Facets Of Extraversion Research Articles

Resting posterior minus frontal EEG slow oscillations is associated with extraversion and DRD2 genotype

The agency facet of extraversion has been hypothesized to be based on individual differences in dopamine activity. Recent work suggests that resting posterior minus frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) slow oscillations (delta, theta) is both consistently associated with extraversion and sensitive to dopamine D2 receptor antagonist-induced changes in dopaminergic activity. Here we examine for the first time the interrelations between polymorphisms of the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene (rs1800497 [previously termed TAQ1A], rs1076560, rs1799732 [−141C Ins/Del]), extraversion and resting posterior minus frontal (Pz–Fz) slow oscillations. As predicted, we found an association between DRD2 and resting Pz–Fz slow oscillations in a sample of 141 individuals participating in an eyes-closed resting EEG session. Moreover, we replicated the association between extraversion and Pz–Fz slow oscillations. Our findings strongly suggest that the posterior–frontal distribution of slow oscillations constitutes a useful brain-based intermediate phenotype for investigating the dopaminergic basis of extraversion.

The surgical personality: comparisons between urologists, non-urologists

: Our objective was to compare personality traits between urologists and other surgeons, as well as between surgeons and non-surgeons. : Eighty-six surgeons (57 faculty, 29 residents) completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R), a validated measure of normal personality traits. Subjects agree or disagree with 240 statements to generate a score in each of the 5 major character traits: extraversion (E), openness (O), conscientiousness (C), agreeableness (A) and neuroticism (N). Each factor is subdivided into 6 component facets. Scores for urology faculty and residents were compared to the other surgical groups and 21 pediatricians. : The 3 groups differed significantly on extraversion (p < 0.001). Post-hoc analyses indicated that urologists obtained significantly higher extraversion scores than other surgeons (p < 0.05) and non-surgeons (p < 0.001) Other surgeons also scored significantly higher than non-surgeons on the extraversion factor (p < 0.05). No significant differences emerged on openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness or neuroticism. Of the 6 extraversion facets, urologists obtained significantly higher scores on gregariousness and excitement-seeking (p < 0.05) than non-urologist surgeons, and significantly higher scores on gregariousness (p < 0.05), activity (p < 0.01), excitement seeking (p < 0.001), and positive emotions (p < 0.05) than non-surgeons. Non-urologist surgeons obtained significantly higher scores than non-surgeons on Activity and Excitement-seeking (p < 0.01).There were no significant differences in the facets of warmth or assertiveness. : Urologists appear to be more extraverted compared to other surgeons. Both groups of surgeons were more extraverted than non-surgeons. If these findings can be confirmed on a wider basis, the data may be helpful in resident selection, mentoring, evaluation and career counselling.

An Examination Of Organizational Citizenship Behavior In An Academic Setting From The Perspective Of The Five Factor Model

This paper examines the dispositional causes of student organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in an academic setting by utilizing facets scales of the NEO-PI-R (Costa &amp; McCrae, 1992) in addition to the five broad dimensions of the five factor model of personality. Different facet scales were significantly related to organizational citizenship and to student satisfaction. The strongest predictor of OCB was found to be warmth, a facet of extraversion. This finding supported the contention of Lepine, et al. (2002) that OCB can best be conceptualized as a latent construct measuring cooperativeness.

Birth order and the dominance aspect of extraversion: Are firstborns more extraverted, in the sense of being dominant, than laterborns?

The present study set out to examine the relationship between birth order and the dominance facet of extraversion in a community sample of around 1500 participants. In contrast, to Sulloway’s (1995) predictions, the present study, using a between-family design, found firstborns to be less extraverted, in the sense of being less dominant, than laterborns. This effect was found while controlling for potential confounds, such as age, and using a constant sibship size. Results are discussed with reference to the current literature on birth order and personality.

