Towards a personality model encompassing a Disintegration factor separate from the Big Five traits: A meta-analysis of the empirical evidence

Time to put aside the false dichotomy between personality disorders and psychotic symptoms

Unlike internalizing and externalizing symptoms, psychotic symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, delusions) are manifestations of personality disorders (PDs) that are more controversial and poorly understood. This leaves clinicians with very little guidance for clinical practice, especially for diagnosis. What is more, most reviews have focused strictly on the links between psychotic symptoms and the categorically defined borderline PD, which contrasts with the growing movement that emphasizes a dimensional perspective (especially in psychology). Thus, the objectives of this critical review will be to (a) expose typical cases where PDs and psychotic symptoms might cooccur; (b) assess the state of scientific knowledge surrounding PD and psychotic symptoms; and (c) provide clinicians and researchers with recommendations to keep the field moving forward. We conclude that researchers and clinicians should move past the false "PD or psychosis" dichotomy since they often cooccur, avoid (as far as possible) making psychotic symptoms an exclusion criterion in PD research to enhance ecological validity, and consider dimensional PD diagnosis as a potential unifying solution to the dilemma posed by this cooccurrence.

Do people diagnosed with psychosis spectrum disorders share the same personality space as the general population? Big Five complemented by the proneness to psychotic-like experiences/behaviors

OBJECTIVE

Disintegration is a recently proposed broad, trait-like reconceptualization of the proneness to psychotic-like experiences/behaviors.

METHODS

We tested the assumption that the 6-factor model (Five-Factor traits plus Disintegration) was the most adequate one and that it was invariant across clinical and non-clinical populations. The clinical sample (n = 161) consisted of patients who had at least one psychotic episode, duration of illness less than 10 years, currently in remission. The general population (n = 409) was matched with the patient sample by age, gender, and education. NEO PI-R and DELTA were used to measure personality dimensions in both samples. Invariance of one to six-factor solutions was tested by Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling.

RESULTS

We found that: (a) several criteria for deciding on the number of factors to retain converged to the conclusion that the assumed 6-factor model was the most adequate one, (b) the assumed factorial structure appeared to satisfy the criteria for the scalar invariance across the two samples, (c) all nine Disintegration subdimensions separated from the Big Five, forming the Disintegration factor, and (d) Disintegration was unrelated to Openness.

CONCLUSION

The Big Five personality structure-complemented with disintegration-was invariant across individuals from the general population and patients with psychosis.

The Serbian validation of the Rational-Experiential Inventory-40 and the Rational-Experiential Multimodal Inventory

The widely used Rational-Experiential Inventory-40 (REI-40) assesses Rational and Experiential thinking styles. Recently, the authors have distinguished three aspects of the Experiential style: Intuition, Emotionality and Imagination and developed the Rational-Experiential Multimodal Inventory (REIm). In this study, we examined the internal consistency, structural/factorial, discriminant and known-groups validity of both REI-40 and REIm, in two samples of Serbian students. Participants in Study 1 (N = 819, mean age M = 19.81, 31% males) completed REI-40 and HEXACO Personality Inventory (HEXACO-PI-R), while participants in Study 2 (N = 304, mean age M = 19.47, 29% males) completed REIm, HEXACO-PI-R and Disintegration inventory DELTA. The internal consistency of both REI version subscales was acceptable to good. The results of CFA analyses indicated an acceptable fit for REI-40, while the structural validity of REIm was poor. Both REI-40 subscales (Rationality and Experientiality), as well as REIm Intuition demonstrated only a small content overlap with basic personality traits, while REIm Experientiality, Emotionality and Imagination correlated highly with Openness and Emotionality. We also observed some gender differences in the expected direction.

Personality and Affective Correlates of Openness to Experience from Big Five and HEXACO Personality Models: The Dual Nature of Big Five Openness

Openness to Experience is considered to be one of the broadest personality traits. Different operationalizations of Openness to Experience within and between personality models incorporate various features of this trait. Differences in Openness facets across inventories may lead to differences in relation to certain outcomes. Hence, the current study looked to explore the personality and affective correlates of Openness domains and facets from the Big Five and HEXACO model. The sample consisted of 540 participants who completed measures assessing Openness to Experience domains and facets from Big Five and HEXACO, schizotypy, Disintegration, need for cognition, subjective well-being, and mania. Results revealed that schizotypy and Disintegration had mostly non-significant correlations with Openness domains from both models. However, multiple facets of Openness had significant both positive and negative correlations with these constructs. In contrast to HEXACO, Openness from the Big Five model could be presented with two distinct subdomains. The Pure Openness subdomain is related to higher mania, while Pure Intellect is associated with lower schizotypy, higher well-being, and higher need for cognition. Our results suggest that measuring Openness at lower structural levels provides us with more nuanced patterns of relationships among constructs.

Proneness to psychotic-like experiences as a basic personality trait complementing the HEXACO model-A preregistered cross-national study

The goal of the study is to investigate the relationship between the HEXACO personality model and Disintegration-representing a broad spectrum of psychotic-like experiences and behavioral tendencies (Perceptual Distortions, General Executive/Cognitive Impairment, Enhanced Awareness, Paranoia, Mania, Flattened Affect, Apathy/Depression, Somatoform Dysregulation, and Magical Thinking) that are reconceptualized as a personality trait. In this preregistered study, we predicted that the Disintegration factor would separate from HEXACO. The replicability of the factorial structures of HEXACO and Disintegration subcomponents is investigated across the three national samples (UK, Germany, and Serbia), matched on key socio-demographic variables. Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) is used to study the invariance of the hypothesized seven-factor structure (six HEXACO plus Disintegration). Support for the metric invariance of the seven-factor structure based on HEXACO and Disintegration subcomponents/facets across the three nations was found. The Disintegration factor lied outside the HEXACO personality space with each of its nine subcomponents. The Disintegration factor appeared to be among the most coherent and replicable of the seven across the samples and units of measurement (facets and items). A broad spectrum of psychotic-like experiences/behavioral tendencies relevant in understanding and explaining many aspects of everyday and long-term (mal)adaptations is not captured by the HEXACO model.

