A possible model for understanding the personality‐intelligence interface

Despite the recent increase in the number of studies examining empirical links between personality and intelligence (see Hofstee, 2001; Zeidner & Matthews, 2000), a theoretical integration of ability and nonability traits remains largely unaddressed. This paper presents a possible conceptual framework for understanding the personality‐intelligence interface. In doing so, it conceptualizes three different levels of intelligence, namely, intellectual ability (which comprises both Gf and Gc), IQ test performance and subjectively assessed intelligence (a mediator between personality, intellectual ability and IQ test performance). Although the model draws heavily upon correlation evidence, each of its paths may be tested independently. The presented model may, therefore, be used to explore causation and further develop theoretical approaches to understanding the relation between ability and nonability traits underlying human performance.     

Chinese college students' general and relationship‐specific representations of adult attachment: Variable‐centred and person‐centred analysis

Formerly, researchers often treated adult attachment as a trait‐like construct with consistency across relationship contexts. However, recent studies have shown that people possess multiple relationship‐specific attachment representations, and inter‐correlations among them are only in a small‐to‐medium range. The aim of this study is to test whether these variable‐centred results could be replicated in China and further supplement them with a person‐centred analysis focusing on identifying prototypical patterns of multiple working models across relationships. We administrated measurements of general and four relationship‐specific (mother/father/best friend/romantic partner) working models and indicators of psychological adjustment upon 302 Chinese college students. Results from variable‐centred analysis demonstrated the cross‐relationship variability in working models. Furthermore, global indicators of psychological adjustment were better predicted by general models, while relationship‐specific indicators were better predicted by corresponding relationship‐specific models. These results largely replicate previous Western studies, supporting the existence of multiple attachment representations in China. In person‐centred analysis, a latent profile analysis identified four typical classes of working model profiles: all‐average, all‐secure, romantic‐insecure and peer‐secure. These classes differed not only in the cross‐relationship variability of their working models, but also in their levels of psychological adjustment. These interesting patterns may have theoretical implications and are worthy of further examination.     

The relation between personality and prejudice: a variable‐ and a person‐centred approach

The relationship between Big Five personality (measured by the NEO‐PI) and prejudice was examined using a variable‐ and a person‐centred approach. Big Five scores were related to a generalized prejudice factor based on seven different prejudice scales (racial prejudice, sexism, etc). A correlation analysis disclosed that Openness to Experience and Agreeableness were significantly related to prejudice, and a multiple regression analysis showed that a variable‐centred approach displayed a substantial cross‐validated relationship between the five personality factors and prejudice. A cluster analysis of the Big Five profiles yielded, in line with previous research, three personality types, but this person‐centred approach showed a low cross‐validated relationship between personality and prejudice, where the overcontrolled type showed the highest prejudice and the undercontrolled the lowest, with the resilient falling in between. A head‐to‐head comparison sustained the conclusion that, based on people's Big Five personalities, their generalized prejudice could be predicted more accurately by the variable‐ than the person‐centred approach. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The criterion‐related validity of a short commensurate measure of personality‐based person‐organization fit

Our goal was to develop a commensurate measure of personality‐based person‐organization fit and examine its criterion‐related validity for two retention‐related attitudes: job satisfaction and intention to stay. At T0, 637 employees completed our questionnaire. Two years later, at T1, 171 of the original respondents completed our questionnaire again. Results showed that the organizational personality perceptions are relatively stable. Polynomial regression analyses and surface plots revealed that job satisfaction and intention to stay are higher when there is perfect fit between the person and the organization compared to when the person and the organization differ in traits. However, in most cases, we found the work attitudes to be maximized when both the person and the organization score high on the personality traits.     

The new object‐spatial‐verbal cognitive style model: Theory and measurement

The current study challenges traditional approaches to Visual‐Verbal cognitive style as a unitary bipolar dimension, and instead suggests a new three‐dimensional cognitive style model developed on the basis of modern cognitive science theories that distinguish between object imagery, spatial imagery and verbal dimensions. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the overall fit to the data of the new three‐dimensional model of cognitive style was significantly better than that of a traditional model. Furthermore, based on the new theoretical model, we designed and validated a new self‐report instrument assessing the individual differences in object imagery, spatial imagery and verbal cognitive styles, the Object‐Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (OSIVQ). Across a series of studies, the OSIVQ demonstrated acceptable internal reliability as well as construct, criterion and ecological validity. The current study supports the validity of an object‐spatial‐verbal cognitive style dimension and related measures when developed on the basis of modern cognitive science theories. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Person‐centred positive emotions,object‐centred negative emotions: 2‐year‐olds generalize negative but not positive emotions across individuals

Prior work suggests that young children do not generalize others' preferences to new individuals. We hypothesized (following Vaish et al., 2008, Psychol. Bull., 134, 383–403) that this may only hold for positive emotions, which inform the child about the person's attitude towards the object but not about the positivity of the object itself. It may not hold for negative emotions, which additionally inform the child about the negativity of the object itself. Two‐year‐old children saw one individual (the emoter) emoting positively or negatively towards one and neutrally towards a second novel object. When a second individual then requested an object, children generalized the emoter's negative but not her positive emotion to the second individual. Children thus draw different inferences from others' positive versus negative emotions: Whereas they view others' positive emotions as person centred, they may view others' negative emotions as object centred and thus generalizable across people. The results are discussed with relation to the functions and implications of the negativity bias.     

