Personality And Individual Differences Research Articles

Interpersonal Problem Profiles of Personality and Psychopathology Constructs in Chinese Undergraduates and Offenders.

The interpersonal problem circumplex is extensively used in the field as an assessment framework for understanding the interpersonal implications of a range of personality and psychopathology constructs. The vast majority of this large literature has been conducted in Western convenience and clinical samples. We computed interpersonal problem structural summary parameters for a range of personality and psychopathology variables in two Chinese offender samples (N = 424 and N = 555) and one undergraduate sample (N = 511) to test how well findings from Western samples generalize to Chinese undergraduates and offenders. The results showed that findings in Western samples generalized reasonably well to Chinese young adult and forensic contexts, although the interpersonal profiles of external variables were less specific in Chinese samples. Compared with undergraduates, interpersonal distress has stronger associations with the mental health of offenders. This study further elaborates the interpersonal correlates of individual differences in personality and psychopathology across cultures and assessment contexts, and it also extends the literature examining interpersonal problems in forensic settings.

Characterizing stress processes by linking big five personality states, traits, and day-to-day stressors

The accumulation of day-to-day stressors can impact mental and physical health. How people respond to stressful events is a key mechanism responsible for the effects of stress, and individual differences in stress responses can either perpetuate or prevent negative consequences. Most research on daily stress processes has focused on affective responses to stressors, but stress responses can involve more than just affect (e.g., behavior, cognitions). Additionally, most research has studied the role of neuroticism in shaping those responses, but many other individual differences are associated with stress. In this study, we more broadly characterized daily stress processes by expanding the nomological networks of stress responses to include Big Five personality states. We also linked those stress responses to all Big Five traits, as well as individual differences in stress variety, severity, and controllability. We studied a sample of participants (N = 1,090) who reported on stressful events, their appraisal of events in terms of severity and controllability, and their Big Five personality states daily for 8–10 days (N = 8,870 observations). Multi-level structural equation models were used to separate how characteristics of the perceived stressful situation and characteristics of the person play into daily stress processes. Results showed that (1) all Big Five personality states shift in response to perceived stress, (2) all Big Five personality traits relate to average levels of perceived stress variety, severity, and controllability, (3) individual differences in personality and average perceived stress variety and perceived severity relate to the strength of personality state responses to daily stress, albeit in a more limited fashion. Our results point to new pathways by which stressors affect people in everyday life and begin to clarify processes that may explain individual differences in risk or resilience to the harmful effects of stress.

Effects of early predation and social cues on the relationship between laterality and personality.

Individual differences in laterality and personality are expected to covary, as emotions are processed differently by the two hemispheres, and personality involves emotional behavior. Fish species are often used to investigate this topic due to the large variability in personality and laterality patterns. While some species show a positive relationship between lateralization strength and boldness, others show a negative relationship, and some show no relationship. A new way to assess the robustness of such a relationship is to manipulate both laterality and personality to examine how this affects their relationship. To this end, we conducted a fully factorial design experiment manipulating predation and group size during early development. Results showed that the strength of laterality was influenced by predation threat, while social tendency and boldness were influenced by group size. These findings suggest that early life conditions can have an impact on laterality and social behavior. The relationship between laterality and personality traits, while present, was heavily influenced by the specific trial conditions but not by the different developmental conditions. In summary, the relationship between laterality and behaviors appears to be context-dependent, yet resilient to early environmental manipulations.

Personality and Well-Being Across and Within Relationship Status.

Trends of increasing singlehood call for understanding of well-being correlates across and within relationship status. While personality is a major predictor of well-being, descriptive trait profiles of singles have not been developed. In the present research (N = 1,811; 53% men; Mage = 29), single and partnered individuals completed measures of personality and well-being, including life, relationship status, and sexual satisfaction. Results revealed effects whereby single individuals were lower in extraversion and conscientiousness but higher in neuroticism. Additional facet analyses showed that singles were lower across all extraversion facets, but specifically lower in productiveness (conscientiousness facet) and higher in depression (neuroticism facet). Largely, personality was associated with well-being similarly for single and partnered people. Furthermore, relationship status accounted for variance in well-being above and beyond personality traits. Our results suggest individual differences in personality could play an important role in understanding well-being's link with relationship status.