The meaning of momentary psychotic-like experiences in a non-clinical sample: A personality perspective

The relationships between Momentary Psychotic-Like Experiences (MPLEs) and HEXACO—complemented by the proneness to PLEs conceptualized as a basic personality trait (Disintegration), and a maladaptive trait (PID-5 Psychoticism)—were investigated in a prospective study that includes experience-sampling methodology (ESM). The main goal was to investigate whether MPLEs are better predicted by HEXACO or measures of the dispositional proneness to PLEs. A sample of 180 participants assessed MPLEs and affective states they experienced in the previous two hours, twice per day, with semi-randomly set assessment time-points, during seven days, by using ESM. Personality inventories were administered 1–2 months earlier. MPLEs were better predicted by the measures of dispositional tendencies toward PLEs than by the HEXACO, no matter whether it was broadly defined as the nine-faceted general tendency toward PLEs (Disintegration), or narrowly as three-faceted positive psychotic-like symptoms of maladaptive personality tendencies (PID-5—Psychoticism).

How Students' Big Five personality traits manifest in perceived social loafing behavior

BACKGROUND

Social loafing (SL) has a detrimental impact on cooperative learning. SL dysfunctionalities are causing more faculty to avoid assigning group projects as part of their course work.

AIMS

This qualitative case study examines how students' personalities are expressed in social loafers' behavior during university-level group assignments at a Texas university. The case study added further depth and breadth to current literature on SL in cooperative learning by exploring the perpetrator's personality expressions.

SAMPLE(S)

Ten faculty members were interviewed, 32 students were surveyed, and 10 loafers were identified and self-assessed.

METHODS

A qualitative case study was used to provide in-depth investigation of Big Five personality in SL behavior.

RESULTS

The faculty interviews and students' surveys revealed that Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness were not expressed in SL behavior for university-level group assignments assessed by four IPIP facets. Openness to Experience (values, ideas, actions, and fantasy) was not expressed. Faculty and students indicated that loafers were not curious, barely prepared, with very short attention spans after which they get lost. Social loafers showed no originality, no active imagination, and no deep thinking. Conscientiousness (achievement striving, dutifulness, competence, and order) was not expressed. For Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism, some facets were expressed, and others were withheld.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study provide faculty with a multifaceted understanding of students' personality traits to better guide their group interaction and cooperative learning.

Relationship between electrocardiogram-based features and personality traits: Machine learning approach

Background

Based on the known relationship between the human emotion and standard surface electrocardiogram (ECG), we explored the relationship between features extracted from standard ECG recorded during relaxation and seven personality traits (Honesty/humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Disintegration) by using the machine learning (ML) approach which learns from the ECG‐based features and predicts the appropriate personality trait by adopting an automated software algorithm.

Methods

A total of 71 healthy university students participated in the study. For quantification of 62 ECG‐based parameters (heart rate variability, as well as temporal and amplitude‐based parameters) for each ECG record, we used computation procedures together with publicly available data and code. Among 62 parameters, 34 were segregated into separate features according to their diagnostic relevance in clinical practice. To examine the feature influence on personality trait classification and to perform classification, we used random forest ML algorithm.

Results

Classification accuracy when clinically relevant ECG features were employed was high for Disintegration (81.3%) and Honesty/humility (75.0%) and moderate to high for Openness (73.3%) and Conscientiousness (70%), while it was low for Agreeableness (56.3%), eXtraversion (47.1%), and Emotionality (43.8%). When all calculated features were used, the classification accuracies were the same or lower, except for the eXtraversion (52.9%). Correlation analysis for selected features is presented.

Conclusions

Results indicate that clinically relevant features might be applicable for personality traits prediction, although no remarkable differences were found among selected groups of parameters. Physiological associations of established relationships should be further explored.

Dark and Peculiar

Abstract. Earlier research suggested that militant extremists could have certain aspects of psychopathic and psychotic characteristics. Relying on these studies, we investigated whether the Militant Extremist Mind-Set (MEM) could be explained by psychopathy, sadism, and Disintegration (psychosis proneness), as subclinical manifestations of amoral, antisocial, and psychotic-like traits. In Study 1 (306 undergraduate students), it was shown that sadistic and psychopathic tendencies were related to Proviolence (advocating violence as a means for achieving a goal); psychopathic and disintegrative tendencies were associated to the Vile World (belief in a world as a corrupted and vile place), while Disintegration was the best predictor of Divine Power (relying on supernatural forces as a rationale for extremist acts). In Study 2 (147 male convicts), these relations were largely replicated and broadened by including implicit emotional associations to violence in the study design. Thus, while Proviolence was found to be related to a weakened negative emotional reaction to violent pictures, Vile World was found to be associated with stronger negative emotions as a response to violence. Furthermore, Proviolence was the only MEM factor clearly differentiating the sample of convicts from male students who participated in Study 1. Results help extend current understanding about personal characteristics related to militant extremism.