Genetic and Environmental Influences on Person × Situation Profiles

The evolutionary genetics of personality

Genetic influences on personality differences are ubiquitous, but their nature is not well understood. A theoretical framework might help, and can be provided by evolutionary genetics. We assess three evolutionary genetic mechanisms that could explain genetic variance in personality differences: selective neutrality, mutation‐selection balance, and balancing selection. Based on evolutionary genetic theory and empirical results from behaviour genetics and personality psychology, we conclude that selective neutrality is largely irrelevant, that mutation‐selection balance seems best at explaining genetic variance in intelligence, and that balancing selection by environmental heterogeneity seems best at explaining genetic variance in personality traits. We propose a general model of heritable personality differences that conceptualises intelligence as fitness components and personality traits as individual reaction norms of genotypes across environments, with different fitness consequences in different environmental niches. We also discuss the place of mental health in the model. This evolutionary genetic framework highlights the role of gene‐environment interactions in the study of personality, yields new insight into the person‐situation‐debate and the structure of personality, and has practical implications for both quantitative and molecular genetic studies of personality. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Personality traits, emotional intelligence and decision-making styles in Lebanese universities medical students

Background

This study aims to assess the impact of personality traits on emotional intelligence (EI) and decision-making among medical students in Lebanese Universities and to evaluate the potential mediating role-played by emotional intelligence between personality traits and decision-making styles in this population.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted between June and December 2019 on 296 general medicine students.

Results

Higher extroversion was associated with lower rational decision-making style, whereas higher agreeableness and conscientiousness were significantly associated with a higher rational decision-making style. More extroversion and openness to experience were significantly associated with a higher intuitive style, whereas higher agreeableness and conscientiousness were significantly associated with lower intuitive style. More agreeableness and conscientiousness were significantly associated with a higher dependent decision-making style, whereas more openness to experience was significantly associated with less dependent decision-making style. More agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism were significantly associated with less spontaneous decision-making style. None of the personality traits was significantly associated with the avoidant decision-making style. Emotional intelligence seemed to fully mediate the association between conscientiousness and intuitive decision-making style by 38% and partially mediate the association between extroversion and openness to experience with intuitive decision-making style by 49.82 and 57.93% respectively.

Conclusion

Our study suggests an association between personality traits and decision-making styles. The results suggest that EI showed a significant positive effect on intuitive decision-making style and a negative effect on avoidant and dependent decision-making styles. Additionally, our study underlined the role of emotional intelligence as a mediator factor between personality traits (namely conscientiousness, openness, and extroversion) and decision-making styles.

Leisure Interests and Engagement

Abstract. Individual differences in interests and related engagement are often hypothesized to be mere expressions of core personality differences in specific contexts, such as occupation and leisur. However, previous research has found only moderate correlations between personality traits and operationalizations of interests. Moreover, interests showed comparable or even higher stability than personality traits. In the current study, we examined the correlations between different measures of Big Five personality traits and leisure interests as well as engagement in various leisure activities based on a sample of 407 individuals (132 males and 275 females). Furthermore, we compared rank-order and profile stability estimates, and analyzed the directionality of effects between the variables across two measurement occasions. Even though we found some systematic correlations between personality traits and leisure interests/engagement, most of them were small or only moderate. Estimates of profile stability tended to be larger for interests and engagements, whereas rank-order stability tended to be larger for Big Five traits. Moreover, we found bidirectional associations between personality traits and leisure interests/engagement. Thus, the results of our study provide strong support for a conceptualization of leisure interests as systematically linked with personality traits, but reflecting dispositions to behavior that are sufficiently distinct from personality traits.

Core and Surface Characteristics for the Description and Theory of Personality Differences and Development

Individual differences in personality are often described on the basis of a small set of dimensional core characteristics that are commonly defined as largely consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions across time and situations. Some theoretical approaches even consider them to provide the biologically founded basis for individual differences in so–called surface characteristics such as self–related evaluations, social attitudes, values, goals or interests, which are commonly hypothesized to be less stable or more environmentally malleable than core characteristics. We examine these hypotheses by reviewing findings about potential core and surface characteristics on the basis of four criteria: (i) level of stability in individual differences; (ii) level of heritability; (iii) direction of causation; and (iv) shared genetic variance. The results from our review call into serious question the labelling of some sets of constructs as either core or surface characteristics of personality. Although certain dimensions—often labelled as basic traits (e.g. extraversion)—are systematically linked to more specific characteristics (e.g. social attitudes and interests), the so–called basic traits do not appear to provide an essential basis (i.e. the more stable and genetically anchored source) for these characteristics. We argue for more integrative models of personality in adulthood. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology

Understanding Heritability: What it is and What it is Not

Commentators generally found our exposition of the concept of heritability helpful for psychologists, suggesting that we largely accomplished our primary goal. Many provided supplemental and helpful perspectives on concepts we addressed. A few of the comments indicated that we may not have been completely successful in making clear our secondary goal, which was to outline how heritability estimates confound a plethora of influences. In this response, we thus emphasize that we do not claim that specific kinds of complexity, or, even worse, intractable complexity, pervade the genetics of behavioural traits. Rather, our claim is that genetics is riddled with complexity of many degrees and kinds, and heritability is a poor indicator of either degree or kind of underlying genetic complexity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Family and School Psychosocial Environment (FSPE): development of a brief questionnaire measuring perceived psychosocial environments in children/siblings

The aim of the study was to develop a short Swedish standardized, factor analyzed and cross-validated, family and school psychosocial environment questionnaire (FSPE). The study was based on 244 Swedish girls and boys, 10-19 years old, who filled in the FSPE. Maximum likelihood factor analysis, promax rotation, yielded six primary factors, based on absolute ratings. Since the factors were somewhat correlated, two broader secondary factors, with satisfactory reliabilities, were also included in the form, named Warmth, support and openness from parents, siblings and peers, and Family conflicts and school discipline, respectively. Means and standard deviations for girls and boys showed sex differences in most of the factors. Because the children participated anonymously they could report about spanking without negative consequences. Indeed, 8.1% of the children had been spanked by their parents. Based on relative ratings, two factors were identified, covering environmental questions about "more than, the same as or less than" a sibling. Only 6.6% of the children rated their environment exactly the same on the Family Psychosocial Environment (FPE) factors, compared to a sibling within the family. Thus the majority reported environmental differences. Further research is proposed to evaluate such differences and relations to personality, genotype-environment correlation and genetic mediation.

Einflussfaktoren auf die Wahrnehmung von Führung

Führungsverhalten wird meistens anhand von Befragungen der Geführten erfasst. Eine häufig vernachlässigte Frage bezieht sich in diesem Zusammenhang darauf, inwieweit solche Befragungen das tatsächliche Verhalten der evaluierten Führungskraft oder vielmehr die Wahrnehmungsschemata und -stereotypen der Geführten widerspiegeln. Da Befragungen von Geführten oft als Ausgangspunkt für Feedback an eine Führungskraft und für deren Training verwendet werden, wären oben beschriebene Verzerrungstendenzen als problematisch anzusehen. Dieser Beitrag geht der Frage nach, welche Faktoren neben dem tatsächlichen Verhalten der eigenen Führungskraft die Wahrnehmung von Führungsverhalten beeinflussen. Die bisherige Forschung weist in diesem Zusammenhang auf drei wesentliche Faktoren hin: die Persönlichkeit der MitarbeiterInnen, ihre impliziten Führungstheorien und ihre aktuelle Stimmung. In der Diskussion werden Empfehlungen für zukünftige Forschung und die Praxis abgeleitet.

Applying the Cognitive-Affective Processing Systems Approach to Conceptualizing Rejection Sensitivity

The Cognitive-Affective Processing Systems or CAPS theory (Mischel & Shoda, 1995) was proposed to account for the processes that explain why and how people's behavior varies stably across situations. Research on Rejection Sensitivity is reviewed as a programmatic attempt to illustrate how personality dispositions can be studied within the CAPS framework. This research reveals an if … then … (e.g., if situation X, he does A, but if situation Y, he does B) pattern of rejection sensitivity such that high rejection sensitive people's goal to prevent rejection can lead to accommodating behavior; yet, the failure to achieve this goal can lead to aggression, reactivity, and lack of self-concept clarity. These situation-behavior relations or personality signatures reflect a stable activation network of distinctive personality processing dynamics. These dynamics link fears and expectations of rejection, perceptions/attributions of rejection, and affective/behavioral overreactions to perceived rejection. Self-regulatory and attentional mechanisms may interact with these dynamics as buffers against high rejection sensitivity, illustrating how multiple processes within a CAPS network play out in behavior.

The Behavioral Genetics of Personality Disorder

Behavioral genetics research has opened a new window on understanding personality disorder. The earliest studies were focused on establishing the relative contributions of genes and the environment in these disorders. Although these studies provided solid evidence of the importance of genetic and environmental influences on personality disorder and showed that all aspects of personality disorder are subject to genetic influence, heritability studies are limited because they are not helpful in explicating causal mechanisms. More recent research has focused on the relative contributions of the covariation of personality disorder diagnoses and traits, which allows one to examine etiological relationships. These developments are leading to major changes in ideas about what constitutes the environment and nature of the interplay between genes and environment. The present review examines major themes in this growing body of research in the context of current issues in the personality disorders.