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)     

Review of Individuality in Pain and Suffering.

Reviews the book, Individuality in Pain and Suffering by Asenath Petrie (see record 1968-13362-000). One might expect from the title of this book that the author was going to supply the reader with new insights, or new theories, or new findings, or new ways of looking at the problems of pain and suffering. Instead it became increasingly obvious to the reviewer that the author is merely supplying us with new words for talking about the way people react to painful stimuli. Petrie's book is little involved (except for the reader) in pain and suffering. Her discussion of pain would probably require less than ten pages altogether. What the author appears to have done is written a book advocating her particular personality theory and reviewing all of the research that has been done relevant to that theory. This reviewer feels that, as far as any contribution to the literature on pain and suffering is concerned, the signal to noise ratio of this book does not match the price to usefulness ratio. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit personality theory: A review.

A review of the literature on implicit personality theory reveals that there has been considerable concentration on various techniques for measuring the theory. While such measures do have considerable overlap they also vary in a variety of ways. The major theoretical questions have involved personality correlates of individual implicit personality theory, relationship of the theory to linguistic structure, and whether it reflects the actual distribution of traits in other people. Questions are raised about whether traits are the most appropriate units of person cognition and whether perceivers see traits as distributed across situations as well as stimulus persons. (91 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traits and trade-offs are insufficient for evolutionary personality psychology.

Comments on the article by D. Nettle (see record 2006-11202-005), who has clearly shown that evolutionary psychologists need to focus more attention on individual differences, not just species-typical universals. Such differences are not mere "noise," and evolutionary theory will gain by understanding how they are produced and maintained. However, by focusing on personality traits and the five-factor personality model, Nettle left unaddressed many of the most important aspects of human personality. An evolutionary psychology of personality must ultimately explain not just trait differences but also differences in personal goals, values, motives, identities, and life narratives--essential elements of human individuality and functionality. K. M. Sheldon et al suggest four reasons why traits and the five-factor personality model do not provide an optimal approach for explaining the evolution of personality: (a) As constructs, traits provide little purchase for explaining the causes of behavior; (b) trait concepts do not acknowledge or explain people's variations around their own baselines, variations that are likely crucial for adaptation; (c) traits do not explain or even describe true human uniqueness, i.e. the ways in which a person is different from everybody else; and (d) traits do not explain personality from the inside, by considering what people are trying to do in their lives. In raising these issues Sheldon et al are suggesting that the important question for evolutionary personality study is not why people fall at different points on a continuum regarding traits x, y, and z, but rather why each person is inevitably unique while still sharing the same evolved psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Reply to Levinger's note.

Levinger's extension of the complementary-needs (CN) hypothesis is assessed (see 38: 5867). Although superior to previous CN formulations, it remains a vague statement of faith, lacking theoretical precision and empirical support. The study of needs—complementary or otherwise—is not likely to be fruitful in marriage research. Examples from group dynamics, statistical learning theory, operant theory, personality theory, and phenomenology all demonstrate a general movement in psychology away from the examination of stable traits and motives and toward the use of stimulus situations as predictive constructs. Husbands and wives are spurred to action by stimuli which are not operative in their lives as bartenders and secretaries. Marriage research must specify the stimuli which are specific to spousehood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Get smarty pants: Cognitive ability, personality, and victimization.

Drawing on the victim precipitation model, this study provides an empirical investigation of the relationship between cognitive ability and victimization at work. We propose that people high in cognitive ability are more prone to victimization. In this study, we also examine the direct and moderating effects of victims' personality traits, specifically the 2 interpersonally oriented personality dimensions of agency and communion. Results support the direct positive relationship of cognitive ability and victimization. The positive relationship between high cognitive ability and victimization is moderated by the victims' personality traits; agency personality traits strengthen the relationship of cognitive ability and victimization, whereas communion personality traits weaken this relationship. (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)     

Implicit policies about relations between personality traits and behavioral effectiveness in situational judgment items.

This paper develops the concept of implicit trait policy (ITP), which is a variant of the accentuation effect described by Tajfel (1957). ITPs are implicit beliefs about causal relations between personality traits and behavioral effectiveness. Studies reported here tested the hypotheses (a) that personality traits affect ITPs so that agreeable people, for instance, believe the relation between agreeableness and effectiveness is more strongly positive than disagreeable people do and (b) that ITPs can predict behavior that expresses associated personality traits. Two studies with undergraduate research participants supported the first hypothesis for traits of agreeableness and extraversion (the average correlation between traits and associated ITPs was .31 for agreeableness and .37 for extraversion) but not for conscientiousness. A 3rd study with student participants found that individual differences in ITPs for agreeableness predicted agreeable behavior (the average correlation was .33) in simulated work settings. These results suggest that ITPs may be useful for predicting work behavior that expresses personality traits even though ITPs may not be strongly correlated with the personality traits themselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analytic examination of hardiness.

