Personality, learning style and work performance

Just over two hundred telephone sales staff completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) and Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ). Extraversion was highly correlated both positively and negatively with three of the four LSQ measures. The lie scale from the EPI was also systematically correlated with the Activist and Reflector scales of the LSQ. Both the EPI and LSQ traits were modestly correlated with two criteria: ratings of Actual Performance and Development Potential. Regressions were used to determine the best predictors of the two ratings measures. Personality variables (extraversion, neuroticism) and certain learning styles (reflector, pragmatist) were statistically significant predictors of rated performance, though they accounted for less than 10% of the explained variance. The results concur with recent meta-analytical studies that show personality variables account for a small but important amount of variance in measures of work performance.     

Personality, reinforcement and learning.

Conflict in predictions resulting from Eysenck's (1957) and Gray's (1970) theoretical formulations on personality and conditioning were tested at the behavioral level. Given conditions which do not produce over-arousal, it would be predicted from Eysenck's position that Introverts would condition better than Extraverts. From Gray's formulation it would follow that Introverts condition better if negative reinforcement is used and Extraverts condition better if positive reinforcement is used. The two opposing predictions were tested in pursuit rotor learning by either positively or negatively reinforcing the hit/miss dimension of performance by 166 males aged 14 to 15 yr. The results gave support to Gray's position but if over-arousal is assumed Eysenck's position is tenable.     

Personality traits and university program

Participants were 147 undergraduates majoring in programs classified as more professional (education, n = 28; business, n = 33) or less professional (natural sciences, n = 36; social science, n = 50) and more people-oriented (education, social sciences) or less people-oriented (business, natural sciences). They completed self-report tests for 13 personality constructs (five from Goldberg's version of the Five Factor Model, three from Eysenck and Eysenck's theory, and five others). Students in less professional disciplines scored higher on openness to experience (intellect/imagination) than those in more professional disciplines. Students in more people-oriented disciplines scored higher on empathy than those in less people-oriented disciplines. Women scored higher than men on conscientiousness, industriousness, and empathy, but lower than men on independence. Critical comments are offered and suggestions for research are made.     

Personality,self-regulated learning,and academic entitlement

The current study explored the relation between the Big-Five personality domains, self-regulated learning, and academic entitlement. Academic entitlement is defined as the tendency to possess expectations of unearned academic success, unearned/undeserved academic services, and/or the expectation of unrealistic accommodation (Chowning and Campbell in J Indiv Diff 101(4): 982, 2009; Singleton-Jackson et al. in Innov Higher Educ, 2010. doi: 10.1007/s10755-010-9151-y). Academic entitlement is a pervasive problem in today’s university environment (Twenge and Campbell in The narcissism epidemic: living in the age of entitlement. Simon and Schuster, New York, 2009), making it important to understand risk factors for academic entitlement. Previous research on academic entitlement has reported a relation between personality factors and academic entitlement (Chowning and Campbell 2009), and between academic entitlement and self-regulated learning (Achacoso 2002). The current study explores the relations among these three constructs from a multivariate perspective using canonical correlation analysis. Results suggested two significant canonical correlations that accounted for approximately 48% of the variance in the academic entitlement subscales.     

Personality, political skill, and job performance

Based on the socioanalytic perspective of performance prediction [Hogan, R. (1991). Personality and personality assessment. In M. D. Dunnette, L. Hough, (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 873–919). Chicago: Rand McNally; Hogan, R., & Shelton, D. (1998). A socioanalytic perspective on job performance. Human Performance, 11, 129–144.], the present study tests whether motives to get along and to get ahead produce greater performance when interactively combined with social effectiveness. Specifically, we investigated whether interactions of the Five-Factor Model constructs of agreeableness and conscientiousness with political skill predict job performance. Our results supported our hypothesis for the agreeableness-political skill interaction. Additionally, after correcting for the unreliability and restricted range of conscientiousness, we found that its interaction with political skill also significantly predicted job performance, although not precisely as hypothesized. Implications of the results and directions for future research are provided.     

