The cross‐cultural generalizability of personality types: a Philippine study

Research on personality types was extended to a non‐Western culture, the Philippines. In two large samples of Filipino college students, cluster analyses of self‐rated trait adjectives revealed interpretable three‐cluster solutions (i.e. types) for each gender. The types differed on indigenous measures of ego resiliency and ego control and exhibited sensible configurations of Big Five traits, indigenous Filipino traits, and behavioural indicators. Most types were interpretable in terms of the concepts of ego resiliency and ego control of Block and Block ( 1980 ) and resembled types identified in other cultures. Two of three male and female types were fairly comparable and some types replicated across data sets. The results provided some support for the cross‐cultural comparability of personality types and for typological research in general. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relation between personality and prejudice: a variable‐ and a person‐centred approach

The relationship between Big Five personality (measured by the NEO‐PI) and prejudice was examined using a variable‐ and a person‐centred approach. Big Five scores were related to a generalized prejudice factor based on seven different prejudice scales (racial prejudice, sexism, etc). A correlation analysis disclosed that Openness to Experience and Agreeableness were significantly related to prejudice, and a multiple regression analysis showed that a variable‐centred approach displayed a substantial cross‐validated relationship between the five personality factors and prejudice. A cluster analysis of the Big Five profiles yielded, in line with previous research, three personality types, but this person‐centred approach showed a low cross‐validated relationship between personality and prejudice, where the overcontrolled type showed the highest prejudice and the undercontrolled the lowest, with the resilient falling in between. A head‐to‐head comparison sustained the conclusion that, based on people's Big Five personalities, their generalized prejudice could be predicted more accurately by the variable‐ than the person‐centred approach. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Delinquent Behaviour of Friends and Delinquent Behaviour of Adolescents: Moderation by Adolescent Personality Traits

In this longitudinal study, we examined whether personality traits (parent‐rated Big Five personality traits) render some adolescents more susceptible than others to delinquent behaviour of friends, predicting rank‐order changes in adolescents' self‐reported delinquent behaviour. We examine susceptibility to both perceived (reported by adolescents) and self‐reported (reported by friends) delinquent behaviour of friends. Participants in this two‐wave study were 285 Dutch adolescents and their best friends. The adolescents (50% girls) were 15.5 years old on average (SD = 0.8 years), and their best friends (N = 176; 58% girls) were 15.1 years old (SD = 1.5 years). Perceived (but not self‐reported) delinquency of friends predicted a stronger increase in adolescent delinquency 1 year later, especially among adolescents low or average on conscientiousness. Emotional stability, agreeableness, extraversion and openness did not moderate associations between delinquency of friends and delinquency of adolescents. Our findings show that low conscientiousness serves as a risk factor, increasing vulnerability to perceived delinquent behaviour of friends, while high conscientiousness serves as a protective factor, increasing resilience to perceived delinquent behaviour of friends. Our findings also show that adolescents are susceptible to, and differ in susceptibility to, friends' delinquent behaviour as they perceive it—not to delinquent behaviour as reported by friends themselves. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Self-esteem, personality and achievement in high school: a prospective longitudinal study in Texas

Abstract This research explored four empirical questions: (1) Is self‐esteem a better predictor of academic success and adjustment than other aspects of personality? (2) How is self‐esteem related to Big‐Five dimensions of personality during the transition from middle school to high school? (3) Do dispositions like Agreeableness or Openness relate to an adolescent's adaptation and affect reactions to the self? and (4) Do sources of information about adolescents (e.g., self‐rating, other rating, objective “life history”) converge? We also explored the general hypothesis that personality, self‐esteem, and teachers' ratings of adjustment during the middle school years predict later life outcomes during high school. Overall, results indicate Big‐Five personality characteristics were more stable than self‐esteem across this transition period. Agreeableness and Openness assessed in middle school are related to later scholastic competence and behavioral conduct, academic success, and adjustment in high school. Results were discussed in terms of personality development and self‐evaluation.     

