Abstract: In 3 prior meta-analyses, the relationship between the Big Five factors of personality and job criteria was investigated. However, these meta-analyses showed different findings. Furthermore, these reviews included studies carried out only in the United States and Canada. This study reports meta-analytic research on the same topic but with studies conducted in the European Community, which were not included in the prior reviews. The results indicate that Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability are valid predictors across job criteria and occupational groups. The remaining factors are valid only for some criteria and for some occupational groups. Extraversion was a predictor for 2 occupations, and Openness and Agreeableness were valid predictors of training proficiency. These findings are consistent with M.R. Barrick and M.K. Mount (1991) and L.M. Hough, N.K. Eaton, M.D. Dunnette, J.D. Kamp, and R.A. McCloy (1990). Implications of the results for future research and the practice of personnel selection are suggested.

Abstract: Estimated factor correlations from 14 studies supporting the 5 factor, Big Five model of personality trait organization--5 studies based on children and adolescents, 9 on adults--were factor analyzed. Two higher-order factors were clearly evident in all studies. One was principally related to the Big Five trait dimensions Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability; the other, the dimensions Extraversion and Intellect. Two models, one for children and adolescents, the other for adults, were tested by confirmatory factor analysis with generally excellent results. Many personality theorists appear to have considered one or both of these 2 metatraits, provisionally labeled alpha and beta.

Abstract: This study examined the dispositional basis of job seekers' organizational culture preferences and how these preferences interact with recruiting organizations' cultures in their relation to organization attraction. Data were collected from 182 business, engineering, and industrial relations students who were seeking positions at the time of the study. Results obtained from multiple sources suggested that the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) generally were related to hypothesized dimensions of culture preferences. Results also suggested that both objective person-organization fit (congruence between applicant culture preferences and recruiting organization's reputed culture) and subjective fit (applicant's direct perception of fit) were related to organization attraction. Further, subjective fit mediated the relationship between objective fit and organization attraction.

Abstract: Publisher Summary Agreeableness is probably best conceptualized as a general latent variable that summarizes more specific tendencies and behaviors Agreeableness should certainly qualify as an individual difference having significance for people's daily transactions It can be predominantly an affective evaluation and may be a more diffuse reaction Across a range of studies, agreeableness emerges in the natural language descriptions of the self and peers Furthermore, there is evidence that self-rating and peer evaluations converge in assessing agreeableness Later, the prosocial personality is discussed in this chapter Prosocial behavior can be conceptualized as a form of agreeableness Recent research suggests that there may be important dispositional components to prosocial behavior, and these may be seen even in young children Precise identification of these dispositions has been inhibited by problems of differentiating among social motives, and by weak measures of altruism as an outcome and as a disposition Basic bio-behavioral research suggests that individual differences in agreeableness in adults may have their origins in affective self-regulatory processes in childhood In particular, individual differences in the pattern of inhibition of negative effect may be related to the development of agreeableness and these may be related to health, especially cardiovascular disease

Abstract: Although personality characteristics figure prominently in what people want in a mate, little is known about precisely which personality characteristics are most important, whether men and women differ in their personality preferences, whether individual women or men differ in what they want, and whether individuals actually get what they want. To explore these issues, two parallel studies were conducted, one using a sample of dating couples (N = 118) and one using a sample of married couples (N = 216). The five-factor model, operationalized in adjectival form, was used to assess personality characteristics via three data sources-self--report, partner report, and independent interviewer reports. Participants evaluated on a parallel 40-item instrument their preferences for the ideal personality characteristics of their mates. Results were consistent across both studies. Women expressed a greater preference than men for a wide array of socially desirable personality traits. Individuals differed in which characteristics they desired, preferring mates who were similar to themselves and actually obtaining mates who embodied what they desired. Finally, the personality characteristics of one's partner significantly predicted marital and sexual dissatisfaction, most notably when the partner was lower on Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect-Openness than desired.