Hardiness, which is a multidimensional personality trait that is hypothesized to protect people from the effects of stress, has attracted considerable research attention during the last 30 years. The current study provides a meta-analytic review of hardiness. Specifically, we examined the relationships between the hardiness facets, the relationship between hardiness and other personality variables, as well as the relationships between hardiness and several hypothesized criteria, including stressors, strains, social support, coping, and performance. Our analyses generally suggest that hardiness is: (a) positively related to other personality traits that are expected to protect people from stress, (b) negatively related to personality traits that are expected to exacerbate the effects of stress, (c) negatively related to stressors, strains, and regressive coping, and (d) positively related to social support, active coping, and performance. Regression analyses suggest that hardiness is significantly related to important criteria after the effects of other personality traits (e.g., the Five Factor Model traits) are controlled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preferences for ancient and modern art museums: Visitor experiences and personality characteristics.

This research has two main purposes. The first is to replicate and possibly to extend the results obtained in a previous study, where the authors found that visitors to the ancient art museum conducted their visit with the primary aim of acquiring understanding and knowledge, while modern art museum visitors conducted their visit with an approach that was primarily emotional and pleasure-seeking. The second purpose relates to studies showing that people who prefer abstract art present higher levels on personality traits like “Openness to Experience” and “Sensation Seeking,” compared to people who prefer realistic art. This study investigates these two personality traits for people who favor visiting museums of ancient rather than modern art. Results confirmed previous findings that emotional aspects related to the visit were relevant for modern art museum visitors, while a more cognitive approach based on learning characterized ancient art museum visitors. Concerning personality traits, no difference was found between the two museum groups on the “Openness to Experience” dimension; differences were found on the “Sensation Seeking” trait; modern art museum visitors attained higher scores as compared to ancient art museum visitors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The study of personality: A book of readings.

Reviews the book, The Study of Personality (see record 1955-03665-000). The book is a collection of readings, consisting mainly of papers that have previously appeared in journals. The three sections of the book deal, respectively, with theory, methods, and problems. The editor's emphasis, though, is mainly methodological, and even the section dealing with theory stresses principles of theory construction rather than attempts to formulate a single logically consistent theory of personality. The reviewer feels that this collection of readings should fill the need for supplementary reading in a graduate level course dealing with nomothetic approaches to the investigation of personality, or as a supplement to a course in the theory of personality when either the instructor or a good textbook contributes a single consistent theoretical point of view. Psychologists and other social scientists will find it useful as a review of significant and more or less familiar material that should not be allowed to become lost in seldom consulted back issues of the journals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How people see others is different from how people see themselves: A replicable pattern across cultures.

Consensus studies from 4 cultures—in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Germany—as well as secondary analyses of self- and observer-reported Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) data from 29 cultures suggest that there is a cross-culturally replicable pattern of difference between internal and external perspectives for the Big Five personality traits. People see themselves as more neurotic and open to experience compared to how they are seen by other people. External observers generally hold a higher opinion of an individual's conscientiousness than he or she does about him- or herself. As a rule, people think that they have more positive emotions and excitement seeking but much less assertiveness than it seems from the vantage point of an external observer. This cross-culturally replicable disparity between internal and external perspectives was not consistent with predictions based on the actor–observer hypothesis because the size of the disparity was unrelated to the visibility of personality traits. A relatively strong negative correlation (r = ?.53) between the average self-minus-observer profile and social desirability ratings suggests that people in most studied cultures view themselves less favorably than they are perceived by others. (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)     

Personality and substance dependence symptoms: Modeling substance-specific traits.

Personality traits related to neuroticism and disinhibition have been consistently associated with substance use disorders (SUDs). It is unclear, however, whether different personality traits predict distinct forms of substance dependence. Additionally, it is unclear whether personality traits continue to predict alcohol, drug, and tobacco dependence after controlling for comorbid antisociality and other SUDs. The current study addresses these questions by characterizing relations between personality traits and substance dependence symptoms in a longitudinal sample of 3,720 college students. Results revealed that antisociality and certain core personality traits predicted multiple types of substance pathology. In addition, several personality traits were differentially associated with alcohol, drug, and tobacco symptomatology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Too much of a good thing: Curvilinear relationships between personality traits and job performance.

The relationships between personality traits and performance are often assumed to be linear. This assumption has been challenged conceptually and empirically, but results to date have been inconclusive. In the current study, we took a theory-driven approach in systematically addressing this issue. Results based on two different samples generally supported our expectations of the curvilinear relationships between personality traits, including Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability, and job performance dimensions, including task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behaviors. We also hypothesized and found that job complexity moderated the curvilinear personality–performance relationships such that the inflection points after which the relationships disappear were lower for low-complexity jobs than they were for high-complexity jobs. This finding suggests that high levels of the two personality traits examined are more beneficial for performance in high- than low-complexity jobs. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the use of personality in personnel selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)