Interim Managers: Distinguishing Personality Characteristics of Managers on Short-term Contracts

The use of interim managers by companies is increasing, and reasons for this trend are discussed. A study is reported in which the normative personality make-up of a group of interim managers is compared with that of a general sample of UK managers. Ninety-four interim managers completed the revised PA Preference Inventory (PAPI-N) and the results are compared with those from a general UK managerial sample. Statistically significant differences are reported for 12 out of 20 scales, with nine of the effect sizes ≥ 0.5. Results are also compared with a priori job expert predictions. Of nine predictions that interim managers would differ from the general management norm, seven are consistent with the statistical findings. Practical and methodological implications of the findings, and their relation to the ‘Big Five’, are discussed, together with broader implications for the study of workers in new and emerging forms of employment. The findings are also interpreted in the particular context of interim management roles.     

Personality Characteristics of Women of Distinction

Eight hundred and sixty-three women psychologists, scientists, artists and writers, and politicians were compared on the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire through a multiple discriminant analysis. The four groups were set apart by personality characteristics adaptive to their professional role expectations. Politicians were more sociable, conscientious, self-controlled, and group-dependent; artists and writers were more affected by their feelings, spontaneous and natural, and inclined to follow their own urges; scientists were the more reserved, serious, and tough-minded; and psychologists were more flexible, liberal, and accepting. When contrasted with women in the general population, the four groups of career women were all found to be brighter, more assertive, more adventurous, and less conservative.     

Women in a Male-Dominated Industry: Factor Analysis of a Women Workplace Culture Questionnaire Based on a Grounded Theory Model

A Women Workplace Culture Questionnaire (WWQ) was developed based on results from a grounded theory study. Respondents were asked: (1) to compare women's general status at work with that of men and (2) to describe their specific experiences in this regard. Answers from 104 White women working in a male-dominated industry were intercorrelated and subjected to principal component analyses, as well as a to varimax rotation. A five-factor solution that explained 56.5% of the total variance was supported by a graphic scree-test. Three factors with coefficient alpha >.70 were identified that concerned areas of perceived burdens on me (the individual woman), perceived burdens on women, and sexual harassment. A fourth factor, social support, also showed modest reliability. Factors I, II, and IV correlated significantly with ill health, distress, and job satisfaction.     

Personality Characteristics of Achieving and Underachieving High Ability Senior Women

This study utilized the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and the Gough Adjective Check List (ACL) in an investigation of the relationship between personality characteristics and academic achievement in gifted university women. Several scales of the CPI differentiated achievers from underachievers. In addition, achieving and underachieving women described themselves differently on the ACL. As defined in this study, the achieving women were more highly socialized than the underachieving women.     

Learning in a Man'S World: Examining the Perceptions of Undergraduate Women in Male-Dominated Academic Areas

This study examined the perceptions of undergraduate women in male-dominated academic areas. First-year and final-year female undergraduates in a male-dominated academic area (i.e., math, science, or engineering) reported higher levels of discrimination and stereotype threat than women in a female-dominated academic area (i.e., arts, education, humanities, or social science), and men in either a male- or female-dominated academic area. Moreover, women in a male-dominated academic area were most likely to report thinking about changing their major. These findings suggest that female college students majoring in math, science, and engineering continue to perceive additional gender-based obstacles in their field.     

Male Sex Bias against Men and Women in Various Professions

Abstract

It is suggested that the popularity of the Rokeach Value Survey is undeserved and that the apparent independence of each value being measured is a consequence of the fact that the survey measures each value quite badly. For each of the 18 terminal values on the Rokeach Value Survey, various interpretations were suggested to 71 subjects, who indicated which interpretations represented their thoughts when they were completing the survey. There were a variety of interpretations. When a factor analysis of the correlations among all the interpretations of each value was carried out, all but one value had more than one significant factor (dimension of meaning), and two major factors accounted for 41% of the variance of all the interpretations. These results indicate that the Rokeach Value Survey is not a good measure of the relative desirability of different values, and they support the view that people's evaluations of the world may be based on more fundamental values.     

Personality Profiles of Homosexual Men and Women

There has been surprisingly little research on possible differences between homosexual and heterosexual personalities, although the few studies that have been conducted suggest some interesting differences. We devised two hypothesis that may account for these differences. First, differences appear to reflect generalized social nonconformity and alienation due to the social stigmatization of the homosexual. Second, these differences seem to express a more specific tendency to deviation from socially normative sex roles. The two hypotheses imply a number of predictions concerning specific personality traits, which were tested by comparing the 16PF (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970) personality profiles of a group of male (N = 34) and female (N = 31) homosexuals with those obtained from the two large student samples (male, N = 899 and female, N = 912) whose scores are commonly used as norms for the South African version of the 16PF. The findings suggested reasonably good support for the two hypotheses, particularly considering the limitations of the study with respect to the adequacy of the comparison groups used and the relative heterogeneity of the 16PF scale content.     

