Niche diversity influences psychometric properties of a brief personality scale – evidence from representative samples during the COVID-19 pandemic

Recent studies using more diverse samples have questioned the applicability of the Big Five. It needs to be shown how robust measures of the big five are and whether any deviations are systematic or random. We present validity information on a ten-item personality measure applied to population samples in 16 nations during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (N=35,052). Overall, we found poor replicability and low reliability of the five-factor structure of personality. We then test whether variation is systematically related to ecological, economic or stress-related variables. Personality structure replicability measured via averaged Tucker’s Φ values was correlated with niche diversity data (Human development index, rate of urbanization, diversity of export goods) and national wealth, but not reliably related with COVID-19 (gross domestic product per capita). and death rates per million citizens during the study period. These patterns overall suggest that a) personality structure in brief measures need to be carefully tested prior to any substantive interpretations of the personality data and b) that systematic socioecological factors have an impact on survey responses to personality inventories.

Relationships Among Personality, Daily Speaking Voice Use, and Phonotrauma in Adult Female Singers

Purpose This study sought to determine whether personality traits related to extraversion and impulsivity are more strongly associated with singers with nodules compared to vocally healthy singers and to understand the relationship between personality and the types of daily speaking voice use. Method Weeklong ambulatory voice recordings and personality inventories were obtained for 47 female singers with nodules and 47 vocally healthy female singers. Paired t tests investigated trait differences between groups. Relationships between traits and weeklong speaking voice measures (vocal dose, sound pressure level [SPL], neck surface acceleration magnitude [NSAM], fundamental frequency, cepstral peak prominence [CPP], and the ratio of the first two harmonic magnitudes [ H 1 –H 2 ]) were examined using pairwise Pearson r coefficients. Multiple regressions were performed to estimate voice parameters that correlated with two or more traits. Results Singers with nodules scored higher on the Social Potency scale (reflecting a tendency toward social dominance) and lower on the Control scale (reflecting impulsivity) compared to the vocally healthy singers. In vocally healthy singers, vocal dose measures were positively correlated with a combination of Wellbeing (i.e., happiness) and Social Potency, mean SPL was positively correlated with Wellbeing, SPL variability was positively correlated with Social Potency and negatively with Harm Avoidance, and CPP mean was positively correlated with Wellbeing. Singers with nodules had a negative correlation between NSAM skewness and Social Potency. Both groups had negative correlations between H 1 –H 2 mean and Social Potency and Social Closeness. Conclusions Singers with nodules are more socially dominant and impulsive than vocally healthy singers. Personality traits are related to daily speaking voice use, particularly in vocally healthy singers. Individuals with higher levels of traits related to happiness and social dominance and lower Harm Avoidance tended to speak more, with higher laryngeal forces, with more SPL variability, and with more pressed glottal closure, which could increase risk of phonotrauma.

A Meta-Analysis of the Faking Resistance of Forced-Choice Personality Inventories

This study presents a comprehensive meta-analysis on the faking resistance of forced-choice (FC) inventories. The results showed that (1) FC inventories show resistance to faking behavior; (2) the magnitude of faking is higher in experimental contexts than in real-life selection processes, suggesting that the effects of faking may be, in part, a laboratory phenomenon; and (3) quasi-ipsative FC inventories are more resistant to faking than the other FC formats. Smaller effect sizes were found for conscientiousness when the quasi-ipsative format was used (δ = 0.49 vs. δ = 1.27 for ipsative formats). Also, the effect sizes were smaller for the applicant samples than for the experimental samples. Finally, the contributions and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Open-Source Personality Trait Norms for the United Kingdom and Ireland

Most copyrighted personality inventories facilitate norm-referencing through illustrative tables, yet their application to the many fields relevant to personality measurement is constrained by the need for stakeholders to possess the requisite financial resources to access them. Using an IPIP-NEO-300 dataset from Johnson’s IPIP-NEO data repository, we created open-source norm tables for different age groups (14–17 years; 18–25 years; and 30+ years) within a combined standardization sample from the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland ( N = 18,591). The newly created tables are freely available online ( https://osf.io/tbmh5 ), and there is no need to ask for permission to modify them. We provide general instructions that can be used to create open-source personality trait norms for other countries, settings, and age groups, as well as gender-specific norms. There is great potential for these norms to be used in various settings and their open-source freedoms may encourage future collaborations and investigations.

Personality Profile and Low Back Pain: Are Clinicians Missing an Important Factor That Influences Pain Perception and Treatment Options?

Personality type can influence pain perception and prognosis. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to consider personality factors that may influence outcomes and understand personality inventories to garner a better understanding of how an individual may perceive pain. This paper explores different elements that contribute to low back pain (LBP) and evaluates a personality inventory reported in the medical literature. Understanding how to evaluate personality type as well as how to approach clinical interactions based on personality may help to provide context for the unique needs of individual patients when developing a plan of care to treat LBP.

Proximity of Items Does Not Necessarily Affect Their Correlation

In this paper, we attempted to detect the effect of provided answers on those that succeed them, the “item proximity effect,” within a questionnaire with randomized item order for each respondent. In two studies, we administered personality inventories to two samples of mostly undergraduate students, consisting of 742 and 205 respondents, respectively. We expected to see a strong item proximity effect that quickly diminishes with higher item distances, but we found no evidence of such effect in the data. Thus, we failed to conceptually replicate the findings of previous studies. After discussing the probable causes for these discrepancies, we argue that a general item proximity effect does not need to be considered a major factor when employing and evaluating common psychological inventories with randomized item order for research purposes.

Assessing malingering in dissociative identity disorder: A case report and literature review

Dissociative identity disorder (DID), formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is characterised by two or more identities that control a patient’s actions, each typically with a distinct personal history, self-awareness, and name. They are believed to be the result of trauma-related dissociative defence mechanisms. Substantial progress has been made to determine the cognitive, neural, and psychometric signatures of dissociative identities. However, tools to discriminate genuine DID individuals from malingerers are still lacking. Here, we review the empirical attempts that have been made to detect malingerers of DID. Additionally, we present the case of a DID patient who exhibited nine different identities. After clinically ruling out malingering and factitious behaviour, we assessed her primary identity and two alternate identities (a trauma identity and an avoidant identity) using the Millon Index of Personality Styles. We found three very distinct personality profiles, with evident differences between primary and trauma identities. The profiles had high consistency scores and moderate to low negative and positive impression scores, respectively, thus supporting the profile’s validity for interpretation. Future studies should employ personality inventories that go beyond psychopathological symptoms to describe the consistency and adaptation style of dissociative identities when assessing malingering.

The meaning of momentary psychotic-like experiences in a non-clinical sample: a personality perspective

The relationships between Momentary Psychotic-Like Experiences (MPLEs) and HEXACO - complemented by the proneness to PLEs conceptualized as a basic personality trait (Disintegration), and a maladaptive trait (PID-5 Psychoticism) - were investigated in a prospective study that includes experience-sampling methodology (ESM). The main goal was to investigate whether MPLEs are better predicted by HEXACO or measures of the dispositional proneness to PLEs. A sample of 180 participants assessed MPLEs and affective states they experienced in the previous two-hours, twice per day, with randomly set assessment time-points, during seven days, by using ESM. Personality inventories were administered to them 1-2 months earlier. MPLEs were found to be better predicted by the measures of dispositional tendencies toward PLE than by the HEXACO, no matter whether it was broadly defined as the nine-faceted general tendency toward PLEs (Disintegration), or narrowly as three-faceted positive psychotic-like symptoms of maladaptive personality tendencies (PID 5 - Psychoticism).