Personality traits in leadership tasks

A common factor analysis was performed on the four personality dimensions measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and questionnaire measures of preferences for the four leadership tasks, Production, Administration, Enterprising, and Integration, described by Adizes. The sample was 1040 Norwegian adults. Three factors showed distinct common variances among the task preferences and the personality traits in a way that supported the construct validity of the traits. The implication of logical consistency among constructs based on self-report data is discussed, and it is argued that such concepts are valid and necessary at both personal and organisational levels although they may not predict performance as exactly as one might want for example in personnel selection.     

Personality and paired-associate learning1

Eysenck has theorized that introverts are high in arousal and should show the pattern of results which has been displayed in several experiments by subjects confronted with high-arousal stimulus materials: poor performance on short-term and good performance on long-term measures of retention. Extraverts, on the other hand, are thought to be low in arousal and should show the reverse pattern as displayed by subjects confronted with low-arousal stimulus materials. The relevant experiments conducted in Britain confirm these predictions. The relevant United States studies do not. The method used in the present study, in which Americans were subjects, is that of an experiment of Kleinsmith and Kaplan (1964) which found the patterns of retention predicted on the basis of the subjects' exposure to high- or low-arousal stimulus materials. But, as in the other tests of Eysenck's predictions, arousal was measured in terms of introversion and extraversion. The results failed to support Eysenck's formulation.     

Typical intellectual engagement,Big Five personality traits,approaches to learning and cognitive ability predictors of academic performance

Background Both ability (measured by power tests) and non‐ability (measured by preference tests) individual difference measures predict academic school outcomes. These include fluid as well as crystalized intelligence, personality traits, and learning styles. This paper examines the incremental validity of five psychometric tests and the sex and age of pupils to predict their General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE) test results. Aims The aim was to determine how much variance ability and non‐ability tests can account for in predicting specific GCSE exam scores. Sample The sample comprised 212 British schoolchildren. Of these, 123 were females. Their mean age was 15.8 years (SD 0.98 years). Method Pupils completed three self‐report tests: the Neuroticism–Extroversion–Openness‐Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI) which measures the ‘Big Five’ personality traits, ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ); the Typical Intellectual Engagement Scale ( Goff & Ackerman, 1992 ) and a measure of learning style, the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ; Biggs, 1987 ). They also completed two ability tests: the Wonderlic Personnel Test ( Wonderlic, 1992 ) a short measure of general intelligence and the General Knowledge Test ( Irving, Cammock, & Lynn, 2001 ) a measure of crystallized intelligence. Six months later they took their (10th grade) GCSE exams comprising four ‘core’ compulsory exams as well as a number of specific elective subjects. Results Correlational analysis suggested that intelligence was the best predictors of school results. Preference test measures accounted for relatively little variance. Regressions indicated that over 50% of the variance in school exams for English (Literature and Language) and Maths and Science combined could be accounted for by these individual difference factors. Conclusions Data from less than an hour's worth of testing pupils could predict school exam results 6 months later. These tests could, therefore, be used to reliably inform important decisions about how pupils are taught.     

Personality traits in patients with narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a lifelong disorder with the main symptoms of sleep attacks and cataplexy. In this study 49 narcoleptic patients were investigated with a battery of personality inventories, covering the following personality dimensions: anxiety-neuroticism, extraversion and socialization. The results were compared with three groups: normal subject, psychiatric inpatients with anxiety and outpatients with psychosomatic complaints. The main aim was to evaluate a clinical impression of a high degree of extraversion in narcoleptic patients, which according to Eysenck's model could be related to a disturbance in the arousal regulation. Narcoleptic patients had higher anxiety-neuroticism scores than normal individuals, particularly in terms of Somatic Anxiety. They had unexpectedly low scores in some socialization scales, and were contrary to our hypothesis slightly lower in the extraversion variables, than the comparison groups. The high scores in anxiety-neuroticism personality scales may depend on an anxiety-provoking effect of central stimulant drugs and/or a lability of the autonomic regulation associated with the disorder. Further, the strain caused by the narcoleptic symptoms may result in high scores in anxiety-neuroticism scales and low scores in socialization scales, via social-learning mechanisms. However, there may also be a coupling between the genetics of narcolepsy and biologically based personality traits.     

