Different Games for Different Motives: Comment on Haesevoets, Folmer, and Van Hiel (2015)

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Thielmann ◽  
Robert Böhm ◽  
Benjamin E. Hilbig
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
European Association ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Economic Games ◽  
Game Theoretic

Recently, Haesevoets, Folmer, and Van Hiel (2015) strongly questioned the comparability and equivalence of different mixed–motive situations as modelled in economic games. Particularly, the authors found that different game correlated only weakly on average and loaded on two separate factors. In turn, personality traits failed to consistently account for behavioural tendencies across games. Contrary to the conclusions of Haesevoets et al., these findings are actually perfectly in line with the game–theoretic understanding of the different economic games. If one considers the variety of specific motives underlying decisions in different games, Haesevoets et al.'s findings actually support the validity of different games rather than questioning it. This, in turn, emphasizes the necessity for the plethora of different games that have been developed over decades in economics and psychology. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Does Cooperation in the Laboratory Reflect the Operation of A Broad Trait?

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H.B. McAuliffe ◽  
Daniel E. Forster ◽  
Eric J. Pedersen ◽  
Michael E. McCullough
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Dictator Game ◽  
Bifactor Model ◽  
Trust Game ◽  
General Factor ◽  
Valid Measure ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Economic Games ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Self Assessments

The Dictator Game, a face valid measure of altruism, and the Trust Game, a face valid measure of trust and trustworthiness, are among the most widely used behavioural measures in human cooperation research. Researchers have observed considerable covariation among these and other economic games, leading them to assert that there exists a general human propensity to cooperate that varies in strength across individuals and manifests itself across a variety of social settings. To formalize this hypothesis, we created an S–1 bifactor model using 276 participants’ Dictator Game and Trust Game decisions. The general factor had significant, moderate associations with self–reported and peer–reported altruism, trust, and trustworthiness. Thus, the positive covariation among economic games is not reducible to the games’ shared situational features. Two hundred participants returned for a second session. The general factor based on Dictator Game and Trust Game decisions from this session did not significantly predict self–reported and peer–reported cooperation, suggesting that experience with economic games causes them to measure different traits from those that are reflected in self–assessments and peer–assessments of cooperativeness. © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Situational Affordances for Prosocial Behaviour: On the Interaction between Honesty–Humility and (Perceived) Interdependence

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 655-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Columbus ◽  
Isabel Thielmann ◽  
Daniel Balliet
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Prosocial Behaviour ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Economic Games ◽  
Sampling Studies ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
High Conflict ◽  
Situational Affordances

Individual differences in prosocial behaviour are well–documented. Increasingly, there has been a focus on the specific situations in which particular personality traits predict prosocial behaviour. HEXACO Honesty–Humility—the basic trait most consistently linked to prosocial behaviour in prior studies—has been found to predict prosociality most strongly in situations that afford the exploitation of others. Importantly, though, it may be the subjectively perceived situation that affords the behavioural expression of a trait. Following this reasoning, we tested the proposition that Honesty–Humility would predict prosocial behaviour more strongly in situations characterised by, and perceived to contain, two dimensions of interdependence that can afford exploitation: high conflict and high power. However, across a series of incentivised economic games and two large experience sampling studies, we only found inconsistent evidence for the association between Honesty–Humility and prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, the link between Honesty–Humility and prosociality was neither conditional on objective interdependence nor on subjective perceptions of interdependence. Nonetheless, perceptions of conflict and power tracked objective properties of economic games and were related to prosocial behaviour in the lab and field. Future research should take individuals’ subjective understanding of situations into account, which may also help understand the (generalisability of the) effect of Honesty–Humility on prosocial behaviour. © 2019 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies—A Framework for Studying Personality Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiebke Bleidorn ◽  
Christopher J. Hopwood ◽  
Mitja D. Back ◽  
Jaap J.A. Denissen ◽  
Marie Hennecke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
European Association ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Personality Change ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Research Paradigms ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Work And Health

The importance of personality for predicting life outcomes in the domains of love, work, and health is well established, as is evidence that personality traits, while relatively stable, can change. However, little is known about the sources and processes that drive changes in personality traits and how such changes might impact important life outcomes. In this paper, we make the case that the research paradigms and methodological approaches commonly used in personality psychology need to be revised to advance our understanding of the sources and processes of personality change. We propose Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies as a framework for studying personality change that can address the limitations of current methods, and we discuss strategies for overcoming some of the challenges associated with Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Towards More Rigorous Personality Trait–Outcome Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 292-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Mõttus
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Personality Trait ◽  
Outcome Research ◽  
European Association ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Factor Loadings ◽  
Personality Research ◽  
Trait Level

Much of personality research attempts to identify causal links between personality traits and various types of outcomes. I argue that causal interpretations require traits to be seen as existentially and holistically real and the associations to be independent of specific ways of operationalizing the traits. Among other things, this means that, to the extents that causality is to be ascribed to such holistic traits, items and facets of those traits should be similarly associated with specific outcomes, except for variability in the degrees to which they reflect the traits (i.e. factor loadings). I argue that, before drawing causal inferences about personality trait–outcome associations, the presence of this condition should be routinely tested by, for example, systematically comparing the outcome associations of individual items or facets, or sampling different indicators for measuring the same purported traits. Existing evidence suggests that observed associations between personality traits and outcomes at least sometimes depend on which particular items or facets have been included in trait operationalizations, calling trait–level causal interpretations into question. However, this has rarely been considered in the literature. I argue that when outcome associations are specific to facets, they should not be generalized to traits. Furthermore, when the associations are specific to particular items, they should not even be generalized to facets. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology

Personality Traits Predict Smartphone Usage

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 701-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Stachl ◽  
Sven Hilbert ◽  
Jiew–Quay Au ◽  
Daniel Buschek ◽  
Alexander De Luca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
European Association ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Predictive Performance ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Data Logging ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Actual Behaviour

The present study investigates to what degree individual differences can predict frequency and duration of actual behaviour, manifested in mobile application (app) usage on smartphones. In particular, this work focuses on the identification of stable associations between personality on the factor and facet level, fluid intelligence, demography and app usage in 16 distinct categories. A total of 137 subjects (87 women and 50 men), with an average age of 24 ( SD = 4.72), participated in a 90–min psychometric lab session as well as in a subsequent 60–day data logging study in the field. Our data suggest that personality traits predict mobile application usage in several specific categories such as communication, photography, gaming, transportation and entertainment. Extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness are better predictors of mobile application usage than basic demographic variables in several distinct categories. Furthermore, predictive performance is slightly higher for single factor—in comparison with facet–level personality scores. Fluid intelligence and demographics additionally show stable associations with categorical app usage. In sum, this study demonstrates how individual differences can be effectively related to actual behaviour and how this can assist in understanding the behavioural underpinnings of personality. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Affect, Behaviour, Cognition and Desire in the Big Five: An Analysis of Item Content and Structure

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Wilt ◽  
William Revelle
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
European Association ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Big Five Traits ◽  
Conceptual Definition ◽  
Item Content ◽  
Definition Of

Personality psychology is concerned with affect (A), behaviour (B), cognition (C) and desire (D), and personality traits have been defined conceptually as abstractions used to either explain or summarise coherent ABC (and sometimes D) patterns over time and space. However, this conceptual definition of traits has not been reflected in their operationalisation, possibly resulting in theoretical and practical limitations to current trait inventories. Thus, the goal of this project was to determine the affective, behavioural, cognitive and desire (ABCD) components of Big–Five personality traits. The first study assessed the ABCD content of items measuring Big–Five traits in order to determine the ABCD composition of traits and identify items measuring relatively high amounts of only one ABCD content. The second study examined the correlational structure of scales constructed from items assessing ABCD content via a large, web–based study. An assessment of Big–Five traits that delineates ABCD components of each trait is presented, and the discussion focuses on how this assessment builds upon current approaches of assessing personality. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

Relationships between Dimensions of Impulsivity and Prospective Memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Cuttler ◽  
Debra O'Connell ◽  
David K. Marcus
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
European Association ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Challenging Tasks ◽  
Memory Questionnaire ◽  
Prospective Memory Performance

