A cross-cultural test of the personality integration hypothesis1

This study attempted to validate the psychological integration hypothesis by comparing the levels of psychological functioning of individuals from four cultural groups on three dimensions of personality. The personality attributes investigated were field-dependence/independence cognitive style, tolerance of ambiguity (an affective style variable) and machiavellianism (an index of stylistic orientation in interpersonal relationships). Subjects were 218 first-level supervisors from five industrial plants in Auckland, New Zealand. Comparisons of mean group scores on each personality variable showed that a similar rank order among the groups held for each personality variable. It was also found that, for the sample as a whole, there were positive intercorrelations between the personality variables. The symmetrical rank ordering of the groups on the personality variables was considered to indicate that members of each group had attained relatively similar levels of psychological development on each personality attribute. The relatively low levels of intercorrelations between the personality variables were held to indicate that they were measuring separate areas of psychological functioning.     

PERSONALITY AND EPISTEMOLOGY: COGNITIVE SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY AS A PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Abstract. Implicit in the cognitive social learning model of personality as articulated by Walter Mischel, Albert Bandura, and others, is an epistemology which emphasizes the activity of the mind in the construction of knowledge. Using Mischel's five person variables as an outline, the epistemic implications of this model of personality are developed and then illustrated by application to William James's typology of the religious personality and to the current debate over hermeneutic and empirical approaches to studying human behavior. This approach explicates the connection between personality characteristics and epistemological approaches in terms of cognitive social learning theory.     

PERSONALITY, INTEGRITY, AND WHITE COLLAR CRIME: A CONSTRUCT VALIDITY STUDY

This study examined the construct validity of personality scales, a personality-based integrity test, and homogenous biodata scales as reflected in their ability to discriminate white collar criminals from other white collar employees. The sample included 365 prison inmates incarcerated in 23 federal correctional institutions for white collar offenses, and 344 individuals employed in upper-level positions of authority. A cross-validated linear discriminant function ( DF ) based on 16 variables selected in the developmental sample produced a large difference (1.83 standard deviation units) between the two sample groups. The pattern of score differences revealed the offenders as having greater tendencies toward irresponsibility, lack of dependability, and disregard of rules and social norms. This study indicates that there are large and measurable psychological differences between white collar offenders and nonoffenders, and that the major construct underlying these differences is "social conscientiousness." The best measure of this difference was a personality-based integrity test.     

THE MIDDLE AGES: CHANGE IN WOMEN'S PERSONALITIES AND SOCIAL ROLES

It has been argued that the predominant focus of midlife personality development is generativity; other research has found that social roles influence both its onset and its expression. In this article, we examine women's midlife personality development and its relationship to career and family commitments. Results for a sample of 90 women indicated that commitment to particular social projects in early midlife was associated with different patterns of identity, intimacy, and generativity levels at age 62. In addition, women who added social projects to existing projects during adulthood expressed similar levels of identity, intimacy, and generativity at age 62 as women whose social project commitments had stayed the same. For smaller subsamples of women in the study, longitudinal analyses assessed changes in personality development within middle age as well as the relationship between personality and the maintenance or addition of social projects. These results highlight important variation among women who followed different adult life paths.     

THE HIDDEN RAPE VICTIM: PERSONALITY, ATTITUDINAL, AND SITUATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

A hidden rape victim is one who has never reported her experience to a rape crisis center or to police. It has been estimated that only 10–50% of the rapes that actually occur are ever reported to authorities. Since most previous rape studies have selected samples from official sources, hidden victims have been overlooked. The goals of the present study were to describe the victimization experienced by hidden victims and to determine whether any psychological variables were related to victimization status. The psychological variables examined included personality, attitudinal, and situational characteristics relevant to the three major models of rape victimization: social control, victim precipitation, and situational blame. Subjects were 82 not sexually victimized, 37 low sexually victimized, 50 moderately victimized, and 62 highly sexually victimized women. Subjects completed questionnaires and participated in a one-to-one standardized interview. Data were analyzed via multivariate analysis of variance. Personality variables and attitudes did not differentiate the groups of women, while numerous situational variables did. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

EVALUATING THE FEMINIST CHALLENGE TO RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: 1963-1983

Multiple indices for evaluating the feminist challenge in psychology are identified, and provide a context for discussing selected aspects of research in personality and social psychology that reflect the impact of feminism on psychology. Women's involvement in the research process, the types of research methods used, and substantive concerns were examined in selected issues of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology between 1963 and 1983. Despite a significant increase in the proportion of articles with female authors, there were no clear changes in any of the methodological variables we assessed. Comparisons of these studies and those published in the Psychology of Women Quarterly suggest that the impact of the feminist challenge is far more noticeable in this more explicitly feminist journal. Evidence pertaining to the relative impact of publishing in explicitly feminist versus "mainstream" journals, derived from analyses of citation frequency of several feminist studies, was examined. Overall, results suggest that feminist values may have affected research topics more than research methods within personality and social psychology. Several implications of this gatekeeping function of methodology are discussed.     

社会支持与人格对大学生压力的影响

将横断与纵向研究相结合,对660名大学生进行了问卷调查。结果发现,社会支持对同期压力的主效应非常显著,对后期压力的主效应则不显著。社会支持的变化类型对后期压力也具有显著的主效应。“开朗—果断”与“拘谨—温和”两类人格对同期压力的主效应非常显著,前者同期的各类压力均显著低于后者的同类压力;前期人格类型对两年后压力的主效应依然显著。社会支持与人格的独立主效应和交互作用均显著;社会支持的变化与人格的独立主效应和交互作用均显著     

Pet Ownership Predicts Adherence to Cardiovascular Rehabilitation1

This experiment examined the effects of pet ownership and potential mediating (e.g., social support) and moderating variables (e.g., gender, personality, pet attachment) on completion of a 12‐week cardiac rehabilitation program. This experiment assessed pet ownership, personality, and psychosocial variables at the beginning of the program and followed participants through to completion. Results showed that pet owners (96.5%) were significantly more likely to complete cardiac rehabilitation compared with non‐owners (79.2%). Covariance analyses ruled out several alternative explanations for the results, including social support, personality variables, personal efficacy, and pet attachment. Results suggest that having a pet may facilitate rehabilitation and that further research is needed to understand how having a pet or being a pet owner improves health outcomes.     

THE STRUCTURE OF CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION BASED ON SEVEN MAJOR PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRES

The purpose of this study was to identify the underlying structure of the trait domain of Conscientiousness using scales drawn from 7 major personality inventories. Thirty-six scales conceptually related to Conscientiousness were administered to a large community sample ( N = 737); analyses of those scales revealed a hierarchical structure with 6 factors: industriousness, order, self-control, responsibility, traditionalism, and virtue. All 6 factors demonstrated excellent convergent validity. Three of the 6 factors, industriousness, order, and self-control, showed good discriminant validity. The remaining 3 factors—responsibility, traditionalism and virtue—appear to be interstitial constructs located equally between Conscientiousness and the remaining Big Five dimensions. In addition, the 6 underlying factors had both differential predictive validity and provided incremental validity beyond the general factor of Conscientiousness when used to predict a variety of criterion variables, including work dedication, drug use, and health behaviors.     

Still underdetected – Social norms and collective efficacy predict the acceptance of electric vehicles in Germany

The role of social identity variables for predicting environmental decisions may often be underdetected by psychological lay people. Applying this to the acceptance of electric vehicles (EVs) in Germany we investigated whether social norms and collective efficacy predict EV acceptance and what psychological laypersons who are either EV experts or EV non-experts think predicts EV acceptance. In preliminary interview studies we explored the beliefs of EV experts and EV non-experts. In a survey study, we then tested whether cost-related advantages and disadvantages were predictive of EV acceptance and whether norms and collective efficacy have independent effects even when controlling for cost-related factors and demographic variables. Results suggest that both EV experts and EV non-experts considered cost-related factors as much more important than social identity processes. However, hierarchical regression analyses of the survey data showed that norms and collective efficacy have equal or even stronger effects on acceptance than cost-related factors. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

成年人个性特征与某些认知作业的关系

采用NEO-FFI个性问卷研究了个性特征与记忆、问题解决及视觉搜索反应时的关系。作业难度均属中下。被试为20－85岁四组成年人120名。结果：（1）相关和多元逐步回归分析结果完全一致：外向性（E）对人姓回忆及图形再认有负性预测关系,开放性（O）对人姓回忆及猜图用策略百分比有正性预测关系。（2）控制年龄因素的偏相关结果表明,神经质分（N）和清图用策略百分比,E分和图形再认、人姓回忆,认真负责分（C）和数字、字母、汉字搜索反应时均呈负相关。（3）认知指标加入个人情况诸因素作为自变量与个性特征求多元逐步回归方程显示,解决问题方案数量与E分呈负性预测关系,心理状态等因素与个性预测影响更大。（4）认知作业与个性特征关系各年龄组结果不同,两者关系青年组和老老年组较大,这可能与不同年龄成年人神经系统功能状态差异有关。     

PERSONALITY,DEMOGRAPHICS, AND ACCULTURATION OF VIETNAMESE AND NICARAGUAN REFUGEES TO THE UNITED STATES

The influx of refugees into the United States in recent years has led to a new interest in acculturation on the part of North American psychologists. Previous research in this area has usually focused on demographic, rather than psychological, variables as predictors of a willingness to acculturate. Using samples of Nicaraguan and Vietnamese refugees, the present study compared personality factors and age, level of education, and time in the U.S. as predictors of acculturation. Although results for the Nicaraguans were mixed, personality factors emerged as being better predictors in the Vietnamese group. This suggests that, in some cases, personality factors may be more basic to the process of acculturation than previously assumed.     

BEYOND PERSONALITY TRAITS: A STUDY OF PERSONALITY STATES AND SITUATIONAL CONTINGENCIES IN CUSTOMER SERVICE JOBS

Although the interactionist approach has been applied to understanding situational influences on the expression of personality at work, examination of within‐person variation in personality trait expression in the workplace is lacking. Using experience sampling methodology, this study examined the moment‐to‐moment influences of situational characteristics on personality states (i.e., situational contingencies) during social interactions on 56 customer service employees over 10 days at work. At the within‐individual level, state Conscientiousness was associated with the immediacy of the task, and state Extraversion and Agreeableness were associated with the friendliness of the other party in the interaction. At the between‐individual level, self‐monitoring did not moderate the associations between situational characteristics and personality states but predicted the mean level of state Conscientiousness at work over and above trait Conscientiousness. Contrary to expectations, the relationship between state Extraversion and friendliness was weaker in customized service jobs than in noncustomized ones.     

General self‐efficacy in various domains of human functioning: Evidence from five countries

Based on social‐cognitive theory ( 1 Bandura, 1997), this paper examined whether perceived self‐efficacy is a universal psychological construct that accounts for variance within various domains of human functioning. Perceived self‐efficacy is not only of a task‐specific nature, but it can also be identified at a more general level of functioning. General self‐efficacy (GSE) is the belief in one's competence to tackle novel tasks and to cope with adversity in a broad range of stressful or challenging encounters, as opposed to specific self‐efficacy, which is constrained to a particular task at hand. The study aimed at exploring the relations between GSE and a variety of other psychological constructs across several countries. Relations between general self‐efficacy and personality, well‐being, stress appraisals, social relations, and achievements were examined among 8796 participants from Costa Rica, Germany, Poland, Turkey, and the USA. Across countries, the findings provide evidence for associations between perceived general self‐efficacy and the selected variables. The highest positive associations were with optimism, self‐regulation, and self‐esteem, whereas the highest negative associations emerged with depression and anxiety. Academic performance is also associated with self‐efficacy as hypothesized. The replication across languages or cultures adds significance to these findings. The relations between self‐efficacy and other personality measures remained stable across cultures and samples. Thus, perceived general self‐efficacy appears to be a universal construct that yields meaningful relations with other psychological constructs.     

SOCIAL REACTIONS, COPING STRATEGIES, AND SELF-BLAME ATTRIBUTIONS IN ADJUSTMENT TO SEXUAL ASSAULT

The present study investigated the impact of social reactions of others to sexual-assault victims on disclosure of their victimization. A convenience sample of adult sexual-assault victims (N = 155) completed a mail survey in which they reported information about their sexual assaults and postassault experiences. As expected, all negative social reactions were strongly associated with increased psychological symptoms, whereas most positive social reactions were unrelated to adjustment. The only social reactions related to better adjustment were being believed and being listened to by others. Victims experiencing negative social reactions also reported poorer adjustment even when other variables known to affect psychological recovery were controlled. Avoidance coping mediated the association of negative social reactions with adjustment. Implications of these findings for research and treatment of sexual-assault survivors are discussed.     

关于场依存性－独立性与催眠感受性及性格的比较研究

对场依存性独立性认知方式与催眠感受性及Ｙ—Ｇ性格测验所评定的人格特征的相互关系进行了研究,结果表明：场依存性－独立性与催眠感受性之间不存在相关关系,提示两者为彼此独立的人格特征;在人格特质方面．场依存性者比场独立性者具有更强的社会外向性、社交活动主导性和乐天性;而场独立性者则具有较强的神经质倾向;在人格类型上,场依存性者和场独立性者均普遍表现为Ａ、Ａ’和Ｄ型,而Ｃ型则更可能是场独立性者所具有的特征;从人格类型的研究角度证明,内、外向性格与场依存性－独立性基本上分属两个不同的人格维度;场依存性－独立性与个体心理健康水平无关。     

SELECTING INDIVIDUALS IN TEAM SETTINGS: THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL SKILLS, PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS, AND TEAMWORK KNOWLEDGE

Although work is commonly organized around teams, there is relatively little empirical research on how to select individuals in team-based settings. The goal of this investigation was to examine whether 3 of the most commonly used selection techniques for hiring into traditional settings (a structured interview, a personality test, and a situational judgment test) would be effective for hiring into team settings. In a manufacturing organization with highly interdependent teams, we examined the relationships between social skills, several personality characteristics (Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability), teamwork knowledge, and contextual performance. Results indicate that each of these constructs is bivariately related to contextual performance in a team setting, with social skills, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and teamwork knowledge incrementally predicting contextual performance (with a multiple correlation of .48). Implications of these results for selection in team and traditional settings are discussed.     

PERSONALITY AND JOB PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE OF INCREMENTAL VALIDITY

It is suggested that personality variables are significant predictors of job performance when carefully matched with the appropriate occupation and organization. The present study investigates the relationship between specific personality variables and job performance in a sample ( N = 43) of accountants. The results indicate that even with the effects of cognitive ability taken into account, three personality scales (orientation towards work; degree of ascendancy; and degree and quality of interpersonal orientation) are significantly related to important aspects of job performance. It is suggested that the overall validity of selection strategies might be improved with the addition of measures of relevant personality dimensions when appropriately matched to an occupation and organization.     

Who's Right About the Right? Comparing Competing Explanations of the Link Between White Evangelicals and Conservative Politics in the United States

Five competing explanations for why white evangelicals hold right‐of‐center political attitudes are examined using data from the 2000–2004 National Election Studies. Dependent variables include attitudes about abortion, homosexuality, immigration, national defense, and social spending. The five competing explanations accounting for conservative positions are: religiosity, moral standards traditionalism, gender and family ideology, class culture, and cultural geography. Moral standards traditionalism attenuated the evangelical effect on attitudes about abortion, homosexuality, and social spending. Religiosity and male‐dominant gender ideology attenuated the effect on abortion and homosexuality only. In a second set of models, which include members of all major religious groups, these three variables, together with low levels of education, were significantly associated with conservative attitudes. Moral standards traditionalism demonstrated the most consistent, and generally the strongest, effects across dependent variables.