Generativity, the Big Five, and Psychosocial Adaptation in Midlife Adults

The study examines the extent to which 2 sets of personality variables-(1) dispositional traits (and their facets) within the Big Five taxonomy and (2) the adult developmental construct of generativity-are associated with psychosocial adaptation in midlife adults (N=128), conceived as the combination of individual well-being and positive societal involvements. Generativity is conceived as an adult's concern for and commitment to promoting the well-being of future generations. Multiple regression analyses showed that dispositional traits were more strongly associated with individual well-being than was generativity, but generativity was much more strongly associated with positive societal engagement than were the traits. Correlations between dispositional traits and generativity revealed that highly generative adults were elevated on most of the facets of Extraversion and Openness. For the other 3 traits, generativity was positively related to facets of competence, achievement striving, dutifulness, altruism, and trust and negatively related to vulnerability, anxiety, depressiveness, and modesty.

Resting posterior versus frontal delta/theta EEG activity is associated with extraversion and the COMT VAL 158MET polymorphism

Recent studies suggest that resting posterior versus frontal EEG delta/theta activity (delta/theta Pz–Fz) is both sensitive to pharmacological manipulations of neural dopamine and associated with the agency facet of extraversion (i.e., a motivational disposition comprising enthusiasm, energy, assertiveness, achievement striving and social dominance). These observations suggest that posterior versus frontal resting EEG delta/theta activity may represent a useful marker for investigating the molecular genetic basis of extraversion. The present study aimed to test the novel hypothesis of an association between delta/theta Pz–Fz and a functional polymorphism of the enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT VAL 158MET) involved in dopamine catabolism. This was conducted in a large EEG data set from the Brain Resource International Database (BRID; resting EEG from N = 1093 healthy individuals, 382 of which also genotyped for COMT VAL 158MET). In summary, we (1) showed for the first time that the VAL allele is associated with increased delta/theta Pz–Fz; (2) replicated the association between extraversion and delta/theta Pz–Fz in a large, heterogeneous sample including both genders; and (3) documented that the VAL allele of the COMT VAL 158MET is associated with increased extraversion scores, as previously reported for an overlapping BRID sample. This coherent pattern of findings adds further support to the suggestion that the posterior–anterior distribution of resting EEG slow wave activity in the delta/theta range represents a useful tool for probing the dopaminergic basis of extraversion.

Personality and psychophysiological profiles of police officer and firefighter recruits

Some have suggested that people who join emergency-services professions have a unique set of personality and response characteristics that allow them to manage the intense stressors of their particular jobs. The nature of personality and response profiles of individuals from different emergency-services professions could have both clinical and policy implications. The present study examined self-reported personality traits of police and firefighter recruits, as well as their psychophysiological response patterns during a loud-tone procedure. Police recruits scored higher than firefighters on gregariousness, a facet of Extraversion, and on dutifulness and deliberation, facets of Conscientiousness. Compared to a normative sample, police and firefighters both scored higher on excitement-seeking, a facet of Extraversion. Comparisons with psychophysiological data from a non-rescuer sample suggest that the firefighter recruits exhibited higher heart rate and skin conductance (SC) levels, while police recruits showed larger eyeblink electromyogram (EMG) startle responses and required more trials to reach SC habituation criteria.

Volumetric MRI changes, cognition and personality traits in old age depression

Background The presence of cognitive and structural deficits in euthymic elderly depressed patients remains a matter of debate. Integrative aetiological models assessing concomitantly these parameters as well as markers of psychological vulnerability such as persistent personality traits, are still lacking for this age group. Methods Cross-sectional comparisons of 38 elderly remitted patients with early-onset depression (EOD) and 62 healthy controls included detailed neuropsychological assessment, estimates of brain volumes in limbic areas and white matter hyperintensities, as well as evaluation of the Five-Factor personality dimensions. Results Both cognitive performances and brain volumes were preserved in euthymic EOD patients. No significant group differences were observed in white matter hyperintensity scores between the two groups. In contrast, EOD was associated with significant increase of Neuroticism and decrease of Extraversion facet scores. Limitations Results concern the restricted portion of EOD patients without psychiatric and physical comorbidities. Future longitudinal studies are necessary to determine the temporal relationship between the occurrence of depression and personality dimensions. Conclusions After remission from acute depressive symptoms, cognitive performances remain intact in elderly patients with EOD. In contrast to previous observations, these patients display neither significant brain volume loss in limbic areas nor increased vascular burden compared to healthy controls. Further clinical investigations on EOD patterns of vulnerability in old age will gain from focusing on psychological features such as personality traits rather than neurocognitive clues.

