Toward a further understanding of the intuitive personologist: Some preliminary evidence for the dialectical quality of subjective personality impressions

Despite significant advances over the past three decades in our understanding of the implicit personality theorist, some important questions remain, particularly as regards the nature of the underlying reasoning process by which subjectively meaningful personality impressions are formulated and expressed. The present article seeks to address this issue, with particular attention being given to the distinction between demonstrative and dialectical reasoning. Preliminary empirical evidence is offered to suggest that, at least under certain conditions, lay persons formulate and express subjective personality impressions on the basis of a reasoning process that is essentially dialectical in nature. Some major implications of this point of view for the study of the intuitive personologist are discussed. The limitations of the evidence presented, and the need for further research are also noted.     

Detecting (in)consistencies in personality: reconciling intuitions and empirical evidence

After Mischel's (1968) critique of the traditional concept of personality, others have attempted to resolve the apparent discrepancy between intuitive (and theoretical) notions of consistency in the behavior patterns of individuals, and the available empirical evidence, much of which seems to suggest that the intuitive/theoretical notions are erroneous. Virtually all of these attempts have been grounded ultimately in some variation of the individual differences paradigm that has long dominated empirical personality research. In contrast, the present article suggests that this apparent discrepancy results from an attempt to reconcile essentially idiographic intuitions with aggregate empirical findings. Going beyond previous conceptual discussions of this point, the present article offers an empirical illustration of the problem, and suggests that the intuitions vs. empirical evidence discrepancy regarding questions of (in)consistencies in personality reflects the "incorrectness" of neither, but rather the fact that the intuitions and empirical evidence speak to fundamentally different questions. The implications of this fact for programmatic, theoretically oriented personality research are emphasized.     

Where Does Personality Have Its Influence? A Supermatrix of Consistency Concepts

ABSTRACT An understanding of the nature of personality depends on clear conceptions of consistency. Researchers have applied the term consistency in ambiguous and inconsistent ways over the last half century, which has led to a great deal of confusion and debate over the existence of personality. This article seeks to reframe and extend conceptions of consistency and thus proposes three important ways consistency concepts differ from each other. The first way consistency concepts differ from each other is in the competing determinant of behavior that the consistency is across: time, situation content, or behavior content. The second way consistency concepts differ from each other is in the definition of behavior enactment: single enactment, aggregate enactment, contingent enactment, or patterned enactment. When these two dimensions are crossed with a third dimension—definition of similarity (absolute, relative‐position, or ipsative)—they create a supermatrix of 36 consistency concepts. Empirical support for each of these 36 consistency concepts, or its failure, has uniquely different implications for the fundamental nature of personality. This supermatrix can serve as a guide for future research aimed at discovering the nature of personality.     

A Clinical-Empirical Model of Personality: Life after the Mischelian Ice Age and the NEO-Lithic Era

ABSTRACT A theory of personality should lead to both accurate prediction and interpretive understanding. Aside from its empirical uses, a personality theory should provide a grammar that allows personality psychologists to infer meaning from overt behavior with more sophistication than a layperson, and the best laboratory for testing the interpretive utility of a personality theory remains the clinic. With respect to the appropriate data for constructing and evaluating theories of personality, an overreliance on questionnaire data is problematic for several reasons: It assumes that understanding people requires no training, it mistakes research on the conscious self-concept for research on personality, it conflates implicit and explicit knowledge, it fails to address defensive biases, and it lacks interrater reliability. Consideration of both empirical and clinical data points to three questions that define the elements of personality necessary for a comprehensive assessment of an individual: (a) What psychological resources–cognitive, affective, and behavioral dispositions–does the individual have at his or her disposal? (b) What does the person wish for, fear, and value, and how do these motives combine and conflict? (c) How does the person experience the self and others, and to what extent can the individual enter into intimate relationships?     

Applications of Personality Assessment to the Workplace: A Review

Our review of the relevant research literature in the recent past strongly supports the view that personality assessment has high utility in the workplace. We review the evidence that personality assessment measures, especially those based upon the Big Five factors of personality, can effectively predict job performance and thus can be used for personnel selection. The validity of integrity testing in predicting counterproductivity on the job has been demonstrated both for overt measures of integrity and, to a lesser degree, for more general (subtle) measures of personality. We also found good evidence of validity for measures of (supervisory) management and (transformational) leadership, a complex field which includes a number of multidimensional instruments each built around its own theory. Finally, we review the empirical literature that supports the use of assessment centers and the use of personality assessment in training and development.     

In Search Of True Things Worth Knowing: Considerations For A New Article Prototype

Within social and personality psychology, the existing “old prototype” of a publishable article is at odds with new expectations for transparent reporting. If researchers anticipate having to report everything while continuing to aim for a research product that includes multiple studies, examining a novel effect, with only statistically significant results, this will have negative implications for initial decisions about what research to conduct. First, researchers will be discouraged from collecting additional data because this could potentially mar existing findings. Second, they will be discouraged from pursuing questions for which the answers are unknown, as this would be a waste if the results do not fit old‐prototype expectations. These practices undermine what seem to be two universal values within personality and social psychology: truth and interestingness. Suggestions for a “new prototype” that de‐emphasizes p‐value cutoffs, multiple studies, and novelty will be discussed with an eye toward encouraging research decisions that foster true and interesting findings.     

Objective Explanations of Individual Well-being

Empirical research on questions pertaining to individual well-being is informed by the researchers' philosophical conception of the nature of well-being and, consequently, the adequacy of such research is partly determined by the plausibility of this conception. Philosophical theories of human well-being divide into subjective and objective. Subjective theories make our well-being dependent on our attitudes of favour and disfavour. Objective theories deny this dependency. This article discusses objective theories of individual well-being from the point of view of their explanatory power and argues that these theories are unable to provide an acceptable account of the prudential goodness of what they consider to be good for human beings. The article concludes by discussing some implications of its main argument to empirical research on questions pertaining to individual well-being. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

“Idiographic” vis-à-vis “idiodynamic” in the historical perspective of personality theory: Remembering Gordon Allport, 1897–1997

The centenary of Gordon W. Allport provides an occasion for reappraising his special position regarding uniqueness in personality. Allport's theory of personality, as first presented in his 1937 textbook, highlighted the idiographic in conjunction with the nomothetic approach, and the fundamental unit in his formulation was the trait. He described common and unique traits as well as the unique organization of traits. In contradistinction, the idiodynamic orientation, introduced by Saul Rosenzweig in 1951 and, in more detail in 1958, focused on events which over a lifespan constitute an idioverse—a population of phenomenological events. Allport's original emphasis on the idiographic and his later confusion concerning idiodynamics, can, in considerable measure, be understood by recognizing the role of religious spirituality in his conception of the person. That conception, which derived from an early religious indoctrination, asserted itself with renewed vigor in his later years. His scientific conception of personality thus remained unconsummated, subordinated by him to the unsolvable mysteries of ontology which properly belong, he believed, in the domain of faith. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Adjustment Problems and Emerging Personality Characteristics from Early to Late Adolescence

This 6-year longitudinal study extended earlier findings of contextual influences on adolescent adjustment problems by examining relationships between adolescent emotional and behavioral problems and late adolescent personality among more than 400 youths who were followed from 7th grade to the last year of high school. Results suggest that psychological distress and behavioral problems experienced during the adolescent years (7th–10th grades) are significantly related to personality structure during the final year of high school (12th grade). Psychological distress in adolescence was primarily related to the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) superfactors of negative and positive emotionality, whereas delinquency and substance use problems were primarily related to the MPQ superfactor of constraint. These relationships remained significant even when personality characteristics in 9th grade were taken into account. That is, emotional and behavioral problems predicted change in personality traits during the adolescent years. Moreover, both initial level and change in distress and problem behaviors were predictive of late adolescent or early adult personality. This finding suggests that personality formation is a dynamic process, dependent on the growth or decline, as well as the magnitude of earlier developmental problems. Because earlier research has shown that these developmental problems are affected by both distal and proximal environmental contexts as well as by the formative nature of adolescence, intervention efforts aimed at the reduction of maladjustment and the enhancement of healthy personality development should target early adolescent social contexts. Other theoretical implications of the findings also are discussed.     

