Covariance structure of neuroticism and agreeableness: a twin and molecular genetic analysis of the role of the serotonin transporter gene

The Revised NEO Personality Inventory domains of Neuroticism and Agreeableness are considered factorially distinct despite several intercorrelations between these domains. The genetic correlation, an index of the degree to which these intercorrelations are caused by genetic influences, was estimated using data from 913 monozygotic and 562 dizygotic volunteer twin pairs from Canada, Germany, and Japan. The serotonin transporter gene, 5-HTTLPR, was assayed in a sample of 388 nontwin sibling pairs from the United States to determine the contribution of the serotonin transporter locus to the covariation between the Neuroticism and Agreeableness scales. In all four samples, genetic influences contributed to the covariance of Neuroticism and Agreeableness, with the serotonin transporter gene accounting for 10% of the relationship between these domains.     

Development of the Brief Personal Values Inventory for Sense of Values

The Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) is a widely used questionnaire for assessing sense of values; however, it is difficult to apply for children and adolescents. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a questionnaire for sense of values, called the Brief Personal Values Inventory (BPVI), consisting of simple questions and fewer items compared to the PVQ. We first created 12 items for the BPVI and then tested criterion-related validity with values in the PVQ-57 in 167 Japanese general population participants (81 males, mean age [SD], range: 23.4 [8.2], 15–57 years). Each of these items was correlated with one or more of the values in the PVQ-57 and covered all higher-order values in Schwartz's theory (openness to change, self-enhancement, conservation, and self-transcendence). In summary, the BPVI adequately corresponded with Schwartz's value theory, indicating an acceptable criterion-related validity. This questionnaire is applicable to a wide population, including adolescents, and will be a useful tool for researchers to elucidate the developmental pathway of personal sense of values.     

Covered in stigma? The impact of differing levels of Islamic head‐covering on explicit and implicit biases toward Muslim women

Given the prominence of Muslim veils—in particular the hijab and full‐face veil—in public discourse concerning the place of Muslims in Western society, we examined their impact on non‐Muslims’ responses at both explicit and implicit levels. Results revealed that responses were more negative toward any veil compared with no veil, and more negative toward the full‐face veil relative to the hijab: for emotions felt toward veiled women (Study 1), for non‐affective attitudinal responses (Study 2), and for implicit negative attitudes revealed through response latency measures (Studies 3a and 3b). Finally, we manipulated the perceived reasons for wearing a veil, finding that exposure to positive reasons for wearing a veil led to better predicted and imagined contact (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Genetic and environmental structure of Cloninger's temperament and character dimensions

The multivariate genetic and environmental structure of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was investigated in a sample of 617 pairs of adolescent and young adult twins from Japan. Additive genetic factors accounted for 22% to 49% of the variability on all TCI temperament scales. Although the theory predicts lower heritability for the character scales, all character subscales had a substantial genetic contribution, and nonshared environmental influences accounted for the remainder. Multivariate genetic analyses showed that several subscales used to define one dimension shared a common genetic basis with subscales defining others. Using the degree of shared genetic influence as the basis to rearrange the TCI subscales into new dimensions, it was possible to create genetically independent scales. The implications for personality measurement, theory, and molecular genetic research are discussed.     

Recognition of items added to or deleted from scenes: method of alterations, type of alterations, and salience

The present study investigated which variable correlated with recognition the most of three variables (method of alteration: Introduction or Restoration, type of alteration: Addition or Deletion, and Salience). Stimuli were pictures of scenes. An item was deleted from an original photograph (deletion change) or the deleted item was restored (addition change). Participants in the Introduction condition viewed original pictures in the learning phase and recognized changed pictures (additions or deletions) in the test phase, and participants in the Restoration condition viewed changed pictures in the learning phase and recognized original pictures in the test phase. Other participants rated salience of the changed items. Analysis showed that an effect of method of alteration was observed only for Deletion and an effect of type of alteration was observed only for Introduction. That we found method of alteration held for pictures of cats, geometric figures, and scenes (present study) shows the robustness of the effects of the method of alteration. The reason of this robustness requires further investigation.     

