Teaching Strategies for Personality Assessment at the Undergraduate Level

Personality assessment is a crucial component of clinical practice, and the training and proficiency criteria to develop competence are complex and multifaceted. Like many advanced topics, the field of personality assessment would benefit from early exposure in undergraduate classroom settings. This research evaluates how an undergraduate personality course can be enhanced through 2 enrichment activities (self-assessments and a personality project). Students completed several self-assessments of their personality and wrote a comprehensive and integrative personality assessment about themselves. Results demonstrated that these activities increased interest in personality assessment, deepened understanding of course material, and promoted student growth and self-exploration. We discuss the benefits of these enrichment activities for the student, instructor, and field of personality science.     

A Case Study of Argumentation at Undergraduate Level in History

This article examines two essays by undergraduate students in the first year of study in History at a university in the UK. It also draws on documentary evidence from the department in question and interviews with the students themselves to paint a picture of the way argumentation operates at this level. While no firm conclusions can be drawn, the evidence suggests a department with a high degree of awareness of the importance of argument and argumentation in studying History; and students who are aware and articulate about the problem facing them in constructing essays in the discipline. Suggestions are made about induction into the epistemological and argumentative demands of undergraduate study.     

An ESID Case Study at the Federal Level

The D (dissemination) phase of the ESID model has been often overlooked in our efforts to create innovative and widespread social change. The process of replicating successful social innovations is both a prerequisite for dissemination (in order to assess the consistency of effects) and an obvious outcome of a successful dissemination effort. Fidelity, the extent to which a replicated program is implemented in a manner consistent with the original program model, is an important dimension of replication. This study was designed to provide empirical data related to three questions. Can complex social programs be implemented with fidelity? How much fidelity is appropriate or desired? What are the organizational dynamics of adoption with fidelity? Data were collected from grantees of a national replication initiative funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Data suggest that high fidelity can be achieved, at least in the context in which programs are mandated to do so as part of the funding agreement and are given technical assistance in achieving fidelity. Secondly, programs perceived high fidelity as having positive effects on the program and its participants, a finding consistent with a limited assessment of the relationship of program outcomes and fidelity. Finally, much was learned about the human and organizational dynamics of replicating with fidelity. Implications for policy and direction regarding replication are discussed.     

Homogeneity of Personality in Occupations and Organizations: A Comparison of Alternative Statistical Tests

Purpose

The attraction?Cselection?Cattrition (ASA) model has served as the foundation for numerous investigations. However, the generally supportive evidence for ASA??s homogeneity hypothesis has often been based on statistical tests (e.g., MANOVA) that rely on between-group differences to evaluate within-group agreement. The primary purpose of this article was to discuss advantages of direct statistical tests of homogeneity??average deviation (AD) and r _wg??when testing ASA??s homogeneity hypothesis, and advantages of other statistical tests for testing other aspects of ASA theory. A secondary goal was to evaluate the extent to which occupational homogeneity is distinct from organizational homogeneity.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and included scores on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^? (MBTI) personality measure for 1,103 managers from 25 organizations and 17 occupations.

Findings

Results were generally supportive of the homogeneity hypothesis. AD values showed that most groups were homogeneous on most assessed personality dimensions. A comparison analysis using traditional statistical tests (i.e., MANOVA) indirectly suggested within-group homogeneity by revealing a significant between-groups effect. In addition, results suggested possible boundary conditions to ASA; notably, meaningful heterogeneity was observed for the S?CN (sensing-intuition) MBTI^? dimension.

Implications

The current study provides direct support for ASA??s homogeneity hypothesis for both organizations and occupations and offers guidance for future research on ASA theory and its possible boundary conditions.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to test the predictions of ASA in both organizations and occupations using a direct index of agreement.     

Emotional Health and the Big Five Personality Factors at the American State Level

Relations between the emotional health domain of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and the Big Five personality factors were determined at the American state level. State emotional health scores were based on the aggregated results of 353,039 phone interviews conducted throughout 2008 with a representative sample of US adults (Gallup 2009a). State z scores (Rentfrow et al. in Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 339–386, 2008) on neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness were based on 619,397 nationally representative respondents to an internet survey between 1999 and 2005. State socioeconomic status (SES), urban percent, and white percent based on 2000 and 2005 data served as demographic controls. Alaska and Hawaii were excluded. When the controls entered a hierarchical multiple regression equation as a block and were followed by the Big Five selected stepwise, the controls accounted for 27.5% of the emotional health variance and neuroticism accounted for another 35.3%. With stepwise selection of controls and then Big Five variables, SES entered first (24.1%) and neuroticism entered second (32.4%). With stepwise selection from the combined control and Big Five pool, neuroticism entered first (47.5%), SES entered second (9.1%), and urban percent entered third (4.9%). Clearly, neuroticism and SES are the key contributors to emotional health variance and neuroticism makes the largest contribution. States with higher proportions of neurotic individuals and lower SES tended to have populations with poorer emotional health. Theoretical foundations for the link between neuroticism and emotional health at the state level and implications for changes in state emotional health are discussed.     

