Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Openness to experience”

Thesis (PhD) - Swinburne University of Technology, Brain Sciences Institute, 2008.
[A thesis submitted for the degree of] Doctor of Philosophy, Brain Sciences Institute, Swinburne University of Technology - 2008. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 250-272) and index.

The relationship between the personality trait of openness to experience and problem solving ability in environments offering various levels of informational support in the form of analogous problems was investigated using 173 participants. I suspected the strongest positive relationship in an environment offering moderate support and that individuals who were high on openness to experience would be likely to see that previous presented information was analogous in nature. There was no relationship between penness to experience and problem solving ability as a function of the environment or in general. However, students given a high level of support solved significantly more problems than those participants receiving no support. Also, more students solved the problems when they saw an analogous connection between the experimental and the demonstration problems. An implication may be that problem solving ability can be taught using analogies, if the information is complete and students are able to determine the relevance to future problems.
Department of Psychological Science

This study addresses a specific gap in research concerning personality type and aesthetic preference. The goal of this study was to assess the following question: is there a positive correlation between an enjoyment of atonal harmony and the personality trait dimension known as “openness to experience”? A survey was crafted, and a number of musical pieces with various degrees of tonality and atonality were composed for this study. Respondents of the survey answered a personality test, listened to the musical pieces and ranked their enjoyment of them. What was found is that not all people who are open to experience enjoy atonal harmony, but a majority of the enjoyers of atonal harmony are open to experience. Potential avenues for future research are discussed, including how knowledge of the relationship between music and the mind can help composers and music theoreticians, as well as game developers.

Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.

This study seeks to examine the relationship between personality variables and pain perception ability. Specifically this thesis hypothesises that the Intuitive psychological type (rooted in Jung's theories of psychological type) will be effective at detecting faking of physical pain. Additionally, this thesis hypothesises that those scoring highly on Openness to Experience, as well as those rating as extraverts and those who rate high in emotional intelligence, will be more accurate at pain-faking detection than individuals who do not demonstrate these personality traits. It is also hypothesised that participants rating high in Machiavellianism will be accurate in detecting pain deception. In addition, it is speculated that a gender factor will exist in the ability to detect pain deception. In the first study, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers & McCaulley, 1985) and the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992b) are used to measure participants' intuition level and openness to experience (as well as extraversion), respectively. In the second study, the Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2002) and the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005) are used to measure emotional intelligence and various psychopathy-related traits (including Machiavellianism), respectively. The stimuli presented are videotapes of facial expressions of pain, in which individuals display either genuine or faked physical pain. The first study's findings support the hypotheses that Intuitive and Open individuals are accurate at pain judgment, with Intuitive and Open females in particular displaying relationships with accuracy. Additionally, males categorised as 'Thinker' types, as well as those low in neuroticism predicted accuracy in pain judgment. However, the hypothesis that extraverted individuals would be more accurate at detection was largely unsupported. In the second study, the hypotheses that overall emotional intelligence and overall psychopathy would predict accuracy were generally unsupported. It was discovered, however, that particular subscales of the emotional intelligence measure such as the 'Changes' task were predictors of accuracy in pain judgment. The Machiavellianism subscale of the psychopathy measure was indeed a predictor of accuracy for male participants. In addition, other subscales of the psychopathy measure that predicted accuracy included Blame Externalisation, which had an inverse relationship with accuracy, as well as 'Fearlessness' in female participants. The significance of the study findings are discussed in terms of application to the realm of deception detection, as well as its relevance to the medical field in particular.

In this thesis, I argue that earlier Kantian conceptualism, the combined view of the structure and content of perceptual experience that John McDowell recommends in his writings that culminate in Mind and World, is ostensibly similar to Kantian structurism, the combined view of the structure and content of perceptual experience that Nelson Goodman recommends throughout his writings. Whereas McDowell thinks that Kantian conceptualism puts us in a position to conceive experience as openness to the layout of reality, Goodman thinks that Kantian structurism leaves us in the position of having to conceive experience as confinement to ways of describing whatever is described. I argue that Goodman's view implies an objection to McDowell' s earlier view of the structure of experience. I combine Goodman's objection with Donald Davidson's objection to McDowell's earlier view of the content of experience to form the Goodman-Davidson objection, an objection to McDowell's earlier view of the structure and content of experience. I argue that later Kantian conceptualism, a new view of the structure and content of perceptual experience that McDowell recommends in his writings after Mind and World, is less vulnerable to the Goodman-Davidson objection, and I reinforce this by arguing that McDowell's later Kantian conceptualism is Rot vulnerable to familiar objections to earlier Kantian conceptualism by Michael Friedman and Christopher Peacocke. I argue that later Kantian conceptualism is underwritten by a different view of the relation between the conceptual and the propositional than earlier Kantian conceptualism. I argue that McDowell's later Kantian conceptualism earns the right to reject the confinement imagery of Goodman and Davidson, but it does not entitle McDowell to the openness imagery of Mind and World.

Openness to experience is one of the least useful personality predictors in the workplace. The present study tested the notion that openness to experience would be a more effective predictor of tenure and turnover intention if openness to experience was separated into two sub-factors. We used a total sample size of, N = 96, participants, which was analyzed both as a whole and separately, segmented by students (n = 51) and working adults (n = 45).

The present study was unable to show that the sub-factors of openness to experience were more effective predictors of turnover intention and tenure. Implications of the evidence in the present study are discussed with the conclusion that openness to experience, at the factor and the sub-factor levels, is a weak predictor in the workplace.

Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Career management has received a significant amount of research attention because of its known effects on important work-related outcomes such as organisational commitment (De Vos, Dewettnick & Buyens, 2007). However, the modern world of work has brought fresh challenges for both individuals and organisations when it comes to the management of careers. Rapid economic, technological and societal change imply that, on the one hand, organisations face the challenge of retaining and motivating talented employees through the judicious use of career management systems. On the other hand, these influences indicate a growing awareness of the individual‟s responsibility for career development. However, the way in which individuals respond to organisational initiatives through their work-related attitudes is not well known. Despite previous research that has successfully investigated the relationship between career management and organisational commitment, the possible role that individual differences may play in this regard has received scant research attention. This research study firstly investigates the direct relationships between career management (i.e., both individually and organisationally driven activities) and affective organisational commitment, and secondly, it aims to explore the role of individual differences in this process by examining the moderating role of personality (in the form of openness to experience) in this relationship. For this purpose, quantitative data were collected by means of a survey questionnaire administered to a South African public sector organisation (N = 311) and analysed with correlation and moderated multiple regression analysis to test the hypothesised relationships. The results indicated that employees‟ perceptions regarding the organisation‟s career management activities influence whether individuals initiate internally or externally oriented career self management activities. Where respondents perceived receiving high levels of organisational career management, they also reported increased organisational commitment. More committed individuals, on their part, were found to be more likely to engage in internally oriented individual career management and less likely to practice career management activities aiming at leaving the organisation. Results showed that openness to experience did not moderate the relationship between organisational career management and commitment. However, openness to experience did moderate the effect of commitment on individuals‟ career self-management activities (both internally and externally oriented activities). The implications of these results are discussed and limitations of the present study, as well as recommendations for future studies, are presented.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Loopbaanbestuur ontvang tradisioneel aansienlike navorsingsaandag weens die bewese effek daarvan op belangrike werksverwante uitkomste soos organisasie-verbondenheid (De Vos, Dewettnick & Buyens, 2007). Die modêrne werkswêreld bied egter vars uitdagings met betrekking tot loopbaanbestuur vir beide individuele werknemers én vir organisasies. Snelle verandering in die ekonomiese, tegnologiese en sosiale landskap veroorsaak dat, op hul beurt, organisasies, die uitdaging in die gesig staar om talentvolle werknemers te behou en te motiveer deur die oorwoë toepassing van loopbaanbestuurstelsels. Op die keersy, veroorsaak hierdie invloede „n groter bewustheid van die verantwoordelikheid van die individu vir sy/haar eie loopbaanbestuur. Die wyse waarop individue reageer op organisasie-inisiatiewe in terme van hul werkshoudings is egter relatief onbekend. Ten spyte van vorige navorsing wat suksesvol die verbandskap tussen loopbaanbestuur en organisasieverbondenheid ondersoek het, het die moontlike rol van individuele verskille in hierdie proses egter betreklik min navorsingsaandag ontvang. Hierdie navorsingstudie ondersoek eerstens die direkte verwantskap tussen loopbaanbestuursaktiwiteite (d.w.s., beide individuele en organisasiegedrewe aktiwiteite) en organisasieverbondenheid, en tweedens, word die bemiddelende rol van individuele verskille in hierdie proses verken deur die rol van persoonlikheid (in die vorm van oopheid tot ervaring) te ondersoek. Vir hierdie doeleinde is kwantitatiewe data ingesamel deur middel van vraelyste afgeneem binne „n Suid Afrikaanse openbare sektor organisasie (N = 311). Hierdie data is ontleed met korrelasie-ontledings en meervoudige regressie-analise ten einde die gehipotiseerde verbandskappe te toets. Die resultate toon dat werknemers se perspepsies van die organisasie se loopbaanbestuuraktiwiteite bepaal tot watter mate hulle intern- of ekstern gefokusde loopbaanselfbestuuraktiwiteite onderneem. Waar respondente hoë vlakke van organisasiegedrewe loopbaanbestuur gerapporteer het, was hoë vlakke van organisasieverbondenheid teenwoordig. Meer verbonde individue, op hulle beurt, was meer geneig om intern-geöriënteerde loopbaanbestuur toe te pas en minder geneig om aktiwiteite te onderneem gerig op uittrede uit die organisasie. Die resultate toon verder dat, alhoewel oopheid tot ervaring nie die verband tussen organisasie-loopbaanbestuur en verbondheid modereer nie, dit wél die effek van verbondheid op individue se selfgedrewe loopbaanbestuursaktiwiteite (beide intern- en ekstern-geöriënteerde aktiwiteite) modereer. Die implikasies van die resultate word vervolgens bespreek en die beperkinge van die huidige studie word uitgelig. Ten slotte, word aanbevelings vir toekomstige studies gemaak.

Rituals are an integral part of society. The focus of research on rituals has been shifting to highlight the effect rituals may produce on individual resilience and ability to function. This study examined the relationships between participation in family rituals and several conceptually related facets of the human experience, including religiosity, openness to experience, and anxiety. Participants responded to questions on an assessment instrument (Family Ritual Questionnaire) designed to measure participation in a broad variety of identified family rituals; they were grouped according to responses on that questionnaire, and the resulting groups were compared on their responses to questionnaires addressing religiosity (Religious Background and Behavior Questionnaire), openness to experience (Revised NEO Personality Inventory Openness to Experiences scale), and anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). The four-group classification system did not produce significant differences on measures of religiosity, openness to experience, or trait anxiety. Nor were there any significant differences noted when the groups were examined on the basis of the demographic characteristics of age, gender, separation time from family of origin, or academic status. The demographic descriptive which was associated with specific group differences related to adult composition of family of origin: participants described the adults present in their families of origin, and the family types were grouped into traditional, mixed, and nontraditional families. A difference was identified between the traditional and nontraditional families on level of ritualization. This finding may be indicative of a useful direction for subsequent research inquiry.

Section A provides a critical review of the research literature relating to the legal and ethical rights to awareness of genetic origins in the context of donor conception. Definitions and a historical context of the pertinent issues are provided, followed by a discussion of understanding drawn from theoretical literature and a systematic review of research related to openness in donor conception. Potential gaps and requirements of future research are highlighted. Section B presents the findings of a grounded theory study which aimed to explore the experience of openness in donor conception families, in relation to the social and emotional experience of young people. Participants were 8 mothers, 7 fathers and 5 young people from 11 UK heterosexual families. Young people were aged between 12 and 25 years. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the data analysed using Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory model (2006). The constructed grounded theory extends current research and highlights the complexity involved in the process of being open about donor conception. The constructed model presents a cyclical process reflecting the on-going nature of the experience and demonstrates that openness is not a one-off event, but is continually negotiated throughout the development of the child and family. The model suggests that positive outcomes for the child and family can be achieved through openness. Section C provides a critical appraisal of the research methodology and findings, as well as clinical implications and suggestions for future research.

Immanuel Kant's claim that morality is a matter of rational judgment is perhaps the apotheosis of a tradition within ethical philosophy that sought certainty with regards to how one ought to live or what one should to do in any given situation. Although this strand still lingers in various guises in contemporary moral philosophy, pragmatism has set itself up as a response to this quest for ethical certainty. Yet, with its anti-absolutist commitments, pragmatist approaches to ethics struggle with the articulation of a prescriptive moral philosophy. Virtue ethics, however, with its focus on the general dispositions of agents, suggests itself as a viable model for a normative pragmatist moral theory. Moreover, in moving away from the view that moral progress is a form of knowledge-acquisition, pragmatist ethics opens the door for a host of possible influences for our ethical development. In this dissertation, I argue that aesthetic experience, as elicited by the work of art, can significantly inform our ethical lives by cultivating in us what I consider to be the cardinal pragmatist virtue, openness. For, not only does this disposition, which John Dewey describes as a “hospitality towards the new” and a “willingness to be affected by experience,” prove salutary in regards to the pursuits of individual flourishing and social melioration, but one can also construct a system of norms and values upon it while not contradicting pragmatism's anti-absolutist commitments. Engagements with art can help foster this virtue, I argue, because the work of art helps unsettle the conceptual systems of interpretation we often over-rely on in moral inquiry, and thus expands our horizons of possibility for human meaning and action.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is one of the largest public health problems internationally today and southern Africa is the part of the world that is most affected. Successful research has led to new improved antiretroviral drugs. Even if these drugs are improved and more successful, they bring along side effects. Research studies have shown that treatment of HIV entails metabolic changes and increases the risk for developing diabetes. This side effect can have a large impact on the patient’s quality of life and the affected patients often have to make lifestyle changes. To be able to develop the care around this group of patients, it is important to understand the complexity of nursing them. The aim with our study is to look into how nurses in Namibia experience caring for patients with HIV who also has type 2 diabetes as a side effect from antiretroviral drugs. Our study is a qualitative study based on interviews with six nurses working at Katutura hospital in Windhoek, Namibia. We did the interviews at Katutura hospital and the interviews were recorded. We transcribed the interviews and used Lundman & Hallgren Granheims (2012) method for analyzing the collected data. The result showed that health education raises awareness and through that, the prevention of HIV increases and the risk of failure for already infected persons is reduced. Overall shall openness be a leading influencer in every aspect around the patient, the nurses, the community and the family’s treatment. The discussion brings up the importance of educating people both in the community and inside the healthcare spectra. It also brings up the importance of openness, both from the patients and nurses.

Thesis (MCom)--Stellenbosch University, 2015
ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Organisations are rapidly discovering the invaluable influence of creativity and innovation at work. An individual’s capacity to engage creatively with his or her work is becoming increasingly recognised as integral for organisational success and competitive advantage. The quest for an increase in creative output is driven by the following question: what causes variance in creative work involvement? The purpose of this study was to address the question of variance in creative work involvement across a variety of industries. In order to do so empirically, a structural model was developed after an interrogation of the literature to present the hypothesised relationships suggested through previous research. In essence, this study explored the significance of four relationships: (1) the effect of psychological safety on creative work involvement, (2) the effect of inclusive leadership on psychological safety, (3) the effect of openness to experience on creative work involvement, and (4) the moderating effect of vitality on the relationship between psychological safety and creative work involvement. The research approach was a quantitative study in which an ex post facto correlation research design was used. A total of 39 organisations participated in the study; they are located in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces in South Africa. An electronic self-administered survey that consisted of six sections and 39 items was distributed to employees in varying roles and across different industries. Participation was voluntary; 519 employees engaged in the survey. Multiple regression analysis was used in order to evaluate the data collected. Creative work involvement, psychological safety and vitality were measured by utilising the measurement items presented by Kark and Carmeli (2009). Inclusive leadership was measured using nine items from Carmeli, Reiter-Palmon and Ziv (2010). Lastly, openness to experience was measured using the HEXACO-60 survey (Lee & Ashton, 2004), of which only the 10 items pertaining to this construct were included in the survey presented to the participants. The findings reveal that psychological safety had a significant effect on creative work involvement, and inclusive leadership was shown to have a significant effect on psychological safety. In addition, there was a significant positive relationship between openness to experience and creative work involvement. Moreover, vitality was shown not to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between psychological safety and creative work involvement. It also was found that the relationship between vitality and creative work involvement was significant. The discussions and implications of this research suggest a number of implementations with which managers can engage in order to stimulate creative behaviour and further encourage creative work involvement through strategic decision making at a variety of organisational levels. Greater levels of creative work engagement can be achieved for the overall success of the organisation, which could have an impact on the global community at large.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Organisasies besef toenemend die onskatbare waarde van kreatiwiteit en innovasie in die werkplek. ’n Individu se vermoë om kreatief met sy of haar werk om te gaan, word toenemend erken as noodsaaklik vir ’n organisasie se sukses en mededingende voordeel (Florida & Goodnight, 2005, soos Bissola & Imperatori, 2011). Die soeke na ’n toename in kreatiewe uitset/produksie/opbrengs/vermoë word gedryf deur die volgende vraag: wat veroorsaak variansie in kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid? Die doel van hierdie studie was om die vraag oor variansie in kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid in ’n verskeidenheid industrieë aan te spreek. Om dit empiries te doen, is ’n strukturele model, na bestudering van die literatuur, ontwikkel wat die hipotetiese verhoudinge uitbeeld wat deur vorige navorsing gesuggereer is. In wese verken hierdie studie die beduidendheid van vier verhoudinge: (1) die effek van sielkundige veiligheid op kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid, (2) die effek van inklusiewe leierskap op sielkundige veiligheid, (3) die effek van ontvanklikheid vir ervaring op kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid, en (4) die modererende effek van lewenskragtigheid op die verhouding tussen sielkundige veiligheid en kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid. Die navorsingswerkswyse is ‘n kwantitatiewe studie waarin ʼn ex post facto-korrelasionele navorsingsontwerp gebruik is. ’n Totaal van 39 organisasies, geleë in die Wes-Kaap, Oos-Kaap en Gauteng, het aan die studie deelgeneem. ’n Elektroniese selfgeadministreerde vraelys, bestaande uit ses afdelings en 39 items, is onder werknemers in verskeie rolle en in verskeie industrieë versprei. Deelname was vrywillig en 519 werknemers het die vraelys voltooi. Meervoudige regressie-analise is gebruik om die ingesamelde data te evalueer. Kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid, sielkundige veiligheid en lewenskragtigheid is gemeet met behulp van die metings-items wat deur Kark and Carmeli (2009) voorgestel is. Inklusiewe leierskap is gemeet met nege items van Carmeli, Reiter-Palmon en Ziv (2010). Laastens is die ontvanklikheid vir ervaring gemeet met gebruik van die HEXACO-60 opname (Lee & Ashton, 2004), waarvan slegs die 10 items wat betrekking het op hierdie konstruk ingesluit is in die vraelys wat aan die deelnemers voorgelê is. Die bevindinge het getoon dat sielkundige veiligheid ’n beduidende effek op kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid het en dat inklusiewe leierskap ‘n beduidende effek op sielkundige veiligheid het. Bykomend hiertoe is ’n beduidende positiewe verwantskap tussen ontvanklikheid vir ervaring en kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid gevind. Verder is aangedui dat lewenskragtigheid nie ’n beduidende modererende effek op die verwantskap tussen sielkundige veiligheid en kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid het nie. Daar is ook bevind dat die verwantskap tussen lewenskragtigheid en kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid beduidend is. In die bespreking en implikasies van hierdie navorsing word ’n aantal voorstelle gemaak wat bestuurders kan implementeer om kreatiewe gedrag te stimuleer en kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid verder aan te moedig deur strategiese besluitneming op ’n verskeidenheid van organisatoriese vlakke. Groter vlakke van kreatiewe werksbetrokkenheid kan bereik word wat die oorkoepelende sukses van ’n organisasie bevorder, wat dan weer ’n impak op die globale gemeenskap kan hê.

Kreativitet mäts vanligtvis på två sätt. Divergent Tänkande (DT), som återspeglar flexibilitet och originalitet, och kreativ effektivitet, som beskriver en persons kreativa livsprestationer. Kreativitet är robust förknippat med intelligens och personlighetsdraget Öppenhet. Intelligens har visat sig vara förknippat med kortare responstid och högre tidsmässig precision i timing-uppgifter. Då tidsmässig precision alltså är förknippat med intelligens, och intelligens i sin tur med kreativitet, frågade vi hur kreativitet är relaterat till Tidsprecision. Resultaten visade att DT inte var signifikant korrelerat med någon annan variabel. Kreativ effektivitet var däremot signifikant korrelerat med Öppenhet och Tidsprecision. En samtidig multipel regression med Tidsprecision, Öppenhet och intelligens som prediktorer förklarade 28% av variansen i kreativ effektivitet, men bara Öppenhet hade ett signifikant bidrag.
Creativity is typically gauged in two ways. Divergent Thinking (DT), which reflects flexibility and originality, and creative effectiveness, which describes a person’s creative life achievements. Creativity is robustly associated with intelligence and the personality trait Openness to expirence. Intelligence has been shown to be associated with shorter response time and higher temporal precision in timing tasks. Since timingprecision is thus associated with intelligence, and intelligence in turn with creativity, we asked how creativity relates to timingprecision. The results showed that DT was not significantly correlated to any other variable. However, creative effectiveness was significantly correlated with Openness and timingprecision. A simultaneous multiple regression with timingprecision, Openness, and intelligence as predictors explained 28% of the variance creative effectiveness, but only Openness had a significant contribution.

Critical thinking is an academically coveted skill important to all areas of education (Halpern, 1998). The ability to think critically requires an individual to question and possibly reject accepted ideals and authorities. A strong self-concept may play an important role in this process. The present study hypothesized a positive relationship between total self-concept and critical thinking ability. An additional purpose of this study was to explore whether self-concept accounted for more of the variance in critical thinking than other correlates of the ability, such as metacognition (Halpern, 1998; Magno, 2010) and openness to experience (Clifford, Boufal, & Kurtz, 2004). The hypothesis was supported; total self-concept significantly and positively correlated with the total score of critical thinking. Regression analyses revealed self-concept was a better predictor of critical thinking, accounting for 19.2% more variance in critical thinking than metacognition and openness to experience. Overall, the results suggest that nourishing students' self-concept may support their ability to think critically.
B.S.
Bachelors
Sciences
Psychology

A major concern with using personality tests in the selection process is the prevalence of applicant faking behavior which can influence the rank order of applicants such that fakers are hired at an elevated frequency. This study examined the effects of the detection/consequence warning and a more applicant-friendly warning on faking and perceived procedural justice. I hypothesized that a positive warning (reasoning warning) and a detection/consequence warning would show similar mean personality trait levels compared to honest responses, with all means showing less socially desirable responding than no warning prompt. Results suggested that the detection/consequence warning is more effective at reducing faking behavior in the selection context, and the content of the warning has no impact on perceived procedural justice.

For decades, there has been substantial research showing that ability tests effectively predict what people can do, but it is only in the last fifteen years that it has come to be generally accepted that personality is a useful predictor of what they will do. Much of this change in appreciation of the role of personality in predicting performance has been attributed to the application of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality to personality-performance research. The FFM was developed on the basis of the lexical hypothesis, which states that it is advantageous for people to be able to accurately describe the behaviour of others, and therefore the most important dimensions of personality will be encoded in natural languages. An associated premise is that natural language descriptors refer to an individual's surface appearance or reputation (i.e., their observable behaviours), rather than the underlying processes or genotype of personality (i.e., people's cognitive and affective processing). This reasoning was used as the basis for most of the factor-analytical studies of personality descriptors within the English language, and one of the most robust factor solutions was the FFM. The FFM contains the personality dimensions Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience and Emotional Stability. Although the FFM continues to evolve, particularly in response to cross-cultural research, the five basic dimensions appear to be remarkably consistent, and at least the core of each of these has been identified in the first six or seven factors found in every language considered to date. Of the five factors, Conscientiousness has been the one most reliably associated with workplace performance. Workplace performance itself has undergone a major reconsideration over the last fifteen to twenty years. Prior to that time, formal job roles and responsibilities were typically considered the start and finish of performance, but formal job requirements are now recognised as only one aspect of performance, which is increasingly referred to as Task Performance. Task Performance tends to change substantially from job to job, but there are other aspects of job performance, most notably Citizenship Performance, which appear to be consistent in most jobs. Citizenship Performance includes activities undertaken by an employee which facilitate Task Performance, such as making greater effort, complying with rules and procedures, and assisting others. Whereas Task Performance appears to be closely related to an individual's abilities, Citizenship Performance was originally proposed as an aspect of performance which is influenced by attitudinal and personality variables. Thus it has been proposed that Citizenship Performance largely mediates the relationship between personality variables, such as Conscientiousness, and Task Performance. However, this predictors of performance model has previously only been investigated in workplace settings. Yet performance is a relevant construct not only within workplace settings, but also within academic settings. In addition, the FFM dimension of Conscientiousness has been observed to be a reliable predictor of academic performance, just as it is a reliable predictor of workplace performance. Within educational settings, performance is typically tied to assessment measures, such as marks and GPA, which appear to measure academic Task Performance. However, no previous research appears to have considered whether Citizenship Performance mediates the relationship between Conscientiousness and Task Performance within an academic setting. Study One of this dissertation was designed to test this proposition. Participants in this study were 175 students enrolled within an introductory management subject. Participants provided assessments of their own personality using the Mini-Markers (Saucier, 1994), while Citizenship Performance ratings were provided by students' peers, at the end of a three-week group project. The hand-scored version of the Computerised Adaptive Rating Scales (CARS: Borman, 1999; Coleman & Borman, 2000) was used to assess Citizenship, but unfortunately the three scales of the CARS did not demonstrate good internal reliability. Consequently, a factor analysis was conducted to establish a new scale using the CARS items. This new scale, which was labelled Active Support, used six of the twelve CARS items and had satisfactory internal reliability. It was observed that the resulting scores on this Citizenship Performance scale were positively correlated with both Conscientiousness and academic Task Performance (as measured by grades). As predicted, Citizenship Performance entirely mediated the relationship between Conscientiousness and academic Task Performance. Therefore, the results of Study One were consistent with the predictors of performance model. It was concluded that Citizenship Performance is an important component of performance within academic settings, just as it is within workplace settings. Despite the fact that the relationship between both workplace and academic performance, and Conscientiousness, is reliable and well-established, correlations between Conscientiousness and performance tend to be moderate at best. Previous research has observed that other-rated measures of Conscientiousness have higher correlations with academic performance than do self-rated measures. Consequently, Study Two explored whether other-rated Conscientiousness improved the prediction of academic Citizenship and Task Performance, using a similar design to that utilised in Study One. One hundred and twenty-two students participated in Study Two while undertaking the same course as the students who had participated in Study One. Most of the results of Study Two were consistent with expectations, but there were some unexpected outcomes. Other-rated Conscientiousness was found to be a significantly better predictor of both academic Task and Citizenship Performance than was self-rated Conscientiousness. However, contrary to previous ideas, the relationship between other-rated Conscientiousness and Task Performance was not mediated by Citizenship Performance. In contrast, it was observed that the correlation between other-rated Conscientiousness and other-rated Citizenship Performance was .61 if both ratings were obtained from the same raters, and .44 if the two ratings were obtained from independent raters. When corrected for measurement unreliability, these estimates approached unity, which is consistent with the idea that, for the other-raters, Conscientiousness and Citizenship Performance were measuring the same construct. However, this study had several limitations, including its small sample size, the use of an unusual measure for Citizenship Performance, and the fact that it had been conducted in an academic setting. Therefore, there was a need to replicate Study Two before accepting that Conscientiousness and Citizenship Performance are actually much more strongly associated than previous research has indicated. In order to replicate Study Two, while addressing some of its limitations, a third study was conducted within a workplace setting. In Study Three, general staff supervisors within a public university were asked to rate their staff on measures of both personality and Citizenship Performance. In addition to Active Support, the measure used in Studies One and Two, two additional measures were included, which assessed the aspects of Citizenship Performance referred to as Individual Initiative and Helping Behaviour. The FFM dimension of Agreeableness was also added, because previous research indicates that, while Conscientiousness may be a better predictor of Individual Initiative, Helping Behaviour should be more closely associated with the FFM dimension of Agreeableness. However, using multiple ratings derived from the same raters can create common method bias in correlations, and so, in line with previous recommendations (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to control for this. The resulting correlations confirmed that there were strong relationships between the measures of Citizenship Performance and personality. Helping Behaviour had a strong relationship with supervisor-rated Agreeableness (.81), while Individual Initiative was significantly correlated with supervisor-rated Agreeableness (.44) and supervisor-rated Conscientiousness (.32). Active Support had strong correlations with these measures of personality (.57 and .55 respectively). The results of Study Three indicate that, for the participating supervisors, the Helping Behaviour dimension of Citizenship Performance is largely the same as the Agreeableness dimension of personality. Unlike Study Two, Active Support appeared to be not so closely associated with Conscientiousness, but instead seemed to occupy a position halfway between other-rated Conscientiousness and other-rated Agreeableness. Individual Initiative occupies a similar position, but is not so closely linked to these other-rated personality variables. Although these results suggest that, when compared with the students in Study Two, the supervisors in Study Three had a slightly different view of Active Support, it remains clear that much or most of the variance in each of these measures of Citizenship Performance is accounted for by these other-rated measures of personality. In order to understand why the strength of the relationship between the other-rated personality dimensions of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and the performance construct of Citizenship Performance, has been overlooked by previous researchers, it was necessary to reconsider the basic reasons for disagreement in ratings. Agreement between raters tends to vary considerably, depending on who is rating whom. Self-other agreement on ratings is typically modest, other-other agreement tends to be higher, but alternate-form and test-retest agreement are typically higher still. The reasons for this appear to be related to the extent to which ratings are produced using similar observations, and integrating these in similar ways, as well as the extent to which ratings are affected by specific aspects of individual rater-ratee relationships. Previous research has provided estimates for these effects which can be used to correct correlations for resulting biases. When these are applied to correlations between ratings of measures, such as performance or personality, which are provided by different other-raters, these correlations approximate unity. This includes the correlations, reported in this dissertation, between other-rated personality and other-rated Citizenship Performance. In conclusion, the results of the research reported in this dissertation are consistent with the idea that measures of Citizenship Performance are largely accounted for by other-rated measures of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness. It is argued that this conclusion is consistent with the lexical hypothesis which underlay the development of the FFM, as well as with the theoretical basis for the construct of performance. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the implications of this conclusion, for a range of fields, including understanding the relationship between personality and performance, methodological consequences for future research, and practical implications for staff selection and performance appraisal systems.

