Personality Test
Deliberate Practice Spells Success: Why Grittier Competitors Triumph at the National Spelling Bee
Angela Lee Duckworth, Teri Kirby, Eli Tsukayama, Heather Berstein & Anders Ericsson
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The expert performance framework distinguishes between deliberate practice and less effective practice activities. The current longitudinal study is the first to use this framework to understand how children improve in an academic skill. Specifically, the authors examined the effectiveness and subjective experience of three preparation activities widely recommended to improve spelling skill. Deliberate practice, operationally defined as studying and memorizing words while alone, better predicted performance in the National Spelling Bee than being quizzed by others or reading for pleasure. Rated as the most effortful and least enjoyable type of preparation activity, deliberate practice was increasingly favored over being quizzed as spellers accumulated competition experience. Deliberate practice mediated the prediction of final performance by the personality trait of grit, suggesting that perseverance and passion for long-term goals enable spellers to persist with practice activities that are less intrinsically rewarding-but more effective-than other types of preparation.
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David Winter
Journal of Personality, forthcoming
Abstract:
Several decades of research have established that implicit achievement motivation (n Achievement) is associated with success in business, particularly in entrepreneurial or sales roles. However, several political psychology studies have shown that achievement motivation is not associated with success in politics; rather, implicit power motivation often predicts political success. Having versus lacking control may be a key difference between business and politics. Case studies suggest that achievement-motivated U.S. presidents and other world leaders often become frustrated and thereby fail because of lack of control, whereas power-motivated presidents develop ways to work with this inherent feature of politics. A reevaluation of previous research suggests that, in fact, relationships between achievement motivation and business success only occur when control is high. The theme of control is also prominent in the development of achievement motivation. Cross-national data are also consistent with this analysis: In democratic industrialized countries, national levels of achievement motivation are associated with strong executive control. In countries with low opportunity for education (thus fewer opportunities to develop a sense of personal control), achievement motivation is associated with internal violence. Many of these manifestations of frustrated achievement motivation in politics resemble authoritarianism. This conclusion is tested by data from a longitudinal study of 113 male college students, showing that high initial achievement motivation combined with frustrated desires for control is related to increases in authoritarianism (F-scale scores) during the college years. Implications for the psychology of leadership and practical politics are discussed.
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Christopher Nave, Ryne Sherman, David Funder, Sarah Hampson & Lewis Goldberg
Social Psychological and Personality Science, October 2010, Pages 327-334
Abstract:
The continuity of personality's association with directly observed behavior is demonstrated across two contexts spanning four decades. During the 1960s, elementary school teachers rated personalities of members of the ethnically diverse Hawaii Personality and Health Cohort. The same individuals were interviewed in a medical clinic more than 40 years later. Trained coders viewed video recordings of a subset of these interviews (N = 144; 68 female, 76 male) and assessed the behavior they observed using the Riverside Behavioral Q-sort Version 3. Children rated by their teachers as "verbally fluent" (defined as unrestrained talkativeness) showed dominant and socially adept behavior as middle-aged adults. Early "adaptability" was associated with cheerful and intellectually curious behavior, early "impulsivity" was associated with later talkativeness and loud speech, and early-rated tendencies to "self-minimize" were related to adult expressions of insecurity and humility.
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Constance Chapple, Jamie Vaske & Trina Hope
Journal of Criminal Justice, forthcoming
Abstract:
Sex is one of the most robust predictors of self-control, with a consistent finding that girls score higher on a variety of measures of self-control. In this research, we investigate three possible reasons for why this is true: first, we examine whether current predictors of self-control mediate the effect of sex on self-control, second, we examine whether sex moderates the effect of current predictors on self-control and third, we examine the possibility that the causes of self-control are gendered, necessitating different causal models for boys and girls. Using data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth79, we assess three, related questions: Is the sex effect on self-control mediated by current predictors of self-control? Does sex moderate the effects of current predictors of self-control? Does the causal model predicting self-control differ for boys and girls? We find that the sex effect on self-control is robust; does not moderate the etiology of self-control; and although partially mediated by etiological variables, remains a significant predictor of self-control. We also find that current predictors do a poor job of explaining girls' acquisition of self-control, suggesting a gendered etiology of self control.
