits. Finally, 14 theory-based principles of psychotherapeutic change are proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some personality determinants of the effects of participation.

"The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effects of participation in decision-making on persons with different personality characteristics. It was hypothesized that equalitarians and individuals with strong independence needs would be more positively affected by the opportunity to participate in making decisions than authoritarians and persons with weaker independence needs." The results, based on data derived in an actual industrial setting, confirmed the hypothesis. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An item response theory integration of normal and abnormal personality scales.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 1(3) of Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment (see record 2010-17135-005). In the acknowledgments, Douglas Samuel was incorrectly listed as the author of the DAPP-BQ instrument. John Livesley is the correct author of the DAPP-BQ instrument.] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–IV–TR) currently conceptualizes personality disorders (PDs) as categorical syndromes that are distinct from normal personality. However, an alternative dimensional viewpoint is that PDs are maladaptive expressions of general personality traits. The dimensional perspective postulates that personality pathology exists at a more extreme level of the latent trait than does general personality. This hypothesis was examined using item response theory analyses comparing scales from two personality pathology instruments—the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ; Livesley & Jackson, in press) and the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP; Clark, 1993; Clark, Simms, Wu, & Casillas, in press)—with scales from an instrument designed to assess normal range personality, the NEO Personality Inventory–Revised (NEO PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992). The results indicate that respective scales from these instruments assess shared latent constructs, with the NEO PI-R providing more information at the lower (normal) range and the DAPP-BQ and SNAP providing more information at the higher (abnormal) range. Nevertheless, the results also demonstrated substantial overlap in coverage. Implications of the findings are discussed with respect to the study and development of items that would provide specific discriminations along underlying trait continua. (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)     

Can a personality construct be validated empirically?

Compared previous studies in which H. A. Murray's needs constructs were measured by the Personality Research Form, Adjective Check List, and/or Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. Analysis shows that the pattern of correlations between one Murray need and other needs, as obtained by one standard measuring instrument, typically has substantial incongruities with the pattern obtained for another such instrument, even when both instruments are administered to the same sample. It is argued that the validation of a construct cannot employ just any standardized test designed to measure it. Construct validation requires the empirical testing of statements derived from the abstract conceptualization about relationships between specified observables. Given the characteristics of standard instruments and of available formulations for common personality concepts, the optimal strategy is the concurrent development of a fresh conceptualization and of measuring operations which form an integrated whole. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is nomothetic about “nomothetic” personality research?

Were it one's purpose to set rolling in scornful impatience the eyes of those who currently animate the discipline of personality psychology, one could scarcely do better than to initiate some discussion of the so-called "nomothetic vs. idiographic" controversy, a dispute that has nagged the field for at least the past 50 years. The author has been persuaded that the need for such an analysis will prevail for just so long as it takes the legion but, alas, ersatz "nomotheticists' of personality psychology to finally get it right: The knowledge yielded by conventional' 'nomothetic' personality research has never been, is not now, and will never be nomothetic in any sense of the term to which a personality theorist would be compelled to bow. When all is said and done, it is only this dogma, as fallacious as it is resilient, that has nourished some six decades of "nomothetic" hegemony and, in the process, served repeatedly as the grounds for summarily banishing to their collective corner dispirited critics such as Allport (cf. Allport, 1966). But while the intimidating hubris of psychometric sophisticates may heretofore have muted many who, in their alleged "romanticism" (Holt, 1962) dared to challenge conventional "nomothetic" wisdom, such browbeating does not dispel ghosts—Teutonic or otherwise. There are certain essentially epistemological problems with which apologists for traditional "nomotheticism" simply must come to grips, and if prior critics of the dominant paradigm failed to articulate those problems adequately (and I believe that this is the case, cf. Lamiell, 1985), then the struggle must be joined anew, because the problems are genuine and they are not just going to evaporate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explorations in ecological psychology.

The "great diversity of coupling between psychologists and psychological phenomena can be divided into 2 types which produce data of crucially different significance for the science of psychology." (1) Psychologists as Transducers—T Data: The psychologist transforms data and in effect is a translating machine. (2) Psychologists as Operators—O Data: The psychologist "achieves control which allows him to focus upon segments and processes of particular concern to him, via data that refer to events which he, in part, contrives." Psychologists "as operators and as transducers are not analogous, and… the data they produce have fundamentally different uses within science. A central problem of our science is the relation between ecological events (the distal stimuli) at the origin of E-O-E [environment-organism-environment] arcs and the succeeding events along these arcs." There "are a number of reasons for avoiding the role of transducer in psychological research… . The skills and personality attributes required of a successful transducer are different from those of a successful operator… . The techniques of the transducer are in many respects more difficult than those of the operator." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The California F scale in psychological research: 1950-1955.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of those studies using the F scale in substantially its original form which appeared in the literature between 1950 and 1955. The studies were grouped into five major categories: (a) ideology; (b) personality correlates; (c) interpersonal behavior; (d) cultural and sub-cultural variations; and (e) studies of the instrument. It was concluded that "many questions still remain to be answered before its (the F scale) use would have much meaning in terms of predicting human behavior." 64-item bibliography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification and personality structure in preadolescents.

2 approaches to the conceptualization and measurement of parental identification were studied in relation to self-conceptualization and social adjustment in preadolescents. Disguised, objective measures of identification, parental attitudes, and personality characteristics of children were derived from responses of 43 children and their parents on a questionnaire designed to control social desirability and other response sets. Results indicated that a dualistic conception of identification, distinguishing between threat based and support based types of identification, was related to child personality measures, while the extent of identification was not. Children identifying with supporting parents were consistently more self-accepting, less dependent upon current social relationships, and more accepted by peers. Predicted interrelationships among child personality measures were also confirmed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between probability of endorsement and social desirability scale value for a set of 2,824 personality statements.

A group of 47 male and 48 female judges rated 2824 personality statements for social desirability using a 9-point rating scale. Another group of 110 male and 111 female Ss described themselves in terms of the same set of 2824 statements by answering each "true" or "false." The correlation between probability of a "true" response and social desirability scale value for the combined sex groups was .892. The distribution of the social desirability scale values of the 2824 statements was distinctly bimodal. These results are in accord with another large-scale study in which 1647 personality statements were investigated. In view of the large number of personality statements involved in these 2 studies, it is suggested that a correlation of .90 between probability of endorsement and social desirability scale value and a bimodal distribution of the scale values of personality statements may be characteristic of the population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychological testing.

Reviews "Psychological testing," by Anne Anastasi (see record 1954-15003-000). Anastasi's book is scholarly, thoughtful, and thorough. Its coverage is broad, yet there has necessarily been selection. The selection has been generally good and the emphases well placed. As an example of textbook organization and writing, this volume may well serve as a model. In spite of good writing, however, the reading will not be found easy except by the better students. The author seems to be right at home when discussing such disparate subjects as factor analysis and projective techniques; measures of artistic aptitude and situational tests; infant tests and measures of deterioration. The author brings into high relief the great amount of floundering that has occurred in connection with attempts to measure deterioration, with projective techniques, and with situational tests. Like most authors who write about tests, she thinks of them entirely as measures of individual differences. It is time that we broaden this conception and recognize that "occasional differences" are also measured by means of tests and that the experimental psychologist is perpetually using tests for this purpose. In only one important place does the author seem uncritical: when she accepts the "projective line" that projective tests take the "global approach." A debatable point, which Anastasi recognizes, is the false dichotomy that has persisted between aptitude tests and personality tests. Surely an individual's abilities are a part of his personality. Overall, it is difficult to find flaws in this book, technical or otherwise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)