Stable Personality Traits Research Articles

A forgotten antecedent of career adaptability: A study on the predictive role of within-person variability in personality

Several studies have focused on stable personality traits as antecedents of career adaptability, but few have investigated more dynamic aspects of personality in relation to career adaptability. Recent theories on personality such as Whole Trait Theory (Fleeson, 2015) recognize that traits are often aroused in one situation but not in another (Allport, 1937), and that individuals are more or less flexible in responding to different situations. This flexibility is defined as within-person variability in personality. In the present paper we integrate Whole Trait Theory and Career Construction Theory (CCT, Savickas, 2005) – the latter stating that flexibility is a key antecedent of career-adaptability – and hypothesize that career-adaptability can be predicted by within-person variability in personality descriptions (Lang et al., 2019). In a sample of business administration students (N = 452) we found that, over and beyond effects of average trait levels, within-person variability in personality descriptions positively predicted career adaptability. Our findings have important theoretical and practical implications.

A longitudinal assessment of behavioral development in wild capuchins: Personality is not established in the first 3 years.

Animal personality is defined as consistent individual differences across time and situations, but little is known about how or when those differences are established during development. Likewise, several studies described the personality structure of adult capuchin monkeys, without assessing the ontogeny of these personality traits. We analyzed the behavioral repertoire of 12 wild infants (9 males, 3 females) yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus xanthosternos), in Una Biological Reserve (Bahia, Brazil). Each infant was observed and filmed weekly from birth until 36 months, through daily focal sampling. We analyzed the behavior of each individual in 10 developmental points. By means of component reduction (principal component analysis), we obtained four behavioral traits: Sociability, Anxiety, Openness, and Activity. We investigated whether there were developmental effects on those traits by fitting regression models for the effect of time on behavioral traits, controlling for monkey identity, sex, and cohort. Sociability (decreasing) and Anxiety (increasing) changed significantly alongdevelopment. By means of repeatability analysis, we did not find intra-individual consistency across time in those traits, so we cannot discriminate stable personality traits in early ontogeny. Our results show that the personality structure of capuchin monkeys is not established during early development, in agreement with the literature on human personality.

Within-Family Environment and Cross-Fostering Stress Affect Behavior and Physiology in Wild Cavies (Cavia aperea).

Stability of personality traits is well-documented for a wide variety of animals. However, previous results also suggest that behavioral phenotypes are plastic during early ontogeny and can be adaptively shaped to the social environment. In cavies (Cavia aperea), it has already been documented that the size at birth relative to siblings (size rank) greatly influences various behavioral and physiological traits that last at least until independence. The aim of the current study was (1) to investigate if behavioral and physiological differences between pups of the same litter persist until after independence and influence development long-lasting, (2) to determine the potential plasticity in response to changes in the early within-family environment by cross-fostering pups either to the same, a lower, or a higher size rank in a foster-family. We measured three behavioral traits (number of interactions with a novel object, distance moved in an open field, struggle docility) and two physiological traits (resting metabolic rate and basal cortisol levels). We predicted that cross-fostering into a litter where pups occupy the same size rank would not change the expression of traits. Cross-fostering to a different size rank should not influence the expression of traits if repeatability measures indicate low plasticity. Alternatively, if the traits are plastic, animals should adjust trait expression to fit with the size rank occupied in the foster litter. Initial differences in struggle docility, distance moved in an open field and in baseline cortisol concentration between pups of different size-ranks did not remain stable beyond independence. In addition, we found remarkable plasticity of the measured traits in response to cross-fostering to the same, a smaller or larger size-rank, suggesting that differences between pups are more the result of social constraints leading to adaptive shaping of individual phenotypes within a family. We also found a significant influence of the cross-fostering procedure itself. Cross-fostered individuals were less bold, grew slower and showed elevated resting metabolic rates. This finding suggests a cautious interpretation of previous cross-fostering studies and stresses the need for proper control groups to reliably separate the effect of cross-fostering per se from those induced by an experimental treatment.

Long-term consistency of personality traits of cattle.

