Personality and player types in Fallout New Vegas

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between personality and videogame player types. Study participants completed an online survey that gathered information regarding the individual's personality, via the Big Five Inventory, and player types. The study was focused on understanding this relationship in the context of the action role-playing videogame, Fallout New Vegas (FNV). A relationship between personality and player type was found, specifically with respect to the personality traits of openness to experience and conscientiousness.

Gender stereotypes of personality : universal and accurate?

Numerous studies have documented subtle but consistent sex differences in self-reports and observer-ratings of five-factor personality traits, and such effects were found to show well-defined developmental trajectories and remarkable similarity across nations. In contrast, very little is known about perceived gender differences in five-factor traits in spite of their potential implications for gender biases at the interpersonal and societal level. In particular, it is not clear how perceived gender differences in five-factor personality vary across age groups and national contexts and to what extent they accurately reflect assessed sex differences in personality. To address these questions, we analyzed responses from 3,323 individuals across 26 nations (mean age = 22.3 years, 31% male) who were asked to rate the five-factor personality traits of typical men or women in three age groups (adolescent, adult, and older adult) in their respective nations. Raters perceived women as slightly higher in openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness as well as some aspects of extraversion and neuroticism. Perceived gender differences were fairly consistent across nations and target age groups and mapped closely onto assessed sex differences in self- and observer-rated personality. Associations between the average size of perceived gender differences and national variations in sociodemographic characteristics, value systems, or gender equality did not reach statistical significance. Findings contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of gender stereotypes of personality and suggest that perceptions of actual sex differences may play a more important role than culturally based gender roles and socialization processes.

The impact of personality and workplace belongingness on mental health workers’ professional quality of life

Objectives Mental health workers are constantly exposed to their clients’ stories of distress and trauma. While listening to these stories can be emotionally draining, professionals in this field still derive pleasure from their work. This study examined the role of personality and workplace belongingness in predicting compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout in mental health professionals. Methods Mental health staff (N = 156) working in a counselling service completed a questionnaire that included measures relating to professional quality of life, the Five-Factor Model of personality, workplace belongingness, as well as questions relating to the participants’ demographic profile, work roles and trauma history. Results The results indicated that, high levels of emotional stability (low neuroticism), extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and being connected at work, are essential factors that promote the professional quality of life of mental health workers. Specifically, workplace belongingness was the strongest predictor of compassion satisfaction and low levels of burnout, while neuroticism was the strongest predictor of secondary traumatic stress. Conclusions Important implications from this study include: (1) encouraging mental health staff to increase self-awareness of their dispositional characteristics and how their personalities affect their wellbeing at work, and; (2) encouraging management to facilitate practices where mental health workers feel connected, respected, and supported in their organisation.

The genetic association between personality and major depression or bipolar disorder. A polygenic score analysis using genome-wide association data

The relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) remains controversial. Previous research has reported differences and similarities in risk factors for MDD and BD, such as predisposing personality traits. For example, high neuroticism is related to both disorders, whereas openness to experience is specific for BD. This study examined the genetic association between personality and MDD and BD by applying polygenic scores for neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness to both disorders. Polygenic scores reflect the weighted sum of multiple single-nucleotide polymorphism alleles associated with the trait for an individual and were based on a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for personality traits including 13,835 subjects. Polygenic scores were tested for MDD in the combined Genetic Association Information Network (GAIN-MDD) and MDD2000+ samples (N=8921) and for BD in the combined Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder and Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium samples (N=6329) using logistic regression analyses. At the phenotypic level, personality dimensions were associated with MDD and BD. Polygenic neuroticism scores were significantly positively associated with MDD, whereas polygenic extraversion scores were significantly positively associated with BD. The explained variance of MDD and BD, approximately 0.1%, was highly comparable to the variance explained by the polygenic personality scores in the corresponding personality traits themselves (between 0.1 and 0.4%). This indicates that the proportions of variance explained in mood disorders are at the upper limit of what could have been expected. This study suggests shared genetic risk factors for neuroticism and MDD on the one hand and for extraversion and BD on the other.