Abstract: Because measures of personality and well-being share common affective underpinnings and items, previously reported links between these domains may be tautological. To explicate the connections between personality and well-being, 2 samples of midlife adults (N = 215 and N = 139) completed measures of personality (NEO Five-Factor Inventory; P. T Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) and psychological well-being (C. D. Ryff's, 1989b, Psychological Well-Being [PWB] inventory) that were maximally distinct, both conceptually and methodologically. Analyses included additional controls for source overlap, common affective underpinnings, and shared item content. Distinctive personality correlates were observed for the 6 PWB outcomes: self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and purpose in life were linked with Neuroticism (N) Extraversion (E) and Conscientiousness (C); personal growth was linked with Openness to Experience (O) and E; positive relations with others was linked with Agreeableness (A) and E; autonomy was linked with N. Psychological wellness and its personality correlates may be more complex than prior studies suggest.

Abstract: Study 1 presents the development of a measure of adult attachment qualities (the Measure of Attachment Qualities [MAAQJ). Three further studies relate self-reports of adult attachment qualities to broader aspects of personality. Results indicate that avoidant attachment is inversely related to extraversion and agreeableness but relatively unrelated to manifest anxiety or neuroticism. Qualities of ambivalence (reflecting both worry and desire for merger) are related to both manifest anxiety and neuroticism but unrelated to extraversion. An affirmatively secure attachment quality that emerged in the MAQ (i.e., as a separate factor, rather than by default as low scores on avoidance or ambivalence factors) was related positively to extraversion and agreeableness but generally unrelated to anxiety or neuroticism. The final study also permitted comparison of the MAQ to a measure derived from a four-component model of attachment. Although there was considerable convergence, the data also provided challenges to b...

Abstract: The relations of Ego control (EC), Ego resiliency (ER), and the Five-Factor Model of Personality (FFM) with behavioral and emotional problems were explored among 116 clinic-referred children. Within the EC-ER model, Ego undercontrol was most important in predicting externalizing problems, and both Ego brittleness (the relative absence of ER) and Ego undercontrol made equal contributions to predicting internalizing problems. Within the FFM, Extraversion and Agreeableness were independent predictors of externalizing problems, whereas only Neuroticism predicted internalizing problems. When the EC-ER model was tested against the FFM, the latter model appeared to outperform the former in predicting externalizing but not internalizing problems; when clinical syndrome groups were examined, dimensions from both personality models were differentially salient for children with primary internalizing, externalizing, or comorbid problems.

Abstract: This investigation of the five-factor model of personality as a correlate of mass media use was designed to validate key links in a basic model of the uses and gratifications paradigm. Survey data collected from 219 university students who kept diaries of time spent using the mass media and participating in nonmediated communication activities were submitted to canonical correlation analysis. Minutes devoted to TV viewing, radio listening, pleasure reading, and movie attendance were correlated with the five personality traits of the NEO-PI—neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The strongest relationships for mass media use were between openness and pleasure reading, extroversion and negative pleasure reading, and openness and negative TV viewing. Individuals who scored higher on extroversion and agreeableness exhibited a preference for nonmediated activities, especially conversation.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine personality differences among three different Axis I disorders — recovered patients with unipolar depression ( n =62), euthymic patients with bipolar disorder ( n =34), and patients with schizophrenia in the residual phase of their illness ( n =41) using the five-factor model of personality (FFM). The dimensions of the FFM – Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness (O), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness (C) – were measured with composite scores derived from the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI) and the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R). While no group differences emerged on N or C, the bipolar patients scored significantly higher on the Positive Emotion facet (subscale) of E than the unipolar patients. The schizophrenic patients scored lower on the Feelings, Values and Actions facets of O than did the unipolar and bipolar patients. The unipolar patients scored higher on A than the schizophrenic patients. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.

Abstract: The performance of individuals within groups, and of groups as units, is the product of immediate goal structures and personality differences pertinent to those goals among group members. A level-of-analysis approach linked the dimension of agreeableness to situated competitiveness and task performance in group settings. Hypotheses were (a) individual differences in self-rated and other-rated competitiveness are related (inversely) to the Big Five dimension of agreeableness, (b) immediately situated promotive and contrient goal structures influence self-ratings of competitiveness, (c) immediate goal structures differentially activate competitiveness to affect task performance in groups, and (d) agreeableness effects on task performance are partially mediated by competitiveness. Structural equation modeling corroborated hypotheses about the links among agreeableness, competitiveness, and task performance.