Personality is often defined as the behaviour of individual animals that is consistent across contexts and over time. Personality traits may become unstable during stages of ontogeny from infancy to adulthood, especially during major periods of development such as around the time of sexual maturation. The personality of domesticated farm animals has links with productivity, health and welfare, but to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the development and stability of personality traits across developmental life stages in a mammalian farm animal species. Here, we describe the consistency of personality traits across ontogeny in dairy cattle from neonate to first lactation as an adult. The personality traits ‘bold’ and ‘exploratory’, as measured by behavioural responses to novelty, were highly consistent during the earlier (before and after weaning from milk) and later (after puberty to first lactation) rearing periods, but were not consistent across these rearing periods when puberty occurred. These findings indicate that personality changes in cattle around sexual maturation are probably owing to major physiological changes that are accelerated under typical management conditions at this time. This work contributes to the understanding of the ontogeny of behaviour in farm animals, especially how and why individuals differ in their behaviour.

Kako čovek reaguje na zvuke u životnoj sredini

Soundscape is defined as the entire acoustic environment and the human responses to it. This review summarizes different human reactions to sound exposure, their development, prevalence, symptoms, comorbidities, methods for their assessment, and possible origins. The interpretation of sounds from the environment depends, not only on the characteristics of the sound itself, but also on the characteristics of the listener, their judgments, preferences, motivations, and emotional reactions to the sound or its source. Typical sound-related reactions are presented from two standpoints: population reactions, from the community perspective, and individual reactions, from the clinical perspective. Noise annoyance is a specific, unique, and typical psychological and physiological reaction to noise, which is assessed from the community perspective. Noise sensitivity, a stable personality trait, is at the basis of noise annoyance. Both noise annoyance and noise sensitivity play important roles in the development of other noise-related health disturbances. From the clinical perspective, hyperacusis and misophonia are the most distinctive individual responses to specific sounds. They may become so pronounced that they disturb one's physical and mental health, behavior, and functioning. Human reactions to sounds in the environment are widespread and well-investigated. This review goes beyond merely defining terminology in the domain of psychoacoustics; it may help health professionals understand human reactions to sound better. Further studies need to be directed towards developing methods for alleviating or treating the described reactions, but also towards creating a more pleasant acoustic environment for the purpose of protecting public health.

When a Lie is More Believable than the Truth: The Dynamics of Lying and Discourse Analysis

This article describes the preliminary findings of a research project that is investigating whether there are stable and consistent personality traits found in propaganda texts that indicate whether a statement disseminated via a media is truthful or not. It is not often the case that official government sources will clearly state whether a statement previously release was intended to be truthful or not. Even when a statement is shown to be false, the claim is usually made that it was unintentionally wrong or misleading. The project uses the Rumours Broadcasts targeting German troops and civilians in France, created by the British Political Warfare Executive from July 1942 to May 1945, consisting of over 200,000 words, to analyse the personality differences between true and false statements made in those broadcasts. The first question answered in the study is the amount of fictional versus non-fictional material is necessary to make a broadcast believable. This establishes a benchmark for determining consistent differences between true and false statements in a news release or broadcasts. The analysis is done using tools developed by IBM to examine the vast amounts of data created and displayed on various social media platforms in accordance with the Big Five Personality Traits Theory. While most of the personality traits identified by these tools do not reveal any significant differences, there are some, such as a lack of imagination, cautiousness, a lack of willingness to compromise, and worry, that show consistent significant differences between the fictional and non-fictional statements.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ВЗАЄМОЗВ’ЯЗКУ МІЖ КОНСТРУКТОМ ПРОФЕСІЙНОГО ВИГОРАННЯ ТА ПРОЯВОМ АГРЕСИВНИХ ФОРМ ПОВЕДІНКИ ОСОБИСТОСТІ