Patterns of entrepreneurial career development: An optimal matching analysis approach

Longitudinal studies of entrepreneurial career development are rare, and current knowledge of self-employment patterns and their relationships with individual difference characteristics is limited. In this study, the authors analyzed employment data from a subsample of 514 participants from the German Socio-Economic Panel study (1984–2008). Results of an optimal matching analysis indicated that a continuous self-employment pattern could be distinguished from four alternative employment patterns (change from employment to self-employment, full-time employees, part-time employees, and farmers). Results of a multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that certain socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., age and gender) and personality characteristics (i.e., conscientiousness and risk-taking propensity) were related to the likelihood of following a continuous self-employment pattern compared to the other employment patterns. Implications for future research on entrepreneurial career development are discussed.

Lernen im Team: Zusammenhänge zwischen Personen- und Teammerkmalen und der Leistung von Multiplikatoren [Learning in teams: Relationships between individual and team characteristics and the performance of multipliers]

The continuous mutual transfer of knowledge and skills within work teams is increasingly important for organizational practice. According to the situational and experience-based approaches of applied learning research, certain individual and social prerequisites have to be met for successful learning in teams. In a field study at an automobile production site, it was investigated which personal characteristics of multipliers and which characteristics of teams are related to the performance of multipliers in 31 teams with 291 coworkers. Using multi-level analyses (HLM), the amount of variance explained by the predictor variables in teaching success of multipliers and learning success of coworkers was examined. Results showed that multipliers' conscientiousness and team cohesion were related to teaching success of multipliers; extraversion and team cohesion were related to the learning success of coworkers. In closing, the scientific and practical implications for the investigation and promotion of work-based learning processes in teams are discussed.

Within-person relationships between daily individual and job characteristics and daily manifestations of career adaptability

Previous research showed that daily manifestations of career adaptability fluctuate within individuals over short periods of time, and predict important daily job and career outcomes. Using a quantitative daily diary study design (N = 156 employees; 591 daily entries), the author investigated daily job characteristics (i.e., daily job demands, daily job autonomy, and daily supervisory career mentoring) and daily individual characteristics (i.e., daily Big Five personality characteristics, daily core self-evaluations, and daily temporal focus) as within-person predictors of daily career adaptability and its four dimensions (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence). Results showed that daily job demands, daily job autonomy, daily conscientiousness, daily openness to experience, as well as daily past and future temporal focus positively predicted daily career adaptability. Differential results emerged for the four career adaptability dimensions. Implications for future research on within-person variability in career adaptability are discussed.

Patient Safety - A Psychological Perspective

This comprehensive book takes a psychological perspective on patient safety. It is based on the most recent theoretical and empirical research evidence from psychology (including clinical, work, and organizational psychology) and adjacent social and behavioral sciences such as human factors. Factors that influence safety-related experiences, behaviors, and outcomes of patients and professionals working in clinical settings such as medical practices and hospitals are reviewed, structured, and critically evaluated. Consistent with the complexity of the topic, the author takes a multi-level approach to patient safety, which includes a review of individual, team, and organizational factors and outcomes. The book describes how these factors, by themselves and in combination, can facilitate or impede patient safety. Individual factors include safety-relevant knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality traits such as conscientiousness and emotional stability. Team factors include group communication, training, and leadership. Finally, organizational factors include the safety culture and climate. Throughout the book, different evidence-based intervention programs are described that can help practitioners promote patient safety and prevent accidents. The book is a valuable resource for both researchers and practitioners interested in understanding, maintaining, and improving patient safety in a variety of applied settings. It is based on the most up-to-date research evidence from psychology and neighboring disciplines, and it is written in a clear and non-technical language understandable for a wide audience.

Ambidextrous leadership and employees' self-reported innovative performance: The role of exploration and exploitation behaviors

The ambidexterity theory of leadership for innovation proposes that leaders' opening and closing behaviors positively predict employees' exploration and exploitation behaviors, respectively. The interaction of exploration and exploitation behaviors, in turn, is assumed to influence employee innovative performance, such that innovative performance is highest when both exploration and exploitation behaviors are high. The goal of this study was to provide the first empirical test of these hypotheses at the individual employee level. Results based on self-report data provided by 388 employees were consistent with ambidexterity theory, even after controlling for employee reports of their leaders' transformational and transactional leadership behaviors as well as employees' openness to experience, conscientiousness, and positive affect. The findings extend previous research on ambidexterity at the team and organizational levels and suggest a possible way for leaders to enhance employee self-reported innovative performance.

