The stability of adult personality varies across age: Evidence from a two-year longitudinal sample of adult New Zealanders

We model developmental patterns in the stability of Big-Six personality markers over a two-year period in a multi-cohort panel study of adult New Zealanders (n = 3910). Structural Equation Models testing patterns of linear, quadratic and cubic effects identified considerable variation in the stability of most aspects of personality across the adult age range (20–80 years). Agreeableness showed a slight linear decrease in consistency with increasing age. Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, and Honesty–Humility exhibited quadratic ‘inverted U’ patterns of rank-order stability. Unlike Agreeableness, the two-year consistency of these other personality dimensions increased from young adulthood towards middle age, then decreased as people progressed toward old age. Implications for personality research and emerging trends are discussed.     

A link between altruism and sexual selection: Genetic influence on altruistic behaviour and mate preference towards it

Altruistic behaviour raises major questions for psychology and biology. One hypothesis proposes that human altruistic behaviour evolved as a result of sexual selection. Mechanisms that seek to explain how sexual selection works suggest genetic influence acting on both the mate preference for the trait and the preferred trait itself. We used a twin study to estimate whether genetic effects influenced responses to psychometric scales measuring mate preference towards altruistic traits (MPAT) and the preferred trait (i.e., ‘altruistic personality’). As predicted, we found significant genetic effects influencing variation in both. We also predicted that individuals expressing stronger MPAT and ‘altruistic personality’ would have mated at a greater frequency in ancestral populations. We found evidence for this in that 67% of the covariance in the phenotypic correlation between the two scales was associated with significant genetic effects. Both sets of findings are thus consistent with the hypothesized link between sexual selection and human altruism towards non‐kin. We discuss how this study contributes to our understanding of altruistic behaviour and how further work might extend this understanding.     

Mind the ad: How personality requirements affect older and younger job seekers' job attraction

Age discrimination may explain lower labour market chances of older and younger job seekers. What remains underresearched, however, is how older/younger job seekers might self-select out from early recruitment procedures due to stigmatizing information in job ads. Building on theories of metastereotypes and the linguistic category model, two experimental studies investigated how personality requirements that older/younger job seekers hold negative metastereotypes about and the way in which these requirements are worded (behavioural vs. dispositional) affected their job attraction. Within-participant mediation analyses showed that as expected, job attraction was higher for older (N = 123, aged 50 years or more) and younger (N = 151, 30 years or less) job seekers when requirements were worded in a behavioural way (e.g., ‘You can be flexible’), compared with a dispositional way (e.g., ‘You are flexible’). This relation was mediated by perceptions of challenge among younger but not older job seekers. Contrary to expectations, perceptions of threat did not explain the effects of negatively metastereotyped personality requirements on job attraction. Understanding how job seekers perceive information in job ads might help recruiters to design age-sensitive recruitment policies.     

Personality,health, wealth,and subjective well-being: Testing a integrative model with retired and working older adults

The current study tests an integrative model based on resource theories of retirement examining the relationships among personal resources (i.e., health and wealth), the Big Five, and subjective well-being in late life. We used a subsample (N = 2,518) of participants across two cohorts from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). All participants were working at Time 1 and a subsample retired between Time 1 and Time 2. A multi-group structural equation model compared the relationships among personality, health, wealth, and well-being between those who continued working and those who retired. Results suggest that wealth and health are related to personality traits (i.e., conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness), but provide no evidence that the relationships are different for retired and working adults.     

What are the values of young people and how are these different from the values of older generations in Georgia?

This article examines the basic values of young people (aged 18 to 25) and analyses how, if at all, these are different from the values of older generations in Georgia. Based on Shalom H. Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Values (2012), the study uses quantitative (secondary analysis of the World Values Survey [WVS]) and qualitative (40 in-depth interviews) research methods to explore basic values, perceptions and attitudes, as well as tolerance towards different minority groups in Georgia. The research findings reveal that Schwartz’s higher-ordered values ‘conservation’ (including ‘conformity’ and ‘tradition’) and ‘self-transcendence’ (including ‘benevolence’ and ‘universalism’) are very important for all age groups in Georgia. In contrast, the values of ‘openness to change’ and ‘self-enhancement’ are assessed quite dissimilarly by young and older generations. In addition, the youth turned out to be more tolerant towards different minority groups, such as people of a different religion and race, immigrants and sexual minorities.     

Predictors of response and drop-out during intensive dialectical behavior therapy

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness, and predictors of response and drop-out during a four-week course of intensive dialectical behavior therapy (I-DBT) in 447 outpatients suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD), over a 10-year period. Assessments included a diagnostic interview, the International Personality Disorder Examination Screening Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. Among these participants, 103 started a second course of treatment. In agreement with previous reports, I-DBT was effective in reducing levels of depression and hopelessness with a trend of increasing effectiveness over the study period. High schizoid scores and low narcissistic score predicted poor response. Treatment completion rate was high, and low education predicted dropout. A discussion on the usefulness of a second course of treatment should be held with patients and staff as it was not effective in reducing depression and hopelessness.     

