Relationships between personality variables and components of the expectancy-valence model.

Explored relationships between the personality variables of self-esteem, locus of control, restraint, and Protestant ethic values with components of the expectancy-valence model with 146 US Air Force Ss in a technical training program. Ss were administered a battery of measures, including Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale and the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey. Primary findings were that locus of control and Protestant ethic values were related to expectancy components. Contrary to prediction, restraint was not related to the error of prediction of the expectancy model, but it was related to expectancy components and to ratings of effort. Self-esteem showed no relationships with either of the components, but the reliability of this scale was unacceptably low. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a typology of personality styles.

Argues for the use of personality typologies by examining the current status of nomothetic traits and providing evidence for the practical usefulness of such traits. A typology is suggested for use in clinical, educational, and industrial/organizational areas. Issues discussed include the use of prototypes in personality theory, the search for basic genotypic traits, depicting cognition on a single dimension, the concept of emotion, the conative dimension (i.e., striving and volition), and the application of these areas to practical problems using a 3-dimensional typology of personality styles. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparisons of creative styles and personality types between American and Taiwanese college students and the relationship between creative potential and personality types.

The purpose of the study was to compare differences in creative styles (Kirton, 1976) and personality types between Americans and Taiwanese and to examine the relationships among various personality types and creative potential. Creative potential was measured by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking-Figural, and personality types were measured by the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II. Ninety-three American and 76 Taiwanese college students specializing in teacher education participated in this study. The results indicated that Americans are more adaptively creative than Taiwanese, whereas there is no difference between the two groups in Innovative creative style. The results also indicated that there are significant relationships between Adaptive creative style and Intuition, between Creative Strengths and Intuition, and between Creative Strengths and Perceiving. It is concluded that there is a cultural difference in creative potential and personality types and that there are relationships between particular subscales of creativity and personality types. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some personality correlates of the relationships between individuals and organizations.

Used data from the Thematic Apperception Test and nondirective interviews with 39 professionals employed by a consulting firm to study the link between 3 personality dimensions and the individual's perceptions of his relationship with the organization. Results show that individuals with active or high-task orientation perceive a more positive relationship with the organization generally and with specific features of the organization than do passive or low-task peers. Differences along the interpersonal dimension were not significant. Results raise questions concerning more effective matching of individuals and organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal orientation and planfulness: Action styles as personality concepts.

We performed nine studies with partly overlapping samples from the United States and Germany to establish the reliability, validity, and usefulness of the concept of action style—a person-specific approach to action. Two principal-components-analyses factors are dealt with in more detail: goal orientation and planfulness. Both show high consistencies and have test–retest correlations of r?=?.47 and .48, respectively, across 8 months. In one validity study, the correlations between self-ratings and peer ratings are .36 for goal orientation and .54 for planfulness. In a second validity study, a quasi experiment, with thinking-aloud protocols on planning a day in a strange city, showed rather weak correlations between raters and subjects, but these correlations improved when we included only those subjects who were easy to observe. A third validity study on the correlations with impulsivity showed that goal orientation is little related but that planfulness is to a higher degree. There are small but consistent and significant relations with depression and with coronary-prone Type A behavior, and there are correlations with work-related constructs of stress and resources at work as well as with performance in college. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationships between sociotropic and autonomous personality styles and depressive realism in dysphoric and nondysphoric university students.

Examined the hypothesis that Ss' responses to depressive realism tasks are not only a function of mood state, but also a function of sociotropic and autonomous personality style. In the 1st experiment, 74 undergraduates who scored high or low on a measure of sociotropy and high or low on a measure of dysphoria were exposed to a depressive realism paradigm in which they engaged in dyadic interaction with a friend. Following the interaction, Ss' estimates of their performance were compared with the evaluations of their friend. In the 2nd experiment, 79 undergraduates who scored high or low on a measure of autonomy and high or low on dysphoria were exposed to a computerized success/failure task. The results across both experiments did not support the depressive realism hypothesis, in that the Ss' degree of realism, distortion and/or bias generally varied as a function of both personality style and mood state in the predicted directions. Implications of these findings for the depressive realism literature are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conforming behavior and personality variables in college women.

Conforming behavior of 41 freshman women, as measured in an Asch situation, was compared with the scales of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, the Gough California Psychological Inventory, and the Gordon Personal Profile. In the sample studied, only the Edward's Abasement scale was able to generate a small but significant relationship (+.33) with a kind of behavior which should have been predictable from some 12 to perhaps 27 of the 38 measures used. Excepting the 5 scales of Gough's 18, on the basis of questionable comparability of samples, a total of 33 measures was correlated with conforming behavior. Only 1 was found to have construct validity for this type of social conformity criterion when tested on a sample of college women. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Female and male personality styles: A typological and developmental analysis.

The personality styles of 137 women and 138 men aged 27 yrs were examined in an ongoing Finnish longitudinal study in which the participants were first assessed at age 8. Data were collected by means of a mailed questionnaire, personality inventories, and a semistructured interview. Variables covered personality characteristics, life orientation, and behavioral activities. Both women and men fell into two major clusters, the adjusted (3/4) and the conflicted (1/4). Both clusters divided into subclusters; altogether, 7 were extracted for women and men replicating the personality types obtained by J. Block (1971) despite the use of a different methodology in a different culture. The clusters had roots in individuals' emotional and behavioral regulation from the early school years onward, and they also predicted personality characteristics over a period of 6 years when the Big Five personality factors were used as criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between response style and personality variables: I. The measurements of response acquiescence.