Associations between personality traits and sleep quality and quantity in young adults

This thesis examines the associations between personality traits and sleep quantity and quality in young adults. Additionally the possible effects of birth status on these associations are examined. The data used in this thesis is part of a birth cohort study (Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults). The personality traits are based on the five-factor model of personality. The sleep quantity and quality are based on actigraphy assessments. Four hypothesis were made about the personality and sleep associations: (1) neuroticism is related to a lesser quality of sleep, (2) there will be more significant associations between personality traits and sleep quality than between personality traits and sleep quantity, (3) the Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) as well as, (4) the Small for Gestational Age (SGA) status will affect the associations. Linear regressions were used to study the associations between personality traits and sleep quality and quantity. Whenever an association was significant, it was tested whether this association was moderated first, by the VLBW and second, by the SGA status of the participant. The results were mostly in line with previous research especially demonstrating the negative association between neuroticism and the quality of sleep and suggesting that vulnerability to stress decreases sleep quality. Also it was found that agreeableness and conscientiousness were associated with better sleep quality and extraversion was associated with lower sleep quantity. In addition SGA status moderated the personality and sleep associations. It is proposed that there are two factors behind the interaction. First, prenatally developing mechanisms have an effect on the development of sleep as well as personality. Second, differences in the postnatal environment, for instance the parenting practices, can account for this finding. Future research could focus especially on what kind of prenatal disturbances SGA infants have in the development of mechanisms related to sleep and personality. Also focusing on the differences in parental interaction might shed more light on the results.

El Modelo de los Cinco Factores de Personalidad : contribución predictiva al rendimiento académico

Resumen: La presente revisión tiene como objetivo conocer cuáles son los principales rasgos de personalidad que permiten predecir el éxito académico e identificar la relación de los mismos con otras variables psicológicas tales como la inteligencia, los intereses, las creencias de autoeficacia y las metas de rendimiento. Especialmente se ha utilizado el Modelo de los Cinco Factores de Personalidad, ya que es considerada una de las explicaciones más exhaustivas y con mejores perspectivas para la medición de la personalidad. De la revisión realizada puede decirse que de los cinco factores de personalidad, el más consistentemente asociado con el éxito académico es el factor Responsabilidad. Con respecto a los restantes rasgos de personalidad, la asociación es menos clara. Se espera que la información aportada ayude a investigadores y profesionales del ámbito educativo a comprender e identificar cuál es el patrón psicológico que facilita el éxito académico. Se mencionan algunas limitaciones y se proponen nuevas directrices.

A tese de Heidegger para a origem de metafísica

O tema da pesquisa é a tese de Heidegger para a origem do pensamento metafísico. O presente tema parte do pressuposto de que o filósofo alemão Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) entende que a metafísica esteja ligada a um modo de comportamento criador de hipostasias. O conceito de hipostasia denota o comportamento de tomar a consciência e os objetos como entes simplesmente dados, comportamento observado no cotidiano mais imediato e no pensamento filosófico tradicional (metafísico). Assumimos como problema a seguinte questão: como, segundo Heidegger, se origina o modelo teórico da metafísica?; como subproblema: como a metafísica se vê comprometida com o comportamento hipostasiante? A pesquisa possui os seguintes objetivos: a) determinar como o modelo teórico da metafísica se originaria desse comportamento hipostasiante; b) avaliar em que grau o modelo teórico da metafísica está comprometido por tal comportamento. Nosso trabalho atuará em caráter expositivo, com o método descritivo próprio à fenomenologia. Tem, primeiramente, a tarefa de apresentar os pressupostos que permitem a caracterização da referida tese enquanto tema; depois, define seus termos para, partindo desses, reconstituir seus argumentos. Essa reconstituição, por sua vez, só se realiza unindo os indícios deixados em documentos que testemunham o interesse do filósofo pelo tema e antecipam a formulação mais elaborada da tese em Ser e tempo (1927). (Isso delimita o campo da presente pesquisa entre alguns dos principais textos da produção do filósofo na década de 1920). Deste modo, reconstruir a tese heideggeriana sobre a origem da metafísica implica reconstituir o modo com o qual o comportamento hipostasiante atua na filosofia tradicional criando crises. Essa metodologia (exposição reconstrutiva) busca, portanto, explicitar o esforço de Heidegger por mostrar que a metafísica é resultado de uma série de descuidos (Versäumnis) que podem ser identificados no interior da história da filosofia. O tema e problema de nossa pesquisa se justificam por trabalharmos com a questão que desde cedo motivou as investigações heideggerianas acerca do sentido do ser, o que não só inaugurou o diálogo do filósofo com a tradição metafísica, quanto provocou desdobramentos e modulações integrantes da obra de Heidegger. E ainda, por, ao nos ocuparmos do tema da origem da metafísica, buscamos esclarecer como é possível que algo assim com a filosofia seja possível.

任职者工作分析评价结果影响因素的多水平探讨

As the foundation of other human resource practices, job analysis plays an essential role in HR management. Exploring sources of variance in job analysis ratings given by incumbents from the same job is of much significance to HRM practices. It can also shed lights on employee motivation in organizations. But previous studies in job analysis field have usually been conducted at individual level and take variance in job analysis ratings given by incumbents of the same job as error or bias. This dissertation takes the position that the variance may be meaningful based on role theory and other relevant theories. It first reviewed pervious studies on factors which may influence job analysis ratings provided by incumbents of the same job, and then investigated individual, interpersonal and organizational level variables which may exert impacts on these job analysis ratings, using multilevel data from 8 jobs of 1124 incumbents. The major findings are as follows: 1) Level of job performance and job attitudes affect incumbents’ job analysis ratings by incumbents of the same job at individual level. Specifically, incumbents with high level of job performance rated their job require higher levels of technical skills (power plant designers), and regarded information processing activities as more important to their job (book editors). Regarding the effects of job attitudes, incumbents of the four jobs with high level of job satisfaction gave higher importance and level ratings on organizational and cognitive skills, as well as higher level ratings on technical skills. Further, incumbents with higher affective commitment provided higher importance and level ratings of cognitive skills. Lastly, more involved job incumbents perceived organizational skills and cognitive skills as more important, and required at higher levels, for their job. 2) Leader-Member Exchange and goal structure also have effects on job analysis ratings by incumbents of the same job at interpersonal level. In good quality LMX relationship, news reporters rated decision-making activities and interpersonal activities as more important to their job. On the other side, when book editors structured their goals as cooperative with others’, they provided higher importance ratings on reasoning and interpersonal skills, and related personality requirements, as well as higher level ratings on reasoning abilities. 3) Worker requirements for the identical job are distinct from one organization to another. Specifically, there were between-organization differences in achievement orientation and conscientiousness related personality requirements. In addition, two dimensions of organizational culture, achievement-oriented culture and integrity-oriented culture in particular, were significantly associated with importance ratings of achievement orientation and conscientiousness related personality requirements respectively. Furthermore, achievement-oriented culture both directly and indirect (through job involvement) influenced achievement orientation related personality requirements. The results indicate that variation in job analysis ratings provided by incumbents of the same job may be meaningful. Future job analysis studies and practices should consider the impacts of these individual, interpersonal and organizational level factors on job analysis information. The results also have important implications for employee motivation concerning how organizational demands can be transformed into specific job and worker requirements.

对癌症生存者应对资源的研究

A survey study of cancer survivors was conducted to explore the coping resources, which buffers the life of cancer survivors against stressful situation. Participants reported coping strategies, positive affect and negative affect, personality, perceived social support, fighting spirit and helpless/hopeless as well as quality of life through a set of self-assessment questionnaire. The results indicated that the frequency of coping strategies used by cancer survivors from high to low were: growing, problem solving, seeking support,self-controlling, wishful thinking, and distancing. The correlational analysis indicated that among the six sets of coping strategies, growing was positively correlated most strongly with most of the dimensions in quality of life as well as positive affect. Among the five personality, Neuroticism was positively correlated most strongly with helpless/hopeless and negative affect; and was negatively correlated most strongly with fighting spirit and positive affect. Extraversion was positively correlated most strongly with positive affect and negatively correlated most strongly with helpless/hopeless; Agreeableness was negatively correlated most strongly with negative affect; Conscientiousness was positively correlated most strongly with fighting spirit. Subjects with higher score in quality of life reported higher frequency of coping strategies in growing and problem solving and less in wishful thinking. They also reported higher scores in Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness as well as lower scores in Neuroticism. The regression analysis displayed that not negative affect but positive affect entered the regression model when all the psychological and social variables in the study were accounted for. Taken together, these data suggested that, growing was the most effective coping strategy among the six sets of strategies for cancer survivors to improve quality of life, to maintain positive affect and to enhance fighting spirit. Neuroticism was vulnerable to resist stressors; Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were stress-resisted factors. Positive affect may has more adaptational significance than negative affect during chronic stress. These data also implicated that positive affect should be paid more attention to in coping research.