Police interview competencies: assessment and associated traits

The present study empirically examines the structure of police interview competencies in self‐reports of 230 police investigators suggesting five major underlying dimensions, that is, ‘Careful‐tenacious’, ‘Controlled‐non‐reactive’, ‘Dominant‐insisting’, ‘Communicative’ and ‘Benevolent’. These dimensions discriminate performance in a series of interview vignettes, grouped in terms of type of case (interviewing a suspect, a witness or a victim) and type of suspect. In addition self‐ratings on these dimensions are related to self‐estimated interview effectiveness in the same vignettes. Participants are further administered the NEO PI‐R (Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Professional manual: Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO‐PI‐R) and NEO five‐factor‐inventory (NEO‐FFI). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources), enabling an examination of the relationship between the competence dimensions and their personality trait building blocks. The implications of this study for the development and coaching of police interview competencies are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Genetic Overlap and Distinctiveness of Flourishing and the Big Five Personality Traits

The growing evidence that subjective well-being (SWB) produces an array of beneficial outcomes has increased requests for recommendations on how to promote it. Evidence that all of SWB’s genetic variance overlaps with personality led to the strong claim that it is a ‘personality thing’ and that personality is the strongest predictor of SWB. However, studies do not include a comprehensive assessment that reflects eudaimonic as well as hedonic SWB. We revisit the question of SWB’s complete overlap with personality employing the tripartite model—emotional, psychological, and social—of SWB that, together, reflect Keyes’ (2002) model of flourishing. Data are from the Midlife in the United States national sample of 1,386 twins. Analyses were done using Mx to test Cholesky decomposition models and a two latent factor common pathway model. One-third of the total (72 %) heritability of flourishing and 40 % of its environmental variability are distinct from the big-five personality traits. We also find a low phenotypic association (mean r = .22) between the three dimensions of SWB and big-five personality traits despite substantial shared genetic etiology. In addition to non-trivial amounts of distinctive genetic and environmental variance and low phenotypic correlation, we point to limited investigation of reciprocal causation of SWB and personality. Psychologist should not yet conclude that SWB is a ‘personality thing’ anymore than personality might be a ‘well-being thing’.     

Predicting and accepting personality test scores

Three studies are reported concerned with people's perception of their own personality, their acceptance of bogus ‘personality’ feedback, and the relationship between their ‘actual’ personality scores and their willingness to accept bogus feedback. In the first study subjects attempted to predict their own and a well-known other person's personality scores. They were fairly good at predicting some of their own scores (extraversion, neuroticism) but less so others, suggesting that people can recognize their own ‘correct’ personality feedback. In the second study subjects were given either positive (Barnum Statements) or negative (reverse Barnum Statements) ‘bogus’ feedback after a personality test. They tended to accept the positive feedback as more accurate than the negative feedback though this was not related to their actual scores. In the third study subjects were given four types of feedback statements after a personality test: general positive, general negative, specific positive and specific negative. As predicted, people tend to accept general rather than specific, and positive rather than negative feedback as true. Furthermore, acceptance was closely related to neuroticism and extraversion in a predicted direction. These results are discussed in terms of the uses and abuses of validation of personality feedback.     

Personality and reasoning ability during retirement age: Report from a Swedish population-based longitudinal study

We examined the association between personality and level and change in reasoning ability in a population-based sample of older adults (62–68 years) using a three-year annual follow-up longitudinal study design (HEARTS; N = 3851). Personality traits were measured using the Mini-IPIP scale and reasoning using a short form of Raven’s Matrices. Findings from a structural equation model, controlling for age, education, and sex, revealed that higher levels on extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism were associated with lower reasoning ability (βs: −0.17 to −0.09). Higher levels of openness were associated with better reasoning (β: 0.16). We found no association with rate of change. This evidence replicates previous findings demonstrating that personality traits are associated with individual differences in cognition among older adults.     

Impact and Causes of Rater Severity/Leniency in Appraisals without Postevaluation Communication Between Raters and Ratees

In performance appraisals, some assessors are substantially more lenient than others. Research on this effect in appraisals involving communication and interaction between raters and ratees after the performance evaluation has taken place indicates that it may be at least partly caused by individual differences in assessor personality. However, little is known about the impact or causes of rater severity versus leniency in situations in which there is little or no contact between raters and ratees after the performance evaluation. In Study 1 (N = 174) the strength of the severity–leniency effect in this ‘no‐contact’ context is estimated and found to be similar to that reported for ‘with‐contact’ appraisals. No evidence of an association between assessor personality and assessor severity (vs. leniency) is found in the ‘no‐contact’ context. In Study 2 (N = 54) there is no evidence of an association between the fluid cognitive ability of assessors and the severity of their ratings in a no‐contact context. It is concluded that the severity versus leniency effect probably has a considerable impact on performance ratings in ‘no‐contact’ appraisal settings, but that neither rater personality nor rater cognitive ability appear to play a significant role in this.     

Modulating younger and older adults’ performance in ignoring pictorial information during a word matching task

Using both behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) data, the current study sought to examine the neurophysiological underpinnings for the effect of distracting pictorial information on semantic word matching performance in younger and older adults. This was tested in the context of semantic relations between task-relevant word pairs, a task-irrelevant picture and the resultant N400 differences in ERP. Younger and older adults were shown a context word superimposed on a to-be-ignored picture, followed by a test word. Their task was to determine whether the prime and test words were semantically related. The to-be-ignored pictures were interfering (for ‘No’ trials), facilitating (for ‘Yes’ trials), or neutral (for both ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ trials) to the expected responses. The interfering and facilitatory effects of to-be-ignored pictures were assessed under more automatic and more controlled conditions by manipulating the context–test interstimulus-interval (ISI) as 50 ms and 1000 ms, respectively. The analysis of the N400 at centro-parietal sites during test word display revealed similar N400 amplitudes for the ‘No’ response trials at the two ISIs, suggesting that younger and older adults showed an equivalent effect from interfering pictures. In contrast, younger adults showed greater reductions in the N400, as compared to older adults, for ‘Yes’ trials indicating differential effects in facilitation from to-be-ignored pictorial information, but only in the long ISI condition. The data are discussed in terms of age differences in resource demanding strategy use during a semantic word matching task, specifically during controlled retrieval.     

Personality in multiple sclerosis (MS): impact on health,psychological well-being,coping, and overall quality of life

Personality has long been considered a factor that can account for differences in health, well-being, and overall quality of life (QOL). A ‘Distressed or Type D Personality’ has been studied in medical populations as a predictor of several outcomes. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the presence of Type D Personality in multiple sclerosis (MS) and its role on disease symptoms, disease management, health-related behaviors, coping, psychological well-being, and overall QOL and functioning. Two hundred and thirty (230) individuals with MS completed a survey assessing personality, disease symptoms, disease management, coping, self-efficacy, locus of control (LOC), psychological well-being, and QOL. Thirty-seven (16%) individuals were found to be ‘Type D+.’ Such individuals reported greater fatigue, pain, depression, and anxiety and worse disease management and adherence. They also reported engaging in maladaptive means of coping. Compared to ‘Type D?’ they reported lower self-efficacy, LOC, QOL and greater perceived stress. Finally, ‘Type D+’ individuals were more likely to be considering leaving the workforce. Findings suggest that ‘Type D’ Personality is associated with various negative outcomes in MS. Consideration of the routine assessment of personality in MS seems warranted and may better inform interventions and ward off poor outcomes.     

Depression and sleep quality in older adults: a meta-analysis

The literature emphasizes depression and poor sleep quality as problems that affect many elderly individuals. However, these problems have been related in few studies and there is no meta-analysis performed so far on this relationship. The present research reviewed the studies performed on the subjective sleep quality in order to understand how it relates to depression in older adults. The review was conducted in January 2016 and comprised publications between 2005 and 2015. Based on the electronic databases Web of Science and EBSCO, we used the keywords ‘sleep quality’, ‘depression’, and ‘older’ to identify the empirical studies performed. After assessing the collected studies, we selected those that presented the elderly as participants, resulting in nine papers (N = 3069). A random-effects method was used to evaluate the relationship between depression and sleep. We found that an older person’s lack of good sleep quality is significantly related with depression. The main limitation of this study was the difficulty in collecting a greater number of studies. Future research should consider the importance of additional variables (e.g. moderators) in order to understand and investigate viable interventions for prevention and health promotion in the elderly.     

