Proactive Personality at Work: Seeing More to Do and Doing More?

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model relating proactive personality to job behaviors (task and citizenship behaviors) through the intervening mediator of perceived role breadth.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were obtained from 530 faculty members in 69 U. S. research universities.

Findings

Proactive personality was positively related to task behavior and OCB. Perceived role breadth mediated the relationship between proactive personality and OCB, but did not mediate the relationship between proactive personality and task behavior. Despite not viewing their role more broadly, individuals higher in proactive personality engaged more frequently in both task behavior and OCB; and also worked more hours per week.

Implications

Having a better understanding of proactive individuals is important in terms of managing them. Because these individuals tend to do more in their jobs and subsequently work more hours, they may be more susceptible to burnout and may require additional help in determining priorities and balancing their work and lives.

Originality/value

This is the first study to show that proactive personality is positively related to the frequency with which these individuals engage in task and citizenship behavior. Although role breadth is generally an antecedent of such job behaviors, individuals higher in proactive personality engage more frequently in task behaviors regardless of whether or not they perceive them as part of their role. This is one of the first studies to show that working more hours each week is a potential cost of having a proactive personality.     

Becoming More Conscientious or More Open to Experience? Effects of a Two-Week Smartphone-Based Intervention for Personality Change

Research indicates that it might be possible to change personality traits through intervention, but this clinical research has primarily focused on changing neuroticism. To date, there are no established, proven techniques for changing other domains of personality, such as conscientiousness and openness. This research examined the effects of a two-week smartphone-based intervention to either change one facet of conscientiousness (i.e. self-discipline) or one facet of openness to experience (i.e. openness to action). Two intervention studies (total N = 255) with two active intervention groups for mutual comparisons were conducted. Results of self-reports and observer reports showed that people who wanted to become more self-disciplined were less self-disciplined at pretest. Similarly, people who wanted to become more open to action were less open to action at pretest. The results showed that people who chose the self-discipline intervention showed greater increases in self-discipline, and people who chose the openness to action intervention showed greater increases in openness to action compared with the other group. Changes were maintained until follow-up two and six weeks after the end of the intervention. Future work is needed to examine whether these personality changes are enduring or reflect temporary accentuation as a result of participation in the intervention. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Do Orientations to Happiness Mediate the Associations Between Personality Traits and Subjective Well-Being?

Personality traits have frequently been observed to be associated with subjective well-being. It has been suggested that personality traits may lead individuals to experience life in certain ways which, in turn, influences their subjective well-being. However, the exact mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown. The present study hypothesized that the ways in which individuals endorse strategies for achieving happiness (i.e., orientations to happiness: through a life of pleasure, through a life of engagement, or through a life of meaning) mediates the associations that personality traits have with subjective well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect). Our results indicated that an orientation to meaning in life partially mediated the relationship between extraversion and life satisfaction. In addition, all three orientations to happiness (i.e., pleasure, engagement, and meaning) partially mediated the relationship between extraversion and positive affect. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for understanding the connection between personality traits and subjective well-being.     

Personality Traits Beyond the Big Five: Are They Within the HEXACO Space?

Paunonen (2002) recently developed the Supernumerary Personality Inventory (SPI), a measure of 10 traits that have low loadings within the space of the Big Five personality factors. If the SPI personality traits are representative of the domain of non-Big Five personality traits, then the major source of the variance in the SPI traits would be expected to correlate strongly with the sixth factor of personality, Honesty-Humility. We tested this hypothesis using self-report measures (N = 200) of the SPI traits, of the Big Five, and of the new six-dimensional ("HEXACO") structure. Results indicated that the first unrotated factor underlying the 10 SPI traits was heavily saturated with variance from Honesty-Humility (r = .65). Nevertheless, the 10 SPI traits contained substantial amounts of unique variance not accounted for by the HEXACO or the Big Five variables, highlighting the importance of the facet-level assessment of personality traits.     

Big Five Personality Traits as the Predictors of Creative Self‐Efficacy and Creative Personal Identity: Does Gender Matter?

The aim of this study was to examine the relation of the Big Five personality factors to two self‐concept variables of growing importance in creativity literature: creative self‐efficacy (CSE) and creative personal identity (CPI). The analysis, conducted on a large (N = 2674, 49.6% women) and varied‐in‐age (15–59 years old) nationwide sample of Poles, using the structural equation model, demonstrated that personality factors are responsible for 23% of CSE and 21% of CPI variances. CSE and CPI were associated with all five personality dimensions: positively with Openness to Experience, Extraversion and Conscientiousness, negatively with Neuroticism and Agreeableness. The separate analyses conducted on men and women showed the differences among the predictors of CSE and CPI. Although Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism predicted CSE among both men and women, Extraversion was positively and Agreeableness negatively related to women's CSE. Conscientiousness was positively related to CPI only among men, and Agreeableness was negatively related to it only among women. Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness predicted CPI in the same manner among men and women.     

Happy as an Extraverted Clam? The Role of Personality for Subjective Well-Being

Personality characteristics, especially the traits of extraversion and neuroticism, have been proposed as the primary determinant of subjective well-being (SWB). Meta-analytic evidence presented here suggests that personality is indeed strongly related with SWB, and that only health is more strongly correlated with SWB. In a study of 137 personality traits that have been correlated with SWB, neuroticism was one of the strongest negative correlates of SWB. However, extraversion was not the primary factor associated with increased SWB. Rather, several personality characteristics that focus on the characteristic experience of emotions, on enhancing relationships, and on one's characteristic style of explaining the causes of life events are most intimately tied to SWB.     

Who Voted for Whom? Comparing Supporters of Obama and McCain on Value Types and Personality Traits

This study investigates the personalities and values of Obama and McCain supporters in the 2008 election. A total of 278 American participants completed the Big Five Inventory and the Portrait Values Questionnaire along with demographic items. For value types, Obama supporters were more likely to endorse universalism values and less likely to endorse tradition, conformity, and security values compared with McCain supporters. With regard to personality traits, Obama supporters scored higher on agreeableness and lower on conscientiousness than did McCain supporters. As predicted, logistic regression revealed that values were better predictors of voting preference than were personality traits. These findings demonstrate the importance of individual differences in political preferences and are discussed with regard to findings in other cultures.     

Society for Personality Assessment — the Way to Go

For six consecutive days, six series of inkblots, similar to Rorschach cards, were shown to six male and six female university students. The results showed that the M + Sum C scores fluctuate close to a sine curve. According to Rorschach M and color responses are sensitive to mood changes. Therefore these results suggest that different persons have mood changes with different amplitudes and periods. It also points out that the current use of test-retest reliability measurements of these scores are not appropriate and the criticisms of Rorschach based on the poor test-retest reliability measurements of these scores are unwarranted.     

What Is Engagement? Proactivity as the Missing Link in the HEXACO Model of Personality

We tested the hypothesis that proactivity represents the engagement vector in the HEXACO model of personality. Questionnaire data were obtained in five studies, three of which consisted (mostly) of students: Study 1 (N = 188, M_age = 20.0, 89.4% women), Study 3 (N = 315, M_age = 20.4, 80.6% women), and Study 4 (N = 309 self‐ratings, M_age = 20.0, 78.3% women; N = 307 other‐ratings, M_age = 24.5, 62.2% women). Participants in the other two studies came from an ISO‐certified representative community panel: Study 2 (N = 525, M_age = 51.2, 52.0% women) and Study 5 (N = 736, M_age = 42.2, 48.0% women). Proactive Personality and Proactivity were positively related to Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience, but only weakly related or unrelated to Honesty‐Humility, Emotionality, and Agreeableness, supporting the alignment of Proactive Personality/Proactivity with the hypothesized HEXACO engagement vector. Additionally, Proactivity explained incremental variance in self‐rated job performance on top of the HEXACO facets that were most closely associated with Proactive Personality/Proactivity, that is, Social Boldness (an Extraversion facet), Diligence (a Conscientiousness facet), and Creativity (an Openness to Experience facet), but not in entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. Proactivity is the missing engagement link in the HEXACO model of personality. The results are discussed in light of higher‐order factors (e.g., general factor of personality and Alpha and Beta) of personality and bandwidth‐fidelity controversies.     

Cerebral Palsy and Personality Traits,as Measured by the NEO PI-R—A Preliminary Study

The aim of this study was to investigate whether or not individuals with cerebral palsy (CP), without psychiatric problems, have a divergent personality. Eighteen individuals with CP (11 women, 7 men) were included. Seventeen had spastic and one dyskinetic CP. The participants completed the personality inventory NEO-PI-R. The group had a low average value in the Openness domain scale. In facet scales, the study group was more fearful, had difficulties coping with stress, tended to keep in the background, found change difficult, had limited curiosity, and was relaxed in tempo, more altruistic, more humble, and more unable to get organized. There was a stereotypical gender result, with low results on Openness to aesthetics and feelings for males and higher vulnerability for women. The results may indicate that individuals with CP have a divergent personality compared to individuals in general.     

Who Benefits From What? Drive for Thinness as a Moderator of Responsiveness to Different Eating Disorder Prevention Messages1

This research examined how women respond to different types of messages regarding eat ing disorders, and specifically whether women's degree of drive for thinness moderated their responsiveness to particular messages. In this study, 112 undergraduate women were randomly assigned to receive a condition focusing on either healthy eating or disordered eating. First, and as hypothesized, findings at an immediate posttest revealed that women found the healthy eating condition more enjoyable, personally relevant, and interesting, whereas they found the disordered eating condition more anxiety‐provoking and fear‐inducing. Second, and contrary to predictions, findings at the 3‐month follow‐up indicated that those who were high on drive for thinness were hurt by participation in the disordered eating condition, whereas those who were low on drive for thinness were helped by participation in this condition. Discussion focuses on the theoretical and applied implications of these findings.     

Does the Eye of the Beholder Construct Beauty? Contributions of Self-Efficacy Factors to Divergent Thinking Traits

The study initiated a project exploring a contribution of creative perception to creative behavior. This study investigated the factors in creative self-perception contributing to creative potential. Creative potential was operationalized as divergent thinking and measured by the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults. Creative self-perception was operationalized as creative self-efficacy and assessed by Khatena-Torrance Creative Perception Inventory. Undergraduate college students’ creative self-efficacy was found to make a reliable and measurable contribution to their divergent thinking performance. Specifically, fluency was predicted by initiative and intellectuality, originality—by initiative, and flexibility—by environmental sensitivity and self-strength. These findings suggested that in addition to process, product, person, place, persuasion, and potential perspectives, creativity construct could be evaluated from a standpoint of creative perception.     

Psychopathic Personality Traits in Relation to Self-report Delinquency in Adolescence: Should We Mind About Interaction Effects?

The aim of the present study was to investigate if interaction effects among Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) Grandiose-Manipulative (GM), Callous-Unemotional (CU), and Impulsive-Irresponsible (II) may add significant information in predicting self-reports of juvenile delinquent behavior among adolescents. A sample of 558 Italian high school students were administered the YPI and the Self-Reports of Delinquency Scale (SRDS) in order to evaluate interaction effects among YPI GM, CU, and II dimensions. Results showed a significant effect for a three-way interaction among the three YPI dimensions in predicting the SRDS total score, β?=?.19, p?<?.01. In conclusion, the findings seem to underline that a three-factor model of psychopathy may help clinicians and researchers in predicting self-reported delinquency better than the individual factors.     

More Than Just Skin Deep? Personality Information Influences Men's Ratings of the Attractiveness of Women's Body Sizes

ABSTRACT

This study examined the influence of personality information on perceptions of the physical attractiveness of a range of female body sizes. A sample of 2,157 male university students were randomly assigned to one of 10 groups in which they received personality information about women they were rating, or a control group in which they received no personality information. Controlling for participants' age and body mass index, results showed no significant between-group differences in the body size that participants found most attractive. However, participants provided with positive personality information perceived a wider range of body sizes as physically attractive compared with the control group, whereas participants provided with negative personality information perceived a narrower range of body sizes as attractive. Correlations showed that participants' own Extraversion was associated with their body size ratings. These results suggest that non-physical cues have an influence on the perception of physical beauty.     

More than just skin deep? Personality information influences men's ratings of the attractiveness of women's body sizes

This study examined the influence of personality information on perceptions of the physical attractiveness of a range of female body sizes. A sample of 2,157 male university students were randomly assigned to one of 10 groups in which they received personality information about women they were rating, or a control group in which they received no personality information. Controlling for participants' age and body mass index, results showed no significant between-group differences in the body size that participants found most attractive. However, participants provided with positive personality information perceived a wider range of body sizes as physically attractive compared with the control group, whereas participants provided with negative personality information perceived a narrower range of body sizes as attractive. Correlations showed that participants' own Extraversion was associated with their body size ratings. These results suggest that non-physical cues have an influence on the perception of physical beauty.     

