Schizotypal and dependent personality characteristics and managerial performance

The study of negatively connotated personality characteristics as predictors of work‐related performance is gaining momentum. While findings have generally suggested such characteristics to be negatively or curvilinearly related to performance, the current study was concerned with investigating any positive relationships that may exist between negatively connotated personality characteristics (as measured by the Hogan Development Survey) and work‐related performance in a sample of 103 Australasian financial services managers. The most notable findings from the study were that: (a) schizotypal personality characteristics positively predicted performance on a creativity competency; and (b) dependent personality characteristics positively predicted performance on a customer focus competency. Findings and limitations are discussed.     

Adult attachment avoidance and automatic affective response to sad facial expressions

The present work represents the first study to investigate the relationship between adult attachment avoidance and anxiety and automatic affective responses to basic facial emotions. Subliminal affective priming methods allowed for the assessment of unconscious affective reactions. An affective priming task using masked sad and happy faces, both of which are approach‐related facial expressions, was administered to 30 healthy volunteers. Participants also completed the Relationship Scales Questionnaire and measures of anxiety and depression. Attachment avoidance was negatively associated with affective priming due to sad (but not happy) facial expressions. This association occurred independently of attachment anxiety, depressivity, and trait anxiety. Attachment anxiety was not correlated with priming due to sad or happy facial expressions. The present results are consistent with the assumption that attachment avoidance moderates automatic affective reaction to sad faces. Our data indicate that avoidant attachment is related to a low automatic affective responsivity to sad facial expressions.     

Glucose consumption decreases impulsive aggression in response to provocation in aggressive individuals

Impaired executive control is implicated in aggression. Research suggests that the acute administration of glucose can improve executive control. In two experiments undergraduates completed a measure of trait aggression and consumed a glucose or placebo beverage before being given the chance to administer a blast of white noise to a fictitious participant. In Experiment 1, all participants were provoked and mentally depleted or not. Glucose was most effective in reducing aggression for those high in trait aggression even when depleted. In Experiment 2, participants were provoked or not. When provoked, glucose reduced aggression among those high in trait aggression. However, when not provoked, glucose increased aggression among those high in trait aggression. These data suggest that the acute administration of glucose can be beneficial in reducing aggression in response to provocation among those high in trait aggression.     

Psychometric properties of the Type D scale (DS14) in Norwegian cardiac patients

Bergvik, S., Sørlie, T., Wynn, R. & Sexton, H. (2010). Psychometric properties of the Type D scale (DS14) in Norwegian cardiac patients. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The combination of negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI) – the Type D Personality – is associated with poor outcomes in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. A Norwegian translation of the standard instrument measuring Type D (DS14) was tested on 432 CAD patients receiving coronary revascularization treatment. Factor analysis produced two factors with high inter‐item reliability, indicating that the Norwegian DS14 has acceptable psychometric properties. Eighteen percent were classified as Type D, lower than has been reported elsewhere. Type D was associated with anxiety, depression, and passive coping. NA correlated positively with depression, anxiety, and passive coping. SI correlated positively with depression and anxiety, and negatively with active coping. The prevalence of Type D was higher among women, and negatively correlated with time since treatment. The variation in Type D prevalence among studies needs further elucidation as does the predictive power of continuous scoring of the Type D trait.     

Adaptive and maladaptive personality traits as predictors of violent and nonviolent offending behavior in men and women

The aim of this study was to assess both violent and nonviolent offending behavior in a single, mixed‐sex population. The rationale for this is that the two types of offending are usually researched separately, despite evidence that they overlap. A comprehensive measure of general violence, intimate partner violence (IPV), and nonviolent offending behavior was administered to 116 men and 181 women, together with measures of personality and personality disorder (PD) traits, to investigate whether predictors of violent and nonviolent offending were similar or different for men and women. Men were found to perpetrate higher levels of general violence and nonviolent offenses than women, but women perpetrated significantly more IPV than men. Cluster B PD traits predicted all three offense types for women and also men's general violence and nonviolent offending. Women's general violence and men's non‐violence also had one unique risk factor each, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness, respectively. The main difference was for IPV, where men's IPV was predicted by cluster A PD traits, indicating that men's and women's risk factors for IPV may be different, although their risk factors for the other offense types were fairly consistent. Aggr. Behav. 36:177–186, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Sex differences in the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief among Japanese employees and undergraduates: A cross-sectional study