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The Sum of Friends' and Lovers' Self-Control Scores Predicts Relationship Quality
Kathleen Vohs, Catrin Finkenauer & Roy Baumeister
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
What combination of partners' trait self-control levels produces the best relationship outcomes? The authors tested three hypotheses-complementarity (large difference in trait self-control scores), similarity (small difference in self-control scores), and totality (large sum of self-control scores)-in three diverse samples: friends, dating partners, and married couples living in the United States and the Netherlands who were tracked cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Results consistently favored the totality model: the more total self-control, the better the relationship fared. Multiple benefits were found for having mutually high self-control, including relationship satisfaction, forgiveness, secure attachment, accommodation, healthy and committed styles of loving, smooth daily interactions, absence of conflict, and absence of feeling rejected. These effects might be due to high-self-control partners' use of accommodation when there is miscommunication or problems in the relationship. Additionally, partners might "outsource" self-control to each other; hence, having a partner with higher self-control enables more outsourcing.
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Accountants' cognitive styles and ethical reasoning: A comparison across 15 years
Mohammad Abdolmohammadi, John Rhodes, Jane Fedorowicz, Rae Anderson & Ophera Davis
Journal of Accounting Education, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent attention to accountants' ethics in the news, in professional practice, and by academia leads to questions about the ethical and cognitive characterization of students selecting accounting careers. We employ the Myers/Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) for assessing cognitive styles, and the Defining Issues Test (DIT) for assessing ethical reasoning to study differences between two groups of accounting graduates and new hires entering the accounting profession across a period of 15 years. We show that the dominant cognitive make-up of accountants has not changed significantly over the study period, which is consistent with prior research. Also, we hypothesize and provide evidence that this dominant style is associated with lower levels of ethical reasoning (as measured by the DIT) than other cognitive styles. The ethical reasoning scores are lower for the 2005 sample than for the 1990 sample. This result may be attributable to age, gender, grade point average, or political orientation; however, incomplete data in our sample does not allow us to make definitive conclusions regarding these control variables. We discuss the implications of these findings for curriculum development and professional practice.
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The role of self-questioning: Problem solving in a security organization
Koa Heng Ng, Chwee Beng Lee & Timothy Teo
Systems Research and Behavioral Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Self-questioning plays an important role in problem solving. In this study, we examined the effects of self-questioning techniques on problem solving and metacognition for ill-structured workplace problems including counter-terrorism, which is unconventional. The independent variable was the strategy training in self-questioning techniques, structuring around the IDEAL model as a cognitive heuristics adaptation to resolve novel situations. The dependent variable metacognition was made up of two constructs i.e. knowledge about cognition and regulation of cognition. These were measured by using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) while overall problem solving performance was determined by assessing the participants' reasoning and the resulting consequences of their decision (outcome performance) in the pre- and post-tests. Our results revealed that the intervention had significant positive effects on the novices' reasoning performance, outcome performance and overall problem solving performance. In addition, the level of correlation between reasoning performance and outcome performance was significantly positive.
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Ashley Fulmer et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Whether one is in one's native culture or abroad, one's personality can differ markedly from the personalities of the majority, thus failing to match the "cultural norm." Our studies examined how the interaction of individual- and cultural-level personality affects people's self-esteem and well-being. We propose a person-culture match hypothesis that predicts that when a person's personality matches the prevalent personalities of other people in a culture, culture functions as an important amplifier of the positive effect of personality on self-esteem and subjective well-being at the individual level. Across two studies, using data from more than 7,000 individuals from 28 societies, multilevel random-coefficient analyses showed that when a relation between a given personality trait and well-being or self-esteem exists at the individual level, the relation is stronger in cultures characterized by high levels of that personality dimension. Results were replicated across extraversion, promotion focus, and locomotive regulatory mode. Our research has practical implications for the well-being of both cultural natives and migrants.
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What Makes You Stronger: Age and Cohort Differences in Personal Growth after Cancer
Tetyana Pudrovska
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, September 2010, Pages 260-273
Abstract:
Using two waves of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, I compare changes in personal growth over a 10 year period among cancer survivors and individuals without cancer. Moreover, I examine joint effects of age and cohort on personal growth after a cancer diagnosis. The theoretical framework of this study integrates impairment, resilience, and thriving perspectives. Findings reveal that, although personal growth declines with age for all individuals regardless of cohort and cancer status, cancer slows the decline in personal growth with age in 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s birth cohorts, yet accelerates the age-related decline in the 1920s cohort. I argue that a sociological perspective can enhance our understanding of the interplay of developmental and sociocultural influences on psychological adjustment to cancer. Seemingly idiosyncratic psychological reactions to cancer partly reflect macrolevel processes represented by cohort differences.
