Personal Preference Schedule Research Articles

Need Behavioural Orientation of Dynamos and Drones in Organizations: A Maruti Experience

Research has recognized the important role of personality in developing and selecting employees and in determining behaviour at workplace. Personality is believed to affect decisionmaking, problem-solving, conflict management, and stress management. This stems from the assumption that role conflicts and organizational stress are also manifestations of the underlying turbulence of one�s personality predispositions. This paper reports the results of the threephase study conducted in Maruti Udyog Limited to understand the different behaviour patterns in workplace. In phase I, secondary data were collected through organizational stress and work motivation questionnaires, and job satisfaction and role conflict scales. In phase II, Dynamos and Drones were identified. Those scoring low on organizational stress, role conflict, and absenteeism and high scores on work motivation, work performance, and job satisfaction were grouped as Dynamos. On the other hand, those obtaining high scores on organizational stress, role conflict, and absenteeism and low scores on work motivation, work performance, and job satisfaction were categorized as Drones. In phase III, the Edwards' Personal Preference Schedule was administered to Dynamos and Drones to compare the need orientation of their behaviour. In order to examine the difference between the Dynamos and the Drones on various need orientation of their personality, t-test was conducted. The results reveal the following: The Dynamos are significantly higher on achievement, order, and autonomy compared to the Drones. Dynamos prefer to participate in friendly groups and form strong attachments. Dynamo's high score on endurance shows that they keep pursuing a job till it is complete. The drones are significantly higher on aggression and heterosexuality resulting in poor interpersonal relationship. There is no difference between the Dynamos and the Drones on deference, exhibition, interception, dominance, abasement, and change. In order to grow and be successful, an organization therefore needs a workforce consisting of more Dynamos. And, to be a dynamo, one should have the need personality orientation of order, endurance, and achievement which accounts for one's desire to give his best, to be successful, plan work, and stick to the job till the end. The author also stresses upon the need orientation of affiliation, succorance, and nurturance which together form the key ingredients for building interpersonally sensitive relationship.

The Effects Of Group Leadership Style on Counselor Trainees' Personal Functioning

This study examines the effects of three group leadership styles on the personal and interpersonal functioning of 67 counselor trainees who participated in a required group experience in conjunction with a group experience course. Theparticipants were randomly assigned to one of three group conditions: (1) structured T-group, (2) rotating leadership, and (3) Rogerian. Each of the nine groups met approximately 20 hours over the course of the semester. Each subject completed the following instruments: Edward's Personal Preference Schedule, Money Problem Checklist, Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank, and Reaction to Group Situation Test. Results from the pretest, posttest, and 6- to 8-weekfollow-up suggest that differences among the groups could in part be attributed to group leadership styles. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Simulation as a Medium for Training Group Leaders

This study was conducted to determine the effects of three group leadership styles on the personal and interpersonal functioning of 67 counselor trainees who participated in a required group experience in conjunction with a group experience course. The partici pants were randomly assigned to one of three group conditions: (1) structured T-group; (2) rotating leadership; or (3) Rogerian. Each of the 9 groups met approximately 20 hours over the course of the semester. Each subject completed the following instru ments : Edward's Personal Preference Schedule, Money Problem Checklist, and Reaction to Group Situation Test. Resultsfrom the pretest, posttest, and 6-8 weekfollow-up suggest that differences among the groups could be attributed in part to group leader ship styles. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

An application of the state-trait concept to the need for achievement

This study concerned relationships between state (situationally defined) n Ach, trait n Ach, and sex of subject in 80 college freshmen. Three standard n Ach tests (the Adjective Check List, Personal Preference Schedule, and TAT measures) and the mean of n Ach states measured under nonarousal conditions were used as trait measures. State measures of n Ach were also obtained in four experimental conditions (Social Ability, Success-Failure, Conventional Arousal, and Extrinsic Competition). There were no significant correlations between the four trait measures. The mean of states in the neutral conditions was highly predictive of states in three of the four arousal conditions, but none of the standard trait tests predicted state arousal to any significant extent.