Cognitive and Personality Characteristics of Masculinity and Femininity Predict Wayfinding Competence and Strategies of Men and Women

Bem (1974) reconceptualized masculinity and femininity as independent and orthogonal constructs that both men and women possess to varying degrees. This perspective was used as a starting point to investigate whether the contributions of gender-typed characteristics can help to account for commonly observed gender differences in wayfinding (the ability to identify one’s current location and successfully navigate to an unseen location in the environment) favoring men. We further divided gender-typed characteristics into cognitive and personality characteristics to assess their separate influence on wayfinding and explored whether gender-typed characteristics predicted self-reported use of masculine wayfinding strategies (i.e., orientation strategies) and self-reported wayfinding competence. Participants were 452 college women and men in a southern U.S. public university. They completed the Gender-Stereotypic Characteristics questionnaire (Diekman and Eagly 2000), a social comparison questionnaire (created by the authors), a wayfinding strategy questionnaire (Lawton 1994), and a wayfinding competence questionnaire (Hegarty et al. 2002). For both men and women, higher masculine cognitive characteristics significantly correlated with greater use of orientation wayfinding strategies typical of men. For men, both higher masculine and feminine cognitive characteristics predicted better overall wayfinding competence whereas for women, only higher masculine cognitive characteristics predicted better overall wayfinding competence. For both men and women, higher feminine personality characteristics predicted poorer wayfinding competence. These results demonstrated the importance of considering cognitive and personality characteristics of masculinity and femininity in explaining individual differences in wayfinding.     

Personality Foundations of Ideological Divide: A Comparison of Women Members of Parliament and Women Voters in Italy

Empirical research is crucial for understanding the personality foundations of political preferences in modern democracies. However, few studies have addressed the personality of top politicians using standard methods to assess basic traits and personal values. In the current research, traits and values of 106 female members of the Italian Parliament were assessed in accordance with the Five‐Factor Model of personality and Schwartz's taxonomy. The same variables were measured in a sample of 864 voters taken from the general population. We investigate the extent to which differences in traits and values contribute to ideological orientation of politicians and voters of rival coalitions. A similar pattern of relations was found in both groups. Yet, traits and values contributed to partisanship of politicians much more than to political preferences of voters. Whereas values fully mediated the contribution of traits to voting, energy/extraversion and agreeableness contributed to political partisanship both directly and indirectly, through values.     

A Longitudinal Study of Creative Personality in Women

The Mills Longitudinal Study, covering 30 years in the lives of approximately 100 women from the senior year of college to their early 50s, was begun as an investigation of creativity in women. After a presentation of the design of the study and its measures of creative potential and productivity, findings in several areas are reviewed. A central finding is that varied measures of creative potential assessed openness and unconventionality, manifested in both positive and negative ways, whereas creative productivity was associated with these traits along with strong creative motivation and resilience. Creative potential was actualized in some women in self-discovery through relationships rather than in careers. Creative traits showed impressive consistency over time, but the creative vitality of individuals fluctuated considerably with major changes in life situation. Creative productivity showed more relation to psychosocial development than did measures of creative potential.     

Characteristics and Personality Styles of Women Who Seek Incarcerated Men as Romantic Partners: Survey Results and Directions for Future Research

Results are presented from a survey of 89 women who sought and entered into a relationship with a man who was incarcerated. Demographic, clinical, and relationship characteristics revealed a diverse group of women with a moderate degree of childhood/family victimization and family member’s involvement with the legal system. Results from the Jesness Inventory-Revised, a measure of personality functioning, revealed two predominant personality subtypes among the women: the Manipulator/Pragmatist (31%) and the Neurotic, Anxious/Introspective (25%). The results are compared to existing traditional and nontraditional theories of mate selection and thoughts for a systematic program of research in this area are offered.     

Race and Women's Identity Development: Distinguishing Between Feminism and Womanism Among Black and White Women

Black and White women may experience feminist identity development differently, and the womanist (Ossana, Helms, & Leonard, 1992) and feminist (Downing & Roush, 1985) identity development models may differ in their ability to capture those experiences. Black (n = 29) and White (n = 94) female college students completed a questionnaire that included feminist identity, womanist identity, and self-esteem scales. Results provided partial support for the hypothesis that Black women would agree more strongly with the womanist model, whereas White women would agree more strongly with the feminist model. In addition, the womanist model better differentiated between stages of identity development than did the feminist model for Black women. Results also partially supported the hypothesis that race would moderate the relationships between the womanist and feminist identity models and self-esteem.     

Examination of Personality Characteristics in a Turkish Sample: Development of Basic Personality Traits Inventory

The aim of the present study was to test the cross-cultural validity of the five-factor nature of personality. For this aim, an indigenous, psychometrically strong instrument measuring the basic personality dimensions within Turkish culture and language was developed through three consecutive studies. The first study aimed to reveal the adjectives that have been most frequently used to define people in the Turkish culture. In the second study, factor analysis of these personality characteristics revealed big five personality factors, along with the sixth factor, which had been called as the Negative Valence factor. The adjectives that most strongly represented and differentiated each factor constituted 45-item “Basic Personality Traits Inventory”. Finally, in the third study, psychometric characteristics of the Basic Personality Traits Inventory were examined. Factor structure and psychometric properties of this instrument confirmed that five-factor nature of personality may not hold true in every culture.     

Successful Aging in Late Midlife: The Role of Personality Among College-Educated Women

Aging is characterized both by developmental maturity, as well as beliefs and ideas about growing older. This study examines relationships between successful aging, as defined by Rowe and Kahn (Science 237(4811):143–149, 1987), and two aspects of personality that are particularly salient in late midlife—generativity and concerns about aging—in three samples of college-educated women in their early sixties. Relationships between generativity and successful aging and concerns about aging and successful aging are assessed cross-sectionally and over time using multiple linear modeling. Concerns about aging and generativity are associated within time with successful aging; in addition, increased concerns about aging are associated with decreased successful aging, while increased generativity is associated with increased successful aging over time. Our findings highlight the value of examining changes in adult personality developmental preoccupations as a potential contributor to successful aging.     

Personality Characteristics and Development of Psychopathology in Bipolar I and Borderline Personality Disorder Patients

The debate whether Bipolar Affective Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder fall under the same spectrum or they represent separate categories has received much research attention. However, the question of their underlying psychological aetiology as well as their personality correlates has remained largely un-explored. The present study aims at gaining knowledge about and insights into these questions. The sample studied consists of 10 Bipolar I patients and 10 patients with Borderline Personality Disorder. Following a cross-sectional design, after determining the remitted phase of Bipolar I patients using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Young’s Mania Rating Scale, the Temperament and Character Inventory, Attachment Style Questionnaire, Defense Style Questionnaire and Rorschach Inkblot Test were administered individually by the researcher. Both group of patients showed features of immaturity and instability. A correlational analysis indicated the probable pathway of development of psychopathology. The parallels of the findings to Kernberg’s concept of borderline personality organization have been discussed.     

组织员工的工作疏离感:人格特质与工作特征的交互效应

基于需要—满足的理论视角,分析了员工的大五人格特质、工作特征及其交互效应对工作疏离感的影响。以12家企业的442名员工为样本,结果发现:员工的大五人格对工作疏离感有显著影响,其中开放性对工作疏离感有积极影响,尽责性对工作疏离感则有消极影响;工作特征越积极,员工的工作疏离感越低;大五人格中的开放性、神经质与工作特征有显著的交互效应。基于研究结果,提出对工作疏离感的干预应兼顾员工人格特质和工作特征,进行权变管理。     

Educational Background,Modes of Discourse and Argumentation: Comparing Women and Men

This paper analyses the way in which discourse and argumentation may vary depending on participants educational level and gender. Men and women from three different educational levels (literacy, advanced level and university students) participated in discussion groups that debated about women and work, the sharing of housework and the way in which girls and boys are educated. The results showed important differences depending on participants educational level and gender. In general, the main differences were related to educational level, while gender tended to interact with educational level, as a moderating factor.     

Personality Characteristics and Self-esteem in Pet Owners and Non-owners

Previous research suggests that pet owners are psychologically different than non-owners in terms of self-esteem and other personality characteristics. In this study, 82 pet owners and 48 non-owners were tested on self-esteem, extraversion, neuroticism, and social self-esteem. Special emphasis was placed on highly attached pet owners compared with non-owners. Level of attachment was determined by scores from the CENSHARE pet attachment survey. No significant differences were found between the groups using analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance statistical procedures. It was concluded that pet owners and non-owners may not be different in terms of personality but may have become victims of stereotyping by both the general population and scientific researchers. Discussion was given to related significant findings and recommendations for further research.