Schizotypal personality may be seen as an indicator predisposition to schizophrenia and psychosis proneness. Schizotypal personality traits behave differently depending on a person’s age and sex, but few studies have examined the causal relationship between age-related sex differences and schizotypal personality traits. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between the schizotypal personality and sex in different age groups. In our study, we used the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief (SPQ-B). Participants were 371 college students (107 men) with an age range from 18 to 25 years, and 322 working people (156 men) with an age range of 22–67 years. The results showed that the young adult males in the college student group had tendencies to score higher than females in the same group on the SPQ-B total score and its two subscale scores (the cognitive-perceptual and the interpersonal scores). In the adult sample taken in the working people group, the total score and subscale scores of the SPQ-B did not significantly discriminate male subjects from female subjects. These findings indicate that sex differences of schizotypal personality traits may reflect differential age-related variation.     

Circadian preferences and personality traits: A meta‐analysis

In this study we report results of a meta‐analysis of studies linking personality to circadian rhythms. A total of 35 independent samples, 96 correlations and 8589 participants were included. Results showed that conscientiousness is the personality dimension that mostly related to morningness (r = .29). Agreeableness was also related to morningness although to a lesser degree (r = .13). Openness to experience, extraversion and neuroticism, contribute to a very small degree (i.e. ?.09, ?.06 and ?.07, respectively). Furthermore, moderation analyses suggested effects of personality measure (big five vs. other) and sample (students vs. workers). Average age of participants had no significant impact on the relationship between morningness and personality, apart from a very trivial influence on openness to experience. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship between individual differences in intraindividual variability in core affect and interpersonal behaviour

How people's feelings and interpersonal behaviour change across time can be represented as movements within a core affect and an interpersonal space. To gain insight into the relationship between affect and behaviour dynamics, the present study examined how individual differences in intraindividual variability in core affect relate to those in interpersonal behaviour, and how both are related to personality traits. In an experience sampling study, 63 participants were asked to monitor their core affect during one week and their interpersonal behaviour during another one. The results demonstrated a fairly consistent correspondence between several indices of people's variability in core affect and interpersonal behaviour, indicating that emotional lability also signals behavioural volatility and vice versa. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

外圆内方,刚柔相济——试论《周易》塑造的理想人格模式

《周易》作为五经之首,对于中华民族性格有着重要的影响,其中很重要的一个方面是通过诠释古老的天圆地方宇宙观,塑造了中华民族外圆内方的理想人格模式:效法天道,刚健自强,圆转不穷;效法地道,守正固本,崇德广业;刚柔立本,变通趋时,方智圆神。但是,中国人在现实生活中却很难实现外圆内方、圆神方智的理想,总是处于非圆即方的状态:多数人却走向了世故圆滑,那些始终坚持内在品质和理想的少数人才是中华民族的脊梁。     

Correction for faking in self‐report personality tests

Faking is a common problem in testing with self‐report personality tests, especially in high‐stakes situations. A possible way to correct for it is statistical control on the basis of social desirability scales. Two such scales were developed and applied in the present paper. It was stressed that the statistical models of faking need to be adapted to different properties of the personality scales, since such scales correlate with faking to different extents. In four empirical studies of self‐report personality tests, correction for faking was investigated. One of the studies was experimental, and asked participants to fake or to be honest. In the other studies, job or school applicants were investigated. It was found that the approach to correct for effects of faking in self‐report personality tests advocated in the paper removed a large share of the effects, about 90%. It was found in one study that faking varied as a function of degree of how important the consequences of test results could be expected to be, more high‐stakes situations being associated with more faking. The latter finding is incompatible with the claim that social desirability scales measure a general personality trait. It is concluded that faking can be measured and that correction for faking, based on such measures, can be expected to remove about 90% of its effects.