Abstract: The present study examined whether individuals' personality ratings on dimensions of the five-factor model (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness) predicted their immediate perceptions of themselves and others during daily social interactions. Participants completed personality measures at an initial session and recorded and evaluated their interactions over a 1-week period. Participants' immediate perceptions were predicted strongly by their extraversion scores, moderately by their agreeableness and neuroticism scores, and only weakly by their openness to experience score. These findings suggest that at least three of the five factors accurately represent individuals' thoughts and feelings during their daily lives.

Abstract: Investigators at the intersection of personality and social support research have developed a number of theoretical models to account for the role of a broad range of individual differences variables in social support processes. Such efforts have met with considerable success and underscore the notion that personality serves as an important influence on social behavior. Because other chapters in the present volume provide excellent summaries of these models, our goal in the present chapter is to take a broad view of how social support and personality research fit together, as well as to identify some of the key conceptual and methodological issues that need to be addressed in order to make continued progress.

Abstract: This article reports on 2 studies, both concerned with the validity of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). The first study, replicated over 3 samples, concerned the validity of the measure as determined by self-ratings. Results indicated that participants were able to predict their extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism scores with reasonable accuracy, but agreeableness and openness-to-experience less so. In addition, participants were not very reliable in predicting others' test scores, although they believed themselves to have scores moderately similar to the other, self-nominated person. The second study showed that the NEO-FFI was highly susceptible to faking, although the all-important fake good versus control comparisons were significant only for agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. The implications of these studies for applied personality measurement are considered.

Abstract: We examined the relations between the Big-Five personality dimensions, Health Locus of Control, and health-related behaviours and attitudes. We focused on the question of potential advantages of the five-factor model as an integrated framework for personality and health research. Fifteen health habits and attitudes (including smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, a variety of dietary practices, current stressors, and attitudes toward smoking and alcohol consumption) were used to operationalize the subjects’ lifestyle. The study involved 1184 students from twelve different university schools. Although our results resembled those of other studies, we found that Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were particularly noteworthy as predictors of health behaviours and cognitive attitudes and tendencies. Our results also suggest that both factors should be included as explanatory constructs in personality–disease models that may indirectly affect disease proneness via unhealthy behaviours. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the emotional basis of early personality development. In recent years, personality psychologists have made a great deal of progress toward the structure of personality. Personality development occurs in five basic steps in which the child progresses by: (1) learning organized patterns of behavior, (2) nonverbal conceptions of emotional states, (3) verbal conceptions of emotional states, (4) verbal conceptions of dispositions, and (5) a metatheory of self similar to what is held by older children and adults. Early individual differences influence the parent's personality on the developing child, the parent's perceptions of the child, the child's own behavior, and characteristics or temperament and the attachment between the child and the parent. It is clear that it is difficult to disentangle the independent effects of each of these influences. Focusing on the emotional basis of personality should allow for a better correspondence between research on child and adult personality, eventually leading to a better understanding of the course of personality development. A great deal of research has been devoted to understand individual differences in personality among preschool and kindergarten children, but the research primarily relied on the reports of other persons and/or behavioral observations.

Abstract: In this article we studied relations between self-rated emotional experience and the five-factor model of personality. Replicating previous findings we found that two dominant dimensions of emotional experience, Negative Affect and Positive Affect (that accounted for three to five times more total variance among Estonian emotion-related terms than any other factors) are selectively related to Neuroticism and Extraversion. Data supported the hierarchical taxonomy scheme proposed by Watson and Clark (1992) in which two broad higher order affective states were each composed of several correlated but still clearly distinguishable moods with their specific content. The content of specific emotions mapped systematically onto measures of personality: Affect scales explained 40% to 50% of the total variance of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, approximately 20% of the total variance of Agreeableness, and only 13% of Openness to Experience. Besides the replication of the hierarchical bipartite structure of emotion terms itself in a non-Indo-European language, our data demonstrated that the general pattern of associations between affect and personality domains is also generalizable across languages and cultures.

