The Power of Being Positive: The Relation Between Positive Self-Concept and job Performance

Most managers would probably agree that positivity is something they value in employees, yet selection research has virtually ignored the relation between employee positivity and job performance. This article suggests that a broad personality trait, labeled positive self-concept or core self-evaluations, is a potentially important personality trait in the prediction of job performance. Positive self-concept consists of four specific traits previously studied in isolation: self-esteem, generalized self-ef- ficacy, locus of control, and (low) neuroticism or emotional stability. Data analyzed from 12 samples revealed that these specific traits are strongly correlated and comprise a common factor. Drawing from four motivation theories, we argue that the principal reason positive self-concept is linked to job performance is because positive employees are more motivated to perform theirjobs. We also argue that, in some jobs, positive self-concept may be an ability factor. Finally, we discuss various implemen- tation issues involved in using positive self-concept in selection decisions. Overall, this article suggests that positive self-concept is a trait deserving of more attention in selection research and practice.     

Metatraits

ABSTRACT A metatrait is the trait of having versus not having a trait It refers to whether a given trait dimension or construct can be used to describe a particular personality Using attitudes as an analog to traits, we argue that the study of personality may benefit from considering metatraits Implications for the nature of traits and for the formation and disappearance of traits within a personality are discussed We review strategies for measuring metatraits and conclude that at present it seems best to use interitem variance in responses to specific, familiar trait scales Metatraits will most commonly moderate trait effects, especially such that hypotheses about traits are appropriately tested only with trailed individuals Untraited individuals may be susceptible to fluctuating states and situational manipulations Sometimes metatraits may predict behavior directly, independently of trait level Two studies are reported to illustrate metatrait moderation of trait effects and direct prediction of behavior by metatrait     

An interpersonal analysis of pathological personality traits in DSM-5

The proposed changes to the personality disorder section of the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.) places an increased focus on interpersonal impairment as one of the defining features of personality psychopathology. In addition, a proposed trait model has been offered to provide a means of capturing phenotypic variation on the expression of personality disorder. In this study, the authors subject the proposed DSM-5 traits to interpersonal analysis using the inventory of interpersonal problems-circumplex scales via the structural summary method for circumplex data. DSM-5 traits were consistently associated with generalized interpersonal dysfunction suggesting that they are maladaptive in nature, the majority of traits demonstrated discriminant validity with prototypical and differentiated interpersonal problem profiles, and conformed well to a priori hypothesized associations. These results are discussed in the context of the DSM-5 proposal and contemporary interpersonal theory, with a particular focus on potential areas for expansion of the DSM-5 trait model.     

The development and validation of a measure of character: The CIVIC

The present research study sought to develop and validate a character scale – the Comprehensive Inventory of Virtuous Instantiations of Character using a total sample size of 3679 across five studies. In Study 1, character trait items were generated using an integrative classification system. In Study 2, character trait scales were further refined and their factor structure examined, revealing eight higher-order character dimensions or character cores: appreciation, intellectual engagement, fortitude, interpersonal consideration, sincerity, temperance, transcendence, and empathy. Study 3 established convergent validity of character traits with extant measures and discriminability from personality facets, social desirability, and moral cognitive development. Study 4 revealed that character cores were more strongly related to evaluative constructs than personality dimensions. Study 5 demonstrated that character cores predicted performance and psychological well-being outcomes above and beyond personality. The implications of our findings for the assessment and taxonomy of character are discussed.     

A Big Five model of disposition and situation interaction: why a “helpful” person may not always behave helpfully

A “bottom-up” Big Five disposition-situation interaction model is introduced that highlights the interactive relation between an individual's behavioral trait tendencies and the different facets of a situation to which he or she may respond. In the proposed model, personality traits are considered markers for how an individual might interpret and respond to different facets of a situation. Given a complex situation with multiple response options, a person will respond to the part of the situation most salient to him or her at that time. The presented model illustrates how interactions between the trait dimensions of the Big Five model with the different facets of a situational context, as well as the intra-individual interactions between the different trait dimensions themselves, determine which facet of a situation will be salient. The model is expected to improve prediction of specific behaviors in specific situations using personality traits. Results from an illustrative study are presented.     