"This study is the first in a series of investigations designed to evaluate the currently popular hypothesis that response styles are based on personality traits, and thereby have utility in personality assessment. Responses of 218 subjects in six different scales of acquiescence, varying in degree of meaningful verbal content, were intercorrelated. The results revealed that only those scales containing similar verbal content in the items were related. Apparently verbal content is quite important, whereas the amount of structure of the items is less important in determining agreement responses, than has been previously supposed. The data are interpreted as suggesting that there is no general trait of response acquiescence independent of specific instruments used to measure it." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impacts of management styles on the relations between supervisor needs and leadership patterns.

The needs for both independence and benevolence of 60 supervisors were assessed with the Survey of Interpersonal Values. Supervisor Independence Need?×?Structure Correlation was significant when manager structure was low; Supervisor Benevolence Need?×?Consideration Correlation was significant when manager consideration was high. Manager structure exerted more influence on supervisor structure for supervisors low in need for independence than for supervisors high in that need. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult attachment styles: Their relations to family context and personality.

This study used a sample of 304 adults to examine mean differences in family climate and personality variables on the basis of individuals' attachment styles. Also examined was whether mean differences varied by age group. Findings showed significant main effects of attachment style, but no Attachment Style X Age Group interactions. Compared with adults with an insecure attachment style, persons with a secure attachment style described their family of origin and their current family more positively and scored higher on personality variables indicative of self-confidence, psychological well-being, and functioning in the social world. When the family climate and personality variables were included in a discriminant function analysis, 2 significant functions were obtained. The 1st function discriminated adults with a positive self-model from those with a negative self-model. The 2nd function contrasted participants with a positive other-model from those with a negative other-model. Thus, this study provided evidence in support of the self- and other-models as the fundamental dimensions of adults' attachment system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping styles predict change in personality disorders

The present follow-up study is the first to investigate whether dispositional coping styles prospectively influence change in the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II) personality disorders. The sample consisted of 155 psychiatric outpatients who where investigated twice--namely six and seven years after their admission to the clinic. Coping styles prospectively predicted change in most of the MCMI-II personality disorders, whereas sex and age did not affect the outcome. The use of problem-focused coping and the seeking of social support improved the patient levels on the MCMI-II personality disorder scores. Dysfunctional coping styles such as selfdistraction, disengagement, use of alcohol or drugs, and venting of emotions, however, aggravated the patient MCMI-II personality disorders. Furthermore, the effects of coping patterns tended to be specific for single personality disorders.     

Interpretive and supportive forms of psychotherapy and patient personality variables.

A randomized clinical trial investigated the efficacy of interpretive and supportive forms of short-term individual psychotherapy and the interaction of each form with the patient's quality of object relations (QOR) and psychological mindedness (PM). The psychiatric outpatient sample included 144 therapy completers and 27 dropouts. Eight experienced therapists provided distinct forms of manual-guided therapy. Outcome was assessed by a comprehensive battery. The dropout rate was higher for interpretive therapy than for supportive therapy. Patients in both forms improved, but they did not differ on outcome from each other. A multivariate interaction effect indicated a direct relation between QOR and outcome for interpretive therapy and almost no relation for supportive therapy. A multivariate main effect indicated a direct relation between PM and outcome for both forms. The relevance of patient personality to outcome in different forms of therapy is addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of therapist-patient personality variables on therapeutic outcome.

Attempted to assess the effect of therapist and patient personality variables on the outcome of therapy. 55 women and 27 male psychiatric inpatients served as Ss. The MMPI was used to derive personality measures. Therapist and patient ratings of the therapy relationship served as the dependent variables. Therapy outcomes were found to be positively related to therapist's level of anxiety and negatively related to therapist's level of repressiveness. Patients' levels of anxiety and repressiveness were both positively related to outcomes. In 2 instances, increasing similarity between patient and therapist was found to be negatively related to outcome. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some personality correlates of empathy.

Administered R. Hogan's Empathy Scale and the Psychological Screening Inventory to 278 female and 167 male undergraduates. Results support the prediction that high-empathy persons are significantly lower in signs depicting neurotic and psychotic disturbance (e.g., anxiety) as compared with low-empathy persons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual symbolism and the variables of sex and personality integration.

The purpose was to reassess the hypothesis of sexual symbolism using stimulus figures similar to those presented in Levy's study (see 28: 8696). The hypotheses were: (1) when asked to designate stimulus objects as male or female, Ss respond to elongated, pointed, or penetrating objects as male, and to hollow, rounded, or enclosing objects as female; and (2) psychiatric patients identify these objects as male or female, respectively, less frequently than nonpsychiatric patients. 20 psychiatric patients and 20 college students, each group made up of an equal number of males and females, served as Ss. Both hypotheses were confirmed at significant levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)