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Stacey Sasaki & Jacquie Vorauer
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, November 2010, Pages 1011-1016
Abstract:
Two studies examined how adopting an impression formation or evaluative concern mindset affects individuals' own and their interaction partner's experience of potentially stressful social exchanges, such as first meeting situations and interethnic interaction. Our main hypothesis was that adopting an impression formation mindset would, by diverting individuals' focus away from themselves and toward others, reduce both their own and their partner's cognitive resource depletion and negative affect. Consistent with predictions, positive effects of impression formation were evident and were "contagious" in that they were evident across individuals who received the mindset instructions and their partners, who were unaware of the manipulation. The positive effects of impression formation instructions were generally evident both in comparison to evaluative concern instructions, which provided similar structure, and in comparison to no instructions at all. Thus, adopting an impression formation mindset seems an effective strategy for minimizing negative outcomes experienced in stressful social interactions.
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The Implicit "Go": Masked Action Cues Directly Mobilize Mental Effort
Guido Gendolla & Nicolas Silvestrini
Psychological Science, October 2010, Pages 1389-1393
Abstract:
In this study, we examined the hypothesis that masked general action and inaction cues that are processed during a cognitive task directly mobilize effort exerted during the task. Participants were randomly assigned to an action-prime condition, an inaction-prime condition, or a control condition and performed a Sternberg short-term memory task. The intensity of effort the participants exerted during the task was estimated by measuring their heart responses (cardiac preejection period, PEP) during task performance. As expected, exposure to masked action cues resulted in stronger PEP reactivity than exposure to masked inaction cues. PEP reactivity in the control group fell in between reactivity when action cues were used and reactivity when inaction cues were used. Participants' task performance revealed a corresponding pattern: Reaction times were the shortest in the action-prime condition, increased in the control condition, and increased further in the inaction-prime condition. These results show that masked action cues and inaction cues directly influence the intensity of effort exerted in the performance of a task.
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Listening, Watching, and Reading: The Structure and Correlates of Entertainment Preferences
Peter Rentfrow, Lewis Goldberg & Ran Zilca
Journal of Personality, forthcoming
Abstract:
People spend considerable amounts of time and money listening to music, watching TV and movies, and reading books and magazines, yet almost no attention in psychology has been devoted to understanding individual differences in preferences for such entertainment. The present research was designed to examine the structure and correlates of entertainment genre preferences. Analyses of the genre preferences of more than 3,000 individuals revealed a remarkably clear factor structure. Using multiple samples, methods, and geographic regions, data converged to reveal five entertainment-preference dimensions: Communal, Aesthetic, Dark, Thrilling, and Cerebral. Preferences for these entertainment dimensions were uniquely related to demographics and personality traits. Results also indicated that personality accounted for significant proportions of variance in entertainment preferences over and above demographics. The results provide a foundation for developing and testing hypotheses about the psychology of entertainment preferences.
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Who 'fits' the science and technology profile? Personality differences in secondary education
Hanke Korpershoek, Hans Kuyper, Greetje van der Werf & Roel Bosker
Journal of Research in Personality, October 2010, Pages 649-654
Abstract:
The present study explores the relationship between personality characteristics and students' subject choice in secondary education and addresses the question: 'Are there differences in personality characteristics among students choosing different school subjects?' The research included 3992 9th grade students. We used the Five-Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI) of Hendriks, Hofstee, and de Raad (1999a) to measure students' personality. With respect to all five personality factors our results show significant differences among students who chose different sets of subjects. We observed that students who took advanced mathematics, chemistry, and physics were less extraverted and more conscientious than students who chose a less science-oriented set of subjects. The results confirm that students' interests and, consequently, their subject choices are related to their personality.
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Applying a psychobiological model of personality to the study of leadership
Peter O'Connor & Chris Jackson
Journal of Individual Differences, Fall 2010, Pages 185-197
Abstract:
Cloninger's psychobiological model of temperament and character is a general model of personality that has been widely used in clinical psychology, but has seldom been applied in other domains. In this research we apply Cloninger's model to the study of leadership. Our study comprised 81 participants who took part in a diverse range of small group tasks. Participants rotated through tasks and groups and rated each other on "emergent leadership." As hypothesized, leader emergence tended to be consistent regardless of the specific tasks and groups. It was found that personality factors from Cloninger, Svrakic, and Przybeck's (1993) model could explain trait-based variance in emergent leadership. Results also highlight the role of "cooperativeness" in the prediction of leadership emergence. Implications are discussed in terms of our theoretical understanding of trait-based leadership, and more generally in terms of the utility of Cloninger's model in leadership research.