Judging What Others Enjoy: Desirability and Observability of Interests

2021 ◽  
pp. 106907272110558
Author(s):  
Miranda M. McIntyre

Interests guide major life decisions such as choosing a career path, yet little is known about the subjective characteristics of individual differences in interests. Prior research on personality traits has demonstrated that subjective trait perceptions influence the validity and reliability of personality assessments. The current work expands the study of these subjective characteristics to individual differences in interests. Desirability and observability were assessed among 13 constructs: person orientation, thing orientation, RIASEC career interests, and Big Five traits. Judgments of interest dimensions varied considerably, with socially-related interests rated more desirable than thing-related interests. Some career-related interests were low in observability, and thus may be susceptible to being overlooked or categorized inaccurately. The patterns observed in interest characteristics were comparable to patterns in career choice hit rates, occupational prestige, and self-other convergence. The findings advance knowledge of differences between interest dimensions and suggest that subjective perceptions should be considered in interest assessment.

Author(s):  
Amanda Friesen

Individual differences in personality, religiosity, and political dispositions often are explained in conjunction with one another. Though the religious and political may share common themes of meaning-making, group identity, and societal organization, personality also influences these orientations. Specifically, the Big Five traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability) and authoritarianism demonstrate consistent relationships with religious/ political beliefs and behaviors. Personality is often thought of as the first mover to develop with an individual before exposure to the other two domains, leading to a conceptual influence model of: personality → religiosity → politics. Using longitudinal studies and genetically informed samples, however, some scholars suggest that these dispositions influence one another and could develop concurrently within individuals. Examining the measured boundaries and relationships between the three domains suggests these dispositions comprise an individual’s personhood, and the varied expression of traits, beliefs, and behaviors are somewhat dependent on culture and context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-35
Author(s):  
Nathan N. Cheek ◽  
Julie K. Norem

Anchoring, the assimilation of judgments to previously considered values, is one of the most robust findings in psychology, and researchers have been increasingly interested in finding individual difference moderators of anchoring effects. Several investigations have examined the relation between Big Five traits and anchoring susceptibility, but previous studies have produced a confusing and contradictory pattern of results. We identify limitations of previous work and report a large preregistered study ( N = 945) to test whether Big Five traits and facets relate to anchoring. We find no significant relations between any traits or facets and anchoring susceptibility. We discuss the implications of our results and future directions for research on individual differences in anchoring susceptibility.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter K. Jonason ◽  
Ashley N. Lavertu

How do individual differences in personality and sexuality relate to social attitudes? We contend that personality traits and sexual orientation are descriptions of underlying biases (e.g., perceptual) that exert top-down influences into all of life's domains including social attitudes. The present study (N=200 women) examined individual differences in sex-based and race-based social attitudes as a function of the Big Five traits, the Dark Triad traits, and sexual orientation. We found that affiliative-based motivations in the form of agreeableness, openness, and narcissism predicted the desire and tendency to affiliate with other women. We also found fear-based (i.e., neuroticism) and entitlement-based (i.e., narcissism) traits were associated with efforts towards political action for gender equality. We found a "go-along" disposition (i.e., agreeableness and openness) was associated with greater endorsement of traditional gender roles. We replicated associations between the Big Five traits (i.e., openness and agreeableness) and race-based social attitudes. Uniquely, Machiavellianism was associated with more race-based social attitudes but with diminished endorsement of traditional gender roles. And last, we suggest that experienced discrimination among bisexual women may lead them to be less likely to hold both undesirable race-based and sex-based social attitudes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 207-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary K. Rothbart

Understanding temperament is central to our understanding of development, and temperament constructs are linked to individual differences in both personality and underlying neural function. In this article, I review findings on the structure of temperament, its relation to the Big Five traits of personality, and its links to development and psychopathology. In addition, I discuss the relation of temperament to conscience, empathy, aggression, and the development of behavior problems, and describe the relation between effortful control and neural networks of executive attention. Finally, I present research on training executive attention.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hosam Al-Samarraie ◽  
Samer Muthana Sarsam ◽  
Ahmed Ibrahim Alzahrani ◽  
Nasser Alalwan

Author(s):  
Travis J. Miller ◽  
Daniel J. Ozer

Abstract. The Day Evaluation Q-sort (DEQ) is a measure designed to describe the day as it is experienced. In two undergraduate samples ( Ns = 472 and 302), this research explores how the day is described, and how the evaluation of the day relates to personality attributes and to time spent in various daily activities. We find that individuals tend to describe their days as generally positive and productive, and that day evaluations are related to psychological attributes (Big Five traits, affect, and well-being) and time use. Day evaluations are not simply a reflection of the activities that make up the day. Two people spending their time similarly may evaluate the day differently. The DEQ is presented as a measure of day evaluations that captures variation in the way the day is experienced. These differences relate meaningfully to individual differences and how time is spent throughout the day.


2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Abstract. This study examines the relationship between students' personality and intelligence scores with their preferences for the personality profile of their lecturers. Student ratings (N = 136) of 30 lecturer trait characteristics were coded into an internally reliable Big Five taxonomy ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ). Descriptive statistics showed that, overall, students tended to prefer conscientious, open, and stable lecturers, though correlations revealed that these preferences were largely a function of students' own personality traits. Thus, open students preferred open lecturers, while agreeable students preferred agreeable lecturers. There was evidence of a similarity effect for both Agreeableness and Openness. In addition, less intelligent students were more likely to prefer agreeable lecturers than their more intelligent counterparts were. A series of regressions showed that individual differences are particularly good predictors of preferences for agreeable lecturers, and modest, albeit significant, predictors of preferences for open and neurotic lecturers. Educational and vocational implications are considered.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-93
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Cucina ◽  
Nicholas L. Vasilopoulos ◽  
Arwen H. DeCostanza

Abstract. Varimax rotated principal component scores (VRPCS) have previously been offered as a possible solution to the non-orthogonality of scores for the Big Five factors. However, few researchers have examined the reliability and validity of VRPCS. To address this gap, we use a lab study and a field study to investigate whether using VRPCS increase orthogonality, reliability, and criterion-related validity. Compared to the traditional unit-weighting scoring method, the use of VRPCS enhanced the reliability and discriminant validity of the Big Five factors, although there was little improvement in criterion-related validity. Results are discussed in terms of the benefit of using VRPCS instead of traditional unit-weighted sum scores.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 284-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekka Weidmann ◽  
Thomas Ledermann ◽  
Alexander Grob

Abstract. Personality has been found to play an important role in predicting satisfaction in couples. This review presents dyadic research on the association between Big Five traits and both life and relationship satisfaction in couples focusing on self-reported personality, partner-perceived personality (how the partner rates one’s own personality), and personality similarity. Furthermore, special attention is given to possible gender effects. The findings indicate the importance of self-reported as well as partner-perceived reported personality for the satisfaction of both partners. Specifically, the majority of studies found intrapersonal and interpersonal effects for neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness on life or relationship satisfaction. For the partner-perceived personality, intrapersonal and interpersonal effects were present for all Big Five traits. Partners’ similarity in personality traits seems not to be related with their satisfaction when controlling for partners’ personality.


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