Reinterpreting the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator From the Perspective of the Five-Factor Model of Personality

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers & McCaulley, 1985) was evaluated from the perspectives of Jung's theory of psychological types and the five-factor model of personality as measured by self-reports and peer ratings on the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI; Costa & McCrae, 1985b). Data were provided by 267 men and 201 women ages 19 to 93. Consistent with earlier research and evaluations, there was no support for the view that the MBTI measures truly dichotomous preferences or qualitatively distinct types; instead, the instrument measures four relatively independent dimensions. The interpretation of the Judging-Perceiving index was also called into question. The data suggest that Jung's theory is either incorrect or inadequately operationalized by the MBTI and cannot provide a sound basis for interpreting it. However, correlational analyses showed that the four MBTI indices did measure aspects of four of the five major dimensions of normal personality. The five-factor model provides an alternative basis for interpreting MBTI findings within a broader, more commonly shared conceptual framework.     

The Role of Sympathy and Altruistic Personality Traits in Helping: A Reexamination

The purposes of this study were (a) to examine the role of social evaluative concerns in the self-report of sympathy and in the relation of sympathy to helping; and (b) to determine the role of "altruistic personality" traits and situationally induced vicarious emotional responses in the intention to help. Dispositional and situational self-reports of sympathy and other vicarious emotional reactions were obtained for persons who also were given the opportunity to assist a needy other. Moreover, dispositional measures of concern with social evaluation and an altruistic orientation were obtained, and a bogus pipeline manipulation was instituted for half the study participants. Both dispositional and situational self-reported sympathy were positively related to helping, as were other personality indices viewed as reflecting altruistic characteristics. The relations for the dispositional indices of sympathy were not due solely to social evaluative concerns or to other egoistic concerns. The effects on intended helping of dispositional sympathy, perspective taking, and the tendency to ascribe responsibility for others to the self appeared to be both direct and mediated by situational sympathetic responding. Finally, situational sadness did not mediate the effects of sympathetic responsiveness.     

Perceived somatotype and stereotypes of physique among Nigerian schoolchildren

The influence of perceived somatotype on stereotypes of behavior associated with body build was investigated among 160 male and 140 female Nigerian children in secondary school. In both groups, the perception of subjects' own physiques and discrepancy between their perceived and preferred physiques significantly explained the variance in the character trait scores attributed to body types. In general, the subjects attributed positive character traits to their perceived somatotypes and undesirable traits to the physiques with which they were dissatisfied. Thus, the perception of somatotype and discrepancy between perceived and preferred physique could significantly differentiate the character traits attributed to body build among male and female children.     

Identification and adaptation of hue: Parallels in the operation of mechanisms that underlie categorical perception in vision and in audition

Summary Four experiments were conducted to examine processes in identification and selective adaptation of hues in color perception that exactly parallel processes in identification and adaptation of auditory detectors that provide information for phonemic perception. The first experiment demonstrated an effect of adaptation on identification of blue and green when a hue category center was used as the adaptor; this experiment also assessed recovery from adaptation. Adaptation to one hue was found to shift identification to favor the alternative hue, implicating a single detector underlying hue categorization. The second experiment demonstrated similar effects of adaptation between green and yellow. The third experiment compared the magnitudes of shift following adaptation with a category center, a near-boundary hue, and variously graded adaptation series. Adaptation was found to be related to the category representativeness of the adaptor(s). Results of the third experiment also provided support for the view that adaptation, rather than response bias, is responsible for shifts in the position of identification functions following extended stimulus exposure. The fourth experiment explored the neural loci of adaptation by an interocular transfer test. Hue adaptation was found to occur at both central and peripheral loci. In the four main experiments, reaction times to identify hues in unadapted and adapted states were also analyzed and compared. Subsidiary experiments assessed the effects of stimulus luminance on the magnitude of adaptation. General principles of categorical perception and its underlying bases, including the sweep, magnitude, and symmetry of adaptation, are discussed. The principal findings of these studies provide new data on hue perception which strikingly parallel findings in speech perception.     

Gender roles,biological sex,and predisposition to conflict management

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the Communication-Conflict Instrument were administered to 182 husbands and wives. Results suggest that gender-role classification is a more significant discriminator of communication behavior than is biological sex. Androgynous spouses, more than feminine though not significantly more so than masculine spouses, reported themselves to be the most disposed to handle conflict constructively. On the subscales of the conflict instrument, androgynous persons had significantly more positive feelings scores than either masculine or feminine persons, plus higher task energy and desire-for-control scores than feminine persons. Similarly, masculine persons reported a significantly greater predisposition to manage conflict constructively than did feminine persons, having higher task energy and desire-for-control scores. Undifferentiated persons reported the lowest scores for conflict management.     

Aggressive behavior inhibition by serotonin and quipazine injected into the amygdala in the rat

The effects on aggressive behavior, open-field activity, and pain threshold of bilateral microinjections of serotonin (20 micrograms) and quipazine (20 micrograms), the direct serotonergic receptor agonist, into the cortico-medial amygdala were investigated in Wistar rats. Both drugs significantly prolonged the attack latency in isolated killer rats (predatory aggression model), and suppressed the incidence of aggressive postures/attacks in shock-induced fighting test (affective aggression). The only difference in the open-field behavior was the lower number of central square entries in drug-treated compared to saline-injected rats. None of the substances produced any significant change in jump threshold. It is concluded that stimulation of serotonin receptors within the amygdala produces inhibition of affective and muricidal behavior in isolated rats. The effect does not seem to be dependent on changes in general activity and pain sensitivity.     

Achromatic color categories

Sternheim and Boynton’s (1966) continuous judgmental color-naming technique was used to assess the elemental nature of achromatic colors. Results from three subjects indicate that the names “black” and “white” are necessary and sufficient to describe achromatic test lights associated with the name “gray.” On the basis of the criteria that establishes a color as elemental, black and white were confirmed as elemental, whereas gray was not. These findings support the assumption of various opponent processing models that there are only two elemental achromatic sensations. In addition, the results support Hering’s (1920) view that black and white differ from the paired-chromatic opponent colors in that they are not mutually exclusive.     

A modification in scoring the ABC Scale

The scoring procedures for the Articulation of the Body-Concept (ABC) Scale to use with three-, four- and five-year-old children were modified to determine their degree of field-dependence-independence. A total of 300 children, who obtained a score of one or better on the ABC Scale, were administered the Preschool Embedded Figures Test (PEFT) and the ABC Scale. The ABC Scale was scored using its scoring procedures and the scoring procedures for the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (GHDT). Scores on the PEFT, ABC Scale and GHDT were correlated with each other. Correlations among all cognitive measures ranged from .88 to .99, which were high and statistically significant (p < .0001). Therefore, the scoring procedures for the GHDT can be substituted in scoring the ABC Scale in assessing young children's field-dependence-independence.     

Visual short term memory in aphasic patients

The major purpose of this study was to investigate aphasic patients' STM for visual stimuli which are difficult to encode. The effect of a varied information rate and information load per item was tested, and so was the relation between primacy and recency scores. The investigation included memory both for content and for position. Each item group in the tests consisted of a time sequence of squares with internal grid lines and a dot in one of the cells. The location of the dot had to be remembered. Both the aphasic group and the control group included 24 persons matched for age. The aphasic group showed a somewhat lower overall score than the normal group. Apart from the interaction between groups and information load, no signifcant interactions were observed. However, there was a systematic tendency over tests towards a relatively lower recency score in the aphasic group.