A sixth personality domain that is independent of the Big Five domains: The psychometric properties of the HEXACO Personality Inventory in a Japanese sample

The effect of conversation on altruism: A comparative study with different media and generations

Despite the overwhelming evidence of climate change and its effects on future generations, most individuals are still hesitant to make environmental changes that would especially benefit future generations. In this study, we investigate whether dialogue can influence people's altruistic behavior toward future generations of humans, and how it may be affected by participant age and the appearance of the conversation partner. We used a human, an android robot called Telenoid, and a speaker as representatives of future generations. Participants were split among an old age group and a young age group and were randomly assigned to converse with one of the aforementioned representatives. We asked the participants to play a round of the Dictator Game with the representative they were assigned, followed by an interactive conversation and another round of the Dictator Game in order to gauge their level of altruism. The results show that, on average, participants gave more money after having an interactive conversation, and that older adults tend to give more money than young adults. There were no significant differences between the three representatives. The results show that empathy might have been the most important factor in the increase in altruistic behavior for all participants.

Modeling personality antecedents and second language self-efficacy constructs with emerging adults in Japan: Domain-specific matching for assessing global competence in applied contexts

Introduction

Research on self-efficacy in intercultural communication (SEIC) provided validity evidence for second language (L2) self-efficacy domains. However, it lacked (1) an analysis of individual differences in personality as antecedents, (2) divergent validity from anxiety variables (i.e., foreign language classroom anxiety; FLCA), and (3) disambiguation from speaking (S-SE) and listening (L-SE) skill-specific self-efficacy types.

Methods

We conducted structural equation modeling of L2 self-efficacy and anxiety as response variables predicted by the Big Five model of personality in the context of Japanese undergraduate students at three university sites (n = 373), and a geographically diverse online survey of emerging adults (n = 1,326) throughout Japan.

Results

The final model for the nationally representative sample showed that SEIC was predicted by all identified personality factors. Differentially supported paths were observed linking L-SE with Conscientiousness (β = 0.24) and Extraversion (β = 0.16), and S-SE with Extraversion (β = 0.24) and Neuroticism (β = -0.12). The fear of failure factor of FLCA was predicted positively by Neuroticism (β = 0.25) and, surprisingly, Conscientiousness (β = 0.10), and negatively by Extraversion (β = -0.13). Relationships to Openness to Experience were only supported for SEIC (β = 0.17) and S-SE (β = 0.12).

Discussion

These findings provide specificity matching for personality and L2 self-efficacy domains as empirical advances for assessing global competence within the context of Japan. Implications for cultural influences on self-efficacy and applied educational practices in language and intercultural learning are discussed.

Explainable Personality Prediction Using Answers to Open-Ended Interview Questions

In this work, we demonstrate how textual content from answers to interview questions related to past behavior and situational judgement can be used to infer personality traits. We analyzed responses from over 58,000 job applicants who completed an online text-based interview that also included a personality questionnaire based on the HEXACO personality model to self-rate their personality. The inference model training utilizes a fine-tuned version of InterviewBERT, a pre-trained Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model extended with a large interview answer corpus of over 3 million answers (over 330 million words). InterviewBERT is able to better contextualize interview responses based on the interview specific knowledge learnt from the answer corpus in addition to the general language knowledge already encoded in the initial pre-trained BERT. Further, the "Attention-based" learning approaches in InterviewBERT enable the development of explainable personality inference models that can address concerns of model explainability, a frequently raised issue when using machine learning models. We obtained an average correlation of r = 0.37 (p < 0.001) across the six HEXACO dimensions between the self-rated and the language-inferred trait scores with the highest correlation of r = 0.45 for Openness and the lowest of r = 0.28 for Agreeableness. We also show that the mean differences in inferred trait scores between male and female groups are similar to that reported by others using standard self-rated item inventories. Our results show the potential of using InterviewBERT to infer personality in an explainable manner using only the textual content of interview responses, making personality assessments more accessible and removing the subjective biases involved in human interviewer judgement of candidate personality.

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.

Narcissism in independent and interdependent cultures

Narcissism can manifest in a grandiose form – admiration-seeking, exhibitionism, and dominance – or a vulnerable form – anxiety, withdrawal, and hypersensitivity. While grandiose narcissism is conceptually in line with an independent self-construal, as prevalent in Western countries, the vulnerable form can be assumed to relate more to an interdependent self-construal, as prevalent in Eastern countries. We studied both forms of narcissism in Germany and Japan (Ns = 258, 280), which differ fundamentally in their independent and interdependent self-construal, yet are similar regarding global developmental standards. We tested whether (1) mean differences in both narcissism forms would conform to the predominant self-construal, (2) self-construal would explain variance in narcissism beyond broad personality traits, and (3) there would be stronger mental health tradeoffs for culturally incongruent forms of narcissism. Our results largely confirm these expectations for vulnerable narcissism, which is (1) more prevalent in Japan than Germany, (2) related to self-construal beyond broad traits, and, (3) more strongly related to mental health problems in Germany than Japan. For grandiose narcissism, data analyses indicated that construct equivalence can only be assumed for the entitlement factor, and internal structure and nomological networks differ substantially between cultural contexts.

Modularity of the Personality Network

Abstract. The Five Factor Model (FFM) is the most widely used personality model; it proposes a hierarchical structure of personality with personality characteristics, facets, and factors. An increasing number of studies have challenged the FFM and a plethora of factor models with varying numbers of facets and factors have been proposed, leading to uncertainties about the structure of personality. The networked system of interactions between personality characteristics has stimulated promising progresses, however, the methodological developments needed to map the topological structure and functional organization remain scarce. This study aims to explore the hierarchical modular structure of the personality network and the functional role of personality characteristics. A sample of 345,780 individuals ( Mage = 24.99, SDage = 10.00; 59.18% female) that completed the International Personality Item Pool – NEO-120 in a previous study was reanalyzed. A non-regularized method was used to estimate the personality network and ModuLand was used to characterize its modular structure. Results revealed a modular structure comprising three levels: one level with the 120 personality characteristics, a second level with 35 modules, and a third with 9 modules. Such results suggest that specific personality characteristics and modules have specialized roles in the topological structure of the personality network.

The Nomological Net of the HEXACO Model of Personality: A Large-Scale Meta-Analytic Investigation

Based on lexical studies, the HEXACO (honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) model of personality has been proposed as a model of basic personality structure that summarizes individual differences in six broad trait dimensions. Although research across various fields relies on the HEXACO model increasingly, a comprehensive investigation of the nomological net of the HEXACO dimensions is missing entirely. Thus, it remains unclear whether each HEXACO dimension accounts for individual variation across theoretically relevant outcome criteria. We close this gap through a large-scale meta-analytic investigation, testing whether each HEXACO dimension is uniquely linked to one broad and theoretically relevant outcome domain. Results from 426 individual meta-analyses, 436 independent samples, and 3,893 effect-size estimates corroborate this unique mapping. Specifically, honesty-humility maps onto the outcome domain of exploitation, emotionality onto insecurity, extraversion onto sociality, agreeableness versus anger onto obstruction, conscientiousness onto duty, and openness to experience onto exploration. Overall, the current investigation provides a comprehensive empirical test of the (breadth of) content captured by the HEXACO dimensions and allows for a broad specification of the nomological net of the HEXACO model overall.

Personality Change in Middle Adulthood: With Focus on Differential Susceptibility

Little attention has been paid to middle adulthood in research on personality stability and change. In addition, previous research on individual differences in personality change has not fully explained its variability. This study focused on the differential susceptibility model, which suggests that individual susceptibility interacts with environmental factors and produces variability in outcomes, and investigated individual differences in personality change with a middle adult sample. A total of 1051 Japanese middle adults (M = 41.61 years; SD = 5.31; range 30-50 years; 534 females) participated in this two-wave short-term longitudinal study. Latent change score model analyses revealed substantial mean-level declines in Agreeableness and Honesty-Humility. Moreover, the results showed that the influences of some life events on personality change are moderated for better and for worse by individual susceptibility to one's environment. These findings suggest that the trends of personality development may differ between Western and non-Western countries and that differential susceptibility model may play an important role in deriving individual differences in personality stability and change.

Accounting for Individual Differences in Decision-Making Competence: Personality and Gender Differences

Emerging research has highlighted the utility of measuring individual differences in decision-making competence (DMC), showing that consistently following normatively rational principles is associated with positive psychosocial and health behaviors. From another level of analysis, functional theories of personality suggest that broad trait dimensions represent variation in underlying self-regulatory systems, providing a mechanistic account for robust associations between traits and similar life outcomes. Yet, the degree to which broad dispositional personality dimensions predict global tendencies to respond rationally is less understood. In a large online community sample (N = 804), we tested the associations between HEXACO personality dimensions, a 6-factor structural trait model, and a subset of DMC indicators (Applying Decision Rules, Resistance to Framing, Recognizing Social Norms, and Consistency in Risk Perception). Additionally, we examined gender differences across the DMC, first considering the potential for measurement non-invariance across groups for the DMC. We observed partial measurement invariance between men and women; only the Applying Decision Rules scale showed evidence of differential functioning across groups. Controlling for these differences, analyses revealed that higher Conscientiousness, Honesty/Humility, and Openness were associated with higher DMC scores. In contrast, Emotionality and Extraversion demonstrated gender-specific associations. Specifically, low Extraversion was associated with higher DMC scores for men, whereas higher Emotionality was associated with higher DMC scores for women. Our results suggest that traits related to self-regulatory functions of cognitive and behavioral control, and cognitive flexibility are associated with an increased tendency to engage in rational thought.