On the validity of implicit association measures of personality traits

Participants (N = 200) completed self-report and implicit association (IAT) measures of Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability. Peer trait ratings and supervisor ratings of job performance were also collected. Results suggested low convergence between IAT and self-report trait measures. Cognitive ability and self-positive bias both explained significant portions of the method variance expressed by IAT measures. Correlations between IAT trait measures and job performance were statistically non-significant, of similar magnitudes to their self-report counterparts, and of magnitudes consistent with past research on criterion validities of self-report trait measures. The results offer only very limited support for the use of IAT trait measures in applied assessment settings.     

On the prediction of academic performance with personality traits: A replication study

We describe a large sample study (N = 652) that had two purposes. The first was to replicate a previous study (Paunonen & Ashton, 2001a, Journal of Research in Personality) in which we showed that lower-level personality trait measures related to achievement motivation predict the academic success of university students. The second purpose was to test our earlier conclusion that such lower-level traits are frequently superior to broader personality factors for accuracy in prediction. Both purposes were met in this study, providing more evidence for our general claim that aggregating narrow personality trait measures into broad factor measures can sometimes have negative consequences regarding the prediction and understanding of important outcomes, including academic performance.     

The personality traits of liked people

There is surprisingly little understanding of how personality traits are associated with being generally liked by others after adolescence (Ozer & Benet-Martinez, 2006). We examined the relationship between self-reported personality traits and being generally liked in young adulthood in Greek organizations and freshman dormitories. We found a high level of consistency in which traits were associated with being liked. We examined the relationship between liked and socially desirable traits, using a recent theory on agency and communion (Wojciszke, Abele, & Baryla, 2009). Results help to create a personality profile of the person who is more liked by others, especially pointing to the importance of communal characteristics that are associated with behavior benefiting others.     

Gender differences in implicit and explicit personality traits

This article investigates gender differences in implicit and explicit measures of the Big Five traits of personality. In a high-powered study (N = 14,348), we replicated previous research showing that women report higher levels of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Neuroticism. For implicit measures, gender differences were much smaller for all, and opposite in sign for Extraversion. Somewhat higher levels of implicit Neuroticism and Agreeableness were observed in women, and somewhat higher levels of implicit Extraversion and Openness were observed in men. There was no gender difference in implicit Conscientiousness. A possible explanation is that explicit self-concepts partly reflect social norms and self-expectations about gender roles, while implicit self-concepts may mostly reflect self-related experiences.     

Examination of the reliability and validity of the personality assessment inventory

The reliability, discriminant validity, and construct validity of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) — a multidimensional self-report measure of abnormal personality traits — were examined within the Australian context. Subjects included 151 normals, 30 alcoholics, and 30 schizophrenic patients. A subsample of 70 nonpsychiatric adults responded to the PAI items twice over a test-retest interval of 28 days. The resulting median retest coefficient was 0.7, indicating less than optimal stability. The median alpha (KR₂₁) coefficient was 0.8, suggesting somewhat narrow measurement scales. A significant multivariate main effect was obtained across groups after the effects of age and gender were removed. Multiple comparisons for each of the PAI scales revealed significant differences between the respective groups, as discussed. A higher-order scale factoring did not strongly support the purported PAI structure. In reanalyses of the correlation matrices included in the Professional Manual, the purported PAI factor structure was unable to be replicated for the standardization clinical sample (N=1246), and a confirmatory factor analysis using the normative (validation) correlational data (N=1000) revealed poor fit indices, raising further concerns about construct validity.     

Incremental variance in indecisiveness due to cognitive failure compared to fluid intelligence and personality traits

This study investigated the role of fluid intelligence, personality traits and perceived cognitive failure in relation to indecisiveness. The Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ) and the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) were administered to 429 Italian high school students. The study revealed that perceived cognitive failure added a significant percentage of incremental variance in indecisiveness compared to variances due to fluid intelligence and personality traits thereby offering new research and intervention possibilities.     

Factor structure and measurement invariance of a short measure of the Big Five personality traits

The main purpose of this study is to assess the factor structure and the measurement invariance of the Mini-International Personality Item Pool (Mini-IPIP; Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006). The Mini-IPIP is a brief instrument evaluating personality traits according to the Big Five models. Two samples were collected comprising nearly 800 participants. Confirmatory factor analyzes revealed a five-factor solution consistent with the Big Five model. Measurement invariance analyses showed that the Mini-IPIP was reasonably invariant across samples, genders and age groups. Overall, results pointed to a satisfactory factorial structure and an adequate invariance of the measure.     

Similarity between partners in real and perceived personality traits as measured by the Myers-Briggs type indicator

From 90 couples, 90 male and 90 female subjects, two sets of scores on the four personality dimensions measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) were obtained by letting each person answer each item twice, first in the ordinary way and then as he or she believed the partner would answer the item. Correlations between partners' self-reported scores were all close to zero, whereas the correlations between the partner-reported scores and the self-reported scores were high for both males and females and for all the four dimensions measured by the MBTI, thus indicating that partners were not similar in personality traits, but they had a realistic perception of each other. The results support the hypothesis that mating is random in terms of personality traits.     

