Impact of Widowhood on Parent–Child Relations: Does Parents' Personality Matter?

The authors evaluated the extent to which the short‐term effect of late life widowhood on parent–child relationships is moderated by 5 personality traits—Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience—and how these interactive effects differ by gender. Data were from the Changing Lives of Older Couples Study (N = 1,532). The results indicated that the effects of widowhood on positive and negative interactions with children were significantly moderated by Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience. An agreeable personality helped widowed persons receive more positive interactions, whereas Openness to Experience reduced negative interactions. Widowed persons with higher Extraversion reported more negative interactions. Furthermore, moderating effects of Extraversion and Openness to Experience differed by gender; specifically, higher Extraversion scores predicted increased positive interactions with children for widowed women but decreased positive interactions for widowed men. The significant association between Openness to Experience and decreased negative interactions with children was more apparent among men than among women.     

Toward a Neuropsychology of Personality in Sex Offenders Against Children: An Exploratory Psychometric Study

Little is known about the relationship between neuropsychological functioning and normal personality in sex offenders. The aim of this study was to examine the relations between personality traits and executive functioning in child molesters. The NEO-Five Factor Inventory was used to assess personality, and the Trail Making Test (parts A and B) was used to assess executive functioning in a sample of child molesters (n?=?33). We found the time required to complete Trail Making Test part A significantly predicted Extraversion scores, whereas the time to complete Trail Making Test part B significantly predicted Openness scores. Brief measures of executive functioning can thus predict the score in Extraversion and Openness in child molesters. These personality traits may be related to the functioning of brain areas implicated in having to complete the Trail Making Test.     

The Big Five personality traits and earnings: A meta-analysis

The past two decades have witnessed increased interest in the relationship between personality and labor market outcomes, as well as the emergence of the Five-Factor Model as the key reference framework for the study of personality. In this paper, we provide the first meta-analytical review of the empirical literature on the association between personal earnings and the Big Five personality traits. The analysis combines the results of 62 peer-reviewed articles published from 2001–2020, from which we retrieved 896 partial effect sizes. Overall, the primary literature provides robust support for a positive association between personal earnings and the traits of Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion, while simultaneously revealing a negative and significant association between earnings and the traits of Agreeableness and Neuroticism. We find no evidence of a substantial publication bias. Meta-regression estimates suggest that Openness and Conscientiousness are positively associated with earnings even when primary researchers control for individual cognitive abilities and educational attainments. Similarly, the studies that include labor market control variables exhibit weaker associations between earnings and Extraversion and Agreeableness. The results of the primary studies seem unaffected by the time at which the Big Five are measured, as well as by the scale and number of inventory items. Meta-regression estimates suggest that the results of the primary literature are not stable across cultures and gender, and that the ranking and academic field of the journal matter.     

Do the Big-Five Personality Traits Predict Empathic Listening and Assertive Communication?

As personality traits can influence important social outcomes, the current research investigated whether the Big-Five had predictive influences on communication competences of active-empathic listening (AEL) and assertiveness. A sample of 245 adults of various ages completed the self-report scales. Both Agreeableness and Openness uniquely predicted AEL. Extraversion had the biggest influence on assertiveness but did not uniquely explain AEL variance. Conscientiousness and Neuroticism had small predictive influences on assertiveness. Further investigation into the pathways linking Big-Five facets to the different components of these communication competences is proposed and practical implications including understanding personality traits for successful leadership is discussed.     

THE ROLE OF NONCOGNITIVE SKILLS IN EXPLAINING COGNITIVE TEST SCORES

This article examines whether noncognitive skills—measured both by personality traits and by economic preference parameters—influence cognitive tests' performance. The basic idea is that noncognitive skills might affect the effort people put into a test to obtain good results. We experimentally varied the rewards for questions in a cognitive test to measure to what extent people are sensitive to financial incentives. To distinguish increased mental effort from extra time investments, we also varied the questions' time constraints. Subjects with favorable personality traits such as high performance motivation and an internal locus of control perform relatively well in the absence of rewards, consistent with a model in which trying as hard as you can is the best strategy. In contrast, favorable economic preference parameters (low discount rate, low risk aversion) are associated with increases in time investments when incentives are introduced, consistent with a rational economic model in which people only invest when there are monetary returns. The main conclusion is that individual behavior at cognitive tests depends on noncognitive skills. ( JEL J20, J24)     

Can gender differences in distributional preferences explain gender gaps in competition?

We design a lab experiment to specifically examine whether a preference for favorable inequality and behindness aversion, as well as egalitarian preferences, affect competitive choices differently among males and females. Using data on approximately 2,000 subjects, we find that selection into competitive environments is negatively related to egalitarian preferences, with smaller negative impacts of being egalitarian on females’ choice to compete. Further, behindness aversion and preference for favorable inequality affect willingness to compete in opposite ways. The willingness to compete is negatively affected by behindness aversion, while a preference for favorable inequality positively influences willingness to compete. Interestingly, when we disaggregate behavior along gender lines, we find that compared to behindness averse males, behindness averse females are more likely to enter the competitive environment. In contrast, there is no significant gender difference in the impact of preference for favorable inequality on competition. Our results suggest that the observed gender difference in competitiveness can stem from male-female differences in distributional preferences and selected personality traits developed during one’s lifetime.     