Nature,extent, and causes of bullying among personality‐disordered patients in a high‐secure hospital

The present study explored the perceptions and experiences of the nature, extent and causes of bullying among personality‐disordered patients, with a subsidiary aim of exploring differences in perceptions between staff and patients. The sample was selected from the Personality Disorder Unit of a high secure hospital. The total sample consisted of 60 participants, 30 patients and 30 staff. Participants engaged in a semi‐structured interview based on that developed by Brookes [1993] and modified by Ireland and Archer [1996] and Ireland [2002a]. The interview assessed their perceptions and experiences of patient‐to‐patient bullying. One fifth of patients and staff reported that they had seen a patient being bullied in the previous week. One‐fifth of patients reported that they had been bullied in the previous week and less than one tenth reported that they had bullied others. The most frequent types of bullying reported were theft‐related, verbal abuse, being made to do chores, physical assaults and intimidation. One fifth of the sample reported that sexual abuse took place. Victims were generally perceived to be ‘easy targets’ that were vulnerable, either physically or emotionally. Staff identified a wider range of victim types than patients. The results highlight how patient‐to‐patient bullying does occur and is an important issue worthy of further research. A number of similarities were found between the current findings and those of prison‐based research suggesting that both hospitals and prisons share a number of environmental similarities that help to explain why bullying takes placed in secure forensic settings. Aggr. Behav. 30:229–242, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Cognitive style and sex: a study of stereotypical thinking

Differences between Cognitive Style Index mean scores of female and male undergraduate business students were tested using a general linear model. Among 286 undergraduate business students, women scored higher (more analytical) than men. The comparison of undergraduate business students with and without work experience related to their major shows that students with such related work experience were more intuitive than peers with no work experience related to their major.     

The personality‐identity interplay in emerging adult women: convergent findings from complementary analyses

The present study examined whether identity development occurs in tandem with personality development in emerging adulthood. Three‐wave longitudinal data on a sample of 351 female college students were used to answer questions about stability and change, direction of effects, and interrelated developmental trajectories. Four identity dimensions (i.e. commitment making, exploration in breadth, identification with commitment, and exploration in depth) and the Big Five were assessed. Identity and personality were found to be meaningfully related at the level of both the time‐specific adjacent measures and the underlying developmental trajectories with various degrees of convergence. Cross‐lagged analyses substantiated reciprocal influences and Latent Growth Curve Modelling substantiated common developmental pathways that partially mirrored the concurrent relations. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lexical studies of Filipino person descriptors: adding personality‐relevant social and physical attributes

Lexical studies have focused on traits. In the Filipino language, we investigated whether additional dimensions can be identified when personality‐relevant terms for social roles, statuses and effects, plus physical attributes, are included. Filipino students (N = 496) rated themselves on 268 such terms, plus 253 markers of trait and evaluative dimensions. We identified 10 dimensions of social and physical attributes—Prominence, Uselessness, Attractiveness, Respectability, Uniqueness, Destructiveness, Presentableness, Strength, Dangerousness and Charisma. Most of these dimensions did not correspond in a one‐to‐one manner to Filipino or alternative trait models (Big Five, HEXACO, ML7). However, considerable redundancy was observed between the social and physical attribute dimensions and trait and evaluative dimensions. Thus, social and physical attributes communicate information about personality traits, and vice versa. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“A brilliant and many‐sided personality”: Jessie Margaret Murray,founder of the Medico‐Psychological Clinic

This paper outlines the life and career of Jessie Margaret Murray, the moving spirit behind the foundation of the Medico‐Psychological Clinic, the first public clinic in Britain to offer psychoanalytic therapy and training in psychoanalysis. Biographical details of Murray and her close friend and collaborator, Julia Turner, are presented, and possible routes by which the two women may have met are explored. Murray's role in the suffragist movement is described, as well as other networks and professional societies in which she was involved, in particular the British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology, and her relationship with Marie Stopes. An account is given of events leading up to the founding of the Clinic, its activities, Murray's death, and other factors contributing to its demise. Finally, the Clinic's heritage and implications of the personalities of Murray and Turner for understanding the subsequent development of psycho‐analysis in Britain are considered.