Abstract: The personality of the polar sojoumer has been of interest to psychologists for a number of years. Using the NEO Five Factor Inventory, this study examined the general personality factors of the polar worker compared to a normative populaffon, and how these factors differ according to the worker's occupational classification and the polar region in which he or she is working. It was found that polar workers scored higher than a normative group on all factors except Neuroticism. Comparisons across occu pational groups showed that scientists were lower than military personnel on Extra version and lower than technicaVsupport staff on Agreeableness and Conscientious ness. The analysis by polar region indicated that Antarctic workers were higher than Arctic personnel on Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. A group of Italian Antarctic personnel, completing a translated form of the NEO-FFI, scored lower than the rest of the polar groups on all factors. These findings are discussed in light of var...

Abstract: The present study examined the influence of caregivers' Attachment Styles (Anxious-ambivalent and Avoidant factors) and personality traits (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) on their experiences of caring for dementia dependents. A total of 126 caregiver-dependent pairs participated in the study. Support was found for the contribution of the attachment style factors in explaining aspects of caregiver experiences. Those who chose to institutionalize dependents were higher on the Avoidance factor than those choosing to maintain them in the community. Less Anxious-ambivalent caregivers reported larger social support networks, and more satisfaction with the support received than those lower on this factor. The caregiver Anxious/ambivalence and Neuroticism dimensions seemed to function as generalized responses reflected in perceptions and appraisals of the stressful situation.

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to study the relationship between personality and wandering behavior among individuals with dementia. Surrogates of 20 wanderers and 20 non-wanderers were administered a demographic and personality questionnaire. The findings, which also included a qualitative follow-up, revealed that wanderers scored significantly higher than non-wanders on the personality factors of extroversion (p < or = .01) and agreeableness (p < or = .05). A strong implication of the study, for nurses and other care providers, is that for many people wandering is an expression of one's personality--ingrained over a lifetime of development--rather than solely an expression of dementia.

Abstract: This study examined the relationship between therapist personality and theoretical orientation from the perspective of the Five-Factor Model of personality. Forty-one psychotherapists completed the NEO-PI-R and ratings of theoretical orientation. Results revealed a significant relationship between theoretical orientation and certain NEO-PI-R domains and related facet scores. The Cognitive orientation was significantly related to the Agreeableness Domain and the associated facets of Straightforwardness and Altruism. The Humanistic and Gestalt orientations were significantly related to the domain of Openness and the facet of Openness to Fantasy. The Humanistic orientation was also significantly related to the Openness to Action facet. In addition, gender differences were noted in NEO-PI-R profiles, but not theoretical orientation.

Abstract: The Junior Eysenck Personality (Questionnaire was administered to 668 instrumental students in Grades 7 through 12 from eight different schools to determine whether (1) there is a propensity for certain personality types to begin instrumental study in the schools, (2) certain personality types are more likely to continue in instrumental music, (3) there is a trend toward homogeneity of personality type among students who choose to continue in instrumental music across grade levels, and (4) there is a relationship between personality type and continuation on a specific musical instrument. Results revealed that instrumental students are very similar to their noninstrumental counterparts on the personality variables measured across all grades, but some minor differences can be found. Educational implications are drawn and discussed.

Abstract: This article describes a semantic space model of personality. According to the model, representations of facets of the self (e.g., actual self, ideal self) and of others are arrayed in a semantic space, with proximities among representations predicted to be associated with mood, self-evaluation, and broad personality dimensions. The relation of proximities among pairs of representations to personality and mood measures was found to be mediated by the spatial proximity of other representations, indicating that the representations constitute dynamic systems. Proximities among representations were shown to predict self-esteem and self-evaluative moods even after controlling for the contribution of the personality dimensions of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Agreeableness. Generally, the semantic space model led to better predictions than did several related models concerning representations of self and other.