The production mechanisms of traits: Reflections on two amazing decades

I am filled with a great deal of gratitude to see the progress, diversity, and excitement of research on within-person variability in personality. I argue for the value of studying states of a diverse array of contents, as represented in this special issue. The value of studying states is represented by four advances states facilitate: (i) evaluating the multipotency of personality; (ii) discovering the production mechanisms by which traits cause trait manifestations; (iiii) testing the causal effects of personality; and (iv) opening up new approaches to questions about personality. I present a series of conceptual commitments that enhance the value of studying states, and then I discuss how and why those conceptual commitments actually do enhance the value of studying states.     

Cybernetic Big Five Theory

Cybernetics, the study of goal-directed, adaptive systems, is the best framework for an integrative theory of personality. Cybernetic Big Five Theory attempts to provide a comprehensive, synthetic, and mechanistic explanatory model. Constructs that describe psychological individual differences are divided into personality traits, reflecting variation in the parameters of evolved cybernetic mechanisms, and characteristic adaptations, representing goals, interpretations, and strategies defined in relation to an individual’s particular life circumstances. The theory identifies mechanisms in which variation is responsible for traits in the top three levels of a hierarchical trait taxonomy based on the Big Five and describes the causal dynamics between traits and characteristic adaptations. Lastly, the theory links function and dysfunction in traits and characteristic adaptations to psychopathology and well-being.     

Lean on me: The importance of one's own and partner's intercultural personality for expatriate's and expatriate spouse's successful adjustment abroad

This research explores the role of three intercultural personality traits—emotional stability, social initiative, and open-mindedness—as coping resources for expatriate couples’ adjustment. First, we examined the direct relationships of expatriates’ and expatriate spouses’ personality trait levels with psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Psychological adjustment refers to internal psychological outcomes such as mental health and personal satisfaction, whereas sociocultural adjustment refers to more externally oriented psychological outcomes that link the individual to the new environment. Second, we examined the association of expatriates’ personality trait levels with professional adjustment, which was defined in terms of job performance and organizational commitment. Cross-sectional analyses among 196 expatriates and expatriate spouses (i.e., 98 expatriate couples) revealed that the three dimensions are each associated with specific facets of adjustment. A longitudinal analysis among a subsample (45 couples) partially confirmed these findings. Furthermore, we obtained evidence for a resource compensation effect, that is, the compensatory process whereby one partner's lack of sufficiently high levels of a certain personality trait is compensated for by the other partner's high(er) levels of this traits. Through this resource compensation effect, the negative consequences of a lack of sufficient levels of a personality trait on adjustment can be diminished. Apparently, in the absence of sufficiently high trait levels, individuals can benefit from personality resources in their partners.     

Functional coordination of personality strategies with physical strength and attractiveness: A multi-sample investigation at the HEXACO facet-level

Previous research has supported adaptationist hypotheses pertaining to the functional coordination of personality strategies with phenotypic determinants of bargaining power, such as physical strength and attractiveness. However, prior studies have focused primarily on explaining variation in Extraversion and Emotionality/Neuroticism as broadband traits. The current study synthesizes data from three subject samples (N = 766) to test correlations of physical strength and attractiveness with the HEXACO factors and facets among young adults. Our analyses reveal specific, functionally meaningful, patterns of phenotypic coordination, and thereby help illuminate which facets drive previously documented associations at the factor-level. Among both sexes, strength was an especially important predictor of facets whose secondary loadings place them in the quadrant of factor space defined by high Extraversion (Expressiveness, Liveliness, Social Boldness) and low Emotionality (Fearfulness, Anxiety). Findings bolster the hypothesis that specific personality strategies are coordinated with phenotypic components of bargaining power, and suggest that granular measures of personality (such as facets) may provide more mechanistic and functional insight than broadband trait factors.     

