scholarly journals A Mega-Analysis of Personality Prediction: Robustness and Boundary Conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emorie D Beck ◽  
Joshua James Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Curve Analysis ◽  
Sampling Strategies ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Powerful Predictor ◽  
Individual Participant ◽  
Personality Prediction

Decades of studies identify personality traits as an important predictor of life outcomes. However, previous investigations of personality-outcome associations have not taken a principled approach to covariate use or other sampling strategies to ensure the robustness of personality-outcome associations. The result is that it is unclear (1) whether personality predicts important outcomes after accounting for a range of background variables, (2) for whom and when personality predictions hold, and 3) which background variables are most important to account for. The present study examines the robustness and boundary conditions of personality prediction using the Big Five to predict 14 health, social, education/work, and societal outcomes across eight different person- and study-level moderators using individual participant data from 171,395 individuals across 10 longitudinal panel studies in a mega-analytic framework. Robustness and boundary conditions were systematically tested using two approaches: propensity score matching and specification curve analysis. Three findings emerged: First, personality traits remain a robust predictor of life outcomes. Second, the effects generalize, as there are few moderators of personality-outcome associations. Third, robustness was differential across covariate choice in nearly half of the tested models, with the inclusion or exclusion of some of these flipping the direction of association. In sum, personality is a powerful predictor of life outcomes with few moderated associations. However, researchers need to be careful in their choices of covariates. We discuss how these findings can inform personality prediction, as well as recommendations for covariate inclusion.

scholarly journals A Mega-Analysis of Personality Prediction: Robustness and Boundary Conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emorie D Beck ◽  
Joshua James Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Curve Analysis ◽  
Sampling Strategies ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Powerful Predictor ◽  
Individual Participant ◽  
Personality Prediction

Decades of studies identify personality traits as an important predictor of life outcomes. However, previous investigations of personality-outcome associations have not taken a principled approach to covariate use or other sampling strategies to ensure the robustness of personality-outcome associations. The result is that it is unclear (1) whether personality predicts important outcomes after accounting for a range of background variables, (2) for whom and when personality predictions hold, and 3) which background variables are most important to account for. The present study examines the robustness and boundary conditions of personality prediction using the Big Five to predict 14 health, social, education/work, and societal outcomes across eight different person- and study-level moderators using individual participant data from 171,395 individuals across 10 longitudinal panel studies in a mega-analytic framework. Robustness and boundary conditions were systematically tested using two approaches: propensity score matching and specification curve analysis. Three findings emerged: First, personality traits remain a robust predictor of life outcomes. Second, the effects generalize, as there are few moderators of personality-outcome associations. Third, robustness was differential across covariate choice in nearly half of the tested models, with the inclusion or exclusion of some of these flipping the direction of association. In sum, personality is a powerful predictor of life outcomes with few moderated associations. However, researchers need to be careful in their choices of covariates. We discuss how these findings can inform personality prediction, as well as recommendations for covariate inclusion.

scholarly journals A Mega-Analysis of Personality Prediction: Robustness and Boundary Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 564-564
Author(s):  
Joshua Jackson ◽  
Emorie Beck
Keyword(s):  
Propensity Score ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Personality Characteristic ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Individual Participant Data ◽  
Sampling Strategies ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Individual Participant ◽  
Personality Prediction

Abstract Decades of studies identify prospective associations between personality characteristics and life outcomes. However, previous investigations of personality characteristic-outcome associations have not taken a principled approach to sampling strategies to ensure the robustness of personality-outcome associations. In a preregistered study, we test whether and for whom personality-outcome associations are robust against selection bias using prospective associations between 14 personality characteristics and 14 health, social, education/work, and societal outcomes across eight different person- and study-level moderators using individual participant data from 171,395 individuals across 10 longitudinal panel studies in a mega-analytic framework with propensity score matching. Two findings emerged: First, personality characteristics remain robustly associated with later life outcomes. Second, the effects generalize, as there are few moderators of personality-outcome associations. In sum, personality characteristics are robustly associated with later life outcomes with few moderated associations. We discuss how these findings can inform studies of personality-outcome associations.

Do Links Between Personality and Life Outcomes Generalize? Testing the Robustness of Trait–Outcome Associations Across Gender, Age, Ethnicity, and Analytic Approaches

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Soto
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Big Five Personality Traits ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Representative Samples

The Big Five personality traits have been linked with a broad range of consequential life outcomes. The present research systematically tested whether such trait–outcome associations generalize across gender, age, ethnicity, and analytic approaches that control for demographic and personality covariates. Analyses of nationally representative samples from the Life Outcomes of Personality Replication project ( N = 6,126) indicated that (a) most trait–outcome associations do generalize across gender, age, and ethnicity; (b) controlling for overlap between personality traits substantially reduces the strength of many associations; and (c) several dozen trait–outcome associations proved highly generalizable across all analyses. These findings have important implications for evaluating the robustness of the personality–outcome literature, updating the canon of established trait–outcome associations, and conducting future research.