Preliminary study of psychological factors affecting clinic attendance and glycemic control of Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

We studied 50 Japanese patients who were first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Psychological functioning was assessed by using the Rorschach test and the Yatabe-Guilford Personality test. Analysis indicated that patients who discontinued clinic attendance during the 2-yr. study period had more depression, lower general activity and less extraversion, more negative self-attitudes, and more concern about being helpless than those who continued having regular followups. This study also found that patients who had worse glycemic control 2 yr. after being first diagnosed reported more inferiority feelings, lower general activity, more need for closeness to others, and more emotional demands than those who had better glycemic control. In conclusion, understanding the psychological functioning would be helpful in the management of Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.     

Identification as an organizational anchor: how identification and job satisfaction combine to predict turnover intention

The article examines the role of organizational identification and job satisfaction in relation to turnover intentions in seven organizations. Two models are proposed in which either job satisfaction or organizational identification was treated as a mediator of the other's relationship with turnover intention. The organizations varied in terms of culture (Japan vs. UK), and institutional domain (academic, business, health, mail, legal). Within each organization, and meta‐analytically combined across the seven samples (N = 1392), organizational identification mediated the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention more than job satisfaction mediated the relationship between organizational identification, and turnover intention. Organizational identification also had the larger overall relationship with turnover intention. This pattern remained true when gender, age, type of organization, culture, and length of tenure were accounted for, although the direct relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention was stronger in private than public organizations and when the ratio of men was higher. The findings are consistent with a social identity theory (SIT) perspective and with the idea that identification is a more proximal predictor of turnover intention. Over and above job satisfaction, organizational identification offers a strong psychological anchor that discourages turnover intention in a range of organizational contexts. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acute stress responses after indirect exposure to the MH17 airplane crash

People can experience disasters vicariously (indirectly) via conversation, social media, radio, and television, even when not directly involved in a disaster. This study examined whether vicarious exposure to the MH17‐airplane crash in Ukraine, with 196 Dutch victims, elicited affective and somatic responses in Dutch adults about 2,600 km away, who happened to participate in an ongoing diary study. Participants (n = 141) filled out a diary three times a day for 30 days on their smartphones. Within‐person changes in positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) and somatic symptoms after the crash were studied. Additionally, we tested whether between‐person differences in response could be explained by age, baseline personality (NEO‐FFI‐3), and media exposure. The MH17 crash elicited a small within‐person decrease in PA and an increase in NA and somatic symptoms. This response waned after 3 days and returned to baseline at day four. The decrease in PA was larger in more extraverted participants but smaller in those higher on neuroticism or conscientiousness. The NA response was smaller in elderly. Personality did not seem to moderate the NA and somatic response, and neither did media exposure. Dutch participants showed small acute somatic and affective responses up till 3 days to a disaster that they had not directly witnessed. Vicariously experienced disasters can thus elicit affective‐visceral responses indicative of acute stress reactions. Personality and age explained some of the individual differences in this reaction.     

Substance and artifact in the higher-order factors of the Big Five

J. M. Digman (1997) proposed that the Big Five personality traits showed a higher-order structure with 2 factors he labeled alpha and beta. These factors have been alternatively interpreted as heritable components of personality or as artifacts of evaluative bias. Using structural equation modeling, the authors reanalyzed data from a cross-national twin study and from American cross-observer studies and analyzed new multimethod data from a German twin study. In all analyses, artifact models outperformed substance models by root-mean-square error of approximation criteria, but models combining both artifact and substance were slightly better. These findings suggest that the search for the biological basis of personality traits may be more profitably focused on the 5 factors themselves and their specific facets, especially in monomethod studies.     

The missing fundamental phenomenon in temporal vision

Subjective flicker rates were measured for compound waveforms consisting of five harmonics without a fundamental component. It was found that observers perceived a rate at the fundamental frequency, although energy at this frequency was not included in the signals. In auditory pitch sensation this is called the missing fundamental phenomenon, and an analogous finding is known to occur in spatial vision. Moreover, observers perceived the flicker rates at the fundamental frequency even in the random-phase conditions, in which the period of the fundamental component is unclear in the real waveforms. The results indicate that the perceived flicker rates are not detected from the temporal waveforms per se. One possible mechanism for extracting such a periodicity in the signal is an autocorrelation function to the real temporal waveforms. Received: 18 October 1999 / Accepted: 28 January 2000