More than the Big Five: Egoism and the HEXACO model of personality

Egoism is a personality trait that is associated with self‐enriching and self‐centred behaviours. Research has suggested that egoism lies beyond the Big Five personality factors. Recently, the HEXACO model of personality has been proposed as an alternative to the Big Five model. In three studies, the relation between the HEXACO Personality Inventory and egoism, conceptualized using three different questionnaires (DPQ Egoism, SPI Egotism and the Egoism Scale), is investigated. In all three studies, the HEXACO Honesty–Humility factor scale was the most important predictor of egoism. Additionally, in two studies in which FFM measures were used, the HEXACO Personality Inventory explained more variance in egoism than did the FFPI (Study 2) and the NEO‐PI‐R (Study 3). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personality traits and health‐risk behaviours in university students

Relations between personality and health‐risk behaviours in university undergraduates were examined using multiple measures of personality across multiple samples (N = 1151). Big Five personality variables, at both factor and facet levels, were used to predict three specific health‐risk behaviours: (a) tobacco consumption, (b) alcohol consumption and (c) speeding in an automobile. Our findings showed that low Conscientiousness and low Agreeableness were uniformly associated with this cluster of potentially health damaging behaviours. Extraversion was additionally associated with alcohol use. Interaction effects were found between Conscientiousness and Agreeableness on smoking and (for men only) on drinking. Other personality variables not centrally related to the Big Five, such as Risk‐Taking (high) and Integrity (low), were also implicated in the present health‐risk behaviours. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The location of trait emotional intelligence in personality factor space

The construct of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self‐efficacy) provides a comprehensive operationalization of emotion‐related self‐perceptions and dispositions. In the first part of the present study (N = 274, 92 males), we performed two joint factor analyses to determine the location of trait EI in Eysenckian and Big Five factor space. The results showed that trait EI is a compound personality construct located at the lower levels of the two taxonomies. In the second part of the study, we performed six two‐step hierarchical regressions to investigate the incremental validity of trait EI in predicting, over and above the Giant Three and Big Five personality dimensions, six distinct criteria (life satisfaction, rumination, two adaptive and two maladaptive coping styles). Trait EI incrementally predicted four criteria over the Giant Three and five criteria over the Big Five. The discussion addresses common questions about the operationalization of emotional intelligence as a personality trait.     

Emerging Late Adolescent Friendship Networks and Big Five Personality Traits: A Social Network Approach

ABSTRACT The current study focuses on the emergence of friendship networks among just‐acquainted individuals, investigating the effects of Big Five personality traits on friendship selection processes. Sociometric nominations and self‐ratings on personality traits were gathered from 205 late adolescents (mean age=19 years) at 5 time points during the first year of university. SIENA, a novel multilevel statistical procedure for social network analysis, was used to examine effects of Big Five traits on friendship selection. Results indicated that friendship networks between just‐acquainted individuals became increasingly more cohesive within the first 3 months and then stabilized. Whereas individuals high on Extraversion tended to select more friends than those low on this trait, individuals high on Agreeableness tended to be selected more as friends. In addition, individuals tended to select friends with similar levels of Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Openness.     

Personality profiles and health: Longitudinal evidence among Finnish adults

Kinnunen, M.‐L., Metsäpelto, R. L., Feldt, T., Kokko, K., Tolvanen, A., Kinnunen, U., Leppänen, E. & Pulkkinen, L. (2012). Personality profiles and health: Longitudinal evidence among Finnish adults. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 512–522. This study investigates the associations of longitudinal Big Five personality profiles with long‐term health in 304 adults (53% males). Personality traits (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) were assessed at ages 33, 42, and 50. Subjective (self‐rated health, symptoms, psychological distress) and objective (body mass index, waist‐to‐hip ratio, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides) indicators of health were measured at ages 42 and 50. Five longitudinally stable personality profiles were extracted over 17 years by latent profile analysis. The levels of traits were the same in each profile at each age. Resilient individuals (N = 65; Neuroticism low, other traits high) had the best subjective health and Overcontrolled individuals (N = 40; Neuroticism high, other traits low) the poorest health over eight years. Reserved individuals (N = 25; high Conscientiousness, other traits low), Undercontrolled (N = 41; high Openness and Extraversion, low Conscientiousness), and Ordinary (N = 133; all traits scored medium) individuals were in the middle of these extremes in subjective health. No differences between the profiles were found in the objective indicators of health. Thus, overcontrol and resilience were most discriminative in terms of good health. Moreover, personality profiles revealed associations with health to be more nuanced than simply being composed of single traits. High Extraversion needed to be combined with high Conscientiousness (Resilients) in order to be associated with the best health; high Extraversion with low Conscientiousness (Undercontrolled) was associated with average health; and low Extraversion with high Neuroticism (Overcontrolled) was associated with the poorest health.     