Професійна діяльність є однією із найважливіших сфер життя сучасної людини. Це не лише джерело матеріальних ресурсів, необхідних для забезпечення її базових потреб, а й підґрунтя для самореалізації, самоствердження особистості, задоволення амбіцій і прагнень. Синдром професійного вигорання займає одне із ключових місць серед широкого спектру суспільних проблем. Дослідження присвячене проблемі взаємозв’язку рівня сформованості синдрому професійного вигорання особистості та особливостей прояву агресії. У статті систематизовано та узагальнено сукупність наукових поглядів із проблематики професійного вигорання та агресії. Професійне вигорання визначено як відносно стійку властивість особистості, що зумовлена специфікою професійної діяльності та виступає відхиленням від соціальної норми, що призводить до негативних змін у поведінці. Агресія розглядається як будь-яка форма поведінки, націлена на образу, чи заподіяння шкоди в процесі суб’єктно-об’єктних відносин. Емпіричне дослідження ґрунтувалося на методиці О. Рукавішнікова «Визначення психічного вигорання», опитувальнику Басса-Дарки, та опитувальнику легітимізованої агресії М. Хогбен в адаптації С. М. Єніколопова і М. П. Цибульського. Встановлено, що у вибірці осіб із яскраво вираженим професійним вигоранням (перша группа), у порівнянні з працівниками не схильними до нього (друга группа), частіше фіксуються загальні індекси агресивності та ворожості, що перевищують допустиму норму. Диференціація представників обох груп виявлена і за схильністю до виявлення різних видів агресивної поведінки, зокрема, опосередкованої агресії, роздратування, образи, підозрілості. У результаті дослідження також проаналізовано схильність представників двох вказаних груп до легітимізації агресії у різних сферах життя.

Co-occurring psychopathy symptoms in offending boys: Do patterns of interactions among symptoms depend on levels of psychopathic tendencies?

Psychopathy is typically considered to include a myriad of personality traits. We explored how psychopathic features, assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV; Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003), are interrelated in a network model among 1170 serious offending boys. Results showed callous/lack of empathy and irresponsibility are among the most frequently co-occurring features. Callous/lack of empathy, manipulation for gain, and serious criminal behavior were the most influential items among delinquent boys with elevated psychopathic tendencies. This study extends the understanding of psychopathic traits as an interconnecting network of features into offending adolescent boys, suggesting that certain interactions between certain features in youth may facilitate the manifestation of psychopathy into a stable personality trait in adulthood and also highlights the possibility that more common and less common symptom constellations make up psychopathy in delinquent youth. However, it should be noted that the level of psychopathic traits matter as to which features are central, with grandiose manipulative traits common at high levels of psychopathy (discriminating), and callous traits common even at low thresholds. These findings suggest that network analyses should consider the level of psychopathic traits (high v. med-to-low) when discussing which features are “central” or common.

Understanding Taiwanese adolescents’ connections with nature: rethinking conventional definitions and scales for environmental education

Losing contact with nature has become a serious concern in recent years, not only because it depletes children and adolescents’ physical health and well-being, but also because it creates apathy towards natural environments. Most past research has developed scales to measure adult’s connection with nature (CWN), leaving adolescents’ CWN a less examined academic question. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is therefore to understand what Taiwanese adolescents experienced and perceived as CWN and thus re-evaluate existing CWN definitions and assumptions proposed in western cultural contexts. We adopted phenomenology and grounded theory as guiding methods to interview 10 junior and senior high school students (age 16-18) in northern urban Taiwan through open and relational sampling. We developed a three-construct CWN model that consisted of sensory engagement, emotional attachment, and symbolic meaning-making. Our findings also indicated that adolescents’ CWN was distinct from children and adults, and cultural differences may exist. Rather than a stable personality trait, adolescents’ CWN continued to develop and change with educational interventions. Based on our findings, we suggest designing a specific CWN scale for adolescents for future research and propose pedagogical principles to help educators to strengthen adolescents’ CWN.