Adolescent Personality: Associations With Basal,Awakening, and Stress‐Induced Cortisol Responses

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the associations between personality facets and hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis functioning. Previous studies have mainly focussed on stress‐induced HPA‐axis activation. We hypothesized that other characteristics of HPA‐axis functioning would have a stronger association with personality based on the neuroendocrine literature. Data (n = 343) were used from the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a large prospective cohort study of Dutch adolescents. We studied the association between facets of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness and basal cortisol, the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and four measures of stress‐induced HPA‐axis activity. Basal cortisol levels were related to facets of all three personality traits. The CAR and stress‐induced cortisol were not related to personality. Possibly due to its more trait‐like nature, basal cortisol seems more informative than stress‐induced cortisol when investigating trait‐like characteristics such as personality facets.     

A Psychometric Network Perspective on the Validity and Validation of Personality Trait Questionnaires

This article reviews the causal implications of latent variable and psychometric network models for the validation of personality trait questionnaires. These models imply different data generating mechanisms that have important consequences for the validity and validation of questionnaires. From this review, we formalize a framework for assessing the evidence for the validity of questionnaires from the psychometric network perspective. We focus specifically on the structural phase of validation, where items are assessed for redundancy, dimensionality, and internal structure. In this discussion, we underline the importance of identifying unique personality components (i.e. an item or set of items that share a unique common cause) and representing the breadth of each trait's domain in personality networks. After, we argue that psychometric network models have measures that are statistically equivalent to factor models but we suggest that their substantive interpretations differ. Finally, we provide a novel measure of structural consistency, which provides complementary information to internal consistency measures. We close with future directions for how external validation can be executed using psychometric network models. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The concept and status of trait in research on temperament

The aim of the paper is to show that research on temperament is inescapably bound with the concept of trait as applied in personality research. It is the individual differences approach on which temperament studies are based, and traits are the basic units by means of which these differences are described. Taking as a point of departure the definition of trait understood as a relatively stable and individual‐specific generalized tendency to behave or react in a certain way expressed in a variety of situations, the hypothetical status of temperament traits is discussed. Special attention is paid to states and behaviour by means of which temperament traits are inferred as well as to the biological and environmental determinants of these traits. Temperamental traits constitute only a part of the personality structure viewed from the perspective of individual differences and this perspective is only one of the many from which the complex nature of personality should be viewed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender-linked personality and mental health: The role of trait emotional intelligence

The present study examined the role of the emotion-related personality dimension, or trait emotional intelligence (EI), in the relationship between gender-linked personality (GLP) traits and internalizing mental health difficulties (IMHDs). GLP traits were measured as Agency and Communion, due to conceptual advantages over other semantic representations (e.g., masculinity, femininity) in the literature. IMHDs as the outcome variable were conceptualized as a latent composite of anxiety, stress, and emotion-oriented coping. A moderate relationship between Agency and IMHDs was fully mediated by trait EI. Trait EI also divided an overall non-significant effect of Communion on IMHDs into an indirect, protective effect via trait EI and a direct, adverse effect. The results suggest that Agency and Communion subsume different sets of trait EI facets, which may account for much of the differential protective effects of these GLP traits on IMHDs. Discussion focuses on implications of the results for sex differences in mental health.     

Developing a short form of the IPIP Abridged Big Five-Dimensional Circumplex (AB5C) congruent with the AB5C circumplex locations

The Abridged Big-Five Dimensional Circumplex (AB5C) model stands out due to its ability to locate personality facets within a circumplex structure. However, both current measures of the AB5C model have facets inconsistent with their respective circumplex location. The current study sought to modify specific AB5C-SF scales by selecting new items for eleven facets that displayed poor psychometric properties as well as new facet labels for four facets. Although results suggested that new item selections generally improved the psychometric qualities, some specific circumplex locations remained challenging to capture. Combined with past results, this raises questions regarding whether all possible domain combinations can be well-assessed and if there are single words to capture certain trait combinations in the English language.     

Establishing construct validity for Openness-to-Experience in middle childhood: Contributions from personality and temperament

Controversy exists over the validity of child Openness-to-Experience (OE). To establish construct validity for child OE, data were collected for 346 children (51% girls) aged 9-to-10-years (M = 9.92, SD = 0.83). Parents completed questionnaires about their children’s personality, temperament, and behavioral problems and competencies. Factor analyses of relevant personality and temperament facets revealed a robust OE factor made up of three facets: Intellect, Imagination, and Sensitivity. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity was established via associations with other personality traits, and behavioral problems and competencies. Results underscore the importance of drawing from both temperament and personality literatures in attempts to establish construct validity for child trait domains as well as examining facet-level associations between OE and child behavior.     

Sources of Variance in Personality Facets: A Multiple‐Rater Twin Study of Self‐Peer,Peer‐Peer,and Self‐Self (Dis)Agreement

ABSTRACT This study considered the validity of the personality structure based on the Five‐Factor Model using both self‐ and peer reports on twins' NEO‐PI‐R facets. Separating common from specific genetic variance in self‐ and peer reports, this study examined genetic substance of different trait levels and rater‐specific perspectives relating to personality judgments. Data of 919 twin pairs were analyzed using a multiple‐rater twin model to disentangle genetic and environmental effects on domain‐level trait, facet‐specific trait, and rater‐specific variance. About two thirds of both the domain‐level trait variance and the facet‐specific trait variance was attributable to genetic factors. This suggests that the more personality is measured accurately, the better these measures reflect the genetic structure. Specific variance in self‐ and peer reports also showed modest to substantial genetic influence. This may indicate not only genetically influenced self‐rater biases but also substance components specific for self‐ and peer raters' perspectives on traits actually measured.     

回避与趋近性负性人格特质对应激心血管反应模式的不同影响

本研究考察了回避与趋近性负性特质对不同强度心理社会应激刺激重复暴露的心血管反应、应激后心血管反应恢复、重复应激心血管反应的影响,并探讨了应激认知评价在其中的作用。167名大学生被试被随机分配到中/高强度应激条件中,连续采集其在基线期、首次应激期、恢复期、重复应激期四个阶段的心血管反应数据。结果发现:(1)无论应激强度如何,回避性负性特质预测首次和重复应激中较低(钝化)的心血管反应和应激后较差的恢复,而趋近性负性特质预测较大的心血管反应和应激后较差的恢复。(2)重复应激个人资源感知在回避性负性特质与重复应激心率反应之间起中介作用。因此,回避性负性特质与持续较低(钝化)的应激心血管反应和应激后较差的恢复相联系,而趋近性负性特质与较大的应激心血管反应和应激后较差的恢复相联系,即两类负性特质均表现出不适应的固化的应激心血管反应模式,这可能构成了两类不同负性特质增加罹患心血管疾病风险的生理机制。     

Traits and Adaptations: A Theoretical Examination and New Empirical Evidence

We investigated the distinction between traits (also labelled basic tendencies or dispositions) and (characteristic) adaptations, two related features of the personality system postulated to influence how personality manifests throughout the lifespan. Traits are alleged to be universal, causal, and enduring entities that exist across cultures and through evolutionary time, whereas learned adaptations are acquired through sustained interaction with cultural, physical, and social environments. Although this distinction is central to several personality theories, they provide few measurable criteria to distinguish between traits and adaptations. Moreover, little research has endeavoured to operationalize it, let alone test it empirically. Drawing on insights from four frameworks—the Five-Factor Theory, Cybernetic Big Five Theory, Disposition–Adaptation–Environment Model, and New Big Five—we attempted to investigate the distinction both theoretically and empirically. Using various experimental rating conditions, we first scored 240 questionnaire items in their degrees of definitionally reflecting traits and/or adaptations. Next, we correlated these definitional ratings with the items' estimates of rank-order stability, consensual validity, and heritability—criteria often associated with personality traits. We found some evidence that items rated as more trait-like and less adaptation-like correspond to higher cross-rater agreement and stability but not heritability. These associations survived controlling for items' retest reliability, social desirability, and variance. The theoretical and empirical implications of these findings are discussed. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology