Personality

1. Personality Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center Summer Institute 2006

2. Overview of Talk • What’s personality • Insights into doing personality research • Major dimensions of personality • Personality and health • Which dimensions matter from common pathway model?

3. Informally Defining the Domain • Captures prominent characteristics (individual uniqueness) • Consistency and continuity in behavior • Across time • Across situations • Internal locus of causation

4. Formally Defining the Domain Personality is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings. Gordon Allport (1961)

5. Personality Assessment • Physiological assessment • Peer/other ratings • Structured interview • Self-report • Projective • Objective

6. Scheier’s Dictums • Don’t judge a scale by it’s title! • Decompose, don’t aggregate! • Factor analysis is more subjective than you think!

7. Scheier’s Dictums • Don’t judge a scale by it’s title! • Decompose, don’t aggregate! • Factor analysis is more intuitive than you think!

8. Optimism vs. Depression • I felt hopeful about my future. • I rarely count on good things happening to me.

9. Optimism vs. Depression • I felt hopeful about my future. (D) • I rarely count on good things happening to me. (O)

10. Self-Esteem vs. Anxiety • I am able to do things as well as most other people. • I lack self-confidence.

11. Self-Esteem vs. Anxiety • I am able to do things as well as most other people. (SE) • I lack self-confidence. (A)

12. Depression vs. Activity level • I like to be off and running as soon as I wake up in the morning. • I could not get going.

13. Depression vs. Activity level • I like to be off and running as soon as I wake up in the morning. (A) • I could not get going. (D)

14. Optimism vs. Neuroticism • You have usually been optimistic about your future. • I’m always optimistic about my future.

15. Optimism vs. Neuroticism • You have usually been optimistic about your future. (N) • I’m always optimistic about my future. (O)

16. Evaluating Personality Scales Conceptual definition (variable) Operational definition (item)

17. Scheier’s Dictums • Don’t judge a scale by it’s title! • Decompose, don’t aggregate! • Factor analysis is more intuitive than you think!

18. Hypothetical Associations KSS Symptoms X Immune function Reactivity X Morbidity Mortality

19. Hypothetical Associations EI A O W Symptoms ? ? ? ? Immune Function Reactivity ? ? ? ? Morbidity Mortality

20. Hypothetical Associations EI A O W Symptoms X X X X Immune Function X X Reactivity X X X Morbidity X Mortality X

21. Hypothetical Associations EI A O W Symptoms X X X X Immune Function X X Reactivity X X X Morbidity X Mortality X

22. NEUROTICISM LOT Worry W O A O EI Anxiety Optimism Emotional Instability

23. NEUROTICISM LOT Worry W O A O EI Anxiety Optimism Emotional Instability

24. NEUROTICISM LOT Worry W O A O EI Anxiety Optimism Emotional Instability

25. Scheier’s Dictums • Don’t judge a scale by it’s title! • Decompose, don’t aggregate! • Factor analysis is more intuitive than you think!

26. Steps in Factor Analysis • Derive intercorrelation matrix of items • Do the factor analysis • Examine the pattern of “factor loadings” • Correlations between items and underlying hypothetical factors • Label the factors • Taking into account factor loadings of items

27. What’s My Name? 1. I rarely get into arguments. 2. I’d rather be a leader than a follower. 3. I’m a pretty easygoing person. 4. I like to be with people. 5. I’m really inefficient. 6. I enjoy interacting socially. 7. I hate to give up on projects once I’ve started them. 8. I can be cold at times. 9. It’s important for me to do well at work.

28. Factor Loadings Factor A B C Item 1 .62 .15 .01 Item 2 .03 - .08 .49 Item 3 .54 .04 - .20 Item 4 .10 .11 .56 Item 5 -.12 - .62 .18 Item 6 .07 .08 .50 Item 7 - .02 .72 .12 Item 8 - .72 .07 -.06 Item 9 .08 .48 .08

29. Factor A Item 1. I rarely get into arguments. (.62) Item 3. I’m a pretty easygoing person. (.54) Item 8. I can be cold at times. (- .72)

30. Factor B Item 5. I’m really inefficient. (- .62) Item 7. I hate to give up on projects once I’ve started them. (.72) Item 9. It’s important for me to do well at work. (.48)

31. Factor C Item 2. I’d rather be a leader than a follower. (.49) Item 4. I like to be with people. (.56) Item 6. I enjoy interacting socially. (.50)

32. Major Dimensions of Personality The “Big Five” • Extraversion • Emotionality • Agreeableness • Conscientiousness • Openness to experience

33. Problems with the Big five • Aggregation vs. decomposition problem • Identification of dimensions not clear • Some dimensions aren’t represented

34. Problems with the Big five • Aggregation vs. decomposition problem • Identification of dimensions not clear • Some dimensions aren’t represented

35. Labels Used to Refer to The “Big 5” Factors: Fiske (1949), Norman (1963), Borgatta (1964), Digman (1990), and Costa & McCrae (1985) Factor 1: • Social adaptability • Surgency • Assertiveness • Extraversion • Extraversion

36. Labels Used to Refer to The “Big 5” Factors: Fiske (1949), Norman (1963), Borgatta (1964), Digman (1990), and Costa & McCrae (1985) Factor 2: • Conformity • Agreeableness • Likeability • Friendly compliance • Agreeableness

37. Labels Used to Refer to The “Big 5” Factors: Fiske (1949), Norman (1963), Borgatta (1964), Digman (1990), and Costa & McCrae (1985) Factor 3: • Will to achieve • Conscientiousness • Responsibility • Will to achieve • Conscientiousness

38. Labels Used to Refer to The “Big 5” Factors: Fiske (1949), Norman (1963), Borgatta (1964), Digman (1990), and Costa & McCrae (1985) Factor 4: • Emotional control • Emotionality • Emotionality • Neuroticism • Neuroticism

39. Labels Used to Refer to The “Big 5” Factors: Fiske (1949), Norman (1963), Borgatta (1964), Digman (1990), and Costa & McCrae (1985) Factor 5: • Inquiring intellect • Culture • Intelligence • Intellect • Openness to experience

40. Problems with the Big five • Aggregation vs. decomposition problem • Identification of dimensions not clear • Some dimensions aren’t represented

41. What’s This? = .17 EX - .30 EM + .13 A + .16 C + .14 O

42. Hint:

43. Optimism in Head & Neck Cancer Patients • Sample… • 101 newly diagnosed head & neck cancer patients at a university hospital in France • 94 were male • Average age = 58.3 years • 35 had early stage cancer; 35 stage III; and 31 stage IV

44. Optimism! Optimism (LOT-R) = .17 EX - .30 EM + .13 A + .16 C + .14 O Multiple R = .54 R Square = .27

45. Personality and Physical Health • Several potential personality variables implicated: • Hostility/cynicism • Style of emotional suppression • Pessimism • Depressed affect

46. Hostility/Cynicism • Associated with: • CHD incidence • Major CHD events (MI, CHD death) • Total mortality • CHD risk factors

47. Emotional Suppression • Associated with: • CHD incidence • Subclinical CVD markers • Cancer incidence/progression • HIV progression • Asthma

48. Emotional Suppression and Subclinical CVD(Matthews, Owens, Kuller, et al., 1998) 541 premenopausal woman were evaluated for standard CVD risk factors and psychosocial attributes at baseline, including trait anger, anxiety, anger-in, and public self-consciousness 10 years later 200 women who had been menopausal for at least 5 years were scanned for carotid atherosclerosis using B-mode ultrasound Scans scored for average intima-media thickness and plaque index

49. Mean Anger-in Scores by Intima- Media Thickness(data from Matthews, Owens, Kuller, et al., 1998) Intima-media Thickness

50. Optimism/Pessimism and Physical Well-being Associated with: • Rehospitalization following CABG surgery • Recovery from heart transplantation • All-cause mortality; cardiovascular- and cancer- specific mortality • Cancer death and MI incidence • Impaired immune function