Gender and education as factors for determining the verbal-visual affiliation of individuals

Gender and education are two of the socio-demographic characteristics that are studied to establish individual differences in personality. The purpose of the present research is to determine the susceptibility of individuals to the VVQ, adapted and modified from Kirby et al., and to show the influence of gender and education in the segmentation of verbalizers, visualizers, and dreamers. In the study, a valid and reliable instrument for measuring susceptibility to VVQ, prepared in advance by the author, was applied. The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) have showed a strong susceptibility of respondents to the Verbalizer Scale of women, as well as susceptibility to the Dreamer Scale of men. When considering the influence of education on VVQ, it was found that respondents with a master's degree were highly visual, and respondents with a doctoral degree were highly verbal. On Dreamer Scale, susceptibility was greatest again among respondents with a doctoral degree. The results of the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated that male advertising consumers with a master's degree were more receptive to the Verbalizer Scale, as were female respondents with a doctoral degree relative to all other target groups. These scientific results can be useful for advertisers, marketers, as well as specialists in cognitive psychology.

Individual differences in inattentional blindness.

People often fail to notice unexpected objects and events when they are performing an attention-demanding task, a phenomenon known as inattentional blindness. We might expect individual differences in cognitive ability or personality to predict who will and will not notice unexpected objects given that people vary in their ability to perform attention-demanding tasks. We conducted a comprehensive literature search for empirical inattentional blindness reports and identified 38 records that included individual difference measures and met our inclusion criteria. From those, we extracted individual difference effect sizes for 31 records which included a total of 74 distinct, between-groups samples with at least one codable individual difference measure. We conducted separate meta-analyses of the relationship between noticing/missing an unexpected object and scores on each of the 14 cognitive and 19 personality measures in this dataset. We also aggregated across personality measures reflecting positive/negative affectivity or openness/absorption and cognitive measures of interference, attention breadth, and memory. Collectively, these meta-analyses provided little evidence that individual differences in ability or personality predict noticing of an unexpected object. A robustness analysis that excluded samples with extremely low numbers of people who noticed or missed produced similar results. For most measures, the number of samples and the total sample sizes were small, and larger studies are needed to examine individual differences in inattentional blindness more systematically. However, the results are consistent with the idea that noticing of unexpected objects or events differs from deliberate attentional control tasks in that it is not reliably predicted by individual differences in cognitive ability.

Influence of personality on self-efficacy of work and supervision of children's schooling during COVID-19

This study evaluated the influence of personality factors and traits on the sense of self-efficacy in the combination of roles (work and supervision of children's school activities) in the context of COVID-19 in a representative sample of Ecuadorian adults of both sexes (n=400). Personality traits were assessed using Cattell's 16-PF personality test, and self-efficacy was measured using an adaptation of the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. The results show that the five main personality factors of the 16-PF significantly predict self-efficacy and influence its variability by 12.7%. The factors Anxiety, Independence, and Toughness are the strongest predictors of self-efficacy. It was also found that the 16 personality traits assessed by the 16-PF questionnaire can predict 16.9% of self-efficacy. The most predictive traits were Stability, Openness to Change, Dominance, Privacy, and liveliness. These results suggest that individual personality differences allow individuals to better adapt to the various demands in a complicated environment such as COVID-19. These findings can be used to understand and support individuals when faced with complex environmental demands.

Trait sensitivity to stress and cognitive bias processes in fish: A brief overview.