The Accuracy of Self-Judgments of Personality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana S. Spain
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Life Outcomes

How accurate are self-judgments of personality traits? When it comes to judging our own enduring personality characteristics, are we hopelessly blind, deluded, and biased, or are we generally accurate? In order to answer these questions, this chapter reviews the empirical evidence regarding the accuracy of trait self-judgments. Although self-judgments are not always perfectly accurate, the majority of studies suggest that self-judgments of personality have considerable validity. Self-judgments of both narrow, specific traits and the broad personality factors of the Big Five agree with judgments provided by knowledgeable others and predict personality-relevant states, experiences, behaviors, and consequential life outcomes. Suggestions for improving the accuracy of our self-judgments and directions for future research on the accuracy of trait self-judgments are discussed.

scholarly journals Trait Perspective

Psychology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Brent Donnellan ◽  
Christopher Hopwood
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Personality Assessment ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Common Structure ◽  
History Of ◽  
Controversial Topic

Personality traits, or relatively enduring and global patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving, are thought to be a foundational element of personality by many researchers. Gordon Allport is widely recognized as the founder of academic personality psychology, and his perspectives on the trait concept continue to be influential today. Following Allport, many contemporary trait psychologists theorize that traits are rooted in biological processes but shaped by life experiences. Moreover, contemporary trait psychologists believe personality traits have causal implications, meaning that they affect how individuals interpret and respond to the challenges of life as well as the responses that individuals evoke from others. To be sure, personality traits work together and in concert with situational factors to generate behavior, which is an idea with a long history in psychology. Despite the popularity of trait concepts in lay theories of human behavior, the existence and importance of personality traits has been a controversial topic in academic psychology. The goal of this bibliography is to introduce readers to the trait concept and to the debates surrounding personality traits by providing references to both classic and contemporary readings. The first sections (see General Overviews) provide references that give an overview of personality traits, cover issues in the concept of Defining Traits, and discuss the role of personality traits in the broader field of personality psychology. These introductory sections are followed by an overview of The Person-Situation Debate, a critical conflict in the history of trait psychology. We refer to classic readings in this debate and cover Responses to the Person-Situation Debate. These reactions to the person-situation debate have come to define, in part, how modern trait psychologists view their field. Trait psychology is often strongly identified with personality assessment; thus the next section in this bibliography covers issues in Assessing Personality Traits including measurement validity, reliability, and the utility of various measurement methods. Improvements in assessment have led to one of the major accomplishments in trait psychology: the delineation of a common structure for higher order personality traits in the form of the “Big Five” domains (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability or neuroticism, and openness). The next section includes readings on Evaluating the Structure of Personality Traits and includes papers from both proponents and critics of the Big Five/five-factor models. A major accomplishment following the person-situation debate was a more precise articulation of the developmental course, biological correlates, and impacts of traits for understanding adaptation across the lifespan. Thus, the final three sections include readings about Personality Trait Development Across the Lifespan, Biological Perspectives on Traits, and Personality Traits and Life Outcomes.

The finer details? The predictability of life outcomes from Big Five domains, facets, and nuances

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Stewart ◽  
René Mõttus ◽  
Christopher J. Soto ◽  
Anne Seeboth ◽  
Wendy Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Predictive Validity ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Large Dataset ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Variance Explained

Associations between personality traits and life outcomes are usually studied using the Big Five domains and, occasionally, their facets. But recent research suggests these associations may be driven by the items (reflecting nuances) chosen to measure these traits. Using a large dataset (N = 6,126), we examined associations with 53 self-reported outcomes using domains, facets and items (markers for nuances), training and validating models in different sample partitions. Facets better predicted outcomes than domains (on average, 18.0% vs 16.6% of variance explained), but items provided the most accurate predictions (on average 20.9%). Removing domain and facet variance from items had no effect on their predictive validity, suggesting that outcome-related information was present in items’ unique variances (nuances). Item-based prediction also showed the highest outcome-specificity (discriminant validity). These observations, replicating previous indications, suggest that personality traits’ associations with outcomes are often driven by narrow personality nuances.

scholarly journals The Big Five personality traits as determinants of teachers' achievement motivation

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-182
Author(s):  
Biljana Mirković ◽  
Ivana Zečević ◽  
Nela Marinković
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Achievement Motivation ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Goal Achievement ◽  
Big Five Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Powerful Predictor ◽  
Achievement Motive

Many studies have reported that motivated teachers put more effort in order to affect the behaviour of their students in the most desirable and positive manner and to transfer appropriate knowledge to their students. The objective of this study was to determine if the Big Five personality traits predict the achievement motive for teachers' work. The sample consisted of 732 teachers (75.4% female) from 25 Bosnia and Herzegovina elementary schools, and the Big Five Inventory and Achievement Motive Scale were used. The results of Regression Analysis show that personality traits explain 31% of the variance of the achievement motive total score. When it comes to components of the achievement motive, the Big Five personality traits explain 8% of the variance in competition with other people, 49% of the variance in persistence in goal achieving, 34% of the variance in goal achievement as a source of satisfaction, and 18% of the variance in orientation towards planning. Conscientiousness is the most powerful predictor of all components of the achievement motive, as well as of the achievement motive total score. Extraversion and openness are significant positive predictors of the following components: competition with other people, persistence in goal achieving and goal achievement as a source of satisfaction, and the total score for the achievement motive. Finally, the obtained results show that teachers' achievement motive has a significant personal background.

How Replicable Are Links Between Personality Traits and Consequential Life Outcomes? The Life Outcomes of Personality Replication Project

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 711-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Soto
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Individual Effects

The Big Five personality traits have been linked to dozens of life outcomes. However, metascientific research has raised questions about the replicability of behavioral science. The Life Outcomes of Personality Replication (LOOPR) Project was therefore conducted to estimate the replicability of the personality-outcome literature. Specifically, I conducted preregistered, high-powered (median N = 1,504) replications of 78 previously published trait–outcome associations. Overall, 87% of the replication attempts were statistically significant in the expected direction. The replication effects were typically 77% as strong as the corresponding original effects, which represents a significant decline in effect size. The replicability of individual effects was predicted by the effect size and design of the original study, as well as the sample size and statistical power of the replication. These results indicate that the personality-outcome literature provides a reasonably accurate map of trait–outcome associations but also that it stands to benefit from efforts to improve replicability.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document