Abstract Reasoning and Big Five Personality Correlates of Creativity in a British Occupational Sample

In the present study, 585 British adults attending an assessment center completed a series of tests that included measures of personality (the Revised NEO Personality Inventory), abstract reasoning (the Graduate and Managerial Assessment), and divergent thinking (DT; the Consequences Test). Correlation analyses showed that DT was significantly and positively correlated with abstract reasoning and the Big Five personality factors of Openness to Experience and Extraversion. A multivariate forward stepwise regression showed that DT was significantly predicted by “Openness,” Abstract Reasoning, Extraversion, and Agreeableness. Further analyses showed that DT was significantly correlated with 5 of the 6 Openness facets and 4 of the 6 Extraversion facets (as well as with several facets from Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness). Overall, however, abstract reasoning and personality accounted for only 7% of the variance in DT, suggesting that these variables are only modestly associated wtih DT in a British occupational sample.

Female students' disordered eating and the big five personality facets

Female undergraduate students at two Canadian universities (N=378) completed the NEO PI-R (Costa, P.T. & McCrae, R.R. (1992). NEO PI-R Professional Manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources) and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26; Garner, D. M., Olmstead, M. P., Bohr, Y. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1982). The Eating Attitudes Test: Psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychological Medicine, 12, 871–878.). Eating disorder symptomatic (N=43) and nonsymptomatic (N=335) women differed on facets of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Agreeableness. Among symptomatic women, the Oral Control subscale of the EAT-26 was correlated significantly with facets of Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Specifically, the Impulsivity facet of Neuroticism was positively correlated with the Bulimia and Food Preoccupation subscale of EAT-26, but negatively correlated with the Oral Control and Dieting subscales. Overall, results suggest that high scores on Neuroticism may be a risk factor for development of disordered eating behavior and that the degree of Impulsiveness may predict the eating disorder subtype to which one is most susceptible.

Extraversion is accurately perceived after a 50-ms exposure to a face

Twenty-four perceivers saw portraits of unacquainted persons for either 150 ms, 100 ms, or 50 ms, and rated their personality on adjective scales. Moreover, stimulus persons described themselves on these scales and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Consensus among perceivers and self-other agreement were not systematically related to exposure time, but self-other agreement differed strongly between traits, being highest for extraversion. Even ratings of extraversion by single perceivers were related to the stimulus persons’ self-reports. Particularly strong were correlations between perceived extraversion and self-reports on items measuring the extraversion facets excitement seeking and positive emotions. Self-other agreement for extraversion was mostly mediated by cheerfulness of facial expressions that was related to self-reports of extraversion but not of the other personality traits.

Is research using the narcissistic personality inventory relevant for understanding narcissistic personality disorder?

Most research on narcissism has been conducted using the narcissistic personality inventory (NPI). However, the generalizability of findings from the NPI to narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is unknown. The current study uses two samples (48 clinical outpatients; 49 undergraduates) to address this question by examining the correlations between the NPI and interview ratings of NPD. The profiles generated by both assessments in relation to measures of general personality traits are compared to expert and meta-analytically derived profiles of NPD. The NPI and NPD assess overlapping constructs as they are significantly correlated and generate similar personality profiles. The measures diverge primarily in that NPI narcissism includes traits related to certain facets of Extraversion, which is consistent with expert conceptualizations of NPD.

Five-factor model personality traits and the retirement transition: Longitudinal and cross-sectional associations.

