Predicting social behavior from personality traits

The classic view of traits as dispositions was examined and a number of ambiguities noted. When clarified, implications for predicting social behaviors from personality variables were derived. Two types of behavioral criterion were delineated, and it was argued that personality measures should be systematically related to multiple act criteria, but not necessarily to single act criteria. It was suggested that behaviors could be treated as items on a behavioral measure of personality and that standard scaling criteria be applied in identifying behaviors that should be related to a given trait dimension. In attempting to identify behaviors which are linearly related to a personality trait, the application of Bayes theorem was shown to be of theoretical interest. Two indices, a validity index and a linearity index, were derived from Bayes theorem and it was shown that validity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for linearity.     

Friends and strangers: acquaintanceship, agreement, and the accuracy of personality judgment

We examined the effect of acquaintanceship on interjudge agreement in personality ratings. Approximately 150 undergraduates described their own personalities using the Q-sort. They were also described by two close acquaintances and by two "strangers" who knew them only via a single, spontaneous interaction viewed on videotape. The effect of acquaintanceship was powerful: Judgments by close acquaintances agreed with each other and with subjects' self-judgments much better than did judgments by strangers, even though strangers' judgments agreed with each other and with subjects' self-judgments beyond a chance level. This result implies that agreement among acquaintances' judgments must derive at least partly from experience with and observation of the person who is judged. The same traits that yielded better agreement among acquaintances also yielded better agreement among strangers and tended to be rated higher in subjective visibility, suggesting that people are intuitively knowledgeable about the traits they can judge with more and less agreement.     

Predicting counterproductive work behavior from the interaction of personality traits

Much attention has been given to enhancing the prediction of counterproductive work behavior (CWB), with a particular focus on the relationship between the five factor model of personality and CWB. Several scholars have advocated for a more complex view of this relationship, and rather than focusing simply on main effects, to examine the interaction of personality traits in predicting employee behavior. In consideration of the traits most strongly related to CWB, we examined the interaction between: (1) conscientiousness and emotional stability, (2) agreeableness and emotional stability, and (3) conscientiousness and agreeableness on CWB directed at individuals (CWB-I) and the organization (CWB-O). Results from a multi-national sample illustrate the interaction of traits increases the prediction of CWB over and above a single trait approach. The interactions suggest employees perform the least CWB when they are high on both traits (in the respective trait pairings), but low levels on either trait relate to increased CWB, and at levels comparable to individuals low on both traits. We conclude research on personality and CWB would benefit from an interactive approach as it allows for greater prediction of CWB-O and CWB-I, which is important in light of the organizational and interpersonal consequences of employee misbehavior.     

Increasing acquaintanceship and complementarity of behavioral styles and personality traits among college roommates

Robert Carson's principle of complementarity asserts that the behavioral styles of interaction partners tend to complement each other by encouraging individuals to act opposite in terms of dominance and similar in terms of warmth. The principles of complementarity further hypothesize that as relationships progress through multiple interactions, the behavioral styles of its members will be altered to increase complementarity. To examine this acquaintanceship hypothesis, the behavioral styles and personalities of 102 college roommate dyads were assessed after living together for 2 weeks and again after living together for 15 weeks. Consistent with the acquaintanceship hypothesis, after 2 weeks the behavioral styles of roommates did not complement each other; however, after 15 weeks, the behavioral styles of roommates strongly complemented each other. In contrast to the change in complementarity observed in roommates' behavioral styles, participants' perceptions of their own personalities were relatively unaffected by the personalities of their roommates.     

Geophysical variables and behavior: LV. Predicting the details of visitor experiences and the personality of experients: the temporal lobe factor

The visitor experience, a more intense form of the normal sense of presence, emphasizes the deep belief of personal contact with an extraterrestrial (or religious) entity. Phenomenological details of visitor experiences are expected to reflect the functions of deep temporal lobe structures; common details involve cosmic meaningfulness, vestibular experiences, flickering, complex visual sensations and alimentary references. After intense experiences, interictal-like behaviors similar to religious conversions (widening affect, sense of personal, desire to spread the word, concern about Man's destiny) emerge. Normal people who are prone to these experiences show frequent temporal lobe signs and specific personality characteristics that include enhanced creativity, suggestibility, mild hypomania, anxiety, and emotional lability. Learning histories that encourage the use of right temporal lobe functions for the consolidation of memory, such as compartmentalization of beliefs or repression due to early sexual abuse, predispose to intense visitor experiences. The most frequent precipitants are psychological depression, personal (existential) stress and proximal exposure to the focal tectonic strain fields that accompany luminous phenomena. Possible neuropsychological mechanisms are discussed.     

Self-other agreement in personality and affectivity: the role of acquaintanceship, trait visibility, and assumed similarity

Self- and other-ratings on the Big Five and a comprehensive inventory of trait affect were obtained from 74 married couples, 136 dating couples, and 279 friendship dyads. With the exception of Surprise, all scales showed significant self-other agreement in all 3 samples, thereby establishing their convergent validity. Consistent with the trait visibility effect, however, the Big Five consistently yielded higher agreement correlations than did the affectivity scales. Conversely, the affective traits consistently showed stronger evidence of assumed similarity (i.e., the tendency for judges to rate others as similar to themselves) than did the Big Five. Cross-sample comparisons indicated that agreement was significantly higher in the married sample than in the other 2 groups; however, analyses of 3 potential moderators in the dating and friendship samples failed to identify the source of this acquaintanceship effect.     

Recalled parental behavior and objective personality measures: a canonical analysis.

Information about an individual's past relationships with his parents is an important component in psychological assessment procedures. To systematically connect these relationships and personality, two groups of college students completed an objective inventory designed to assess parental child rearing behaviors. Canonical correlational analysis was employed to relate these measures to the CPI and MMPI. A recalled parental behavior component described as Acceptance vs. Hostile Detachment/Involvement emerged as being highly related to aspects of both personality inventories, with greater recalled acceptance (and lesser recalled hostility) being associated with the more positive aspects of personality. Additional findings are enumerated.     

Predicting aggressive driving behavior: The role of macho personality,age, and power of car

A study is presented that explored the role of macho personality, age, and power of car as predictors of aggressive driving behavior. A total of 154 male motorists completed two subscales of the Hypermasculinity Inventory as a measure of macho personality and self‐reports of aggressive driving behavior based on the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire. They also provided information about their age, annual mileage, horsepower of their car, and features that had guided their choice of a car. A multiple regression analysis showed that each of the predictors was significantly related to aggressive driving: Younger motorists, those driving powerful cars, and those showing macho personality were significantly more likely to report driving aggression. Together, the three predictors accounted for 35.8% of the variance. In addition, macho men assigned greater importance to speed and sportiness of a car and less importance to safety aspects than nonmacho men. The findings are discussed with reference to individual and situational explanations of driving aggression. Aggr. Behav. 28:21–29, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Predicting and accepting personality test scores

Three studies are reported concerned with people's perception of their own personality, their acceptance of bogus ‘personality’ feedback, and the relationship between their ‘actual’ personality scores and their willingness to accept bogus feedback. In the first study subjects attempted to predict their own and a well-known other person's personality scores. They were fairly good at predicting some of their own scores (extraversion, neuroticism) but less so others, suggesting that people can recognize their own ‘correct’ personality feedback. In the second study subjects were given either positive (Barnum Statements) or negative (reverse Barnum Statements) ‘bogus’ feedback after a personality test. They tended to accept the positive feedback as more accurate than the negative feedback though this was not related to their actual scores. In the third study subjects were given four types of feedback statements after a personality test: general positive, general negative, specific positive and specific negative. As predicted, people tend to accept general rather than specific, and positive rather than negative feedback as true. Furthermore, acceptance was closely related to neuroticism and extraversion in a predicted direction. These results are discussed in terms of the uses and abuses of validation of personality feedback.     

Predicting personality disorder traits with the Defense Style Questionnaire in a normal sample.

This research examined the efficacy of the 40-item Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40), measuring mature, neurotic and immature defense styles, to predict DSM-III-R personality disorders. The Coolidge Axis II Inventory, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II, and the MMPI personality disorder scales were used to measure 11 personality disorders in a nonclinical sample. The results show that most personality disorders are positively associated with the highly maladaptive immature defense style, and negatively associated with the mature defense style. Multiple regression analyses reveal that the combined variance accounted for by the defense styles range from 12% to 42% on the CATI, 3% to 42% on the MCMI-II, and 2% to 32% on the MMPI-PD. However, specific personality disorders cannot be predicted with the defense styles on any measure.     

