The General Factor of Personality and Character: A Reanalysis

Using data from the Texas Twin Project, it was recently reported that 7 measures of character covaried to the extent that they formed a general factor of character (Tucker-Drob, Briley, Engelhardt, Mann, &; Harden, 2016 Tucker-Drob, E. M., Briley, D. A., Engelhardt, L. E., Mann, F. D., &; Harden, K. P. (2016). Genetically-mediated associations between measures of childhood character and academic achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111, 790–815. doi:10.1037/pspp0000098.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). In turn the relationship between the general factor of character and the Big Five personality traits were examined. It was found that personality was associated with the general factor of character primarily through the traits of conscientiousness and openness. For several reasons we propose that a more accurate interpretation of the data is that a Big Five personality traits form a general factor of personality, and that the relationship between the general character factor and personality is primarily through the general factor of personality. The results lend some support to this contention and are discussed in relation to the growing interest in covariation among multiple personality traits.     

Why do High IQ Societies Differ in Intellectual Achievement? The Role of Schizophrenia and Left-Handedness in Per Capita Scientific Publications and Nobel Prizes

Previous research has attempted to understand why countries with relatively favorable conditions and high estimated average IQs (such as Finland and Japan) have a relatively low per capita number of scientific Nobel prizes. In the present study, we examine whether there is a relationship between national schizophrenia and left-handedness prevalence, on the one hand, and per capita scientific and literary achievement, on the other hand, in countries with IQ estimates of at least 90. We found that per capita science and literature Nobel prizes and scientific publications are strongly negatively associated with schizophrenia and strongly positively correlated with left-handedness. There also was a very pronounced negative correlation between schizophrenia rate and left-handedness rate. These results suggest that genius can be regarded as a combination of very high IQ, aspects of high-functioning autism (specifically low empathy) plus relatively low impulse control, consistent with observations of intellectually outstanding individuals, and the fact that schizophrenia appears to constitute the opposite pole of these aspects of autism spectrum. We posit differences in androgen levels as a possible underlying explanation for these findings.     

General Factors of Personality in Six Datasets and a Criterion‐Related Validity Study at the Netherlands Armed Forces

Several papers showed that a general factor occupies the top of the hierarchical structure of personality, the so‐called General Factor of Personality (GFP). The first question is whether the GFP behaves similar to the general factor of mental ability (g), in that GFP scores from different personality questionnaires correlate highly. The second question is whether the GFP is related to real‐life outcomes. In six large datasets (total N=21,754) collected in the Netherlands armed forces, the GFPs extracted from six personality questionnaires generally showed high degrees of correlation suggesting they measure the same construct. Moreover, GFP was related to drop‐out from military training. This evidence strengthens the view that the GFP is a substantive construct with practical relevance.     

Predicting Sales Performance Criteria With Personality Measures: The Use of the General Factor of Personality,the Big Five and Narrow Traits

The present study investigated the predictive validities of different hierarchical levels of personality for sales performance. The General Factor of Personality was expected to be most effective at predicting general sales performance, whereas the Big Five factors and its underlying narrow traits were expected to be most effective at predicting the specific sales performance criteria to which they are conceptually aligned. Six different sales performance measures were used in an international study involving 405 sales employees. The results suggest that General Factor of Personality is a valid predictor of general job performance but that some of the aligned narrow personality traits predict specific sales performance above and beyond the Big Five factors. The narrow trait Social Boldness has a negative relation with rated sales performance and sales results.     

The Impact of the Antitobacco Norm on the Selected Mode of Cognitive Dissonance Reduction

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that when behavior violates an antismoking injunctive norm, dissonance is aroused, but the injunctive norm constrains how people reduce their discomfort. In Experiment 1, participants with positive or negative attitudes toward public smoking wrote an essay for or against a ban on public smoking. Whereas attitude change occurred for those whose counter‐attitudinal essay supported the antismoking norm, those whose counter‐attitudinal essay violated the antismoking norm did not change their attitudes to reduce dissonance. In Experiment 2, participants who wrote against the ban on public smoking eschewed attitude change in favor of reducing dissonance through trivialization and act rationalization. The discussion focuses on how maintaining social connections makes cognitions resistant to change when dissonance is aroused.     

The Influence of Mothers' and Fathers' Parenting Stress and Depressive Symptoms on Own and Partner's Parent‐Child Communication

This study examines how parenting stress and depressive symptoms experienced by mothers and fathers influence their own (actor effects) and the partner's (partner effects) parent–child communication. Based on the Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model, data from 196 families were analyzed, with both parents rating their parenting stress and depressive feelings, and parents as well as children rating the open parent–child communication. Actor effects were found between parenting stress and open parent–child communication, whereas partner effects were prominent between depressive symptoms and open parent–child communication. The results provide no evidence for gender differences in the strength of the pathways to open parent–child communication. Our findings demonstrate the need to include both parents in studies on parent–child communication to enhance our understanding of the mutual influence among family members.     

Parenting stress and marital relationship as determinants of mothers' and fathers' parenting

Using the actor–partner interdependence model, we explore how various sources of stress and support experienced by fathers and mothers influence their own parenting styles and the parenting styles of the partner. Data from 227 couples were analyzed, with mothers and fathers rating their parenting stress and marital relationship and children rating the parenting styles of both mothers and fathers. Structural equation models revealed actor effects of parenting stress on demanding and responsive parenting styles, as well as partner effects between positive aspects of marital relationship and responsive parenting style. The results further indicate that the strength of these pathways is similar for both mothers and fathers and do not support the hypothesis that the parenting of fathers is more vulnerable than the parenting of mothers.     

The future of Catholic health care: observations from an Orthodox Christian perspective.

The author reflects on the future of Catholic health care by looking at the essays in this volume by Dennis Brodeur, Clarke E. Cochran, and Christopher J. Kauffman. The author argues that (1) Roman Catholic teaching on the Trinity is defective, yielding an inadequate model of society, (2) Roman Catholic teaching on the Incarnation is defective, yielding an impoverished understanding of the "sacramental," and (3) the institutional orientation of Roman Catholicism combined with the lack of true sacramental vision makes it nearly impossible for Roman Catholic theory to criticize the current structure of health care financing.     

Prolonging life: an Orthodox Christian perspective.

While Orthodox Christianity does not find explicit statements about the morality of prolonging life in the usual doctrinal sources, the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church, there are elements in Tradition which bear upon the issue. These include Orthodox spirituality's emphasis on the "wholeness" of the human person, its liturgical and synergistic view of human life, and its understanding of our moral ambiguity as fallen human beings in a fallen world. This last point, in particular, means that we do not usually have a clear choice between right and wrong, and that we cannot always trust ourselves to know which choice is the right, or even the better one. Therefore, we must always approach decisions about death and dying with humility and in a spirit of repentance, aware of the imperfection of all we do and trusting in the mercy of God.     

Against the Politics of Postmodern Philosophy of Science

This paper discusses the tenets of the politics of postmodern philosophy of science. At issue are Rouse’s version of naturalism and his reading of Quine’s distinction between the indeterminacy of translation and the underdetermination of theories by empirical evidence. I argue that the postmodern approach to science’s research practices as patterns of interaction within the world is not in line with the naturalistic account Rouse aims at. I focus also on Rouse’s readings of Heidegger’s existential conception of science and Kuhn’s concept of normal science. Finally, a strategy of defending science’s cognitive distinctiveness in terms of hermeneutic philosophy is suggested as an alternative to the postmodern philosophy of science.