The authors examined associations between 5-factor personality traits and retirement in a diverse community sample. Longitudinal analyses (n = 367) compared personality trajectories of participants who remained employed and participants who retired. Personality at baseline did not predict future retirement, but compared to participants who remained employed, retirees increased in Agreeableness and decreased in Activity, a facet of Extraversion. In cross-sectional analyses among retirees (n = 144), those low in Neuroticism and high in Extraversion reported higher retirement satisfaction, and those high in Extraversion reported higher postretirement activity levels. Findings suggest that the trait perspective contributes to the understanding of the retirement process.

Personality and fear responses during conditioning: Beyond extraversion

The personality domain of introversion–extraversion has been theorized to be associated with the strength of fear conditioning, but the literature on this topic has been equivocal. Furthermore, except for extraversion and neuroticism, relationships of the other Big Five personality domains with fear response acquisition have not been explored. In the current study, multi-level modeling was used to examine the relationships of facets of the Big Five domains to fear response acquisition. Participants were 217 police and firefighter trainees who completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and a fear conditioning task as part of a larger study. Results indicated that several facets of extraversion have opposing associations with fear response acquisition of an electrodermal response – possibly contributing to the mixed results in the literature. Additionally, facets of other Big Five domains were found to be associated with fear response acquisition.

C.11.03 Ensuring that patients adhere to treatment for depression

Background: The prevalence of major depression for women is about twice that for men. This gender difference in prevalence rates has led to much research addressing gender differences in the presentation and features of major depression, and, to a lesser extent, research addressing gender differences in treatment response and personality. However, studies differ considerably in the population sampled, and findings vary significantly. In the current retrospective examination of data, we investigated all of these variables in one single sample of outpatients with major depression seen in a tertiary care centre. Methods: A sample of 139 men and 246 women with major depression receiving antidepressant treatment (SSRIs, TCAs, SNRIs, MAOIs, or RIMAs) in an outpatient setting were contrasted with regard to symptoms and severity of depression, course of illness, treatment response, and personality. Results: Women were found to experience more vegetative and atypical symptoms, anxiety, and anger than men, and to report higher severity of depression on self-report measures. Regarding personality, women scored higher on conscientiousness, the extraversion facet warmth, the openness facet feelings, and sociotropy. Effect sizes were small to moderate. No differences were found in the course of the illness and treatment response. Limitations: Findings are not generalizable to inpatient or community samples, and some of the gender differences may be accounted for by gender differences in treatment seeking behaviour. Conclusions: While men and women receiving antidepressant treatment show some gender differences in the psychopathology of major depression, these differences do not appear to translate into differences in response to antidepressants. Gender differences in personality appear less profound than in the average population, indicating the potential role of a certain personality type that predisposes individuals to develop clinical depression, independent of gender. Clinical relevance: The current examination underscores the role gender plays in the presentation and treatment of major depression.

Personality predictors of longevity: activity, emotional stability, and conscientiousness.

To examine the association between personality traits and longevity. Using the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, personality traits were assessed in 2359 participants (38% women; age = 17 to 98 years, mean = 50 years) from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, starting in 1958. Over the duration of the study, 943 (40%) participants died, on average 18 years after their personality assessment. The association of each trait with longevity was examined by Cox regression controlling for demographic variables. In preliminary analyses among the deceased, those who scored 1 standard deviation (SD) above the mean on General Activity (a facet of Extraversion), Emotional Stability (low Neuroticism), or Conscientiousness lived on average 2 to 3 years longer than those scoring 1 SD below the mean. Survival analyses on the full sample confirmed the association of General Activity, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness with lower risk of death, such that every 1-SD increase was related to about 13%, 15%, and 27% risk reduction, respectively. The association of personality traits with longevity was largely independent from the influence of smoking and obesity. Personality predictors of longevity did not differ by sex, except for Ascendance (a facet of Extraversion). Emotional Stability was a significant predictor when the analyses were limited to deaths due to cardiovascular disease, with comparable effect sizes for General Activity and Conscientiousness. In a large sample of generally healthy individuals followed for almost five decades, longevity was associated with being conscientious, emotionally stable, and active.

