Narcissism and Empathy in Young Offenders and Non‐offenders

Understanding the individual factors that predispose persons to criminal behaviour is vital to reducing offending and rehabilitating those who have been sentenced to prison. This study examined the roles of narcissism (at both clinical and subclinical trait levels) and empathy, by comparing levels in young adult males currently serving a prison sentence to those with no history of criminal convictions. Prison participants had significantly higher levels of narcissism—in particular entitlement—than control participants, and this link was sequentially mediated by lower perspective‐taking and subsequently lack of empathic concern. Trait narcissism showed stronger effects than narcissistic personality disorder symptoms. Narcissistic young men's feelings of entitlement and ensuing lack of empathy for others may account for their greater likelihood of criminal behaviour. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Selected New Developments in Military Enlistment Testing

This article provides a brief discussion of the historical context for the major recent advances in enlisted selection and classification that are the subject of this special issue. By providing a perspective on the difficulty personality assessment has had gaining traction as a screening measure, it supplies a basis for understanding the significance of recent advances in personality measurement. This article also summarizes the military research on interest measurement that will receive more extended treatment later in this issue. It relates the work in this issue on new information technology testing to the role of information testing in the current military operational selection and classification test battery, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), and discusses the background for 2 additional cognitive measures, Coding Speed and Assembling Objects. Finally, it previews issues to be discussed in the commentary article at the end of this issue.     

Toward a New Attrition Screening Paradigm: Latest Army Advances

Managing and reducing attrition during the first term of enlistment is a continuing priority for the services. Over the past decade, attrition rates in the Army have averaged between 25% and 30% during first-term periods of enlistment. Historically, the services have relied on education credentials, with special emphasis on possessing a high school diploma, as a primary indicator of completion rates after enlistment and as a proxy for the ability to adapt to a military lifestyle. A primary purpose of this paper is to describe Army research to develop new indicators of adaptability to augment the current system based on education credentials. This work has focused primarily on noncognitive, personality measures and how such measures can be combined with other existing measures for attrition screening during enlistment processing. These advances represent a new paradigm that relies less heavily on education credentials and can provide a more comprehensive and inclusive approach. This new approach incorporates advances in testing methodology to make it more viable for use in large-scale, high-stakes testing applications.     

咨询期望与人格特质的相关性及对临床心理干预的启示

本研究探析了人格因素与咨询期望的相关性及对临床工作的启示.通过方便抽样选取样本348人,用心理咨询预期简表、卡特尔16项人格因子问卷进行调查.咨询期望在性别之间无差异,心理咨询中的个人承诺与聪慧性、稳定性等人格因子呈正相关;与怀疑性、忧虑性等呈负相关.对咨询师专业性的期待与乐群性、稳定性等人格因子呈正相关;与怀疑性、忧虑性等呈负相关.人格中的有恒性、聪慧性等对个人承诺有正向影响,而忧虑性、怀疑性对其有负向影响.有恒性、乐群性对专业性期待有正向影响,而忧虑性则产生负向影响.在临床心理咨询中要想达到理想效果,需要依据来访者的人格特点,评估并适时调整咨询期望.     

大五人格背后的高级人格因素：社会关系模型

人格结构研究中的一种观点认为人格特质具有层级结构,其中大五人格结构是一种流行的人格结构模型,近年来有研究关注大五人格背后是否存在更高等级的人格.采用全循环设计,用等级评定和团队内排序方法,在80个4～6人小团队中收集成员及成员之间在五个人格特质上的自我人格知觉和对成员的人格知觉,共获得四种来源的大五人格数据,根据社会关系模型分解出目标效应.对每一种来源的数据进行探索性因素分析和跨来源联合因素分析,将四种来源数据视为四个指标进行结构方程建模,结果显示,两高级因素相关模型对数据有较高的拟合程度,两个高级人格因素对关系质量有显著且不同效应量的预测作用.结果支持大五人格背后存在更高级的人格因素.最后,讨论高级人格因素模型对理解人格结构、进行人格评估的意义;未来研究可从发展角度采用多评定者、多方法进行.     

