Personality, Adaptability, and Performance: Performance on Well-Defined Problem Solving Tasks

Abstract

Prior research indicates that certain personality constructs influence perfor- mance on complex problem-solving tasks. In this study, we demonstrated that personality constructs can also serve to maintain performance as people move from familiar, well-defined tasks to unfamiliar, ill-defined tasks. Accordingly, 250 college students were asked to complete a set of background data items intended to measure relevant personality constructs. Performance on well-de- fined and ill-defined laboratory problem-solving tasks was then assessed, along with high school and college grades. In addition, measures of subjects' beliefs about and reactions to task performance were obtained. In a series of discriminant analyses, we found that a particular pattern of personality con- structs contributed to the maintenance of good performance as people moved from the well-defined to the ill-defined laboratory task and from high school to college. More specifically, creative achievement, self-discipline, and a lack of defensive ...