Dimensions of Normal and Abnormal Personality: Elucidating DSM‐IV Personality Disorder Symptoms in Adolescents

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to elucidate dimensions of normal and abnormal personality underlying DSM‐IV personality disorder (PD) symptoms in 168 adolescents referred to mental health services. Dimensions derived from the Big Five of normal personality and from Livesley's (2006) conceptualization of personality pathology were regressed on interview‐based DSM‐IV PD symptom counts. When examined independently, both models demonstrated significant levels of predictive power at the higher order level. However, when added to the higher order Big Five dimensions, Livesley's higher and lower order dimensions afforded a supplementary contribution to the understanding of dysfunctional characteristics of adolescent PDs. In addition, they contributed to a better differentiation between adolescent PDs. The present findings suggest that adolescent PDs are more than extreme, maladaptive variants of higher order normal personality traits. Adolescent PDs seem to encompass characteristics that may be more completely covered by dimensions of abnormal personality. Developmental issues and implications of the findings are discussed.     

Personality and prejudice: Extension to the HEXACO personality model

We modelled the associations between the HEXACO dimensions of personality, Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and prejudice towards dangerous, derogated and dissident groups (N = 454 undergraduates). Consistent with a Big‐Five model, low Openness to Experience predicted RWA and therefore dangerous and dissident group prejudice. As predicted, low Emotionality (and Openness) rather than Agreeableness predicted SDO and therefore derogated and dissident group prejudice. Comparison with meta‐analytic averages of Big‐Five data supported expected similarities and differences in the association of Big‐Five and HEXACO models of personality with ideology. Finally, Honesty‐Humility simultaneously predicted increases in RWA but decreases in SDO, and thus opposing effects on prejudice. These opposing effects have gone unidentified in research employing Big‐Five models of personality structure. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relations between the Big Five personality traits and dispositional coping in Korean Americans: Acculturation as a moderating factor

The current study examined the individual and joint effects of the Big Five personality traits and acculturation on coping styles. Using the proposed framework of McCrae ( 22 2001), the relations among these variables were evaluated at the intracultural level to exploit previously unexplored within‐culture variability for an unstudied Asian American group (Korean Americans). This approach emphasizes the unique expression of specific personality traits in a single culture. A community sample of Korean Americans completed measures of the Five‐Factor Model of Personality (NEO‐PI‐R; Costa & McCrae, 13 1992), coping (Brief COPE; Carver, 7 1997), and acculturation (SL‐ASIA; Suinn, Ahuna, & Khoo, 40 1992). The results primarily showed statistically significant relations between the Big Five personality traits and coping. Neuroticism was positively related to indices of emotion‐focused coping (emotional support) and avoidance (substance abuse, behavioural disengagement, venting, self‐blame); Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness were positively related to indices of problem‐focused (active coping, planning) and emotion‐focused coping (positive reframing, humour, acceptance); and Agreeableness was positively associated with active coping and humour. Acculturation was only significantly (and positively) associated with venting. Significant Acculturation×Big Five personality traits interactions were found, however. For individuals high in acculturation, both Neuroticism and Openness were positively related to indices of avoidance coping. Moreover, for individuals low in acculturation, a negative relationship was found between Conscientiousness and venting. These results show that there is considerable within‐culture variation for the dimensions of the Five‐Factor Model of Personality, coping styles, and acculturation in this largely bicultural sample. Moreover, the amount of variation and its directionality among the target study variables is similar to that typically found in Caucasian American samples. Finally, the stronger relations found between the dimensions of personality and coping styles (relative to the relations found between acculturation and coping styles) suggests that personality traits rather than acculturation may be more important clinically when profiling patients and developing treatment plans.     

Openness to Experience,Intellect, and Cognitive Ability

An instrument designed to separate 2 midlevel traits within each of the Big Five (the Big Five Aspect Scales [BFAS]) was used to clarify the relation of personality to cognitive ability. The BFAS measures Openness to Experience and Intellect as separate (although related) traits, and refers to the broader Big Five trait as Openness/Intellect. In 2 samples (N = 125 and 189), Intellect was independently associated with general intelligence (g) and with verbal and nonverbal intelligence about equally. Openness was independently associated only with verbal intelligence. Implications of these findings are discussed for the empirical and conceptual relations of intelligence to personality and for the mechanisms potentially underlying both Openness/Intellect and cognitive ability.     

Motivational Basis of Personality Traits: A Meta‐Analysis of Value‐Personality Correlations

We investigated the relationships between personality traits and basic value dimensions. Furthermore, we developed novel country‐level hypotheses predicting that contextual threat moderates value‐personality trait relationships. We conducted a three‐level v‐known meta‐analysis of correlations between Big Five traits and Schwartz's (1992) 10 values involving 9,935 participants from 14 countries. Variations in contextual threat (measured as resource threat, ecological threat, and restrictive social institutions) were used as country‐level moderator variables. We found systematic relationships between Big Five traits and human values that varied across contexts. Overall, correlations between Openness traits and the Conservation value dimension and Agreeableness traits and the Transcendence value dimension were strongest across all samples. Correlations between values and all personality traits (except Extraversion) were weaker in contexts with greater financial, ecological, and social threats. In contrast, stronger personality‐value links are typically found in contexts with low financial and ecological threats and more democratic institutions and permissive social context. These effects explained on average more than 10% of the variability in value‐personality correlations. Our results provide strong support for systematic linkages between personality and broad value dimensions, but they also point out that these relations are shaped by contextual factors.     