Temperament Predictors of Motor Imagery Control in BCI

Abstract. The aim of this study was to verify if selected temperament traits may be useful as predictors of motor imagery brain-computer interface (BCI) performance. In our experiment, 40 BCI-naive subjects were instructed to imagine the movement of clenching his/her right or left hand, in accordance with the visual cue. The activity of sensorimotor rhythms (SMR) (8–30 Hz) was measured by electroencephalography (EEG) and transformed into the information transfer rate (ITR) after feature selection and classification. All subjects also completed a self-assessment questionnaire for the determination of their temperament profile, comprising the following traits: Briskness, Perseveration, Sensory Sensitivity, Emotional Reactivity, Endurance, and Activity. We found significant correlations between ITR performance and Endurance (EN) and Perseveration (PE) scores. This effect was also visible in a topography of SMR desynchronization patterns, in groups with different results in EN and PE scales. Finally, a predictive model of motor imagery BCI control based on temperament traits was proposed. We interpret this finding as empirical support for an influence of basic, relatively stable personality traits on BCI control via the performance of the motor imagery task. Moreover, the implication of these results on the design of future brain-computer interfaces was discussed.

Action-related resilience in people with longevity-sociological approach

With increasing longevity, questions about the psychosocial conditions for extraordinary life spans come to the fore. From the field of psychology the concept of resilience is used to describe special capabilities to resist as apersonal competence to maintain or regain certain levels of functioning. As such, resilience is seen as arelatively stable personality trait that, however, may forfeit its relevance in old age.The present article, in contrast to the usual phases of life view, adopts asociological perspective on the entire life span. The rational choice approach is utilized to describe and discuss conditions, foundations, strategies and results of action decisions based on 15 qualitative biographical interviews with centenarians. Resilience in this context is seen as acapacity to act.The results demonstrate that potentials for resilient action persist throughout the entire life span including oldest age but capacities to act are highly context-specific.

Contemporary views on shyness – a literature review

Aim: The aim of this paper is to present the phenomenon of shyness, its etiology and the underlying mechanisms in the development of anxiety disorders. Background: Shyness is a social problem affecting many people worldwide. Increasing use of social media, replacing real, direct social interactions does not foster proper development of social skills. Difficulties in establishing or maintaining relationships with other people lead to or exacerbate social anxiety, associated with both shyness and social phobia. Results: Many years of global research reveal that shyness is affected by both biological (including temperamental), as well as environmental factors. Currently, shyness is considered a relatively stable personality trait, and should therefore be distinguished from social anxiety (ie. a state) or social phobia (ie. a disorder). Discussion: There are qualitative and quantitative differences between shyness and anxiety disorders. Conclusion: Psychotherapy is a good treatment option for shyness. The most popular and effective methods of therapy include: behavioral therapy, cognitive - behavioral therapy, role play therapy and social skills training.

Curiosity and Interest: Emergence and Divergence

This article explores the relation between curiosity and interest by examining how in-the-moment experiences of curiosity and of interest emerge out of exploratory behavior observed in infancy and early childhood. As experiential states, there is little to distinguish curiosity and interest. Descriptions of developing interests that refer to “curiosity questions” and “curiosity episodes,” suggest that experiential states of curiosity and interest are intertwined in interest development. However, when the focus is on individual differences, curiosity and interest diverge. Trait curiosity is a relatively stable personality trait, the propensity to feel curious in contexts high in collative variability. On the other hand, interests or individual interest refer to a disposition or predisposition to engage and re-engage with contents of a specific domain. It is suggested that further insight into the significance of curiosity and interest for educational practice will come from expanding real-time analyses of the quality of the experiential states they subsume.

Long-term stability of personality traits in a clinical psychiatric sample

Background: The aim of this study was to describe personality traits in psychiatric patients and to investigate whether these traits are stable over 13 years.Methods: A total of 95 individuals who were patients at a psychiatric outpatients’ clinic in 2003 completed the Swedish universities Scales of Personality (SSP). Scores from 2003 were compared with SSP scores from 2016. Based on the current score on the comprehensive psychopathological rating scale – self rating for affective disorders (CPRS-S-A), the participants were divided into two groups representing ‘good’ and ‘poor’ current mental states, to investigate the effect of current mental state on reports of personality traits.Results: Out of 13 personality traits, 11 showed a significant change in mean T-score over the study interval. The group with lower CPRS-S-A scores showed a significant change in T-score for 10 traits, whereas in the group with higher CPRS-S-A scores only 3 traits showed a significant change.Conclusions: The findings support the theory that personality is changeable over the course of life, also in psychiatric patients. We do not know if persisting psychiatric symptoms halter change or if deviant personality traits cause psychiatric symptoms to continue.

Coping strategies in people with type 1 diabetes on insulin pump treatment.

In stressed people with diabetes (PWD) glycemia varies idiosyncratically. Coping is a relatively stable personality trait that assesses how individual deals with stress. Insulin pumps are considered the best insulin delivery system but require more attention from PWD, virtually increasing stress levels. Aim of our study was to evaluate the coping strategies adopted by a pool of participants with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy. We collected data from 158 people with T1DM on CSII. COPE-NVI Test was administered and we also collected: hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), 30 days of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) records (the most recent). From SMBG and CGM records we computed Kovatchev indexes. We investigated bivariate correlations between HbA1c, indexes and the results of the COPE-NVI Test; the analysis was performed on the total sample and on two sub-groups: men and women. The participants were then divided into clusters and non-parametric tests were performed. Regarding bivariate correlation, at a level of significance of 95%, several statistically significant correlations were found in the total sample and in both men and women sub-groups. Regarding non-parametric tests, we observed statistically significant results in clusters of the total sample and clusters of the sub-group formed by men, divided according to Low Blood Glucose Index (LBGI) risk, showing a different use of certain coping strategies. Assessing coping strategies preferably used by PWD is useful to select PWD in need of counseling and empowerment-oriented training in order to improve glycemic outcomes and decrease severe hypo/hyperglycemic events.

On the psychology and economics of antisocial personality

How do fundamental concepts from economics, such as individuals' preferences and beliefs, relate to equally fundamental concepts from psychology, such as relatively stable personality traits? Can personality traits help us better understand economic behavior across strategic contexts? We identify an antisocial personality profile and examine the role of strategic context (the "situation"), personality traits (the "person"), and their interaction on beliefs and behaviors in trust games. Antisocial individuals exhibit a specific combination of beliefs and preferences that is difficult to reconcile with a rational choice approach that assumes that beliefs about others' behaviors are formed rationally and therefore, independently from preferences. Variations in antisocial personality are associated with effect sizes that are as large as strong variations in strategic context. Antisocial individuals have lower trust in others unless they know that they can punish them. They are also substantially less trustworthy, believe that others are like themselves, and respond to the possibility of being sanctioned more strongly, suggesting that they anticipate severe punishment if they betray their partner's trust. Antisocial individuals are not simply acting in their economic self-interest, because they harshly punish those who do not reciprocate their trust, although that reduces their economic payoff, and they do so nonimpulsively and in a very calculated manner. Antisocial individuals honor others' trust significantly less (if they cannot be punished) but also, harshly punish those who betray their trust. Overall, it seems that antisocial individuals have beliefs and behaviors based on a view of the world that assumes that most others are as antisocial as they themselves are.

The role of neuroticism in self-harm and suicidal ideation: results from two UK population-based cohorts

BackgroundSelf-harm is common, debilitating and associated with completed suicide and increased all-cause mortality, but there is uncertainty about its causal risk factors, limiting risk assessment and effective management. Neuroticism is a stable personality trait associated with self-harm and suicidal ideation, and correlated with coping styles, but its value as an independent predictor of these outcomes is disputed.MethodsPrior history of hospital-treated self-harm was obtained by record-linkage to administrative health data in Generation Scotland:Scottish Family Health Study (N = 15,798; self-harm cases = 339) and by a self-report variable in UK Biobank (N = 35,227; self-harm cases = 772). Neuroticism in both cohorts was measured using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Short Form. Associations of neuroticism with self-harm were tested using multivariable regression following adjustment for age, sex, cognitive ability, educational attainment, socioeconomic deprivation, and relationship status. A subset of GS:SFHS was followed-up with suicidal ideation elicited by self-report (n = 3342, suicidal ideation cases = 158) and coping styles measured by the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations. The relationship of neuroticism to suicidal ideation, and the role of coping style, was then investigated using multivariable logistic regression.ResultsNeuroticism was positively associated with hospital-associated self-harm in GS:SFHS (per EPQ-SF unit odds ratio 1.2 95% credible interval 1.1–1.2, pFDR 0.0003) and UKB (per EPQ-SF unit odds ratio 1.1 95% confidence interval 1.1–1.2, pFDR 9.8 × 10−17). Neuroticism, and the neuroticism-correlated coping style, emotion-oriented coping (EoC), were also associated with suicidal ideation in multivariable models.ConclusionsNeuroticism is an independent predictor of hospital-treated self-harm risk. Neuroticism and emotion-orientated coping styles are also predictive of suicidal ideation.

