Dimensions Of Personality Organization Research Articles

Comparison of Personality Organization in People with Dark and Bright Personality Traits

Purpose: The dual aspects of human personality, characterized by the dark and light triads, significantly influence various psychological and behavioral outcomes. The dark triad includes narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, while the light triad comprises empathy, compassion, and altruism. This study aimed to compare the personality organization of individuals with dark and light personality traits, focusing on Kornberg’s dimensions: identity diffusion, primitive defenses, and reality testing. Methodology: This causal-comparative study included a sample of 232 students from Shahid Madani University of Azerbaijan, selected using purposive sampling. Participants completed questionnaires assessing dark and light personality traits and the Personality Organization Inventory. Data were analyzed using SPSS-25, employing descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to compare the groups. Findings: Significant differences were found among individuals with dark traits, light traits, and normal individuals across all three dimensions of personality organization. Individuals with dark traits exhibited higher levels of primitive defenses (M = 28.25), greater identity diffusion (M = 25.75), and poorer reality testing (M = 49.93) compared to those with light traits (M = 24.30, M = 22.37, M = 38.81, respectively) and normal individuals (M = 26.23, M = 22.28, M = 41.87, respectively). Conclusion: The findings highlight that individual with dark traits have a more fragmented personality organization, characterized by maladaptive coping strategies and distorted reality perception, which contribute to their manipulative and antisocial behaviors. In contrast, individuals with light traits exhibit more cohesive personality organization, leading to prosocial and adaptive behaviors. These insights are crucial for developing targeted interventions to promote psychological well-being and improve organizational fit.

A Bifactor Model of Personality Organization

The aim of this study was to explore the viability of a bifactor model for the Inventory of Personality Organization (IPO), which is a self-report measure of personality functioning based on Kernberg’s model of personality organization. A heterogeneous, predominantly clinical sample (N = 616) completed the German 83-item version of the IPO. Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analyses were applied to explore the factor structure of the IPO. We were able to establish a bifactor model with a general factor of personality functioning and three specific factors (Aggression, Reality Testing, Moral Values), which represent additional dimensions of personality organization. Virtually all items showed substantial positive loadings on the general factor, explaining roughly 66% of the common variance. Furthermore, we found support for convergent and discriminant validity of general and specific factors with regard to interview-based assessments of personality disorders and personality organization. The results lend support to a bifactor approach to Kernberg’s model of personality organization. We also present a 30-item brief form of the IPO that efficiently implements the bifactor approach and may be further validated in future studies.

Trait emotional intelligence, trauma and personality organization: Analysis of urban clinical patients

ObjectiveTrait emotional intelligence (TEI) has recently emerged in research related to personality psychopathology. Yet, no research to date has considered the role of trauma in the TEI and personality organization relation. This article explored the three-way interaction between childhood and adult trauma, and TEI in predicting personality organization scores in a clinical sample. MethodThis study used self-report data from 160 adult patients of a mental health clinic in an urban, low-income setting. ResultsTEI was negatively related to the three dimensions of personality organization. For two of the three dimensions, the negative relations were stronger in magnitude among patients with high childhood and adult trauma experiences in comparison to low trauma patients. ConclusionsThis study yields compelling findings highlighting the potential role of TEI in the prevention and treatment of symptoms of personality disorders, specifically borderline personality disorder, among patients with high incidences of lifetime trauma. We discuss the implications of these findings for personality psychology, especially, the utility of integrating TEI interventions into psychological treatments.

Mentalization And Personality Organization In Heroin Addicted Patients : A Narrative Analysis

The relationship between the dimensions of personality organization and the quality of mentalization is an important object of study in contemporary psychodynamic theory and it also contributes to the understanding of heroin addiction with comorbid personality disorders. The current study aims to assess levels of personality organization and its main domains (Identity, Object relations, Defense Mechanisms) in patients with opiate addiction, as well as the quality of affect mentalization and possible connections between them. In order to do so we have adopted quantitative text-analysis method of affect mentalization to parts of а interview, trying to show that the language which participants use could be in itself a psychodiagnostic means. A group of 30 heroin addicted patients in a methadone treatment programme and a control group of 30 healthy participants were assessed with the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO), VEA (Verbal Elaboration of Affect Scale) and The Measure of Affect Contents (MAC). Results show significant differences between the two groups, concerning all dimensions of personality organization as well as some core areas of affect mentalization. The capacity for affect mentalization is significantly correlated to the level of personality organization. The results are discussed from the point of view of the adopted theoretical models and the implications for psychotherapeutic work in the bio-psycho-social model.

Dimensions of Personality Organization and Sexual Life in a Community Sample of Women

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between dimensions of borderline personality organization (as assessed according to Kernberg's model), sexual dysfunctions, and paraphilic interest in a community sample of women. Two hundred and sixty-six healthy women were asked to complete a set of questionnaires including the Inventory of Personality Organization (IPO), the Italian version of the Female Sexual Function Index, and a checklist to assess the prevalence of paraphilic interests. Results showed that women with sexual dysfunctions and paraphilic interests are characterized by higher scores on three out of four IPO subscales: Instability of self/others, Instability of behavior, and Psychosis. The results provide evidence of a possible connection between borderline personality organization and sexual life and support the need for a thorough assessment of personality functioning in patients with sexual problems.

Dimensions of personality organization as predictors of teenage pregnancy risk.

Personality development as measured by Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test, The Friedman Developmental Level Scoring System for the Rorschach, The Urist Mutuality of Autonomy Scale, The Thematic Apperception Test, and indexes from a structured interview were able to discriminate between teenagers at high- and low-risk for pregnancy. In addition, these measures correlated significantly with each other and enabled a description and comparison of the personality characteristics of adolescents who are at risk for pregnancy and those who are not.

A methodology for the use of the Rorschach in clinical research.

Traditional approaches to the Rorschach produce a myriad of isolated but overlapping variables and ratios which limit the utilization of the Rorschach in research. Several new conceptual approaches to the Rorschach provide the basis for integrating the multitude of Rorschach scores into more molar variables that can be scored reliably and that measure central dimensions of personality organization. These new approaches assess dimensions of explicit personality theories rather than being derived from the test alone. Factor analysis of variables derived from several of these new approaches along with several more traditional scores, indicate seven basic factors which assess important dimensions on the Rorschach: degree of reality testing, primary experiential mode (action or ideation), degree of access to primitive modes of thought and the extent to which these modes are integrated effectively, degree of the investment in appropriate and inappropriate interpersonal relationships, and severity of pathological thinking. These seven empirically independent, orthogonal factors can be assessed by single variables that significantly differentiate opiate addicts and psychiatric patients and significantly correlate with independent estimates of ego functioning and development as evaluated in the Bellak clinical interview and on the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test.