Capturing the DSM‐5 Alternative Personality Disorder Model Traits in the Five‐Factor Model's Nomological Net

Several studies have shown structural and statistical similarities between the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM‐5) alternative personality disorder model and the Five‐Factor Model (FFM). However, no study to date has evaluated the nomological network similarities between the two models. The relations of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI‐R) and the Personality Inventory for DSM‐5 (PID‐5) with relevant criterion variables were examined in a sample of 336 undergraduate students (M_age = 19.4; 59.8% female). The resulting profiles for each instrument were statistically compared for similarity. Four of the five domains of the two models have highly similar nomological networks, with the exception being FFM Openness to Experience and PID‐5 Psychoticism. Further probing of that pair suggested that the NEO PI‐R domain scores obscured meaningful similarity between PID‐5 Psychoticism and specific aspects and lower‐order facets of Openness. The results support the notion that the DSM‐5 alternative personality disorder model trait domains represent variants of the FFM domains. Similarities of Openness and Psychoticism domains were supported when the lower‐order aspects and facets of Openness domain were considered. The findings support the view that the DSM‐5 trait model represents an instantiation of the FFM.     

Long-term stability in the Big Five personality traits in adulthood

This study investigated the stability of the Big Five personality traits in adulthood from age 33 to 42. Participants (89 men, 103 women) were drawn from the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development. The results showed that the mean‐level of Neuroticism decreased whereas the mean‐level of Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness increased from age 33 to 42. The Structural Equation Modeling analyses revealed both gender differences and similarities in the rank‐order stability of the Big Five: Neuroticism and Extraversion were more stable in men than in women, whereas Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were as stable in men as in women. Stability coefficients for the Big Five personality traits across 9 years were moderate to high, ranging from 0.73 to 0.97 in men and from 0.65 to 0.95 in women. The highest gender‐equal stability was found for Openness to Experience and the lowest for Conscientiousness.     

Opening Up Openness: A Theoretical Sort Following Critical Incidents Methodology and a Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Trait Family Measures

Existing taxonomies of Openness's facet structure have produced widely divergent results, and there is limited comprehensive empirical evidence about how Openness-related scales on existing personality inventories align within the 5-factor framework. In Study 1, we used a critical incidents sorting methodology to identify 11 categories of Openness measures; in Study 2, we meta-analyzed the relationships of these categories with global markers of the Big Five traits (utilizing data from 106 samples with a total sample size of N = 35,886). Our results identified 4 true facets of Openness: aestheticism, openness to sensations, nontraditionalism, and introspection. Measures of these facets were unadulterated by variance from other Big Five traits. Many traits frequently conceptualized as facets of Openness (e.g., innovation/creativity, variety-seeking, and tolerance) emerged as trait compounds that, although related to Openness, are also dependent on other Big Five traits. We discuss how Openness should be conceptualized, measured, and studied in light of the empirically based, refined taxonomy emerging from this research.     

Self-esteem, personality and achievement in high school: a prospective longitudinal study in Texas

Abstract This research explored four empirical questions: (1) Is self‐esteem a better predictor of academic success and adjustment than other aspects of personality? (2) How is self‐esteem related to Big‐Five dimensions of personality during the transition from middle school to high school? (3) Do dispositions like Agreeableness or Openness relate to an adolescent's adaptation and affect reactions to the self? and (4) Do sources of information about adolescents (e.g., self‐rating, other rating, objective “life history”) converge? We also explored the general hypothesis that personality, self‐esteem, and teachers' ratings of adjustment during the middle school years predict later life outcomes during high school. Overall, results indicate Big‐Five personality characteristics were more stable than self‐esteem across this transition period. Agreeableness and Openness assessed in middle school are related to later scholastic competence and behavioral conduct, academic success, and adjustment in high school. Results were discussed in terms of personality development and self‐evaluation.     

Higher-order factors of the big five and basic values: empirical and theoretical relations

The Big Five Model of personality and Schwartz's theory of basic values are two prominent taxonomies that offer a convenient way to organize the major individual differences in, respectively, personality traits and personal values. Both taxonomies provide a hierarchical framework, whose components can be traced back to a smaller number of broader dimensions. The current study investigated the relationship between the two superordinate factors of personality encompassing the Big Five dimensions (alpha and beta) and the four higher-level value types from Schwartz's theory (Self-transcendence, Self-enhancement, Conservation, and Openness to change). To examine the relations between higher-order traits and values, we relied on factor analysis and multidimensional scaling. Results indicated that alpha and beta were differently related to the Conservation versus Openness to change dimension. Alpha was positively related to values that emphasize protecting stability and respecting norms and traditions, and negatively related to values emphasizing receptiveness to change and independence of thought, feeling, and action. The opposite pattern of relations was found for beta.     