Validating psychosocial pathways of risk between neuroticism and late life depression using a polygenic score approach.

Neuroticism is a stable and heritable personality trait that is strongly linked to depression. Yet, little is known about its association with late life depression, as well as how neuroticism eventuates into depression. This study used data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS; N = 4,877) to examine the direct and indirect effects of neuroticism on late life depression at 3 points in the life course-ages 53, 64, and 71-via stressful life events (i.e., independent and dependent) and social supports measured across adulthood and into later life. Neuroticism was assayed using multiple methods, including self-report measures (phenotypic model) and a polygenic score (polygenic model) informed by a meta-analytic genome-wide association study. Results indicated that the phenotypic model of neuroticism and late life depression was partially mediated via dependent stressful life events experienced after the age of 53 and by age 64 social support. This association was replicated in the polygenic model of neuroticism, providing key evidence that the findings are robust. No indirect effects emerged with respect to age 53 social support, age 71 social support, adult dependent stressful life events (experienced between age 19 and 52), and adult and late life independent stressful life events in either the phenotypic or polygenic models as they pertained to late life depression. Results are consistent with previous findings that individuals with high neuroticism may be vulnerable to late life depression through psychosocial risk factors that are, in part, attributable to their own personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Estimating Reliability of Within-Person Couplings in a Multilevel Framework

Within-person couplings play a prominent role in psychological research and previous studies have shown that interindividual differences in within-person couplings predict future behavior. For example, stress reactivity—operationalized as the within-person coupling of stress and positive or negative affect—is an important predictor of various (mental) health outcomes and has often been assumed to be a more or less stable personality trait. However, issues of reliability of these couplings have been largely neglected so far. In this work, we present an estimate for the reliability of within-person couplings that can be easily obtained using the user-modifiable R code accompanying this work. Results of a simulation study show that this index performs well even in the context of unbalanced data due to missing values. We demonstrate the application of this index in a measurement burst study targeting the reliability and test–retest correlation of stress reactivity estimates operationalized as within-person couplings in a daily diary design. Reliability and test–retest correlations of stress reactivity estimates were rather low, challenging the implicit assumption of stress reactivity as a stable person-level variable. We highlight key factors that researchers planning studies targeting interindividual differences in within-person couplings should consider to maximize reliability.

Verbal fluency and emotional expression in young women differing in their styles of coping with threatening stimuli

BackgroundIn our study we decided to examine whether anxiety defined in personality terms and various emotional states, including the state of fear, measured in two ways – by means of subjective rating scales and by means of a more objective method, the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) developed by Ekman, Friesen, and Hager – would affect emotional verbal fluency understood as the number of words generated in answer to a question about the most liked and disliked trait of one’s personality.Participants and procedureThe participants in the screening test were 570 students; in this sample, we selected 90 women and classified each of them into one of three groups – high-anxious individuals (n = 23), low-anxious individuals (n = 41), and repressors (n = 26) – distinguished based on the criteria proposed by Weinberger and colleagues. The research task, whose aim was to induce emotions, consisted in delivering a speech lasting a few minutes in front of an audience and a video camera.ResultsWe obtained evidence of a significant association between emotional states and verbal fluency. Fear recognized by means of the FACS turned out to be the emotion that was the most strongly correlated with overall verbal fluency. We found no significant differences in fluency between individuals differing in terms of trait anxiety: low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressors.ConclusionsThe structure of results shows that the participants’ loquaciousness in the situation of speaking in front of an audience was more strongly influenced by currently experienced emotions than by the stable personality trait of anxiety.