The relationships among the big 5 personality factors and negative career thoughts

College students may present with career concerns that are interrelated with personality and psychological factors. Various authors have highlighted the need for career practitioners to take a holistic approach with clients seeking assistance. This research examined the intersection of personal and career characteristics, specifically personality and negative career thoughts. A total of 128 undergraduate students in five career course sections completed the NEO-Five Factor Inventory and the Career Thoughts Inventory. A hierarchical multiple regression showed that 27.1% of the variability in negative career thoughts was explained by the combined effect of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Personality factors had significant moderate correlations with specific aspects of negative thinking, including Decision-Making Confusion (DMC) and Neuroticism and Conscientiousness. Commitment Anxiety (CA) was significantly correlated with Neuroticism and Conscientiousness. We discuss how the findings highlight the intersection of career and personality factors, and the implications for theory, practice, and future research     

The nature of preferences: An exploration of the relationship between economics and psychology

Ordinal utility theory begins with the assumption of a consumer of given preferences, therefore, we must go beyond economic theory in order to investigate the nature of preferences without becoming circular. The approach here is to use interpersonal theories of personality development to investigate the formation of the preferences of the individual consumer. To establish a methodological relationship between economics and psychology, a common ground of analysis and an integrative framework must be provided to bring the contributions of psychology into economics into a systematic way. This is explored by using specific psychoanalytic theories of the internalization of interpersonal relations, and by relating this to a more general theory of personality development based on the significance of interpersonal relations. The objective of this study is a broader understanding of the behavioral foundations of the economic theory of the consumer, and a greater appreciation for preference structures which do not conform to the concept of the rational consumer of economic theory.     

Deciphering blog users: young adults’ personalities,motivations, and perceived importance of blog features

The present study examines the cyberpsychology of blog readership as well as the digital content preferences of the Millennial generation by examining the links between college students’ personality traits, motivations to read blogs, and preferred blog features. Results indicate that personality influences motivations for reading blogs, which in turn helps predict perceived importance of blog characteristics. Notably, extraversion and neuroticism were related to reading blogs for social interaction; extraversion negatively predicted use of blogs to meet identity needs; openness was related to blog reading for entertainment purposes; and conscientiousness was positively associated with information seeking via blogs. Additionally, motivations for blog readership as explanatory mechanisms for the relationships found between personality traits and perceived importance of blog features are discussed.     

Review of the effects of Five Factor Model personality traits on network structures and perceptions of structure

We review recent research on Five Factor Model personality and social network analysis to assess how structures develop and are perceived. Extraversion and agreeableness relate consistently to personal but not workplace networks. Extraverts are more likely to seek connections, whereas agreeable individuals receive connections from others. Openness predicts network diversity and is marginally related to position when groups pursue collective goals. Conscientiousness is associated with maintaining certain personal relationships, but is strongly related to central positions in workplace networks. Neuroticism has no consistent relationship with network size or composition, and is differentially related to network positions, depending on the context.     

College Major Choice in STEM: Revisiting Confidence and Demographic Factors

Using national freshman survey data, the authors examined confidence and background variables (e.g., gender, minority status, parental occupation) as predictors of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major choice. Logistic regression analyses revealed that students were more likely to choose STEM majors if they had strong confidence in mathematics and academic areas and had parents with STEM occupations. Although female students were unlikely to choose a STEM major, African American and Latina/o students were equally as likely to choose a STEM major as were White or Asian American students. Findings suggest that students' confidence level in their academic and mathematics abilities makes a significant difference in their initial STEM major choice. Study findings could assist educators, counselors, and policy makers in their efforts to promote student choice of STEM‐related majors and careers.     

Intergenerational Persistence of Skills and Socioeconomic Status

This paper describes how the socioeconomic status (SES) of parents relates to the formation and development of the skills and preferences of their teenage children, which have proven to be key to understanding differences in life outcomes. The study used data from a novel survey, conducted in Mexico, that recorded cognitive and non-cognitive skills and social preferences of both parents and children. It analyzed the relationship between the SES of parents and their children’s skills, and found that children’s skills were consistently related to parental skills, and that intergenerational persistence of skills was higher for cognitive than for non-cognitive skills or social preferences. It also found that the cognitive skills gap between the first and fifth quintile of SES was related mainly to characteristics like parents’ own skills, years of schooling, and aspirations for their children, but that these parental characteristics were less important in explaining non-cognitive skills and preferences.     

