Comparative validity of the Shedler and Westen Assessment Procedure-200

A predominant dimensional model of general personality structure is the five-factor model (FFM). Quite a number of alternative instruments have been developed to assess the domains of the FFM. The current study compares the validity of 2 alternative versions of the Shedler and Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP-200) FFM scales, 1 that was developed on the basis of items identified by J. Shedler and D. Westen (2004) and 1 that used items identified by R. R. McCrae, C. E. Lokenhoff, and P. T. Costa (2005). The comparative validity of both measures was examined in a sample of persons who evidenced personality-related problems in living (N = 94). The McCrae et al. Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Openness scales were superior to their respective Shedler and Westen scales. Both research teams developed comparably valid Extraversion and Conscientiousness scales. Implications of the results for future SWAP-200 research are discussed.     

Convergence of narcissism measures from the perspective of general personality functioning

The construct of narcissism has a lengthy history and has been operationalized and measured by a variety of instruments. In this study, five narcissism scales were compared in terms of alternative conceptualizations of narcissism offered by C. C. Morf and F. Rhodewalt (2001), D. L. Paulhus (2001), and S. Vazire and D. C. Funder (2006), using the domains and facets of the five-factor model as a common point of comparison. The findings provided little support for the conceptualizations of Morf and Rhodewalt or Vazire and Funder. Support was obtained for the conceptualization of Paulhus, particularly as assessed by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and, secondarily, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III. Implications for the assessment and conceptualization of narcissism are discussed.     

Social psychology of mental health: the social structure and personality perspective

Previous research has revealed a persistent association between social structure and mental health. However, most researchers have focused only on the psychological and psychosocial aspects of that relationship. The present paper indicates the need to include the social and structural bases of distress in our theoretical models. Starting from a general social and psychological model, our research considered the role of several social, environmental, and structural variables (social position, social stressors, and social integration), psychological factors (self-esteem), and psychosocial variables (perceived social support). The theoretical model was tested working with a group of Spanish participants (N = 401) that covered a range of social positions. The results obtained using structural equation modeling support our model, showing the relevant role played by psychosocial, psychological and social, and structural factors. Implications for theory and intervention are discussed.     

Anger and hostility from the perspective of the Big Five personality model

Sanz, J., García‐Vera, M. P. & Magán, I. (2010). Anger and hostility from the perspective of the Big Five personality model. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 262–270. This study was aimed at examining the relationships of the personality dimensions of the five‐factor model or Big Five with trait anger and with two specific traits of hostility (mistrust and confrontational attitude), and identifying the similarities and differences between trait anger and hostility in the framework of the Big Five. In a sample of 353 male and female adults, the Big Five explained a significant percentage of individual differences in trait anger and hostility after controlling the effects due to the relationship between both constructs and content overlapping across scales. In addition, trait anger was primarily associated with neuroticism, whereas mistrust and confrontational attitude were principally related to low agreeableness. These findings are discussed in the context of the anger‐hostility‐aggression syndrome and the capability of the Big Five for organizing and clarifying related personality constructs.     

The genetics and evolution of the general factor of personality

Three studies tested the hypothesis that a general factor of personality (GFP) underlies diverse individual differences including altruism, the Big Five factors of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability, and the EAS temperament traits of Emotional Stability, Activity, and Sociability. In Study 1, 214 university students completed 36 personality scales. In Study 2, 322 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins completed 29 5-point rating scales plus questionnaires. In Study 3, 575 pairs of 2- to 9-year-old Korean twins were rated by their mothers on 25 temperament scales. Factor analyses revealed a hierarchical organization with GFP at the apex and the Big Five and/or EAS temperament scales intermediate. The twin data show GFP has an early age of onset with 50% of the variance attributable to non-additive (dominance) genetic influence and 50% to unique, non-shared environmental influence. We discuss a life history matrix encompassing brain size, maturational speed, and longevity, plus emotional intelligence and the personality disorders, and suggest natural selection acted directionally to endow people with more cooperative and less contentious personalities than their archaic ancestors, or nearest living relatives, the chimpanzees.     