Prospective memory refers to the ability to plan and execute future intentions. A burgeoning body of research indicates that a significant proportion of the variability in prospective memory performance can be accounted for by personality traits, with two recent studies revealing that the various dimensions of impulsivity measured by the Barratt Impulsivity Scale–11 (BIS–11) are related to prospective memory failures. The present study was conducted to examine which dimensions of impulsivity indexed by the BIS–11 and UPPS–P relate to prospective memory failures and which dimensions of impulsivity contribute unique variance in the prediction of prospective memory failures. A large sample ( N = 662) of students completed the BIS–11, UPPS–P, Prospective Memory Questionnaire and a habitual prospective memory test. Consistent correlations between six of the seven measures of impulsivity and prospective memory failures were found. Regression analyses further revealed that lack of perseverance, emotional urgency and attentional impulsivity were reliable and unique predictors of prospective memory failures. Thus, difficulty remaining focused on tasks (especially long, boring or difficult tasks); lack of forethought, planning and distaste for challenging tasks; and tendencies to behave impulsively under conditions of strong affect relate most strongly to prospective memory failures. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Lead Us (Not) into Temptation: Testing the Motivational Mechanisms Linking Honesty–Humility to Cooperation

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin E. Hilbig ◽  
Pascal J. Kieslich ◽  
Felix Henninger ◽  
Isabel Thielmann ◽  
Ingo Zettler
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
European Association ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Cooperative Behaviour ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Economic Games ◽  
The Past ◽  
Person Game ◽  
Hexaco Model ◽  
Shed Light

Over the past decades, there has been considerable interest in individual differences in cooperative behaviour and how these can be explained. Whereas the Honesty–Humility dimension from the HEXACO model of personality has been identified as a consistent predictor of cooperation, the underlying motivational mechanisms of this association have remained unclear—especially given the confound between the temptation to exploit others and the fear of being exploited as motivational drivers of defection in social dilemmas. In a reanalysis and a new experiment, we tease apart these mechanisms by manipulating the rank order of pay–offs in a symmetric two–person game paradigm, essentially implementing the classic prisoner's dilemma, stag hunt, and chicken games. Results revealed that Honesty–Humility predicted cooperation specifically in the games in which temptation was a potential motivator of defection, whereas it did not account for cooperation in those games in which only fear implied defection. Our findings thereby shed light on the underlying motivational mechanisms of the Honesty–Humility–cooperation link and, more generally, demonstrate how economic games can be used to disentangle such mechanisms. Copyright © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology

Contextualized Personality, beyond Traits

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 310-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Dunlop
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
European Association ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Life Narratives ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Functional Relations ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Made In

Personality psychologists have become increasingly interested in how personality varies across social roles. Within this ‘contextualized’ approach, researchers almost invariably focus on assessing personality traits. Although these characteristics are no doubt important components of personality, there are many aspects of the person that are not adequately represented by traits. This article fleshes out the nature of these additional personality characteristics relevant to contextualized personality. I argue that, just as the study of personality in its generalized form has benefitted from recognition of three conceptual levels (viz. traits, goals and life narratives), so too would contextualized approaches to personality. Evidence of the predictive ability of context–specific goals and narratives is provided, as is discussion of the functional relations among variables at personality's three conceptual levels, and the interplay between contextualized and generalized self–representations. During this discussion, I argue for adoption of a relational meta–theory in the study of personality. Considerable gains can be made in understanding personhood by uniting appreciation of context with a multilevel conception of personality. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

Personality in Action: Assessing Personality to Identify an ‘Ideal’ Conscientious Response Type with Two Different Behavioural Tasks

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 808-825
Author(s):  
Gabriela Gniewosz ◽  
Tuulia M. Ortner ◽  
Thomas Scherndl
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Cognitive Styles ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Subjective Response ◽  
Response Type ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Typological Approach ◽  
Related Response

Performance on achievement tests is characterized by an interplay of different individual attributes such as personality traits, motivation or cognitive styles. However, the prediction of individuals’ performance from classical self–report personality measures obtained during large and comprehensive aptitude assessments is biased by, for example, subjective response tendencies. This study goes beyond by using behavioural data based on two different types of tasks, requiring different conscientious–related response behaviours. Moreover, a typological approach is proposed, which includes different behavioural indicators to obtain information on complex personality characteristics. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology

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