Discrepancy in Personality Perceptions Is Related to Relationship Satisfaction: Findings from Dyadic Latent Discrepancy Analyses

The current study investigated discrepancies in self‐, partner‐, and meta‐perceptions of the Big Five traits and their associations with relationship satisfaction in intimate couples. The study was based on a subsample of the Swiss study “Co‐Development in Personality: Longitudinal Approaches to Personality Development in Dyads Across the Life Span” (CoDiP) including cross‐sectional data of 216 heterosexual couples. We adapted the Latent Congruence Model (LCM) for the study of discrepancies in personality perceptions in dyads. Beyond personality trait levels, the discrepancies between self‐ and partner‐perceptions and between partner‐ and meta‐perceptions of the Big Five traits were related to relationship satisfaction as actor and partner effects. In general, flattering and favorable partner‐perceptions in relation to self‐ and meta‐perceptions seem to positively contribute to relationship satisfaction. The present study implies that not only personality trait levels but also discrepancies between personality perceptions are important for understanding relationship satisfaction.     

The Impact of Contextual Self‐Ratings and Observer Ratings of Personality on the Personality–Performance Relationship1

This study examined 2 possible ways of increasing the predictive validity of personality measures: using observer (i.e., supervisor and coworker) ratings and work‐specific self‐ratings of Big Five personality factors. Results indicated that among general self‐ratings of Big Five personality dimensions, Conscientiousness was the best predictor of in‐role performance, and Agreeableness and Emotional Stability were the best predictors of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Observer ratings of personality accounted for incremental variance in job performance (in‐role performance and OCB) beyond that accounted for by general self‐ratings. However, contrary to our expectations, work‐specific (i.e., contextual) self‐ratings of personality generally did not account for incremental variance in job performance beyond that accounted for by general self‐ratings.     

Resilients,Overcontrollers, and Undercontrollers: The replicability of the three personality prototypes across informants

The study of patterns in personality structure reveals three replicable prototypes: Resilients, Overcontrollers, and Undercontrollers. The three prototypes were first identified in children using ratings based on the California Child Q‐set (see Block, 1971). Only recently, the three prototypes were replicated in self‐reports on questionnaires intended to assess the Big Five (see e.g. Asendorpf, Borkenau, Ostendorf, & van Aken, 2001). This paper addresses the question of whether the three prototypes are replicable across different data sources. Cluster structures in self‐, peer, and behaviour ratings, all based on the Big Five, were examined in a sample of 600 monozygotic and dizygotic twins ranging in age from 18 to 70 years. The three prototypes could be clearly identified in the self‐reports only, whereas in ratings by others only the Resilient prototype could be replicated. In both peer and behaviour ratings, the second and the third cluster reflected a Non‐desirable and an Average type. The analysis of cross‐data consistency revealed only moderate agreement in assignments of individual subjects to types. The findings suggest that personality types depend strongly on personality measures and informants. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Cross‐Cultural Replicability of the Resilient,Undercontrolled, and Overcontrolled Personality Types

Personality types reflect typical configurations of personality attributes within individuals. Over the last 20 years, researchers have identified a set of three replicable personality types: resilient (R), undercontrolled (U), and overcontrolled (O) types. In this study, we examined the cross‐cultural replicability of the RUO types in Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United States. Personality types were identified using cluster analyses of Big Five profiles in large samples of college students from Italy (n = 322), the United States (n = 499), Spain (n = 420), and Poland (n = 235). Prior to clustering the profiles, the measurement invariance of the Big Five measure across samples was tested. We found evidence for the RUO types in all four samples. The three‐cluster solution showed a better fit over alternative solutions and had a relatively high degree of cross‐cultural generalizability. The RUO types are evident in samples from four countries with distinct linguistic and cultural traditions. Results were discussed in light of the importance of considering how traits are organized within individuals for advancing contemporary personality psychology.     