特质模糊性对大学生人格判断准确性的影响

该研究从大学生样本中抽取19名目标被试、57名熟人被试和76名陌生人被试,采用词汇评定方法考察了特质模糊性对人格判断准确性的影响,结果表明：（1）自我、熟人及陌生人对清晰特质判断的一致性比模糊特质的一致性更高,这种差异在自我—陌生人及熟人—陌生人一致性中尤为显著;（2）无论是模糊特质还是清晰特质,自我—熟人判断一致性显著高于自我—陌生人和熟人—陌生人一致性,后两者差异不明显;（3）随着特质模糊性的增加,被试判断间一致性差异总体上呈不断增大的趋势,清晰特质判断一致性的差异较小,模糊特质判断一致性的差异较大。     

Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together? An Examination of Calling,Congruence, Job Design and Personality as Predictors of Job Satisfaction and Tenure

This study explored whether congruence, calling, job characteristics or personality were better predictors of job satisfaction and tenure. The sample consisted of 1968 employees across four different job roles: sales engineers (N=309), graphic designers (N=383), teachers (N=481) and clergy (N=795). Data was collected as part of a selection and development centre battery. Results found evidence of calling, with clergy reporting significantly higher levels of work satisfaction and tenure, despite the absence of some personality predictors (i.e. conscientiousness) and job characteristics (task identity, feedback). In general personality [particularly conscientiousness (+) and neuroticism (-)] along with job characteristics (variety and autonomy) were the most likely predictors of satisfaction across the different roles. No evidence could be found that congruence predicted work satisfaction or tenure. Results have implications for renewed interest in the role of calling according to its original definition and question the role of congruence in determining best fit especially in the context of vocational assessments.     

Computer-based written emotional disclosure: the effects of advance or real-time guidance and moderation by Big 5 personality traits

Standard written emotional disclosure (WED) about stress, which is private and unguided, yields small health benefits. The effect of providing individualized guidance to writers may enhance WED, but has not been tested. This trial of computer-based WED compared two novel therapist-guided forms of WED – advance guidance (before sessions) and real-time guidance (during sessions, through instant messaging) – to both standard WED and control writing; it also tested Big 5 personality traits as moderators of guided WED. Young adult participants (n = 163) with unresolved stressful experiences were randomized to conditions, had three, 30-min computer-based writing sessions, and were reassessed six weeks later. Contrary to hypotheses, real-time guidance WED had poorer outcomes than the other conditions on several measures, and advance guidance WED also showed some poorer outcomes. Moderator analyses revealed that participants with low baseline agreeableness, low extraversion, or high conscientiousness had relatively poor responses to guidance. We conclude that providing guidance for WED, especially in real-time, may interfere with emotional processing of unresolved stress, particularly for people whose personalities have poor fit with this interactive form of WED.     

Individual differences in preschool children: temperament or personality?

Individual differences among adults have generally been conceptualized in terms of personality theory and traits. In contrast, individual differences among very young children (birth to kindergarten) have generally been conceptualized in terms of temperament theory and traits. The present study compares and contrasts measures of temperament and personality in a sample of preschool children. Temperament traits were assessed with a well‐established measure (the Rothbart CBQ), and a new preschool rating instrument was used to assess personality traits from the five‐factor framework (M5‐PS). Indeed, a key purpose of this study was to further the development of the M5‐PS. Data were gathered on 122 preschool children who were rated by their teachers. Significant correlations were found between the temperament trait Surgency and the personality trait Extraversion, between the temperament trait Negative Affect and the personality trait Neuroticism, and between the temperament trait Effortful Control and the personality trait Conscientiousness. The overall pattern of correlational data suggests that individual differences in preschool children can be adequately described using the five‐factor theory, and that this framework may effectively subsume traditional theories of temperament. Preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the M5‐PS is offered. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.