Diagnosis of Personality Disorders: A Case Study

In this article, I report a case highlighting diagnostic uncertainty about psychopathology on both Axes I and II. It concerns in part the problem of comorbidity in relation to diagnostic classification of Axis II personality disorders. After commenting on these uncertainties in relation to categorical and dimensional models, I also consider a psychoanalytic explanation to illustrate an example in which a theoretical model informs diagnostic interviewing. I emphasize how the clinical information that unfolds from an interview based on this theoretical model generates inferences about psychopathology that extend clinical understanding beyond the formal diagnostic assessment of Axes I and II disorders and assessment by self-report.     

The Five-Factor Model of Personality at the Facet Level: Association with Antisocial Personality Disorder Symptoms and Prediction of Antisocial Behavior

The association between the Five-Factor Model of personality (FFM) and antisocial personality disorder (APD) symptoms was investigated in a sample of young males with a history of severe antisocial behavior. Results were compared against those of an expert-consensus study (Lynam and Widiger Journal of Abnormal Psychology 110:401–412, 2001) and those of a recent meta-analysis (Samuel and Widiger Clinical Psychology Review 28:1326–1342, 2008) based primarily on non-antisocial samples. A high degree of similarity was observed across the three. Multivariate analysis indicated two FFM facets, Compliance and Activity, to be associated with APD symptoms. The contribution of these facets to the prospective prediction of antisocial behavior over and above that of APD symptoms and past antisocial behavior was evaluated. Compliance alone explained 8.7% of the unique variance in future antisocial behavior.     

Assessing Level of Personality Organization With the Psychodiagnostic Chart: A Validity Study

Heterogeneity within diagnostic types and comorbidity across diagnostic groups render a specific personality disorder anything but specific, leading researchers and clinicians to increasingly focus on the general severity of personality pathology. Personality pathology severity is reflected in one's level of personality organization (LPO) and research has demonstrated that LPO is a significant predictor of treatment response. This investigation examined the reliability and validity of the Psychodiagnostic Chart (PDC) in assessing the LPO dimension of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM; PDM Task Force, 2006). Among a sample of 88 urban-dwelling women seeking primary medical care, the LPO dimension of the PDC received fair to good interrater reliability among 6 psychodynamic psychologists. Convergent validity was demonstrated with contrast analysis and individual correlations that yielded statistically significant associations between LPO scores and conceptually related psychodynamic variables (e.g., defensive functioning, object relations) and self-reported personality pathology scores. Support for discriminant validity was limited by the modest power associated with the sample size. Exploratory analyses examining LPO scores and measures of physical health and intimate partner violence were conducted. Our results supported the reliability, validity, and practical use of the LPO dimension of the PDC.     

Personality Disorders Are Not as We Thought: Hierarchical Factor Structure at the Criterion Level

The use of personality disorder (PD) categories persists, despite the evidence against them. An often overlooked reason for this is the fact that the true structure underlying the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) taxonomy is still unknown: We cannot be certain which disorders are valid, and which ones are arbitrary mixtures of heterogeneous traits. To address this gap, we factor analyzed the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire (PDQ–4+; Hyler, 1994 Hyler, S. E. (1994). PDQ–4+ Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire–4+. New York, NY: New York State Psychiatric Institute. [Google Scholar]) at the criterion level in a mixed clinical and nonclinical sample of 2,519 individuals. The resulting structure was more similar to current dimensional taxonomies than to the DSM classification at all hierarchical levels. Whereas paranoid and antisocial PDs—and to a lesser extent avoidant, dependent, depressive, and schizoid PDs—were fairly homogeneous, all other disorders turned out to be combinations of 2 or 3 unrelated dimensions. Our results strongly support the structure of empirically based dimensional taxonomies and relocate DSM criteria within this emerging framework, thus contributing to preserving much of the knowledge accumulated to date.     

A Closer Look at the Personality Characteristics of Outplaced Executives

The present study examines more closely the findings and recommendations presented recently by Austin and Murray (1993) regarding the personality characteristics of outplaced executives. The analysis of a much larger national sample that does not exclude females shows that the previously reported findings may not be representative of the population of outplaced executives and that important gender differences also are present. Finally, the suggestion that counselors should help individuals change their negative predispositions is questioned. It is recommended here that personality differences between employed and outplaced executives may have more important implications for organizational practices and counseling pertaining to person-job fit     

Personality disorders at the crossroads

Personality disorders are now at a crossroads with respect to theory, research, and conceptualization. In this article, we review relevant and current issues within the personality disorder field. After reviewing changes in the conception of personality disorders across the past half century (1952 to 2002), we focus on the issue of continuity versus discontinuity methodologies for assessing personality, interactionism, treatments, resolved and unresolved issues, and future directions. The issue of continuity versus discontinuity is a theme in this article. We conclude that the evidence is in favor of a reapprochment between a categorical classification system and a dimensional system and we also outline the difficulties in achieving this change.     

