Personality Psychology

David M. Buss Nancy Cantor Editors

Personality Psychology Recent Trends and Emerging

Directions

With 15 Illustrations

Springer-Verlag New York Berlin Heidelberg

London Paris Tokyo

David M. Buss Nancy Cantor Department of Psychology University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Personality psychology: recent trends and emerging directions/ editors, David M. Buss, Nancy Cantor.

p. cm. Papers from a conference held at the University of Michigan, Ann

Arbor, April 15-17, 1998. Includes bibliographies. ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0636-8 1. Personality-Congresses. 1. Buss, David M. II. Cantor,

Nancy. [DNLM: 1. Personality-congresses. 2. Personality Assessment-

trends-congresses. 3. Psychological Theory-congresses. BF 698 P4679 1988] BF698.P3713 1989 155.2-dc20 DNLM/DLC

Printed on acid-free paper.

© 1989 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1989

89-6442

All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc. in this publication, even ifthe former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone.

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ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0636-8 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0634-4 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-0634-4

Preface Scientific disciplines sometimes reach critical junctures in their devel­opment-points of departure that can radically alter their subsequent course. We believe that the field of personality psychology has reached such a juncture.

In the 1930s, the seminal books by Allport (1937) and Murray (1938) set an agenda for decades to come. The 1940s and 1950s were marked by talented researchers carrying out that broad agenda. The study of personality flourished, and a basic textbook by Hall and Lindzey (1957) established personality psychology as an essential part of psychology's curriculum. During the 1960s, however, fundamental assumptions of the field were questioned, and limitations in predictability from trait measures were noted. The decade ofthe 1970s and the early years ofthe 1980s were marked by internal debate consisting of defenses of the basic paradigm, further attacks, and yet more defenses.

During the 1980s, however, the intense internal debate waned, and new approaches to substantive issues in the field began to emerge: new middle-level units of analysis were advanced; new forms of personality coherence were proposed; advances in assessment yielded more powerful methods. A dimensional structure began to receive consensual endorse­ment, and the explanatory tools used by researchers expanded beyond their earlier confines to include neighboring disciplines such as cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, and sociology.

In 1988, we decided to organize a conference to articulate these emerging issues in personality psychology. Four goals were central to the conference: (1) to identify interesting and promising emerging issues; (2) to stimulate debate and intellectual exchange among active research­ers in the field; (3) to begin to consolidate the otherwise scattered gains in the field; (4) to reinforce our burgeoning group identity and shared sense of purpose.

To accomplish these goals, we decided to invite only young personality psychologists. Informally, the conference was referred to as "the small fry conference." Unfortunately, financial constraints imposed a limit of twenty-five participants. Clearly, there are many more outstanding young personality psychologists, here and abroad, and we regret that our limited resources forced this restriction.

The conference, which took place over three days (April 15-17, 1988), provided several formats: (1) symposia with brief presentations; (2) workshops and round table discussions; (3) free-wheeling coffee breaks, lunches, dinners, and parties. We believe that the sense of excitement shared by the participants augurs well for accomplishing our goals. Of

vi Preface

course, the true test of success can only be evaluated in the next decade by accomplishments in the field.

To realize a conference ofthis scope requires dedicated teamwork. The Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan, Professor Al Cain, gave intellectual support to the conference from its inception, and provided the financial support needed to make it a reality. Judy Mackey, our Personality Area Secretary, provided the structural core of the conference. Without her tireless efforts, organizational expertise, social skills, and imperturbable good humor, the conference could not have occurred.

Our personality area faculty functioned as a team in preparing this conference, and deserve special recognition: Abigail Stewart worked closely with us from the outset; David Winter and Warren Norman transported people, as well as ideas throughout; Don Brown, Janet Landman, Mel Manis, Hazel Markus, Dick Nisbett, Carolyn Phinney, George Rosenwald, Mac Runyan, Claude Steele, and Joe Veroff added valued support.

The nuts and bolts of the conference were assembled by the tireless devotion of our graduate students. Their contributions, which spanned many months, began in our graduate seminar, continued throughout the actual conference, and beyond. We would like to extend special thanks to: Scott Bunce, Armen Asherian, Mike Botwin, Rose Pacini, Bill Peterson, Richard Doty, Kaz Kato, Ethel Moore, Jeanne Oggins, Chris Langston, Sabrina Zirkel, Will Fleeson, Avonne Mason, Liisa Kyl-Heku, Doug Leber, Dave Ametrano, Cheryl Peck, Rob Sellers, Steve Byers, Eric Stone, and Mike Morris.

Finally, we thank the twenty-five participants who provided the intellectual core of the conference. This book is the product of their efforts.

David M. Buss Nancy Cantor

Contents

Preface .................................................................................. v Contributors .......................................................................... xi Introduction............................................................................ 1 DAVID M. Buss and NANCY CANTOR

Part I New Middle-Level Units in PersonaUty Psychology

Chapter 1 Personal Projects Analysis: Trivial Pursuits, Magnificent Obsessions, and the Search for Coherence.......................................................... 15 BRIAN R. LITTLE

Chapter 2 Exploring the Relations Between Motives and Traits: The Case of Narcissism............................... 32 ROBERT A. EMMONS

Chapter 3 Cognitive Strategies as Personality: Effectiveness, Specificity, Flexibility, and Change ............................................................... 45 JULIE K. NOREM

Chapter 4 An Alternative Paradigm for Studying the Accuracy of Person Perception: Simulated Personalities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 JACK C. WRIGHT

viii Contents

Part D New Forms of Personality Coherence

Chapter 5 On the Continuities and Consequences of Personality: A Life-Course Perspective.................... 85 AVSHALOM CASPI

Chapter 6 Life Paths of Aggressive and Withdrawn Children............................................................. 99 DEBBIE S. MOSKOWITZ and ALEX E. SCHWARTZMAN

Chapter 7 Emotional Adaptation to Life Transitions: Early Impact on Integrative Cognitive Processes ............. ......... ...... ...... ......... ............... 115 JOSEPH M. HEALY, JR.

Chapter 8 Performance Evaluation and Intrinsic Motivation Processes: The Effects of Achievement Orientation and Rewards...................................... 128 JUDITH M. HARACKIEWICZ

Chapter 9 The Problem of Life's Meaning ............................. 138 Roy F. BAUMEISTER

Chapter 10 Conditional Patterns, Transference, and the Coherence of Personality Across Time ................... 149 AVRIL THORNE

Chapter 11 The Development of a Narrative Identity................ 160 DAN P. McADAMS

Part ID Advances in Assessment

Chapter 12 A Process Approach to Personality Psychology: Utilizing Time as a Facet of Data .......................... 177 RANDY J. LARSEN

Chapter 13 Metatraits: Interitem Variance as Personality Assessment ....................................................... 194 DIANNE M. TICE

Chapter 14 Socially Desirable Responding: Some New Solutions to Old Problems ...... ...... ...... .................. 201 DELROY L. PAULHUS

Contents ix

Chapter 15 Accuracy in Personality Judgment and the Dancing Bear ................................................................. 210 DAVID C. FUNDER

Chapter 16 Construct Validity in Personality Assessment .......... 224 DANIEL J. OZER

Part IV Advances in Identifying the Structure of Personality

Chapter 17 Why I Advocate the Five-Factor Model: Joint Factor Analyses of the NEO-PI with Other Instruments....................................................... 237 ROBERT R. MCCRAE

Chapter 18 The Optimal Level of Measurement for Personality Constructs......................................... 246 STEPHEN R. BRIGGS

Chapter 19 Towards a Taxonomy of Personality Descriptors...... 261 OLIVER P. JOHN

Part V Expansion of Levels of Explanation in Personality

Chapter 20 Identity Orientations and Self-Interpretation............ 275 JONATHAN M. CHEEK

Chapter 21 Using Traits to Construct Personality..................... 286 SARAH E. HAMPSON

Chapter 22 Personality Theory and Behavioral Genetics: Contributions and Issues...................................... 294 DAVID C. ROWE

Chapter 23 A Biosocial Perspective on Mates and Traits: Reuniting Personality and Social Psychology........... 308 DOUGLAS T. KENRICK

Chapter 24 The Evolutionary History of Genetic Variation: An Emerging Issue in the Behavioral Genetic Study of Personality............................................ 320 STEVEN W. GANGESTAD

x Contents

Chapter 25 Levels of Explanation in Personality Theory........... 333 JEROME C. WAKEFIELD

Subject Index..................................................... 347

Contributors

Roy F. BAUMEISTER

Department of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA

STEPHEN R. BRIGGS

Department of Psychology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104, USA

DAVID M. Buss Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

NANCY CANTOR

Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

A VSHALOM CASPI

Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

JONATHAN M. CHEEK

Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts 02181, USA

ROBERT A. EMMONS

Psychology Department, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA

xii Contributors

DAVID C. FUNDER

Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA

STEVEN W. GANGESTAD

Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA

SARAH E. HAMPSON

Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, Oregon 97401, USA

JUDITH M. HARACKIEWICZ

Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA

JOSEPH M. HEALY, JR.

Psychology Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06457, USA

OLIVER P. JOHN

Institute of Personality Assessment and Research, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

DOUGLAS T. KENRICK

Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA

RANDY J. LARSEN

Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA

BRIAN R. LITTLE

Department of Psychology, Carlton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIS 5B6

Contributors

DAN P. McADAMS

Department of Psychology, Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60626, USA

ROBERT R. MCCRAE

xiii

Personality, Stress and Coping Section, Gerontology Research Center, The National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA

DEBBIE S. MOSKOWITZ

Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1B1

JULIE K. NOREM

Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA

DANIEL J. OZER

Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA

DELROY L. PAULHUS

Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Y7

DAVID C. ROWE

School of Family and Consumer Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA

ALEX E. SCHWARTZMAN

Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1M8

AVRIL THORNE

Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts 02181, USA

xiv Contributors

DIANNE M. TICE

Department of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA

JEROME C. WAKEFIELD

The Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, New York 10025, USA

JACK C. WRIGHT

Hunter Laboratory of Psychology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA