Leadership perceptions,gender, and dominant personality: The role of normality evaluations

Individuals with dominant personality tend to be perceived as leaders, but theory suggests the dominance advantage for leadership might depend upon gender. Role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002) holds that gender role-incongruence (i.e., dominant personality traits among women) can be a liability, which we propose produces a dominance-gender interaction effect on leadership perceptions. We extend this theory by proposing and testing a novel conceptual mediator of the role congruity effect—perceived normality. Results show dominance predicts perceived transformational leadership, but only for men. This role congruity interaction effect is then explained by perceived normality (mediated moderation). The conditional indirect effect of dominance on leadership through perceived normality is positive for men, but negative for women—consistent with role congruity theory.     

Personal tempo, personality, cognitive speed and cognitive performance

One hundred young males filled in an untimed personality questionnaire. The time needed was taken to be the subjects' personal tempo. They also worked twice on a timed substitution test; their score on this test was taken to be their cognitive speed. It was hypothesized that personal tempo was related to personality and cognitive speed to performance on cognitive tests. The results confirmed the hypothesis. Those whose personal tempo was faster had higher Extraversion and lower Neuroticism and Lie-scores. Those whose cognitive speed was faster, however, did better on four out of five cognitive tests and had a higher Lie-score. It seems that the two speed factors, as hypothesized by Spearman, are indeed two separate and distinct factors, each correlated with different variables: cognitive and personality.     

Cognitive ability, personality, and academic performance in adolescence

Does positive thinking predict variance in school grades over and above that predicted by cognitive ability? Six hundred and thirty nine high school students participated in a three-year longitudinal study that predicted grades using cognitive ability and three positive thinking variables – self-esteem, hope, and attributional style. Hope, positive attributional style and cognitive ability predicted higher grades, whilst self-esteem was a less consistent predictor of academic performance. Structural equation modelling revealed significant paths from cognitive ability, gender, and a second order positive thinking factor to grades. The results suggest that intelligence, gender, and positive thinking each play a unique role in predicting academic performance in youth. Some suggestions for further research are made.     

Importance of race,gender, and personality in predicting academic performance

Substantial research has demonstrated that African American students tend to perform more poorly than their White counterparts in terms of academic performance (e.g., Bali & Alvarez). However, this knowledge has proven insufficient in highlighting a clear path for countering this gap in academic achievement. The present study (n = 719) provides evidence that race (African Americans and Whites) interacts with personality in predicting academic performance (i.e., grade point average) in a college setting and that the pattern of effects differs for men and women. Agreeableness reduced race effects for women, and extraversion and openness reduced race effects for men. Our results suggest new avenues for educators and policymakers to consider when attempting to reduce this performance gap.     

Phenomenal consciousness,collective mentality,and collective moral responsibility

Are corporations and other complex groups ever morally responsible in ways that do not reduce to the moral responsibility of their members? Christian List, Phillip Pettit, Kendy Hess, and David Copp have recently defended the idea that they can be. For them, complex groups (sometimes called collectives) can be irreducibly morally responsible because they satisfy the conditions for morally responsible agency; and this view is made more plausible by the claim (made by Theiner) that collectives can have minds. In this paper I give a new argument that they are wrong. Drawing on recent work in the philosophy of mind (what Uriah Kriegel calls “the phenomenal intentionality research program”) and moral theory (David Shoemaker’s tripartite theory of moral responsibility), I argue that for something to have a mind, it must be phenomenally conscious, and that the fact that collectives lack phenomenal consciousness implies that they are incapable of accountability, an important form of moral responsibility.     

The relationship between personality, approach to learning and academic performance

This study considers the relationship between students' approaches to learning, as measured by a short-form of Entwistle and Tait's (1995) Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI), the Big Five personality factors, as measured by Cattell's 16PFi, and the background variables of age, gender and prior educational achievement and academic performance. Subjects were 146 social science undergraduate students at a university in Scotland. Structural equation modelling identifies the Big Five personality factor scores account for between 22.7% and 43.6% of the variance across scores on the three approach to learning dimensions. Four of the Big Five personality factors and the three approach to learning dimensions were found to be poor predictors of academic performance. A linear regression analysis with academic performance as the dependent variable and age, prior educational attainment and conscientiousness as independent variables, accounted for 24.1% of the variance in performance. Our investigation suggests approach to learning is a subset of personality. However, we conclude it makes sense to measure these two groups of variables separately in educational settings.     

A regression tree of the aptitudes,personality, and academic performance relationship

This study suggests regression trees as a complementary tool to regression and SEM to respond to questions related with the influence of intelligence, personality, and their interplay on academic performance. Data from 818 secondary education students (402 girls and 416 boys) in aptitudes, personality, and academic performance in four learning areas: language (Catalan and Spanish) and science (Natural and Mathematics) were modelled with this technique. Two hypotheses articulated the presentation of this methodology. Aptitudes were much more relevant than personality to explain variance in academic performance. Verbal aptitude was particularly more relevant for girls than for boys.     

Schizotypal and dependent personality characteristics and managerial performance

The study of negatively connotated personality characteristics as predictors of work‐related performance is gaining momentum. While findings have generally suggested such characteristics to be negatively or curvilinearly related to performance, the current study was concerned with investigating any positive relationships that may exist between negatively connotated personality characteristics (as measured by the Hogan Development Survey) and work‐related performance in a sample of 103 Australasian financial services managers. The most notable findings from the study were that: (a) schizotypal personality characteristics positively predicted performance on a creativity competency; and (b) dependent personality characteristics positively predicted performance on a customer focus competency. Findings and limitations are discussed.     

Group cognition,membership change,and performance: Investigating the benefits and detriments of collective knowledge

This study analyzes the effects of group membership change on group cognition and performance to determine how groups can simultaneously leverage oldtimers’ collective knowledge and a newcomer’s expertise. Our analysis focuses specifically on the interrelated effects of the two components of a transactive memory system (TMS)—TMS structure and TMS processes—to explain the cognitive mechanisms through which membership change affects group performance. Results from a laboratory study show that groups that experience partial membership change tend to rely on the TMS structure that oldtimers developed in their original group, and that doing so is ultimately detrimental to performance because it creates inefficient TMS processes. Results from a supplemental study indicate that these TMS process inefficiencies can be avoided when oldtimers are instructed to reflect upon their collective knowledge prior to task execution. We discuss the implications for managing group cognition in organizations where membership change is prevalent.     

Defensive style and performance on objective personality measures

Two studies on the relations between various styles of defense and the power or validity of self-reports on objective personality questionnaires. The power of individual items on the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control scale to discriminate between subjects defined as internals or externals by a median-cut procedure using the total score was not affected by the presence Or absence of a projective defensive style. However, the presence of repressive tendencies did appear to restrict item power. Prediction from two achievement scales taken from Gough's California Psychological Inventory was not influenced by level of repression, was affected somewhat adversely by a projective style, and was most clearly contaminated by a rationalizing defense. It was proposed that the differential effects of defensive styles upon the validity of personality tests depended upon the convergence or divergence of the cognitive operations involved in the type of defense and in the type of personality measure.