A Meta-Analysis of the Dependency–Eating-Disorders Relationship: Strength, Specificity, and Temporal Stability

Meta-analysis of studies examining the dependency–eating-disorders relationship revealed that (1) there is a positive association between interpersonal dependency levels and eating disorder symptoms/diagnoses (r = .25); (2) this relationship is comparable in anorexic and bulimic participants; (3) although dependent personality disorder symptoms are elevated in eating-disordered participants, so are the symptoms of several other personality disorders; and (4) when eating disorder symptoms remit, dependency levels decrease. Conclusion: There is a statistically significant link between interpersonal dependency and eating disorders, but this relationship is modest in magnitude, nonspecific, and varies with eating disorder symptom levels. Clinical, empirical, and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Personality,confirmation bias,and forensic interviewing performance

Confirmation bias is a universal characteristic of human cognition, with consequences for information processing and reasoning in everyday situations as well as in professional work such as forensic interviewing. Cognitive measures such as general intelligence are also related to personality traits, but there is a lack of research on personality and confirmation bias specifically. This study focuses, firstly, on the relationship between Big Five personality traits and confirmation bias as measured by the Wason selection task, and secondly, how these dispositions are related to observed performance in real forensic interviews of child victims. In a sample of police interviewers, Openness (i.e., the facets Ideas and Fantasy) and Neuroticism (i.e., the facets Anxiety and Vulnerability) were independently associated with confirmation bias (N = 72). Scores on the selection task, the Openness facet values, and the Extraversion facets Assertiveness and Activity were consistently related to interview performance (N = 46). Implications of these findings are discussed for the empirical and conceptual relations of cognitive ability to personality and for the selection and training of police interviewers and their professional development.     

The Role of Attachment Insecurity and Big Five Traits on Sensory Processing Sensitivity

Abstract

This study examined the interplay between behavioral inhibition/activation systems (BIS/BAS) sensitivity, attachment insecurity (i.e., anxiety and avoidance), and Big Five personality traits in predicting sensory processing sensitivity (SPS). We have specifically tested three alternative theoretical models to explain the process through which BIS/BAS sensitivity link to SPS; unique effects of attachment dimensions and personality traits, as well as moderating and mediating role of these variables. Participants (N?=?494) completed the highly sensitive Person scale, BIS/BAS scales, experiences in close relationships-revised scale, and big five inventory. The findings revealed the complex role of attachment dimensions and personality traits on SPS. Attachment avoidance, but not attachment anxiety, moderated the effect of BIS activity on SPS indicating that, compared to those with high BIS sensitivity, those with low levels of both BIS and attachment avoidance reported lower level of SPS. Attachment anxiety, neuroticism, extraversion, and openness partially mediated the effects of BIS on SPS. Conceptual implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

An Examination of the Relationships Between Personality,Attitudes, and Cognitions Relevant to Alcohol-Impaired Driving Tendencies1

Previous research has explored the domain of legal and educational prevention in regard to the phenomena of accidents and injuries caused by drinking and driving. Most investigations of psychological factors attempt to distinguish characteristics of drunk drivers relative to the general driving population or controls matched on driving risk variables. In contrast, the present research concentrated on the examination of the process by which empirically derived personality and general attitudinal constructs operate within a cognitive framework to influence the decision to drive. Four conceptual models were proposed that suggested the presence of direct, indirect, and moderated effects of personality and general attitudinal constructs on cognitions relevant to drunk-driving tendencies. Support was observed for a model suggesting the presence of indirect, direct, and moderating effects for the general attitudinal construct driving aggression, and support for an indirect effects model for the personality variable emotional control. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of utilizing personality and general attitudinal constructs to improve short term cognitive-based interventions.     