Personality traits in the DSM-5

Recent advances in personality research coupled with a broad acknowledgment of the limitations of the representation of personality pathology in the third and fourth editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III and DSM-IV) have positioned personality science to influence the shape of personality assessment in the fifth edition (DSM-5). Representing normative personality with well-validated traits that are broad, normally distributed, theoretically integrative, and distinct from personality disorder constructs would take optimal advantage of this opportunity. The assessment of normative traits would also link a large body of personality research with the practice of clinical diagnosis and would encourage clinicians to consider every patient's personality regardless of his or her diagnosis. Furthermore, conceptualizing personality traits and disorders separately would promote more careful clinical consideration of the functional severity and specific symptom constellations among personality disorders. Based on these considerations I argue that Five-factor model personality traits should be assessed separately from personality disorders in the DSM-5.     

Approach, avoidance, and inhibition: Personality traits predict cognitive control abilities

The extent to which approach and avoidance personality trait sensitivities are associated with specific cognitive control abilities as well as with verbal and nonverbal domains remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated whether approach and avoidance trait sensitivities predict performance on verbal and nonverbal versions of the Stroop task, which taps the specific cognitive control ability of inhibiting task-irrelevant information. The findings from the current study indicate that whereas approach (specifically, Extraversion) sensitivity was predictive of verbal Stroop performance, avoidance (specifically, Behavioral Inhibition System) sensitivity was predictive of nonverbal Stroop performance. These results provide novel evidence suggestive of the integration of motivational personality traits and the ability to inhibit task-irrelevant information in a domain-specific fashion.     

Personality from a realist’s perspective: Personality traits, criminal behaviors, and the externalizing spectrum

Reviews ways in which the author’s program of research has been influenced by Tellegen’s (1991) conceptualization of personality traits as both real and biologically based entities. Analyses of longitudinal-epidemiological data on personality and criminal behavior indicate that personality measures and measures of criminal behavior can be conceived of as indicators of a latent, stable propensity to act in an unconstrained manner. In addition, an unconstrained personality style, substance dependence, and antisocial behavior can be modeled as indicators of a highly heritable propensity towards “externalizing” or acting-out behaviors, with environmental factors playing a key role in determining the specific way in which this general, heritable externalizing propensity is expressed. Such research outlines the value of concepts from personality psychology in understanding consequential behaviors in the population at large.     

Personality and the psychology of learning

The aim of this article is to examine the interaction between personality and learning in order to find clues to the role that a student's personality plays in the process of adaptation and learning. To scrutinize such an expansive area requires that I cover a lot of territory in a small space, condensing many components and processes. Wherever meaningful, I will direct readers to sources that provide greater depth of coverage. The article is divided into four sections. The first section covers personality theories and models based on a structure-oriented view of personality. The second section addresses personality from a process-oriented viewpoint. Current research findings that relate personality characteristics explicitly to learning processes, strategy use, and metacognition are briefly reviewed. The third section goes one step further and discusses second-generation process-oriented personality models. These models are applied to student behaviour during actual learning episodes. A general outline of my model of the adaptable learning process is given and it is argued that the quality of subjective experience is not just an outcome of personality characteristics. It is influenced by student * situation transactions. In the fourth section, conclusions and suggestions for future research are given.     

Personality traits and sibling relationships in emerging adults

Associations between the Big Five personality traits of siblings and the quality of sibling relationships were examined in a sample of 115 college students and one of their older siblings. Big Five traits, as assessed by Goldberg's 100 adjective markers, predicted a large amount of the variability in sibling Warmth and Conflict. Agreeableness was the most consistent predictor of positive sibling outcomes.