Challenges in research on preferences and personality traits: Measurement,stability, and inference

This paper reviews several traditions in economic research on preferences as well as research on personality traits in personality psychology and lists challenges in both fields. We discuss challenges regarding the measurement of preferences and personality traits, challenges regarding the stability of preferences and traits, and challenges when inferring causality. Additionally, we highlight areas in which we see potential benefits from taking into account methodological approaches or insights from the respective other discipline.     

Students’ preference for grading rules: The role of ratio bias

Ratio bias exists if people perceive the likelihood of an event to be greater when it is presented as a ratio with large numbers (e.g., 10 in 100) than when it is presented as a ratio with small numbers (e.g., 1 in 10). This study shows the prevalence of ratio bias by examining students’ preference for grading rules at a college that uses a relative grading system. The study was conducted in an institution allowing instructors who teach multiple classes of the same course to grade students as if they are enrolled in a single class by pooling students of different classes (pooled grading, or PG). The other (default) alternative was to grade students separately based on each class (separate grading, or SG). We find that students strongly prefer PG to SG, which indicates that students’ preferences are affected by ratio bias. We also find that preference for PG is not affected by gender, but older students are less likely to choose PG than younger ones. Lastly, by conducting an additional experiment, we confirmed that students’ preference for grading rules in the original survey is not likely to be affected by overconfidence or social bias, nor could it be affected by the type of questionnaires.     

Personality and community prevention teams: Dimensions of team leader and member personality predicting team functioning

The predictors and correlates of positive functioning among community prevention teams have been examined in a number of research studies; however, the role of personality has been neglected. In this study, we examined whether team member and leader personality dimensions assessed at the time of team formation predicted local prevention team functioning 2.5–3.5 years later. Participants were 159 prevention team members in 14 communities participating in the PROSPER study of prevention program dissemination. Three aspects of personality, aggregated at the team level, were examined as predictors: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. A series of multivariate regression analyses were performed that accounted for the interdependency of five categories of team functioning. Results showed that average team member Openness was negatively, and Conscientiousness was positively linked to team functioning. The findings have implications for decisions about the level and nature of technical assistance support provided to community prevention teams.     

On the relationship between true preference and actual choice

Two different reasons are considered for the divergence of actual choice from true preferences, with the latter assumed fully transitive. These are the presence of finite perception and incomplete expression. The two have a dual correspondence, with one yielding true preference more stringent, the other less stringent, than actual choice. In each case, actual choice can be rationalised; to yield a closer approximation to true preference for finite perception choice, given the alternatives over which choice is made, and to yield a minimal transitive ordering for incomplete expression.     

Experience with research paradigms relates to infants’ direction of preference

Interpreting and predicting direction of preference in infant research has been a thorny issue for decades. Several factors have been proposed to account for familiarity versus novelty preferences, including age, length of exposure, and task complexity. The current study explores an additional dimension: experience with the experimental paradigm. We reanalyzed the data from 4 experiments on artificial grammar learning in 12-month-old infants run using the head-turn preference procedure (HPP). Participants in these studies varied substantially in their number of laboratory visits. Results show that the number of HPP studies is related to direction of preference: Infants with limited experience with the HPP setting were more likely to show familiarity preferences than infants who had amassed more experience with this paradigm. This evidence has important implications for the interpretation of experimental results: Experience with a given method or, more broadly, with the laboratory environment may affect infants’ patterns of preferences.     

Aggregation of individuals' preference intensities into social preference intensity

A result of John Harsanyi concerns the aggregation of individuals' preferences into social preferences. The result states that if the individuals in a society and the society as a whole have preference relations that compare probability distributions on a set of outcomes, and the preference relations satisfy expected-utility conditions and Pareto conditions, then a utility function for the social preference relation is a positive affine function of utility functions for the individuals' preference relations. This paper presents an analogous result for preference relations that denote intensity of preference, i.e., preference relations that compare exchanges of outcomes. This approach avoids the difficulties of requiring that the individuals in the society have common beliefs regarding uncertainty. Received: 14 October 1996 / Accepted: 4 September 1997     

Work–Family Balance Self‐Efficacy's Relationship With STEM Commitment: Unexpected Gender Moderation

The number of students, particularly the number of women, completing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate degrees is insufficient to meet the U.S. demand. Thus, research investigating key predictors of STEM commitment is of high importance. Applying the Social Cognitive Model of Career Self‐Management (SCCT‐CSM; Lent & Brown, 2013 ) as a guiding framework, this study examined the relationship between work–family balance self‐efficacy (WFSE) and STEM commitment as moderated by gender. The sample included 246 STEM students (106 women, 140 men) from a southeastern university. A 3‐step hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that WFSE accounted for incremental variance in STEM commitment beyond traditional social‐cognitive predictors, and gender moderated the relationship between WFSE and STEM commitment. Contrary to expectations, the relationship was stronger for men than for women. Findings suggest resiliency among women, showing that they are committed to STEM regardless of low WFSE. Practical implications for university and workplace contexts are discussed.