Like other animals, fish have unique personalities that can affect their cognition and responses to environmental stressors. These individual personality differences are often referred to as "behavioural syndromes" or "stress coping styles" and can include personality traits such as boldness, shyness, aggression, exploration, locomotor activity, and sociability. For example, bolder or proactive fish may be more likely to take risks and present lower hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal/interrenal axis reactivity as compared to shy or reactive individuals. Likewise, learning and memory differ between fish personalities. Reactive or shy individuals tend to have faster learning and better association recall with aversive stimuli, while proactive or bold individuals tend to learn more quickly when presented with appetitive incentives. However, the influence of personality on cognitive processes other than cognitive achievement in fish has been scarcely explored. Cognitive bias tests have been employed to investigate the interplay between emotion and cognition in both humans and animals. Fish present cognitive bias processes (CBP) in which fish's interpretation of stimuli could be influenced by its current emotional state and open to environmental modulation. However, no study in fish has explored whether CBP, like in other species, can be interpreted as long-lasting traits and whether other individual characteristics may explain its variation. We hold the perspective that CBP could serve as a vulnerability factor for the onset, persistence, and recurrence of stress-related disorders. Therefore, studying fish's CBP as a state or trait and its interactions with individual variations may be valuable in future efforts to enhance our understanding of anxiety and stress neurobiology in animal models and humans.

Relationship between Personality Traits and Help-seeking Behaviour of Undergraduate Students

The individual knows that he or she needs assistance to solve the problem. Yet, seeking assistance may be associated with an open admission of failure and dependence on others. These anticipated psychological costs often hinder the seeking of help, which may result in the intensification of the problem. This study aimed to assess the relationship between personality traits and the help-seeking Behaviour of undergraduate students. The study employed a quantitative and descriptive research design. All the undergraduate students of the education department of district Lahore were the proposed population of the current research. The study sample comprised 538 undergraduate students using a stratified sampling technique. A questionnaire containing 54 items was used as a data collection instrument. Results showed a significant relationship between personality traits and the help-seeking Behaviour of undergraduate students. It was recommended that the potential utility of understanding and harnessing individual personality differences and their help-seeking Behaviour should be boosted among the students at the undergraduate level.

Giving Meaning to the Dark Triad: Comparison of Different Factor Structures of the Dirty Dozen Through Eight Regions of the World.

The traits of the dark triad (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) capture the individual differences in the aversive personality. The dark triad has shown significant relations with behaviors that affect people's lives. One of the best-known instruments to assess the dark triad is the Dirty Dozen. However, controversy continues over the use of one general dark triad score or, conversely, three different scores. This study aimed to investigate the factor structure of the Dirty Dozen across eight global regions. There were 11,477 participants in 49 countries grouped into eight regions. Different factor structures were studied using confirmatory factor analyses. Both the three-dimensional models and the bifactor models (symmetrical or traditional and non-symmetrical or bifactor-[S - 1]) showed a good fit to the data. The bifactor-(S - 1) models (with psychopathy or Machiavellianism as the reference factors) show adequate fit to the data, supported by the coherence of the factorial loadings and the bifactor indices. Regarding measurement invariance for both models, configural, metric, and scalar invariance were satisfied. The results indicate that it is not clear whether a psychopathy or Machiavellianism reference factor predominates in the Dirty Dozen. For both models, templates are provided to obtain standardized scores for applied researchers in the eight studied world regions until future studies offer a greater amount of validity evidence for this instrument.

Individual differences in cooperative and competitive play strategies.