The perception of self and others: acquaintanceship, affect, and actor-observer differences.

Three studies were designed to examine how people perceive themselves versus others. The main finding was that people were seen as causing positive behaviors, and situational factors were regarded as causing negative behaviors (positivity effect). This positivity effect was found to operate most strongly for perceptions of intimate others, such as spouse and friends, and less strongly for strangers and liked and disliked acquaintances. There was little support for the actor-observer difference that people view their own behavior more situationally than they do other people's behavior. It was concluded that both cognitive and motivational factors must be considered in predicting how people perceive and describe others.     

Tourist behavior and personality

Stanley Plog's concept of psychocentrism-allocentrism in travel preferences was operationally measured by two scales: one of preferred destinations and another of preferred activities while on vacation. It was found, for females, that psychocentrics (who are non-adventurous) were less neurotic but more extraverted than allocentrics.     

Self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behavior: a replication

A recent study of correlations of self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behaviour has been replicated on a larger sample. Non-clinical volunteers (145 women and 114 men) were administered Schill's Self-defeating Personality Scale and a short version of the EMBU-Egna Minnen Betr?ffande Uppfostran (own memories of parental education) scale. Replicating previous findings, memories of rejecting or nonsupportive parents were significantly correlated with scores for the Self-defeating Personality Scale for both women (rejecting mother, r = 24; supportive mother, r = -.29; rejecting father, r = .23; supportive father, r = -.36) and men (rejecting mother, r = 40; rejecting father, r = .41; supportive father, r = -.28). Memories of an overinvolved parent were significantly correlated with self-defeating personality scores only among men (mother: r = .41; father: r = .36) as in the original study.     

Item placement on a personality measure: effects on faking behavior and test measurement properties

Although personality tests are widely used to select applicants for a variety of jobs, there is concern that such measures are fakable. One procedure used to minimize faking has been to disguise the true intent of personality tests by randomizing items such that items measuring similar constructs are dispersed throughout the test. In this study, we examined if item placement does influence the fakability and psychometric properties of a personality measure. Study participants responded to 1 of 2 formats (random vs. grouped items) of a personality test honestly and also under instructions to fake or to behave like an applicant. Results indicate that the grouped item placement format was more fakable for the Neuroticism and Conscientiousness scales. The test with items randomly placed fit the data better within the honest and applicant conditions. These findings demonstrate that the issue of item placement should be seriously considered before administering personality measures because different item presentations may affect the incidence of faking and the psychometric properties of the measure.     

Hardy personality: a potential link with organizational citizenship behavior

Hardiness is a personality construct which is assumed to protect the individual from stress-induced illness. Although widely accepted, hardiness has shown only modest relations with the development of illness. Examining the components of hardiness indicates apparent consistency with organizational citizenship behaviors such as obedience, participation, and loyalty. This study investigated the potential relations between hardiness and organizational citizenship behavior, using Kobasa's Personal Views Survey, and Van Dyne, Graham, and Diensch's citizenship measure. Subjects were 129 unionized employees whose mean age was 37 yr.; 58% were men. Correlations and regressions indicated that scores for total hardiness and its components of commitment and control were linked to citizenship behaviors. Differential relationhips were identified between hardiness and citizenship behavior for individuals with high versus low scores on hardy personality. Hardiness appears to have a positive association with organizational effectiveness through its link to citizenship behavior and consequently may have more implications for organizational behavior than for health.     

Eating behavior and personality: an exploratory analysis

An explonatory study on a university student sample (N = 67) shows that scores on Restraint, Disinhibition and Hunger of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) of Stunkard and Messick (1985) are not associated with EPQ and MMPI personality dimensions. However, Restraint and EPQ Psychoticism load on the same Varimax-rotated factor and low predictability of TFEQ factor scores was found for some MMPI scales. Restraint and Disinhibition appeared significantly intercorrelated in the whole sample and in the sex-based subsamples. It is suggested that TFEQ scores are complementary to personality tests in the evaluation of eating behavior disorders.