Millon's Evolutionary Model of Personality Assessment: A Case for Categorical/Dimensional Prototypes

Theodore Millon (1928–2014) was arguably one of the most influential figures in conceptualizing and detailing personality styles and disorders in the latter 20th and early 21st centuries. A prominent member of the Axis II Work Group of DSM–III, III–R, and IV, Millon continued refining his evolutionary model long after his active involvement with these committees, and remained focused on the future of personality assessment until his death in 2014. This article is an exploration of his latter works, critiques of recent DSM–5 developments, and commentary on the usefulness of his deductive methodology as it continues to apply to the study, classification, and clinical application of personality assessment.     

A 3-D Look at the Russian Personality Traits Structure

Attempts to account for most important differences in personality by applying factor analysis to long lists of personality trait variables led to extraction of 5 or 6 orthogonal factorial dimensions. The present paper addresses an issue of more parsimonious three-dimensional visualization of a set of 6 factorial dimensions. Russian speaking respondents used the lists of 496 and 296 personality-relevant nouns for judging 1242 and 447 peoples, respectively. To visualize 6 factorial dimensions of the personality traits structure, a three-dimensional rugby (ball) cake model was suggested and examined by comparison of model-predicted and observed patterns of correlation of each noun with 6 factorial scales. Each noun was linked to one of 43 narrow personality traits predicted by the rugby cake shape. A shorter list of nouns was selected for exemplifying each pole of these traits and all these nouns were evenly written on the surface of the rugby cake shape. Topological features of such three-dimensional shape provided an explanation of failure to reduce 5–6 factorial dimensions to just three spatial dimensions by means of a pure empirical analysis of either loadings of trait variables on these dimensions or their correlations with them.     

Contextualized Personality Questionnaires: A Case for Copulas in Structural Equation Models for Categorical Data

For structural equation models (SEMs) with categorical data, correlated measurement residuals are not easily implemented. The problem lies mainly in the absence of a categorical analogue to the multivariate normal distribution and the absence of closed form formulas in SEMs for categorical data. We present a novel technique to handle measurement residuals that keeps the attractive SEM mainframe intact yet adds flexibility in dependence modeling without excessive computational burden. The technique is based upon the concept of copula functions and is introduced with a data set of ordinal responses originating from a contextualized personality study on aggression. Focus is on models arising in a multitrait-multimethod context, where the flexibility in dependence structures allows for method effects that can vary across the latent trait dimension. The empirical application illustrates that ignoring design-implied correlated measurement residuals can potentially influence study results and conclusions in both a quantitative as well as a qualitative way. Model parameter estimates can be biased, but more important, model inferences can be heavily distorted.     

职业选拔情境下人格测验作假研究

在职业选拔情境下被试很容易对人格测验作假,从而制约了人格测验在企业中的应用。许多研究者在努力解决作假问题,分别就应聘者是否会作假,作假给人格测验带来的负面影响、应聘者如何作假以及如果应对作假等问题进行了深入的探讨。经过几十年的发展,该研究领域已经形成了包括实验诱导设计、已知群体设计和量表设计等几种特定的研究范式。研究结果显示,大多数应聘者会作假,但其负面影响并不严重;作假不同于社会称许性反应,它是一种工作称许性反应。目前的几种应对作假的方法尚存在一些问题,其有效性有待提高。总之,人格测验的作假作用明显,其研究难度较大,有待革新性理论和方法的出现     

Introduction: Personality Psychology and the Case Study

ABSTRACT This article introduces the Journal of Personality's special issue on the life voyage of Dodge Morgan who, in 1986 at the age of 54, sailed solo around the world in 150 days. Before the voyage, Morgan agreed to participate in an intensive psychological case study, the data for which provide the focus for this special issue. William Nasby and Nancy W. Read have organized the vast array of psychological data obtained from Morgan and produced a complex and illuminating interpretation of his life, drawing liberally from the five-factor trait model of personality and the life-story model of adult identity. This introduction provides a historical and intellectual context for Nasby and Read's study by considering the various ways in which personality psychologists have employed the case study in research and examining the many conceptual and methodological problems and possibilities that arise in the psychological study of the single case.     

Academic Ethics at the Undergraduate Level: Case Study from the Formative Years of the Institute

Academic ethics among students at an undergraduate level are dictated by a variety of factors. Institutional cultures, personal preferences and notions of ethics, external factors, and peer-pressure are some of the factors that play an important role in the ethical behavior of an undergraduate student. The present study is an attempt to understand the student behavior in a three year old technical Institute in India. At a time when the higher technical education sector in India is rapidly expanding, the study presents trends in undergraduate students regarding academic ethics. The study highlights the factors that are most important in governing ethical behavior of students, and allow for corrective measures at a formative stage in the Institute’s life.