Desirability of control: psychometric properties and relationships with locus of control,personality, coping,and mental and somatic complaints in three Dutch samples

Desire for control (DC) or need for control has frequently been proposed as an important personality characteristic and as a possible crucial moderator within the fields of achievement, psychological adaptation, stress, and health. However, unlike locus of control, hardly any effort has been undertaken to assess the construct. An exception is the work of Burger and Cooper on the Desirability of Control Scale ( 1979 ). In the present study, the psychometric properties of a Dutch version of the DC scale were tested in three different samples (total N = 1044). Furthermore, relationships between DC, its subscales, and various psychological personality and outcome measures were examined. The results show that the psychometric properties of the original DC scale could be successfully transposed to the Dutch version. Furthermore, factor analyses (PCA) led to the construction of three reliable subscales: ‘control others’ (desire to be in charge of and control others), ‘control self’ (desire to control one's own life), and ‘relinquish control’ (desire to leave others in control). The pattern of relationships with convergent and outcome variables supports the interpretation of these subscales. For ‘control others’, as for the total DC scale (i.e. a total of all 20 items), the emphasis of these relationships was on dominance, active coping, and psychological adjustment. ‘Control self’ was mainly related to self‐sufficiency and independence, while ‘relinquish control’ was clearly associated with passive coping and poor psychological adjustment. In summary, the DC scale appears to be a psychometrically sound instrument to assess desire for control and its subdimensions. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Case for Homogeneity of Personality at the Occupational Level

The forces of attraction–selection–attrition have been hypothesized to create homogeneity of personality within organizations, and vocational choice theory predicts that these forces lead to a ‘modal personality’ within given occupations. This study compared the homogeneity of a set of personality characteristics for 6582 incumbents from eight organizations in eight occupations. The results indicated that (1) the homogeneity hypothesis was supported both within organizations as well as within occupations; and (2) the homogeneity within occupations was higher than that found in organizations.     

How personality relates to intelligence test performance: Implications for a theory of intelligence,ageing research and personality assessment

Previously reported findings indicate that variation of EEG evoked potential parameters is strongly related to both personality and intelligence differences (Robinson, 1982a, b). These data and the associated theory imply that personality should relate to intelligence test performance. Results are described in this report which indicate that subtest profiles obtained with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) differ significantly for Ss scoring highest and lowest on the Extraversion (E) scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ); introverts tend to do better on the ‘Verbal’ subtests while extraverts tend to do better on the ‘Performance’ measures. Ss with middling scores on the E scale of the EPQ can also be distinguished in terms of specific WAIS profiles. In this case the results define two contrasting groups. Young male Ss with middling E scores tend to have high Psychoticism (P) and low Lie (L) scores on the EPQ as well as having distinctive WAIS profiles characterized by higher scores on subtests normally associated with a ‘Memory’ or ‘Attention-Concentration’ factor. Higher scores were also obtained by this subgroup on the Picture Arrangement and Block Design subtests which were previously shown to load a P + /L ? factor. The converse is true for older female Ss who also have middling E scores. As well as demonstrating a systematic relationship between personality and intelligence test performance these data provide some further support for a model of brain-behaviour relationships proposed by Robinson. Within this theoretical framework a neurophysiologically meaningful explanation can be provided for the three major factors that reliably emerge in factor-analytic studies of the WAIS. From an applied viewpoint, the data indicate that personality differences can be assessed from performance on tests such as the WAIS. On this issue the results are discussed with particular reference to Gittinger's Personality Assessment System. Implications for ageing research are also discussed.     

HEXACO,social worldviews and socio-political attitudes: A mediation analysis

The Dual Process Model of Ideology and Prejudice states that ‘dangerous world’ and ‘competitive jungle’ beliefs shape Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), respectively. We investigated whether the associations of the HEXACO personality traits with SDO and RWA were mediated by these beliefs. Study 1 (297 Italian participants) investigated mediation at the general factor level. Study 2 (344 US participants) focused on the components of Honesty and Humility and of Openness-culture and Openness-curiosity. Personality associations with SDO were mostly mediated by Competitive Jungle beliefs, whilst personality associations with RWA were mostly unmediated. At the level of narrow trait components, different effects for Honesty and Humility and for Openness-culture and Openness-curiosity were revealed.     

Equilibria in Personality States: A Conceptual Primer for Dynamics in Personality States

We provide a basic, step-by-step introduction to the core concepts and mathematical fundamentals of dynamic systems modelling through applying the Change as Outcome model, a simple dynamical systems model, to personality state data. This model characterizes changes in personality states with respect to equilibrium points, estimating attractors and their strength in time series data. Using data from the Personality and Interpersonal Roles study, we find that mean state is highly correlated with attractor position but weakly correlated with attractor strength, suggesting strength provides added information not captured by summaries of the distribution. We then discuss how taking a dynamic systems approach to personality states also entails a theoretical shift. Instead of emphasizing partitioning trait and state variance, dynamic systems analyses of personality states emphasize characterizing patterns generated by mutual, ongoing interactions. Change as Outcome modelling also allows for estimating nuanced effects of personality development after significant life changes, separating effects on characteristic states after the significant change and how strongly she or he is drawn towards those states (an aspect of resiliency). Estimating this model demonstrates core dynamics principles and provides quantitative grounding for measures of ‘repulsive’ personality states and ‘ambivert’ personality structures. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology