Personality,self-efficacy and risk-taking in parkour (free-running)

ObjectiveTo assess the effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between personality and risk-taking in parkour/free-running, a growing high-risk sport.DesignQuantitative cross-sectional study.Method277 parkour and free-running practitioners were recruited online to complete a survey assessing Big Five personality traits, self-efficacy and perceived risk-taking.ResultsGreater reckless risk-taking behaviours were associated with high neuroticism (p = .013) and low conscientiousness (p = .004). Mediation analysis showed that self-efficacy exerted a significant (95% CI) indirect mediation on the relationship between personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness, and risk-taking. Extraversion did not predict risk-taking, and was not significantly mediated by self-efficacy.ConclusionsSelf-efficacy plays a significant mediation role in the relationship between stable traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness, and risk-taking amongst parkour/free-running practitioners. This may help elucidate reasons underlying risky sports behaviours.     

The interplay of personality and negative comments about appearance in predicting body image

This study investigates how personality traits in combination with frequency of and emotional reaction to negative comments about appearance while growing up are related to appearance evaluation and orientation among adult women. Nine hundred and seven participants from a representative sample of Norwegian women aged 22–55, answered questions measuring body image, personality (Big Five), and history of experiencing negative comments about appearance. Results indicated that only emotional reaction to negative comments about appearance significantly predicted both appearance evaluation and orientation, while frequency of negative comments did not. Being extrovert predicted more positive appearance evaluation and being more appearance oriented than being introvert. Scoring high on neuroticism was related to negative appearance evaluation and high appearance orientation. The findings demonstrate the importance of differentiating between the frequency and the emotional impact of teasing as well as including personality traits when studying body image.     

Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Profiles of Male Veterans With Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; L. C. Morey, 1991) is a promising tool for the assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but few studies have examined the PAI profiles of individuals with the diagnosis. In this study, the PAI was administered to 176 combat veterans with PTSD. Results showed significant elevations on scales measuring depression, somatic complaints, anxiety, anxiety-related disorders, schizophrenia, and negative impression management. The Traumatic Stress subscale was the highest point in the mean score profile and was moderately correlated with several established measures of PTSD. Veterans with and without comorbid major depression differed on PAI scales assessing depression, anxiety, and warmth. Analysis of two-point codetypes for the PAI and the MMPI-2 revealed substantial heterogeneity in symptom endorsement on both instruments, suggesting that there may be no clear PTSD profile on either instrument. Results provide a reference point for future work with the PAI in PTSD samples.     

Negative problem orientation (Part II): construct validity and specificity to worry

Negative problem orientation, a dysfunctional set of attitudes related to problem-solving ability, has been implicated as a process variable in several psychological disorders, notably depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The goal of the present study was two-fold: (1) to further examine the construct validity of a new measure of negative problem orientation, the negative problem orientation questionnaire (NPOQ), through its relationship to conceptually similar variables, and (2) to investigate the specificity of negative problem orientation to worry, the cardinal feature of GAD, compared to depression. The sample consisted of 148 university students who completed six questionnaires, the NPOQ and measures of worry, depression, pessimism, self-mastery, and neuroticism. Multiple hierarchical regressions revealed that when entered in the last step following demographic information and personality variables (pessimism, self-mastery, and neuroticism), the NPOQ accounted for 5.6% of the variance in worry scores compared to 1.6% of the variance in depression scores. It was concluded that the NPOQ shows evidence of construct validity, and that the process variable of negative problem orientation appears to have greater specificity to worry than depression. Implications for the understanding of worry and GAD are discussed.     

Meta-perception for pathological personality traits: do we know when others think that we are difficult?