An Inkblot for the Implicit Assessment of Personality: The Semantic Misattribution Procedure

Misattributions people make about their own reaction to ambiguous stimuli can be used to measure personality self‐concepts implicitly. On the basis of a semantic misattribution priming paradigm [semantic misattribution procedure (SMP)], we assessed the implicit personality self‐concept related to three dimensions included in the Big‐Five model: conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion. Across three studies (N1 = 98, N2 = 140, and N3 = 135), the SMP was robustly related, in the expected direction, to individual differences in self‐reported personality questionnaires and managed to predict both self‐reported and objectively measured behaviours. The main advantage of SMP over classical explicit measures of personality is its higher resistance to social desirability tendencies, although its psychometric properties are somewhat lower than those pertaining to explicit measures of personality. Finally, comparisons of our results with studies that used other implicit measures of personality self‐concept indicate that the SMP has higher criterion validity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linking personality to interpersonal citizenship behaviour: The moderating effect of empathy

To account for generally low direct relationships between Big‐Five personality traits and interpersonal citizenship behaviour (ICB), researchers have suggested that Big‐Five traits are associated with such helping‐related behaviour in interactive rather than direct fashion. This study investigated empathy as a potential moderator of Big‐Five trait – ICB relations. Hypotheses were tested with data obtained from employees of a youth treatment facility and their supervisors. Results provided evidence that empathy interacts with three Big‐Five personality traits, suggesting traits functioning at conceptually different hierarchical levels may jointly explain specific behaviours. Empathy could play an important role in understanding connections between these Big‐Five traits and ICB.     

A factor analysis of the most frequently used Korean personality trait adjectives

We tested the cross‐cultural generalizability of personality structure by factor‐analysing self‐ratings of 435 Korean university students on the 406 most frequently used Korean personality trait adjectives. A plot of eigenvalues and a test of factor replicability both suggested a four‐factor solution. The four varimax‐rotated factors showed strong correlations with the first four factors of the Big Five (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability), as measured by markers selected a priori from the pool of 406 adjectives. We also investigated a five‐factor solution, in an attempt to recover an Intellect factor. The five varimax‐rotated factors corresponded closely to the classic Big Five, but with a minor difference in the rotation of the Conscientiousness and Intellect factors. Solutions involving six and seven factors were also investigated, and these solutions produced a Truthfulness factor similar to some previously discovered lexical factors. The results of the study were discussed in relation to the lexical hypothesis and to previous studies of personality structure in East Asian languages. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enjoyment of sexualization: is it different for men?

We elucidated the Enjoyment of Sexualization (ES) construct in a sample of 206 female and 118 male undergraduate students. Our male ES Scale had high reliability, and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a univariate structure was appropriate for both men and women. ES added to the prediction of self‐esteem and number of sexual partners (but not body shame) after controlling for self‐objectification; gender did not moderate these relationships. The relationship between ES and number of sexual partners was moderated by attractiveness such that individuals who believed themselves to be more attractive had more sexual partners at high levels of ES. Furthermore, ES was distinguishable from the conceptually‐related self‐objectification construct with regard to Big Five personality. Finally, results suggested that ES might be less harmful than self‐objectification.     

Integrity Tests and Morality: Associations with Ego Development,Moral Reasoning,and Psychopathic Personality

Although past research has shown links between integrity tests and the Big Five personality traits, little is known about the relationship between integrity and other individual difference constructs used to predict moral behavior. The present study expands this research by examining the relationships between ego development, moral reasoning, psychopathic personality, and three commonly used integrity tests. Both overt and personality‐based integrity tests showed the strongest (negative) correlations with psychopathic personality but only modest correlations with ego development and moral reasoning. On the whole, these findings suggest that integrity tests may be more closely related to overt moral behavior than to moral reasoning.