Satisfaction of need for achievement in work and leisure time activities

This paper examines the relationship between two explanatory variables—level of need for achievement (n-Ach) and degree of achievement opportunity on the job—and type of leisure time activities people choose. Combining the two explanatory variables into an indicator of need deprivation, the authors hypothesize that people whose need for achievement is not satisfied on the job (cases of greater need deprivation) will be more likely to engage in high achievement-oriented leisure time activities than will those whose need for achievement is satisfied on the job (cases of lesser need deprivation). A further hypothesis states that the need deprivation approach will be more useful in predicting type of leisure time activities (high vs low achievement-oriented) than will either n-Ach or achievement opportunity alone. The sample consisted of 100 business people. Level of n-Ach was measured by using part of the Edwards' Personal Preference Schedule, and an eight-item questionnaire developed by the authors was used to measure degree of achievement opportunity on the job. A leisure time activities score was obtained for each subject, and subjects were split at the median into high vs low achievement-oriented leisure time activities groups. A significant relationship between need deprivation indicators and type of leisure time activities supported the hypothesis that people who are unable to satisfy their achievement needs on the job are likely to do so in their leisure time activities. The need deprivation approach was shown to be superior to either explanatory variable alone in predicting type of leisure time activity. Implications of the findings for organizations are presented.

Teacher Personality and the New Social Studies

AbstractScales of the Edwards’ Personal Preference Schedule were used to determine if selected social studies teachers possessed attributes of openness which were assumed to be necessary to the implementation of the New Social Studies. Teachers’ perceptions of themselves were checked against student perceptions of these same teachers by use of the Robertson Student Perception of Teacher Attitude Scale (an instrument based on Ann Roe's categorizations of home climates). Data were treated by use of coefficients of correlation, comparison of F-ratios, and comparison of t-ratios. Although not entirely unmixed, the results indicated that the social studies teachers studied could handle the heat and pressure generated in open climates which are necessary in implementing the New Social Studies.

Test-taking anxiety and psychological needs.

Facilitating (F) and debilitating (D) test-taking anxieties as measured by the Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Test were correlated with psychological needs as measured by the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (PPS). Ss were 201 members (98 males, 103 females) of a sophomore social science class. For F anxiety, significant correlations for males were obtained with Needs-Achievement, Affiliation, Intraception, Succorance, Exhibition and Nurturance. For D anxiety, the significant correlations for males were Needs-Abasement, Exhibition, Achievement, Deference and Dominance. For females, F anxiety was only correlated with Needs-Achievement, while D anxiety was related to Needs-Intraception, Order and Exhibition. It appears that certain personality needs seem related to these types of anxieties, particularly for males.

A Short-Form Personality Inventory

IN THE DESIGN of research on work motivations, j use of two short-form personality inventories (2, 3) was indicated in order to provide information about concomitants of particular work motivations. These I short-form personality questionnaires are highly ef ficient because of their briefness and high reliability of scores. In a situation permitting only a minimum amount of time for data collection the forms appear to be ideal. However, theoretical considerations were raised which required re-examin?t ion of the bases of these forms and led to the development of a third short-form personality inventory described here, the Interpersonal Orientations (IO)form. In particular, the Behavioral Self-Rating (BSR) form was constructed on the basis of a long series of peer rating and peer ranking studies, and stressed inter personal characteristics to which others respond in interaction. The second set, the SelfIdentification (S-Ident) form, stressed in its development self-re ports of the type found in classic personality inven tories. Questions arose as to whether or not scores on these two forms were in any way getting at types of content emphasized in Edwards' (5) Personal Pref erence Schedule (EPPS), which prior analyses had indicated involves additional emphasis in special areas of content (1). The additional content involved was associated loosely with a concept of depend ency. 2 The notion of dependency was derived in tuitively from observation of profile patterns of the EPPS in the work situation, in particular with re gard to some persons whose profiles seemed to in dicate that the individual was passively dependent. Such persons were seen as characterized b y low needs for advancement in the organization, a h i g h degree of willingness to postpone satisfaction of nor mal rewards, high needs for security, and high needs for superior and peer approval. While no at tempt was made to conceptualize dependency in a rig orous way, the suggestion of further exploration of this concept followed from theoretical formulations under consideration in the study of work components (6). In any event, the apparent recurring concern on the part of certain employees, particularly those concerned with a security orientation, those who seek or expect help and direction from others (depending on help and direction from others), and tho se who exhibit a lack of initiative and striving, warranted exploration of additional personality materials in this area. The development of the cur rent form, thus, stems from an intuitive and theoretical concern with an area of personality. Since some of the impetus for this exploration arose with Edwards' EPPS, it was examined for the content which could be related in any way to to this overall notion of dependency. Ac tually, this exploration yielded only a few items that had any clear-cut direct involvement with a notion of dependency. For example, it was difficult to relate directly an item which merely indicated sociability with a notion of dependency.