The self allows us to reflect on our own behavior and to imagine what others think of us. Clinical experience suggests that these abilities may be impaired in people with personality disorders. They do not recognize the impact that their behavior has on others, and they have difficulty understanding how they are seen by others. We collected information regarding pathological personality traits--using both self and peer report measures--from groups of people who knew each other well (at the end of basic military training). In previous papers, we have reported that agreement between self-report and peer-report is only modest. In this paper, we address the question: Do people know that others disagree with their own perceptions of themselves? We found that expected peer scores predicted variability in peer report over and above self-report for all 10 diagnostic traits. People do have some incremental knowledge of how they are viewed by others, but they do not tell you about it unless you ask them to do so; the knowledge is not reflected in ordinary self-report data. Among participants who expect their peers to describe them as narcissistic, those who agree with this assessment are viewed as being less narcissistic by their peers than those who deny being narcissistic. It therefore appears that insight into how one is viewed by others can moderate negative impressions fostered by PD traits.     

Personal and Situational Determinants of Personality Responses: A Partial Reanalysis and Reinterpretation of the Schmit et al. (1995) Data

Using generalizability theory, a partial reanalysis and reinterpretation of the Schmit et al. (1995) data was conducted with undergraduate students who were asked to respond to both noncontextualized and work-specific versions of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1989) either honestly (N = 100) or as if they were applying for a job (N = 100). Results indicated that the person variance was larger in the applicant compared to the general instructions condition, that the person × situation interaction accounted for significant variance across all scales included in the study (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness), that these person × situation effects were attenuated in the applicant instructions condition as compared to the general instructions condition, and that responses to the Neuroticism scale were most affected by this interaction. Implications for the use of personality constructs in personnel selection include a shift from concerns of faking to a concern for proper contextualization of personality measures with the goal of maximizing prediction of work-related behavior.     

Phased mirror tracing outcomes correlate with several hemisphericity measures

Recently, subjects, separated into two large groups by the Dichotic Deafness Test (DDT), a new brain laterality measure. These were significantly correlated with groups separated by two preference-based hemisphericity-type questionnaires, the Preference Questionnaire (PrefQ) and Polarity Questionnaire (PolQ). Here, Mirror-Tracing, another potential biophysical measure of hemisphericity earlier reported to be weakly correlated with laterality, was tested using 171 subjects, the DDT, and both questionnaires. No correlations between the DDT, PrefQ, and PolQ separation methods and Mirror Tracing outcomes were found until individuals identified as having left brain affect were removed from the population. Then, robust correlations appeared for the remaining right-affect subjects alone (n=82). These correlations became even higher when the left brain affect subjects that had been removed (n=89) were "phase corrected" from a contralateral to an ipsilateral connectivity for motor dominance and then returned to the sample (n=171). These Phased Mirror-Tracing (PMT) outcomes were also significantly correlated with 10 of the 11 statements of the PolQ. Thus, PMT joins the DDT as a second performance-based measure of laterality whose outcomes significantly correlated with those of preference-based hemisphericity questionnaires.     

Asymmetry questionnaire outcomes correlate with several hemisphericity measures

The asymmetry questionnaire segregated subjects (n=143) into two groups. These were significantly correlated with similar groups separated, not only by three new biophysical hemisphericity protocols (Dichotic Deafness Test, Phased Mirror Tracing, Best Hand Test), but also by two preference-type measures (polarity questionnaire, preference questionnaire). Each of the 15 asymmetry questionnaire statements was significantly correlated with the outcomes of these five laterality measures. This is the third questionnaire whose outcomes correlate with those of the new biophysical measures of hemisphericity.     

Good mercenaries: Performing organizational citizenship behavior in a foreign land

IntroductionResearch on expatriates has typically left underexplored the critical antecedents of expatriates’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).ObjectivesThis study aims to fill this research gap by studying the effects of constructs specific and nonspecific to the expatriate context of expatriates’ OCB performance.MethodsUsing online surveys, data were collected from 200 expatriates and 280 of their coworkers working in 62 host countries. The hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling analysis.ResultsFirst, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, job satisfaction, work adjustment and interaction adjustment all had unique contributions in predicting expatriates’ OCB. Second, there was initial support for the indirect effect of the host country coworkers’ OCB performance targeted at expatriates on expatriates’ OCB-I performance. Finally, the results did not provide support for the indirect effect of personality factors on expatriates’ OCB performance.ConclusionCompared to job satisfaction, expatriates’ personality traits (i.e., Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) may have a stronger effect on expatriates’ OCB performance.