Factors influencing preferences for height: A replication and extension

The present study examined preferences for absolute height and the male-taller norm in a community sample of 901 British individuals. Initial results replicated previous studies, showing that both women and men preferred relationships in which the woman was shorter than the man. Specifically, the ideal male partner for women was significantly taller than the average man in our sample, and there was no significant difference between the ideal female partner for men and the average woman in the sample. In addition, there were weak associations between height preferences and endorsement of several aspects of the traditional male gender role ( rs = .04–.23). Height preferences were also correlated with self-esteem ( rs = .15–.17), conformity ( rs = − .14–.15), and the Big Five personality facets of neuroticism and extraversion ( rs = .07–.25). Limitations of the present study and the association between attractiveness preferences and actual mate choice decisions are discussed in conclusion.

Trait competitiveness as a composite variable: Linkages with facets of the big-five

We investigated the link between competitiveness and the facets of a comprehensive broad-bandwidth personality inventory. Conceptualizing trait competitiveness as a composite variable identified by two indicators, structural equation modeling was used to identify relationships between the 30 facets of the IPIP scales corresponding to the NEO-PI-R and trait competitiveness. Nine facets were related to trait competitiveness. Four of these nine (excitement-seeking, morality/straightforwardness, modesty, and sympathy/tender-mindedness) were uniquely related to trait competitiveness from a final model. Results suggest that facets within factors need not be related to a composite trait in the same direction, as two affiliative facets of extraversion were negatively related to trait competitiveness while two surgency facets of extraversion were positively associated with trait competitiveness.

Personality of young adults born prematurely: the Helsinki study of very low birth weight adults

Today, the first generations of very low birth weight (VLBW <or= 1500 g) infants are entering adulthood but very little is known of their personality traits, associated with both psychopathological vulnerability and resilience. In this cohort study we compared personality traits among young adults (age range 18 to 27 years, mean 21.4, SD 2.19) with VLBW (n = 158) with those of term-born controls (n = 168) of same gender, age, and maternity hospital. The participants completed the Neo-Personality Inventory. Of the five main traits, the VLBW participants scored significantly higher in conscientiousness (MD .1, 95% CI .0 to .3; p < .03), agreeableness (MD .2, 95% CI .0 to .3; p < .001), and lower in openness to experience (MD -.1, 95% CI -.2 to .0; p < .02). In addition, the VLBW group differed from the controls with regard to facets of neuroticism (lower hostility and impulsivity, ps < .05) and extraversion (less assertiveness p < .01). Furthermore, there were fewer undercontrolled personality profiles among the VLBW subjects (p < .01). All differences were independent of gender, age at assessment, parental education, individual school grade average, and maternal pre-eclampsia and smoking during pregnancy. Young adults born with VLBW showed markedly different personality traits compared with their controls. The VLBW group displayed less negative emotions, were more dutiful and cautious, and displayed more warmth in their social relationships than their term-born peers. We present two potential mechanisms underlying these findings. The first relates to parental influences and the other to evidence linking biological mechanisms associated with prematurity with personality characteristics in adulthood.

Beneath the Surface: Uncovering the relationship between extraversion and organizational citizenship behavior through a facet approach

To date, an empirical link between the broad factor extraversion and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has not been found. We propose that a facet conceptualization of extraversion including surgency, sociability and positive emotions predict an individual's level of citizenship behaviors in opposing ways, thus masking the predictive ability of a broad factor of extraversion. In study one, we establish the foundation for predictive differences by documenting differential relationships between the facets of extraversion and the type of organizational cultures potential job applicants are attracted to. In study two, analysis of peer rated OCB from 117 individuals working in various organizations supports the superior predictive ability of the facets over that of the broad factor.