Relations between self-leadership and scores on the Big Five

The recent construct of Self-leadership, which includes cognitive and behavioral strategies of managing oneself, has yet to be examined for associations with central personality dimensions such as the Big Five and their higher-order factors (Alpha, Beta). It was hypothesized that Self-leadership and its subfacets would be significantly correlated with all Big Five traits except Agreeableness, albeit higher with Extraversion and Openness to Experiences as it should pertain more strongly to agentic than communal traits. Analyses in university students (N=168) indicated that Self-leadership and its facets were more strongly related to Beta (Agency) than Alpha (Communion), and, although there were mostly positive correlations, Self-leadership should be distinguished from the Big Five traits. Findings are discussed regarding Self-leadership's associations with the Big Five traits and higher-order factors.     

Dichotomous Thinking and Personality Traits: From the Viewpoints of the Big Five and HEXACO1,2

Dichotomous thinking is a feature of certain personality traits, such as the Dark Triad and Cluster B personality disorders, which commonly reflect a fast life history strategy. The Big Five and HEXACO personality models are useful for understanding the personality structure and individual differences in life history strategy. Our study aimed to shed light on the propensity for dichotomous thinking using the framework of the Big Five and HEXACO personality models. Participants (n = 229) completed the Dichotomous Thinking Inventory, the 60-item HEXACO Personality Inventory – Revised, and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory. We examined correlations between dichotomous thinking and each domain of the Big Five and HEXACO personality models, and then computed multiple correlations predicting total and dimensional scores on the propensity for dichotomous thinking with scores on the Big Five and HEXACO personality traits. Results indicated that dichotomous thinking tendency is characterized by the set of low Agreeableness and Honesty–Humility. This study suggests that dichotomous thinking has antagonistic characteristics and a linkage to the fast life history strategy.     

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.     

Personality Neuroscience and the Biology of Traits

Personality neuroscience involves the use of neuroscience methods to study individual differences in behavior, motivation, emotion, and cognition. Personality psychology has contributed much to identifying the important dimensions of personality, but relatively little to understanding the biological sources of those dimensions. However, the rapidly expanding field of personality neuroscience is increasingly shedding light on this topic. This article provides a survey of progress in the use of neuroscience to study personality traits, organized using a hierarchical model of traits based on the Big Five dimensions: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness/Intellect. Evidence is reviewed for hypotheses about the biological systems involved in each trait.     

SELF-MONITORING AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND PERFORMANCE

This study examined the hypothesis that self-monitoring moderates the relationship between Big Five personality traits and interpersonal performance. The findings from a sample of 102 employed Executive MBA students reveal that when self-monitoring was high the relationships between 3 of the Big Five personality traits (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience) and supervisory ratings of interpersonal performance were attenuated. These effects were replicated using peer ratings of interpersonal performance for Extraversion and Emotional Stability but not for Openness to Experience. Further, as expected, self-monitoring did not moderate the relationships between personality traits and supervisory or peer ratings of task performance. Implications for future research in the area of personality and other motivational theories are discussed.     

Personality at Work: Raising Awareness and Correcting Misconceptions

Personality variables have always predicted important behaviors and outcomes in industrial, work, and organizational psychology. In this commentary, we first review empirically supported structural models of personality that show the following: (a) Personality traits are hierarchically organized, (b) the Big Five are not orthogonal, (c) abnormal personality measures assess the same continuum of traits as normal adult personality measures, and (d) there are compound personality traits that are especially useful in the prediction of organizational behaviors. Second, we provide a brief overview of meta-analyses of compound personality variables. The highest operational validities of single scales (.40s) are associated with personality measures assessing broad, compound personality characteristics, such as integrity, violence potential, customer service orientation, and managerial potential, that incorporate aspects from multiple dimensions of the Big Five. Third, we also review meta-analytic evidence that has linked personality attributes to other important organizational attitudes and behaviors, such as job satisfaction, motivation, and leadership, with multiple correlations for the Big Five in the .40 to .50 range. Fourth, we discuss the important role that meta-analysis has had in establishing the predictive and explanatory value of personality variables. We conclude with some caveats and directions for future research.     

Five-factor model (Big Five) personality traits and universal-diverse orientation in counselor trainees

In this study the authors explored the relationship between five-factor model (FFM: Big Five) personality traits (J. M. Digman, 1990; R. R. McCrae & O. P. John, 1992; J. S. Wiggins & P. D. Trappnell, 1997) and universal-diverse orientation (UDO; M. L. Miville et al., 1999) in counselor trainees. FFM traits were measured using the NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992). Statistically significant relationships were found between UDO and one of the Big Five personality traits (Openness to Experience) in counselor trainees. Further regression analysis suggested a relationship between UDO and a particular facet of Openness to Experience, Openness to Aesthetics. This finding suggests that counselor trainees who are open to the creative expressions of others may be comfortable working with a wide variety of clients. These results suggest that counselor training that encourages experiences of aesthetic diversity in addition to an exploration of values may promote trainees' ability to work with diverse clients.