Cooperation and competition are common in social interactions. It is not clear how individual differences in personality may predict performance strategies under these two contexts. We evaluated whether instructions to play cooperatively and competitively would differentially affect dyads playing a Pong video game. We hypothesized that instructions to play cooperatively would result in lower overall points scored and differences in paddle control kinematics relative to when participants were instructed to play competitively. We also predicted that higher scores in prosociality and Sportspersonship would be related to better performance during cooperative than competitive conditions. Pairs of participants played a Pong video game under cooperative and competitive instructions. During competitive trials, participants were instructed to score more points against one another to win the game. During the cooperative trials, participants were instructed to work together to score as few points against one another as possible. After game play, each participant completed surveys so we could measure their trait prosociality and Sportspersonship. Condition was a significant predictor of where along the paddle participants hit the ball, which controlled ball exit angles. Specifically, during cooperation participants concentrated ball contacts on the paddle towards the center to produce more consistent rebound angles. We found a significant correlation of Sex and the average points scored by participants during cooperative games, competitive games, and across all trials. Sex was also significantly correlated with paddle kinematics during cooperative games. The overall scores on the prosociality and Sportspersonship surveys were not significantly correlated with the performance outcomes in cooperative and competitive games. The dimension of prosociality assessing empathic concern was significantly correlated with performance outcomes during cooperative video game play. No Sportspersonship survey score was able to predict cooperative or competitive game performance, suggesting that Sportspersonship personality assessments are not reliable predictors of cooperative or competitive behaviors translated to a virtual game setting. Survey items and dimensions probing broader empathic concern may be more effective predictors of cooperative and competitive performance during interactive video game play. Further testing is encouraged to assess the efficacy of prosocial personality traits as predictors of cooperative and competitive video game behavior.

Personality Enhanced Emotion Generation Modeling for Dialogue Systems

Emotion plays a crucial role in human communication, as it adds depth and richness to conversations. In recent years, there has been growing interest in developing conversation systems with the ability to generate emotions. However, to create more engaging and realistic interactions, it is essential to consider the influence of personality on emotion generation. This paper proposes a novel approach that combines personality modeling with emotion generation for conversation systems. By incorporating personality traits into the emotion generation process, we aim to create more personalized and contextually appropriate emotional responses. Drawing from BigFive model and emotion computation techniques, our model takes into account individual differences in personality to generate emotions that align with each user’s unique characteristics. Experiments show that combining emotion modeling with personality in a dialogue system helps improve the performance of emotion generation models. Additionally, it is also verified that our approach outperforms other baselines on several metrics.

Effects of absolute levels of neighbourhood ethnic diversity vs. changes in neighbourhood diversity on prejudice: Moderation by individual differences in personality

This paper examines drivers of prejudicial attitudes among adults in the UK, focusing on the interaction between ethnic out-group size and personality traits. Leveraging data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS), we use two survey waves carried out in 2000 and 2008, just before and after the EU enlargement policy that drove a wave of immigration in the UK. We test the extent to which personality traits moderate the relationship between both absolute levels and changes in ethnic diversity at the local level, respectively, and prejudice. Key findings suggest that personality traits, in particular one's agreeableness, are important for conditioning how the proportion of non-white British in one's neighbourhood affects out-group attitudes. We observe a tendency towards polarisation in prejudicial attitudes between low-/high-agreeableness residents as their neighbourhoods become more diverse. These findings have important implications for theorising how contextual and individual characteristics jointly affect intergroup relations.

Reported Use of Second-Language Speech Accommodation in Everyday Interactions: The Role of Individual Differences.

Proficient speakers of a language often accommodate less proficient speakers during conversation to facilitate comprehension, but information about factors such as personality and language experience that may shape how speakers perceive accommodation is limited. We developed an online questionnaire to clarify the use of speech accommodation in relation to individual differences in anxiety, personality, and English proficiency. Using Qualtrics Panels for recruitment, we surveyed a representative sample of second-language (L2) English speakers (n = 201) and first-language (L1) English speakers (n = 192) across the United States. We report descriptive results in addition to correlations and a factor analysis to assess the perception of accommodation in L2 and L1 speakers. Only a third of L2 participants reported that L1 speakers change their speech when talking to them, and more than half are frustrated when L1 speakers do not accommodate them. Indeed, a majority of our L1 participants reported that they do not change their speech when talking to L2 speakers. For both groups, measures of anxiety, personality, and L2 proficiency modify results, providing novel evidence on factors that influence L2 accommodation. Results suggest that L1 speakers accommodate L2 speakers less frequently than previously reported. The data are discussed under communication accommodation theory.

Transactional effects between personality and religiosity.

