How Personality Relates to Attitudes Toward Diversity and Workplace Diversity Initiatives

The present research examined how the Big Five traits Openness to Experience and Agreeableness predicted general attitudes toward diversity (Study 1) and receptivity to concrete diversity initiatives in the workplace (Study 2). Study 1 found that Openness to Experience positively predicted universal diverse orientation, but not pro-diversity belief or sensitivity to diversity. Agreeableness positively predicted universal diverse orientation and pro-diversity belief. In Study 2, Openness to Experience positively predicted universal diverse orientation, but not support for workplace diversity initiatives. Agreeableness positively predicted universal diverse orientation and support for both existing and potential workplace diversity initiatives. We also showed that universal diverse orientation mediated the links between personality and support for workplace diversity initiatives. We discuss how these findings can shed more light on the types of individuals who are more likely to endorse diversity and inclusion, which can subsequently inform more effective implementation and communication of diversity initiatives.

Judging What Others Enjoy: Desirability and Observability of Interests

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.

Traits, States, and Stories

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the Big Five trait model combined with two additional layers of personality expression: states and stories. The author explains that personality starts with traits, simple compounds that are captured in language with words like shy, belligerent, outgoing, ambitious, and friendly. By sifting and simplifying, or what is called factor analysis, all such adjectives reduce to five dimensions, the so-called Big Five. These dimensions (the dimensions are the traits) reveal the why behind creativity as well as the how, the ways in which creativity functions. The Big Five traits are neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. Writer Truman Capote is used as an illustration of how traits, states, and stories are related to the personality of the artist.

The Unifying Glue

Chapter 3 zeroes in on the trait of openness exclusively, including its structural and motivational elements. The author discusses how openness, like the rest of the Big Five traits, affects every aspect of mental life, but notes that traits are abstract potentials. Their existence is inferred from what people say and do, how they behave. Of more interest in this book are the habits of mind they give rise to. These involve ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. The author describes how, depending on how high a person is in O, certain challenges may (or may not) materialize. Three artists are profiled in the chapter: John Coltrane, John Lennon, and Francesca Woodman.

Toward a Model of Personality Competencies Underlying Social and Emotional Skills: Insight From the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in social and emotional skills (SES) both in the scientific literature and in social practice. The paper presents an overview of the ways of understanding what SES are and the catalogs thereof. There are some attempts in the literature to organize these catalogs within the Big Five traits that for a long time was claimed to be the most sound model of basic orthogonal dimensions of personality. However, further research on personality structure revealed that two metatraits can be found above the Big Five traits. These two metatraits form the basis of the Two Factor Model of personality, which was later developed into the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits. It turned out that in certain aspects models based on metatraits have a greater theoretical potential than those based on the Big Five traits. The paper presents a proposal for describing SES from the perspective of the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits rather than the Big Five. In this framework, we distinguish the concept of personality competences that underlie and organize many specific SES and identify the core personality competencies on the basis of the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits model.

Who Speaks Up?

Research on the relationship between personality traits and employee voice has predominantly focused on main effects of one or more traits and has shown equivocal results. In this study, we explore relationships between configurations (i.e., all logically possible combinations) of the Big Five traits and promotive and prohibitive voice using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Survey data from 171 employees from 10 organizations in the service industry revealed that none of the traits alone could induce promotive or prohibitive voice. Yet, we found three trait configurations that relate to promotive voice and four configurations that relate to prohibitive voice. We use the theory of purposeful work behavior to explain the different trait configurations for promotive and prohibitive voice.

Fear of COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers: The Role of Neuroticism and Fearful Attachment

Fear of becoming infected is an important factor of the complex suite of emotional reactions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among healthcare workers (HWs), fear of infection can put at risk their psychological well-being and occupational efficiency. The aim of this study was to analyze the role of personality (i.e., the big five traits) and adult attachment in predicting levels of fear (as measured by the FCV-19S) in 101 HWs employed in a COVID-19 university hospital. The three significant predictors retained by the stepwise regression model were age (beta = 0.26, t = 2.89, p < 0.01), emotional stability (i.e., the inverse of neuroticism) (beta = −0.26, t = −2.89, p < 0.01), and fearful attachment (beta = 0.25, t = 2.75, p < 0.01). Older HWs with higher levels of neuroticism and fearful attachment reported more intense fear of COVID-19. Our results can be useful to identify vulnerable subgroups of HWs and to implement selective programs of prevention based on counseling and psychological support.