Another Look at the Theory of Complementary Needs in Mate-Selection

Following the publication of Edwards' Personal Preference Schedule there came a spate of studies purporting to test the theory of complementary needs in mate-selection. In the author's judgment none of these studies has come close to replicating the original test, and in the absence of any replication the empirical status of the theory remains undetermined. Various critics have pointed to weaknesses in the theory. Perhaps the gravest of these is one remarked by Rosow that the theory lacks a principle of specification as to which needs should intercorrelate and whether positively or negatively under type II complementariness. Although not in the context of mate-selection, Bermann's study of the stability of dyads is seen as constituting a development of the theory in general and with particular respect to the foregoing criticism.

Comparative Achievement of Graduates of Public and Catholic High Schools in their Freshman College Year

THIS STUDY is a comparison of the achieve ment of 111 public high school graduates with that of 103 Catholic high school graduates se lected from the freshman class at the University of Kentucky during the school year 1961-62.2 The public school group was randomly selected from the same freshman class in subgroups of approximately the same size as that of the corre sponding Catholic school subgroup (Colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Commerce, Edu cation, and Engineering). In addition students were classified on the basis of sex. The two groups were compared in all their subdivisions. Since the correlations of entrance examination scores and achievement were .42 for the Catho lic school graduates and .46 for the public school graduates, it seemed prudent to compare the two groups with respect to several nonintellectual var iables commonly regarded as bearing some rela tion to achievement. In this instance only the total of the public high school graduates was compared with the total of the Catholic high school gradu ates?there was no division into subgroups. The nonintellectual variables selected as the basis of comparison of the foregoing groups of graduates of public and Catholic high schools were the fol lowing: the Edwards Personal Preference Sched ule, extraclass activities, leadership, family educa tion, father's economic status, and age at entrance into college. The following freshmen were specifically ex cluded from the study: (1) those whose records offered insufficient data; (2) public school grad uates who had not spent all four years in a public high school; (3) Catholic school graduates who had not spent all four years in a Catholic high school; (4) freshmen who withdrew from college before the end of the academic year; (5) fresh men who were not entering the University of Ken tucky for the first time; and (6) those freshmen who attended neither a public nor a Catholic high school. Sixty-six hypotheses were tested: 60 were re lated to the comparison of achievement and six to the comparison with respect to nonintellectual variables. Method

Differential Need Patterns of Women Elementary and Secondary Level Student Teachers

VOCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS agree that I need structure is an important determinant of vo cational choice. This point of view is expressed by Super (1957), Roe (1956), Hoppock(1957), and oth ers. Hoppock states that the occupation which one chooses is the one which he believes will best meet the needs that most concern him. Needs may be either intellectually perceived or may beonly vaguely felt attractions. In either case they tend to influence occupational choice. Several recent studies have attempted to deter mine the need patterns of elementary and secondary teachers by means of the Edwards Personal Pref erence Schedule (1952). This instrument is a 225 item forced-choice inventory w h i c h purports to measure fiften of Murray's (1938) manifest needs. Jackson and Guba (1957) administered the Ed wards Personal Preference Schedule to 196 female elementary teachers and fifty-two female secondary teachers in public schools of the Chicago suburban area. They found that the elementary teachers scored significantly higher than the norm group on deference, order and endurance and significantly lower on exhibition, autonomy, dominance and het erosexuality. Female secondary school teachers scored significantly higher than the norm group on deference, order and achievement and significantly lower on exhibition, dominance, change and heter osexuality. Tobin (1956), who administered t h e E d w a r d s Personal Preference Schedule to thirty-seven fe male elementary and secondary teachers in the Puget Sound area of Washington state, reports that teachers scored significantly higher than the norm group on deference, order and endurance, and sigI nificantly lower on dominance, heterosexuality and aggression. In a study of 100 physical education t e a chers Thorpe (1958), found that her group scored signifi cantly higher than the norm group on deference, order, exhibition, dominance and endurance, and significantly lower on autonomy, ab?sement, change and heterosexuality. All of the investigators cited have found that in service teachers score significantly higher than the norm group on deference, order and endurance and significantly lower on heterosexuality. With the exception of the physical education teachers, inservice teachers were also found to score signif icantly lower than the norm group on dominance. Only two studies have investigated the need pat terns of women students preparing for the teaching profession. In neither study were need scores of students preparing for elementary teaching com pared with those of students preparing to teach at the secondary level. Tobin's (1956) sample in cluded students preparing for teaching at both lev els. Presumably most of the students in Thorpe's (1958) sample were preparing to teach at the sec ondary level. Tobin (1956) found that the eighty students in his sample scored significantly higher than the norm group on deference, order and endurance and sig nificantly lower on dominance, heterosexuality and aggression. This was the same pattern which To bin found for his inservice sample. Thorpe (1958) found that the 100 students in her sample scored significantly higher than the norm group on endurance and significantly lower on au tonomy, succorance and aggression.

A Factor Analytic Study of Edwards' Personal Preference Schedule

Edwards (1959) has presented a table of intercorrelations to substantiate his claim that the variables measured by his Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS) are relatively independent. I t then seems appropriate to factor analyze this matrix of correlations in order to determine the extent of independence. However, as Stoltz (1958) has pointed out, such an analysis is presumably not appropriate because the measures involved are more ipsative than normative in character. There appear to be occasions when violations of the rules may provide useful information, especially if an additional empirical check may be applied to the data. The present study is an example of one such violation. In the course of factor analyzing the intercorrelations of the Edwards variables as an exercise, a major factor emerged which appeared to be one of social desirability (SD). An empirical check was then applied to test this hypothesis.

Relation of Selected Personality and Attitude Scales to the Famous Sayings Test

The present study reports an attempt to increase our understanding of what is being measured by the Famous Sayings test (Bass, 1958). This is an indirect or semi-disguised personality assessment schedule in which S indicates degree of agreement with a series of 130 proverbs. It contains four factoranalytically-defined subscales: Conventional Mores, Hostility, Fear of Failure, and Social Acquiescence. Scores of 108 Ss (half male and half female), all students in introductory and industrial psychology courses at L.S.U., were correlated (product-moment) with their scores on the following personality questionnaires and attitude scales: the Human Relations Inventory (Bernberg, 1959), the CaIifornia Rigidity Scale,' the 16 PF Questionnaire (Cattell, et al., 1957), the Personal Preference Schedule (PPS) (Edwards, 1954), the Personnel Inventory (Guilford & Martin, 1943), the Conservatism-Radicalism Questionnaire (Lentz, 1946), the Dogmatism Scale (Rokeach, 1960), the Manifest Anxiety Scale (Taylor, 1953), and the Wonderlic Personnel Test (intelligence) (Wonderlic, 1939). These scales were selected either as measuring a variety of factorially-determined personality characteristics or as being indices of specific attributes which were suspected, a P r i o ~ i , of being related to one or more of the Famous Sayings subscales. C o n v e n t i o d Mores ( C M ) correlated at the .O1 level with the following: Conservatism, .40; PPS Nurturance, .31; Dogmatism, .30; 16 PF Conscientiousness, .27; 16 PF Sociability. .26; Rigidity, .26; PPS Affiliation, .25; 16 PI: Aggressiveness, -.23; PPS Autonomy, -.24; Radicalism, -.34. Hostility ( K O ) correlated at the .01 level with: Dogmatism, .49; 16 PF SuspicionJealousy, .34; PPS Aggression, .29; 16 PF Maturity, -.24; 16 PF Agreeableness, -.26; 16 PF Objectivity, -.34. Fear o f Failure (FF) correlated at the .O1 level with Dogmatism, .48. Social Acquiescence (SA) correlated at the .O1 level with: Dogmatism, .40; 16 PF Objectivity, -.25. The above data provide some evidence that the CM scale is an indirect measure of convenrionality, conservatism, conscientiousness, rigidity, and sociability. They also suggest that the H O scale is measuring dogmatic, aggressive, suspicious, and immature tendencies, as well as tendencies toward disagreeableness and lack of objectivity. The high correlation of Dogmatism with all four scales is probably due to the fact that the three subscales of Famous Sayings, CM, HO, and FF, as well as the Dogmatism Scale, correlate highly with Social Acquiescence (SA) .