Gender and autistic personality traits predict perspective-taking ability in typical adults

Adopting another’s visual perspective is exceedingly common and may underlie successful social interaction and empathizing with others. The individual differences responsible for success in perspective-taking, however, remain relatively undiscovered. We assessed whether gender and autistic personality traits in normal college student adults predict the ability to adopt another’s visual perspective. In a task differentially recruiting VPT-1 which involves following another’s line of sight, and VPT-2 which involves determining how another may perceive an object differently given their unique perspective (VPT-2), we found effects of both gender and autistic personality traits. Specifically, we demonstrate slowed VPT-2 but not VPT-1 performance in males and females with relatively high ASD-characteristic personality traits; this effect, however was markedly stronger in males than females. Results contribute to knowledge regarding ASD-related personality traits in the general population and the individual differences modulating perspective-taking abilities.     

The concurrent validity of three self-report measures of borderline personality

The recent accumulation of self-report measures of borderline personality disorder (BPD) affords the opportunity to evaluate both the construct validity of the concept and the quality of these measures. This study examines the relationship among three recently developed self-report instruments for assessing BPD from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991), the MMPI Personality Disorders Scales (MPD; Morey, Waugh, & Blashfield, 1985), and the Bell Object Relations Inventory (BORI: Bell, Billington, & Becker, 1986). Data on the three measures were provided by 119 undergraduate subjects from a southeastern university. A correlational analysis addresses the convergence of these measures of BPD, their divergence from measures of different but related traits, and their independence from variance due to method. Application of the Campbell-Fiske (1959) criteria indicates adequate convergence for all the BPD measures but a lack of discriminant validity for the BORI scales. The fit of the data to a structural model of construct validity is tested using confirmatory factor analysis, and these results are consistent with the hypothesis of a latent borderline trait factor independent of measurement method factors. In sum, the construct validity of the borderline personality concept using self-report methodologies receives support, and a strong association between borderline personality and paranoid phenomena is also suggested.     

Birth order differences in normal personality traits: Perspectives from within and outside the family

The hypotheses of Sulloway (1996) regarding birth order differences in five-factor model personality traits were tested in a sample of 231 college students with the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992). Data were collected from three sources (self, peer, and parent) to systematically evaluate previous observations that birth order differences are more commonly found when ratings are obtained from family members than from observers outside the family (Ernst & Angst, 1983). Using a between-family design, students were selected only from families with two or three full biological siblings and no half-siblings, step-siblings, or adopted siblings. Firstborn (n = 103) and laterborn (n = 128) students were compared using NEO-FFI ratings by the self, by a same-sex college peer, and by a biological parent. No birth order differences were found for any of the five NEO-FFI scores using any of the three rating sources. Effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were less than .20 for all comparisons. Suggestions for new approaches to the study of birth order differences are considered, including the use of within-family designs and more contextualized personality variables.     

Compulsive buying and the Five Factor Model of personality: A facet analysis

In recent years, the broad dimensions of the Five-Factor Model have been an object of an increasing interest in the compulsive buying field. Nevertheless, the absence of studies that analyse the FFM facets in compulsive buyers is surprising. This study, employing the NEO-PI-R, intends to assess whether there are differences in both facets and broad traits, in three groups with low (n = 792), moderate (n = 456), and high (n = 117) compulsive buying propensities. The results confirm that the high propensity group presents the highest significant levels in neuroticism and the lowest in conscientiousness and agreeableness. Whereas all neuroticism and conscientiousness’ facets establish significant differences among the groups (the largest correspond to anxiety and impulsivity, and dutifulness and self-discipline, respectively), only some significant differences for agreeableness are established (namely, straightforwardness, altruism, trust, and modesty). Finally, even though there are no differences between groups in extraversion and openness factors, extraversion’s excitement-seeking, positive emotions and assertiveness facets, and openness’ aesthetics and ideas facets do establish significant differences. Generally speaking, these findings advocate the need to analyse facets, in addition to the broad factors, in the effort to advance our understanding about the elements that make up the personality structure of the compulsive buyer.     

At the interface of social cognition and psychometrics: Manipulating the sex of the reference class modulates sex differences in personality traits

Psychometric surveys suggest that sex differences in personality are minimal. Herein, we argue that (a) the mind is likely biased toward assessing oneself relative to same-sex others, and (b) this bias may affect the measurement of sex differences in personality. In support of this, an experiment demonstrates modulation of sex differences on the HEXACO facets by manipulating the sex of the “reference class”—the group of people subjects compare themselves to when making self-assessments on survey items. Although patterns varied across traits, sex differences were relatively small in the “unspecified” and “same-sex” reference class conditions—but substantially larger in the “opposite-sex” condition. These findings point to a same-sex comparison bias that may impact the measurement of sex differences in personality.     

The Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS): predictive validity and construct validity in a Dutch population

The discriminant and predictive validity of the Dutch translation of the Golombok Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction (GRISS; Rust and Golombok, 1985, Rust and Golombok, 1986a, Rust and Golombok, 1986b; Ter Kuile et al., (1993); Ter Kuile et al., accepted for publication) was examined in independent samples comprising sexological (357 males and 380 females) and gynaecological outpatients (156 males and 209 females). Prediction of the presence of sexual complaints with the GRISS differed in these samples. The best performance was found in the male sexology sample in which sensitivity and specificity, as well as the predictive values both positive and negative were satisfactory. The predictive characteristics in the other three samples were found to be less satisfactory and were confounded with sample characteristics concerning the presence or absence of individual sexual problems. The availability of the other partners' GRISS scores enhanced the GRISS' predictive capacities for males and females in these samples. In 320 female and 300 male sexology patients and their partners, the convergent and divergent construct validity of the GRISS scales was investigated using other instruments measuring psychological distress, marital, sexual and general life maladjustment, personality traits of psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism and social desirability. No correlations of the GRISS with social desirability were found. GRISS subscales were found to represent relatively independent constructs. These findings were confirmed by higher-order factor analyses of subscale scores of males and females.     

The relationship between the entrepreneurial personality and the Big Five personality traits

Although meta-analyses show that the Big Five personality traits predict business intention, creation, and success (Brandstätter, 2011), they also indicate that narrow personality traits, such as innovativeness, predict these outcomes better than broad traits, such as Conscientiousness and Extraversion (Rauch & Frese, 2007). The current study extends previous research to examine the relationship between the Big Five and a wider range of entrepreneurial outcomes (e.g. founding charitable organisations, organising events, and changing organisational practices). Additionally, it establishes the incremental validity of a narrow measure of entrepreneurial personality over the Big Five (META, Ahmetoglu, Leutner, & Chamorro-Premuic, 2011). Both the Big Five and META significantly predict various forms of entrepreneurial success, though META does so more consistently. This suggests that narrow personality traits have incremental validity in predicting entrepreneurial success vis-à-vis the Big Five. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

The relationship between personality traits and psychotic like experiences in a large non-clinical adolescent sample

ObjectiveThe relationship between personality and psychosis is well established. It has been suggested that this relationship may be partly accounted for by higher levels of depression in individuals with certain personality traits. We explored whether the link between personality and psychotic symptoms is already apparent in adolescence, and if this association would still hold when depression was controlled for.Method654 secondary school students were surveyed via self-report questionnaires measuring the Five-Factor model of personality (NEO-FFI), depression (CES-D) and psychotic-like experiences (CAPE).ResultsPositive associations were found between Neuroticism and all CAPE-subscales except Magical Thinking, which was in turn associated with all other personality traits when at high levels. Agreeableness was negatively associated with all CAPE-subscales, while Openness to Experience was only positively associated with Persecutory Ideas and Magical Thinking. After controlling for depression, many of the significant associations remained.ConclusionOur findings suggest that the chance of having psychotic like experiences is more likely for adolescents with certain personality traits. These associations are not fully explained by depression, especially when psychotic experiences are at higher levels. Future research is needed to investigate if these personality traits might put a person at risk for the development of full-blown psychosis.     

Personality traits as predictors of trauma-related coping self-efficacy: A three-wave prospective study

Aim of the present three-wave study was to examine to what extent personality traits and general self-efficacy measured before exposure to a potentially traumatic event (PTE) prospectively predict coping self-efficacy (CSE) perceptions, and to test whether outcomes are biased by the timing of assessment of personality traits. The study was conducted within a large probability-based multi-wave representative internet panel in the Netherlands (N^total = 1154).ResultsFindings for both personality assessments (2009, 2011) were similar. Among respondents with low levels of PTSD-symptomatology, higher levels of emotional stability and agreeableness were associated with higher levels of CSE, while among those with relatively high levels of PTSD-symptomatology emotional stability alone was independently predictive of CSE. After adding personality traits to the model, general self-efficacy, demographic and event-related variables were not predictive of CSE, with the exception of time since the event for the high-symptoms group.ConclusionsEmotional stability most strongly and systematically predicts CSE following PTE’s, regardless of the moment it was assessed. Agreeableness is only predictive of CSE among those with low levels of PTSD-symptomatology. Timing of assessment of personality did not influence results. In sum the personality traits emotional stability and agreeableness provide (limited) information on CSE levels among adults following PTE’s.     

Concurrent and incremental validity of three trait emotional intelligence measures

This study explored concurrent and incremental validity of three trait emotional intelligence measures: the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale, Multidimensional Emotional Intelligence Assessment, and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire. A total of 307 participants were drawn predominantly from community and student populations. Concurrent criterion validity of the measures varied depending on whether emotional intelligence (EI) was assessed as a lower, middle or higher level construct, with validity coefficients being larger for the former. In all cases, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire was the superior predictor of multiple psychological criteria. At the higher level of assessment, incremental validity beyond (a) age, gender and the Big Five, and (b) the remaining two EI measures, was also superior.