The general factor of personality and humor styles

The present study examined the phenotypic, genetic, and environmental correlations between a general factor of personality (GFP) and four humor styles: affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating. Participants were 571 same-sex adult twin pairs. Individuals completed the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and a short form of the NEO personality scale (from which the GFP was extracted). The GFP was found to be heritable with an estimated value of .31. At the phenotypic level, the GFP was found to correlate significantly with the HSQ scales; positively with affiliative and self-enhancing, and negatively with aggressive and self-defeating. Three of the four phenotypic correlations were found to be attributable to correlated genetic factors, suggesting that these dimensions of humor styles and the GFP may have a common genetic factor.     

Approaching psychotherapy of the personality disorders from the Millon perspective.

Millon's integrative model for a clinical science begins with a theory that is consistent with current knowledge, establishes a taxonomy for classification, develops a coordinated assessment system, and develops and implements interventions with the guidance of the preceding elements of the model. In recent years, work on the last step of the model, clinical interventions, has accelerated rapidly, and the model now permits the therapist to directly extrapolate specific treatment goals, objective, and techniques to the practice of therapy with the individual patient. This article summarizes how treatment planning and implementation flows logically from the Millon model.     

The general factor of personality: Questions and elaborations

Predictions from Rushton’s theory that a general factor of personality (GFP) has evolved based on effective social participation were examined in two large samples of adult Australian twins (5834 and 3672 individuals) and their relatives (8303 and 2677). General factors based on items and scales were compared to each other, across two different questionnaires, and between adults and adolescents. Behavior-genetic analyses based on the twin samples tested predictions comparing GFPs to scales with the GFP partialled out. Some support was found for Rushton’s theory, but the GFP was only marginally more heritable than the GFP-free scales and was not especially marked by the expected non-additivity of its genetic variance; moreover, the adult and adolescent GFPs showed substantial differences.     

The general factor of personality and general intelligence: Evidence for substantial association

Despite theoretical assertions derived from life history theory, research on the relationship between the general factor of personality and general intelligence has shown that there is little overlap between the two higher-order constructs. It is argued that the association between these general factors is largely attenuated by measurement error in assessing the general factor of personality. A substantial association between the general factors at multiple points in time was found when the general factor of personality was derived from rater Q-sorts. The results have important implications for the study of individual differences.     

Universal features of personality traits from the observer's perspective: data from 50 cultures

To test hypotheses about the universality of personality traits, college students in 50 cultures identified an adult or college-aged man or woman whom they knew well and rated the 11,985 targets using the 3rd-person version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Factor analyses within cultures showed that the normative American self-report structure was clearly replicated in most cultures and was recognizable in all. Sex differences replicated earlier self-report results, with the most pronounced differences in Western cultures. Cross-sectional age differences for 3 factors followed the pattern identified in self-reports, with moderate rates of change during college age and slower changes after age 40. With a few exceptions, these data support the hypothesis that features of personality traits are common to all human groups.     

Factorial structure of traits delineating personality disorders in clinical and general population samples.

Categorical and dimensional models for classifying personality disorders were evaluated by comparing the structure of personality pathology in a clinical sample (n = 158) with the structure in a general population sample (n = 274). Subjects completed 100 personality scales. Separate factor analyses revealed similar structures in the 2 samples. An underlying structure in a combined sample showed limited agreement with the concepts of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). Fifteen factors were retained: Generalized Distress, Rejection, Restricted Expression, Compulsivity, Stimulus Seeking, Insecure Attachment, Diffidence, Intimacy Problems, Oppositionality, Interpersonal Disesteem, Conduct Problems, Cognitive Dysfunction, Affective Reactivity, Narcissism, and Social Apprehensiveness. The results are consistent with a dimensional representation of personality disorder.     

The concept of general expectancy in various personality dispositions

It is argued that the concept of general expectancy is a central common core of personality dispositions related to achievement areas. This hypothesis of common core was investigated with factor analysis and cluster analysis. 166 advanced teacher students participated, and were scored on the following relevant personality dispositions motive to seek success, motive to avoid failure, global and academic self-esteem, self-efficacy, attributional style, depression, and defensiveness. The hypothesis was supported in that factor analysis gave a general bipolar expectancy factor, and cluster analysis resulted in two clusters, one corresponding to positive expectancy and the other to negative expectancy.     

The whole-hand point: the structure and function of pointing from a comparative perspective

Pointing by monkeys, apes, and human infants is reviewed and compared. Pointing with the index finger is a species-typical human gesture, although human infants exhibit more whole-hand pointing than is commonly appreciated. Captive monkeys and feral apes have been reported to only rarely "spontaneously" point, although apes in captivity frequently acquire pointing, both with the index finger and with the whole hand, without explicit training. Captive apes exhibit relatively more gaze alternation while pointing than do human infants about 1 year old. Human infants are relatively more vocal while pointing than are captive apes, consistent with paralinguistic use of pointing.     

The general factor of personality: Evaluating the evidence from meta-analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and evolutionary theory

It has been argued that a general factor of personality exists and has resulted from evolutionary selection. This is based to a large extent on the results of confirmatory factor analyses on data produced from meta-analyses of correlations between Big Five factors. In this brief report, the results of Rushton and Irwing (2008) are re-examined and their conclusions are criticised. It is shown that it would be unwise to rely on the data from their meta-analysis and that there is no statistical reason to assume that there is a general factor of personality. It is also argued that evolutionary theory does not justify the search for a general factor of personality.     

Assessment of the five-factor model of personality

The five-factor model (FFM) of personality is obtaining construct validation, recognition, and practical consideration across a broad domain of fields, including clinical psychology, industrial-organizational psychology, and health psychology. As a result, an array of instruments have been developed and existing instruments are being modified to assess the FFM. In this article, we present an overview and critique of five such instruments (the Goldberg Big Five Markers, the revised NEO Personality Inventory, the Interpersonal Adjective Scales-Big Five, the Personality Psychopathology-Five, and the Hogan Personality Inventory), focusing in particular on their representation of the lexical FFM and their practical application.     

The structure of maladaptive personality traits in childhood: a step toward an integrative developmental perspective for DSM-V

The present study describes the construction of a taxonomy of trait-related symptoms in childhood, the Dimensional Personality Symptom Item Pool (DIPSI), and examines the replicability of the taxonomy's higher order structure across maternal ratings of referred (N = 205) and nonreferred (N = 242) children and self-ratings of adolescents (N = 453). The DIPSI's 4 higher order factors--that is, Emotional Instability, Disagreeableness, Introversion, and Compulsivity--showed clear correspondence with the dimensions of personality pathology found in adulthood (Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire; W. J. Livesley, 1990; Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality; L. A. Clark, 1993). These 4 factors can be further organized into 2 superfactors, representing Internalizing and Externalizing Traits, demonstrating empirical and conceptual relationships with psychopathology models in childhood and adulthood. The implications for the assessment and conceptualization of early trait pathology are discussed in the context of an integrative developmental perspective on the construction of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition.     

儒家的人格结构及心理学扩展

人生儒学的核心是"成人"。"成人"的构成的因素和结构如何?这是理解儒家学理、中国人精神面貌的重要方面。文章从儒家典籍入手,归纳出其人格结构因素为"仁"、"礼"、"知"三因素。"仁"、"礼"、"知"体现出"德"属性,互动决定了儒家人格结构的"仁道"终极目标和"知命"社会功能——"命"可行时,外在事功,实现"外王";"命"不可行时,内在超越,完善心灵。"仁"、"礼"、"知"的充分发展并"知命",即为圣人、君子;不完全发展,即为民;缺乏则为小人。文章进而尝试从儒家的人格结构拓展出现代心理学意义的人格结构理论。