Do changes in religiosity beget changes in personality, or do changes in personality precede changes in religiosity? Existing evidence supports longitudinal associations between personality and religiosity at the between-person level, such that individual differences in personality predict subsequent individual differences in change in religiosity. However, no research to date has examined whether within-person changes in personality lead to subsequent changes in religiosity. Using random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM), we investigated between- and within-person associations between the Big Five personality traits and three aspects of religiosity-belief in God, service attendance, and prayer-in a sample of over 12,000 Dutch individuals across 11 annual assessments. We found between-person associations between all Big Five traits and religiosity, yet within-person associations only between agreeableness as well as extraversion and belief in God. Specifically, individuals who increased in agreeableness or extraversion reported subsequent increases in their belief in God and, in addition, individuals who increased in their belief in God showed subsequent increases in agreeableness. We further identified significant moderating effects of gender, religious upbringing, and religious affiliation. Overall, the present findings suggest that the associations between personality traits and religiosity primarily occur at the between-person level. However, the evidence for intraindividual associations between agreeableness, extraversion, and religious belief highlights the importance of distinguishing between-person from within-person effects to broaden the understanding of the temporal dynamics between variables. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

An experience-sampling study of the content and outcomes of socially oriented task-unrelated thoughts during a COVID-19 lockdown

ABSTRACT There is evidence to support a role for intentional and unintentional task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) in social cognition and emotional regulation. Individual differences in personality impact the regulation and functionality of these thoughts. This study examined how intention and trait loneliness and schizotypy relate to the content and emotional outcomes of socially-oriented TUTs recalled in daily life. The study took place during initial COVID-19 lockdown measures in Australia, providing insights into TUTs during times of uncertainty and social isolation. A total of 129 undergraduate students (118 female) completed a 7-day experience-sampling assessment following measures of schizotypy, loneliness, and trait-level mind wandering. Results revealed that intentional social TUTs had more constructive content and socio-emotional outcomes compared to unintentional TUTs. However, dimensions of schizotypy and loneliness were associated with less constructive thought patterns. Findings are discussed with reference to the content-regulation and current concerns hypotheses, and the potential impact of lockdown measures.

비대면 원격수업에 대한 MBTI 선호지표별 학습환경 만족도와 학습양식 분석

Objectives This study aimed to analyze learners' reactions to non-face-to-face classes using the MBTI personality type test and learning style test as tools for students who entered high school during the COVID-19 crisis. In detail, the focus was on revealing the differences in perception, satisfaction, and learning styles for non-face- to-face classes according to the intensity of each preference index of the MBTI personality type. Ultimately, in designing non-face-to-face remote classes, the purpose was to be used as a material to improve the learning effect of learners by considering individual personality differences.
 Methods The MBTI personality type test was conducted by sampling 207 second graders of K High School located in Guro-gu, Seoul, who experienced remote and school classes at the same time after entering high school. Afterwards, the recognition and satisfaction of non-face-to-face remote classes and learning style tests were conducted, and the results of a total of 140 students, 61 boys and 79 girls, who agreed to this study, were analyzed. The results derived through factor analysis and variance analysis (ANOVA) using the statistical program SPSS 22 are as follows.
 Results First, there was no significant difference in perception of the learning environment by 16 types of MBTI, but there was a significant difference in perception function among preference indicators. Depending on the strength of the recognition function, differences were recognized for the face-to-face and non-face-to-face learning environments in the order of obvious intuition (N), slight sense (S), and slight intuition (N). Second, there was no significant difference in satisfaction with the non-face-to-face learning environment by strength of both MBTI personality type and preference index. Third, cooperative, participatory, and avoidance types showed significant differences in learning styles by 16 personality types of MBTI, but competitive types did not show significant differences. ENFJ for cooperative type, INTJ for participatory type, and ENTP for avoidance type showed the greatest tendency. Fourth, there was a significant difference in the learning styles of cooperative, participatory, and avoidance according to the strength of the MBTI preference index. Cooperative types were clearly extroverted (E), clearly intuitive (N), clearly emotional (F), clearly recognized (P), participating types were clearly/slightly introverted (I), slightly intuitive (N), slightly judged (T), slightly avoided (P), slightly extroverted (E), clearly sensed (S), and clearly recognized (P).
 Conclusions This study suggested that there is a clear difference in the learning environment and learning style according to the strength of the 16 MBTI personality types and preference indicators. Accordingly, it suggests that it is important to prepare conditions to effectively increase the learning effect by providing a learning environment and learning type suitable for the learner's personality type and tendency.

Majestic tigers: personality structure in the great Amur cat.

We explore individual differences in tiger personality. We first asked-is there evidence of personality dimensions (analogous to the Big Five in human personality research) in the Amur tiger? We then asked, are any discoverable personality dimensions associated with measured outcomes, including group status, health and mating frequency? 152 of our participating tigers live in the world's largest semi-wild tiger sanctuary in North Eastern China. Our second sample of 96 tigers also lives in a sanctuary. Having two samples allowed us to assess the replicability of the personality dimensions or factors reported in our first sample. We found that two factors (explaining 21% and 17% of the variance among items) which we call, for descriptive ease, Majesty and Steadiness, provide the best fit to the data. Tigers that score higher on Majesty are healthier, eat more live prey, have higher group status (among other tigers as assessed by human raters) and mate more often. We provide some ethological context to put flesh on the quantitative bones of our findings concerning these magnificent and charismatic animals.

The Personality and Resilience of Competitive Athletes as BMW Drivers—Data from India, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain

Individual differences in personality and resilience are related to a variety of social behaviors. The current study sought to answer the question of whether BMW drivers exhibit different personality profiles and resilience levels compared with drivers of other car brands. An international study was carried out in India, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain on a sample of 448 athletes using the 20-item Mini-IPIP and the Resilience Scale. The results of BMW drivers (n = 91) were compared with the results of drivers of other German car brands (n = 357). BMW drivers were characterized by higher neuroticism compared with drivers of other German car brands. They also showed higher resiliency, both in terms of total score and scores on the subscales of: personal coping competences and tolerance of negative emotions, tolerance of failures and perceiving life as a challenge, and optimistic attitude towards life and capacity for self-mobilization in difficult situations. The greatest difference was observed for the factor of tolerance of failures and perceiving life as a challenge. Using the Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner (DSCF) pairwise comparison test, gender differences between athletes (as BMW drivers and drivers of other German car brands, respectively) were discussed. Additionally, the results of the main logistic regression analyses emphasized that neuroticism represents a better predictor of BMW preference in the case of athletes (as drivers) than the scores obtained for resilience. BMW drivers differed from drivers of other German car brands only with regard to neuroticism. A higher level of neuroticism can affect mental health and the overall quality of life in athletes; aggression and distress management are essential. Athletes (as BMW drivers) also showed differences in resiliency levels. Understanding the mechanisms of behavior among BMW drivers is possible through considering their personality and individual differences.

Adolescent personality development as a longitudinal marker for burnout and happiness in emerging adulthood

This study examined whether individual differences in personality (development) from adolescence to emerging adulthood were associated with burnout and happiness in emerging adulthood. At Time 1 (2009; Mage = 15.7 years), Time 2 (2012), and Time 3 (2015), Belgian participants (N = 329; 43.1% boys) reported on the personality dimensions of extraversion, agreeableness/benevolence, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness/imagination. Burnout (exhaustion, disengagement) and happiness (life satisfaction, overall affect) were measured through self-reports at Time 4 (2018). For each personality dimension, except benevolence, higher levels were associated with fewer burnout symptoms. Initial levels of all personality dimensions were related to more happiness. Shallower decreases in extraversion, emotional stability, and stronger increases in imagination were related to fewer burnout symptoms and more happiness. Results indicate the importance of studying personality development as a determinant of later well-being, above and beyond effects of initial levels. Findings offer new insights into the field of personality, occupational, and positive psychology.