Comparison of Education Students, Successful Science Teachers and Educational Administrators on the Edwards PPS

THE PURPOSE of the r e s e a r ch to be reported I here is to compare several teacher groups on a per sonality test standardized onacollege population and designed to measure the relative strength of 15 personality needs or dimensions. There are sever al reasons for exploring the need structure of occu pational groups such as teachers: 1) Teachers are in a position to serve as models for individuals whose preferences are uncertain. With the excep tion of parents, teachers comprise the group of adults with whom the child has most f r e q u e nt and intimate contact. 2) Teachers are relatively free to reward or punish, implicitly or explicitly, those preferences which children do exhibit. It is of con cern to ask what sorts of preferences are likely to be approved or disapproved by persons exhibiting such a need structure. 3) Such data can at least be suggestive in the areas of teacher selection and training. This report is directed to the problem of describing and discussing the need structure of pub lic school teachers as measured by the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (PPS). The PPS consists of 210 forced-choice items. Each pair of items is matched approximately for mean social desirability value, as previously judg ed by college students, to minimize the effect of so cial desirability on item choice. Items measuring one need are paired twice with each of the remain ing 14 needs; thus the total raw score on the test will be the same for all persons. The needs mea sured by the PPS are those indicated in the manual (2) and follow Murray's (6) definitions and nomen clature. The cases were grouped as follows: 1) 781 male students in the College of Education, University of Utah, who enrolled in an orientation course during 1955-56. This course is required of entering edu cation students and most of the students were Freshmen or Sophomores. The average age was 20. 4 years. In the report, this group is known as the Education Student group. 2) 53 Male teachers who were enrolled in an Academic-Year Institute in the science-teaching field supported by the National Science Foundation, 1957-58. This group has an | average teaching experience of seven years and were judged to be successful by their supervisors. The average age was 34 years. This group is known as the Successful Teacher group. 3) 3 2 School administrators who were involved in an in service training program. This group had an aver age of ten years experience in the schools and were presently employed as administrators. The aver age age was 38. 4 years. This group is designated Administrators. Table I presents the c o m p a r ison of the groups with the norm group of college males on the PPS. As can be seen in this table, if these groups are looked upon as randomly selected groups , which strictly speaking they are not, there are a number of statistically significant differences. The educa tion student group is more deferring, orderly, af filiative, intraceptive, abasing, nur tur ant, endur ing, and less autonomous, succorant, change-or iented, heterosexual and aggressive than the norm group in need structure as measured by the PPS. The successful teacher group is more deferring, orderly, abasing, enduring and less exhibitionistic and heterosexual than the norm group. The admin istrator group is more deferring, orderly, endur ing and less exhibitionistic, autonomous, and het erosexual than the norm group. Since one-half of the education student group do not stay in teaching, perhaps the differences obtain ed with this group relate to needs that tend to take education students away from teaching, e.g., the student group is significantly more exhibitionistic than mature teachers or administrators. Often teaching is couched in terms of aiding and assisting others, interaction in many groups, and analyzing the behavior of others. If this is so, one would ex pect high nurturance, affiliation and intra c e p t i o n scores. Such is not the case. The present findings are consistent with previous work by Barr (1), Jackson and Guba (5) and Fulkerson (4). The evidence seems to indicate that teachers are not highly motivated by a strong interest in social service, by powerful nur tur ant needs, or even by a deep interest in children. Descriptively, the sue

Relationships between the adjective check‐list, personal preference schedule and desirability factors under varying defensiveness conditions

Relationships between the adjective check‐list, personal preference schedule and desirability factors under varying defensiveness conditions

A Normative Study of the Edwards' Personal Preference Schedule

(1957). A Normative Study of the Edwards' Personal Preference Schedule. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 151-154.