The influence of role definition and affect in LMX: A process perspective on the personality – LMX relationship

While leader–member exchange (LMX) theorists have argued that role definition and affective processes play a central role in LMX development, research has yet to examine their relative influence. Likewise, few studies have investigated how the personality of leader and follower play out in these processes. Drawing on a sample of 161 managers and their respective leaders, we develop and offer empirical support for a model in which leader and subordinate agreeableness and core self‐evaluations wield their respective influence through the affective and role definition processes underlying LMX. Implications of these findings for the theory and practice of LMX are discussed.     

Recognising Humanity

abstract Martha Nussbaum's Hiding from Humanity, links the philosophical understanding of emotion with important issues in ethics, law and political philosophy, and engages with empirical material in a manner that provides a model for open and practically oriented moral philosophy. Here I explore four areas in which I believe the discussion now needs to be carried forward. First, the connections between Nussbaum's work and other contributions to recent moral philosophy, principally that of Alasdair MacIntyre in Dependent Rational Animals (1999) but also that of David Wiggins in Ethics (2006). Second, the conceptual understanding of notions of disability, impairment and normal human functioning, and the standards against which these are determined and judged. Third, the nature of mental disorder and the harm done to sufferers by the stigma attaching to it. Fourth, the implications of following Nussbaum's lead in recognising humanity in the vulnerable, as these bear upon ‘ending life’ issues, especially that of abortion. Nussbaum's book serves to orient readers towards a cluster of important philosophical issues and specific policy areas; but it also raises questions that she might now wish to consider further.     

The very idea of a social science

In The Idea of a Social Science Winch, argues that, sociology is more properly conceived as a branch of philosophy than of empirical science. Winch falls victim here to the Humean assimilation of the empirical to the generalizable. He notes that much of our talk about social practice is in terms of conventions, so that explanations of social action can be given without recourse to statistical or experimental findings. But such talk depends nonetheless on the accuracy and detail with which the situations in which actions occur are‐ recorded, and this is surely an empirical enterprise. It is the misleading conception of sociology as a discipline, characterized by common procedures, that leads Winch to espouse the assimilation of sociology to conceptual inquiry. We need to see instead that sociology embraces a group of questions and subjects so loosely connected that it would be mistaken to speak of, and idle to project, a procedure common to all of them.     

The Construct Of Personality In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (Rebt) Theory

In this article it is argued that, if Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is to survive and prosper in the next century, it will require a more comprehensive and detailed theory of personality at its base. Ideally, REBT personality theory preferably should avoid certain basic shortcomings of other personality theories. Toward these ends, an explicit definition of the term personality is proposed for REBT theory emphasizing psychological individuality, cognition, emotion, and behavior, and their interrelationships. The central concepts in the proposed definition are then explored along with related broad-based hypotheses generally amenable to empirical test. Finally, some implications of the proposed definition of personality for treatment are then discussed.     

Different Types of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being in Relation to Personality and Subjective Well-Being

In this study the authors attempt to present different types of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (RSWB) and discuss their relation to personality and psychological well-being. The Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being 48 is employed for this study, which consists of 6 subscales. To find different types of RSWB, an agglomerative cluster analysis on these subscales was performed based on the responses obtained in a nonclinical adult sample (n = 463). A 4-cluster solution was accepted. The clusters were labeled as Religious/Spiritual High, Religiously Oriented, Existentially Oriented, and Religious/Spiritual Low, and were found to be substantially related to Sense of Coherence (n = 263) and Six Factors of Personality (n = 200) in two different subsamples. By presenting a first empirical model for a 4-field typology of RSWB, we hope to further contribute to the ongoing discussion on how to deal with religious/spiritual issues in personality research.