Society for Personality Assessment — Which Way to Go?

As a result of a mandate by the membership, the Society for Personality Assessment has emerged as an old association with a new name. The decision on this issue was made by the membership at the same time that the question of its future affiliation was voted upon. Approximately two-thirds of the membership expressed the desire to have our group affiliate in some manner with the American Psychological Association. However, the exact manner was not specified in the referendum. At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Personality Assessment, there was a division of opinion as to whether joining as a division or as a section of an already existing division was the better move. The two most articulate exponents, Drs. Little and Farberow, were asked to prepare the position paper below in order to give the membership some information about the issues involved. On a subsequent occasion the members will be asked to take a formal position on this issue. If anyone, after reading the material below, wishes to comment further, I would be happy to publish his views in subsequent issues of the Journal.

Walter G. Klopfer Executive Editor     

What Triggers Anger in Everyday Life? Links to the Intensity,Control, and Regulation of These Emotions,and Personality Traits

Why do people experience anger? Most of our knowledge on anger‐triggering events is based on the study of reactions at a single time point in a person's life. Little research has examined how people experience anger in their daily life over time. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive examination of the situational determinants of anger over the course of 3 weeks. Using daily diary methodology, people (N = 173; 2,342 anger episodes) reported their most intense daily anger and, with an open‐ended format, described the trigger. Participants also answered questions on anger intensity, control, and regulatory strategies, along with baseline personality trait measures. Using an iterative coding system, five anger trigger categories emerged: other people, psychological and physical distress, intrapersonal demands, environment, and diffuse/undifferentiated/unknown. Compared with other triggers, when anger was provoked by other people or when the source was unknown, there was a stronger positive association with anger intensity and lack of control. Personality traits (i.e., anger, mindfulness, psychological need satisfaction, the Big Five) showed few links to the experience and regulation of daily anger. Although aversive events often spur anger, the correlates and consequences of anger differ depending on the source of aversion; personality traits offer minimal value in predicting anger in daily life.     

What is the moral basis of the authority of family members to act as surrogates for incompetent patients?

...The authority of family members should be understood as presumptive; that is, there is a moral presumption that a close family member should serve as surrogate for an incompetent patient. That presumption can be overcome or rebutted in a particular case, either when there is sufficient evidence that the usual reasons supporting this presumption do not hold or when the surrogate's decision exceeds appropriate limits of surrogates' decision-making discretion. In order to clarify these hard cases and appropriate public policy, we need a much deeper and more complex analysis than either the conventional view, or the alternative account that Pearlman and colleagues provide. I have sought here only to point toward some of the other grounds that a full account of family members' authority as surrogates would have to develop and explore in much more detail....     

Adolescents’ Behaviors as Moderators for the Link between Parental Self-Efficacy and Parenting Practices

Based on theory that parents with higher levels of self-efficacy (PSE) should find it easier to parent effectively in the face of challenging child behaviors than should parents with lower levels of PSE, this study examines the link between PSE and parenting using children’s behaviors as potential moderators. Participants were 130 parents who had an older adolescent (M _age?=?17.58) in addition to the target adolescent (M _age?=?11.79), and both adolescents’ externalizing behaviors were used as moderators for the link between PSE and parenting of the target adolescent. Path analysis in Mplus showed that higher PSE was linked to more promotive parenting but only among parents who had an older adolescent with lower levels of externalizing behaviors. Among parents of adolescents with higher levels of externalizing behaviors, whose promotive parenting was significantly lower than other parents overall, PSE did not predict promotive parenting. The link between PSE and parenting did not differ depending on the target adolescents’ behavior. Findings suggest that the link between parents’ beliefs and parenting depends on the broader family context. More specifically, how PSE is linked to parenting practices depends at least partly on the experiences that parents bring from parenting an older adolescent to their interactions with a later-born adolescent. From a clinical perspective, parents might need guidance in how to think about their earlier parenting experiences when parenting a younger adolescent.