For decades, there has been substantial research showing that ability tests effectively predict what people can do, but it is only in the last fifteen years that it has come to be generally accepted that personality is a useful predictor of what they will do. Much of this change in appreciation of the role of personality in predicting performance has been attributed to the application of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality to personality-performance research. The FFM was developed on the basis of the lexical hypothesis, which states that it is advantageous for people to be able to accurately describe the behaviour of others, and therefore the most important dimensions of personality will be encoded in natural languages. An associated premise is that natural language descriptors refer to an individual's surface appearance or reputation (i.e., their observable behaviours), rather than the underlying processes or genotype of personality (i.e., people's cognitive and affective processing). This reasoning was used as the basis for most of the factor-analytical studies of personality descriptors within the English language, and one of the most robust factor solutions was the FFM. The FFM contains the personality dimensions Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience and Emotional Stability. Although the FFM continues to evolve, particularly in response to cross-cultural research, the five basic dimensions appear to be remarkably consistent, and at least the core of each of these has been identified in the first six or seven factors found in every language considered to date. Of the five factors, Conscientiousness has been the one most reliably associated with workplace performance. Workplace performance itself has undergone a major reconsideration over the last fifteen to twenty years. Prior to that time, formal job roles and responsibilities were typically considered the start and finish of performance, but formal job requirements are now recognised as only one aspect of performance, which is increasingly referred to as Task Performance. Task Performance tends to change substantially from job to job, but there are other aspects of job performance, most notably Citizenship Performance, which appear to be consistent in most jobs. Citizenship Performance includes activities undertaken by an employee which facilitate Task Performance, such as making greater effort, complying with rules and procedures, and assisting others. Whereas Task Performance appears to be closely related to an individual's abilities, Citizenship Performance was originally proposed as an aspect of performance which is influenced by attitudinal and personality variables. Thus it has been proposed that Citizenship Performance largely mediates the relationship between personality variables, such as Conscientiousness, and Task Performance. However, this predictors of performance model has previously only been investigated in workplace settings. Yet performance is a relevant construct not only within workplace settings, but also within academic settings. In addition, the FFM dimension of Conscientiousness has been observed to be a reliable predictor of academic performance, just as it is a reliable predictor of workplace performance. Within educational settings, performance is typically tied to assessment measures, such as marks and GPA, which appear to measure academic Task Performance. However, no previous research appears to have considered whether Citizenship Performance mediates the relationship between Conscientiousness and Task Performance within an academic setting. Study One of this dissertation was designed to test this proposition. Participants in this study were 175 students enrolled within an introductory management subject. Participants provided assessments of their own personality using the Mini-Markers (Saucier, 1994), while Citizenship Performance ratings were provided by students' peers, at the end of a three-week group project. The hand-scored version of the Computerised Adaptive Rating Scales (CARS: Borman, 1999; Coleman & Borman, 2000) was used to assess Citizenship, but unfortunately the three scales of the CARS did not demonstrate good internal reliability. Consequently, a factor analysis was conducted to establish a new scale using the CARS items. This new scale, which was labelled Active Support, used six of the twelve CARS items and had satisfactory internal reliability. It was observed that the resulting scores on this Citizenship Performance scale were positively correlated with both Conscientiousness and academic Task Performance (as measured by grades). As predicted, Citizenship Performance entirely mediated the relationship between Conscientiousness and academic Task Performance. Therefore, the results of Study One were consistent with the predictors of performance model. It was concluded that Citizenship Performance is an important component of performance within academic settings, just as it is within workplace settings. Despite the fact that the relationship between both workplace and academic performance, and Conscientiousness, is reliable and well-established, correlations between Conscientiousness and performance tend to be moderate at best. Previous research has observed that other-rated measures of Conscientiousness have higher correlations with academic performance than do self-rated measures. Consequently, Study Two explored whether other-rated Conscientiousness improved the prediction of academic Citizenship and Task Performance, using a similar design to that utilised in Study One. One hundred and twenty-two students participated in Study Two while undertaking the same course as the students who had participated in Study One. Most of the results of Study Two were consistent with expectations, but there were some unexpected outcomes. Other-rated Conscientiousness was found to be a significantly better predictor of both academic Task and Citizenship Performance than was self-rated Conscientiousness. However, contrary to previous ideas, the relationship between other-rated Conscientiousness and Task Performance was not mediated by Citizenship Performance. In contrast, it was observed that the correlation between other-rated Conscientiousness and other-rated Citizenship Performance was .61 if both ratings were obtained from the same raters, and .44 if the two ratings were obtained from independent raters. When corrected for measurement unreliability, these estimates approached unity, which is consistent with the idea that, for the other-raters, Conscientiousness and Citizenship Performance were measuring the same construct. However, this study had several limitations, including its small sample size, the use of an unusual measure for Citizenship Performance, and the fact that it had been conducted in an academic setting. Therefore, there was a need to replicate Study Two before accepting that Conscientiousness and Citizenship Performance are actually much more strongly associated than previous research has indicated. In order to replicate Study Two, while addressing some of its limitations, a third study was conducted within a workplace setting. In Study Three, general staff supervisors within a public university were asked to rate their staff on measures of both personality and Citizenship Performance. In addition to Active Support, the measure used in Studies One and Two, two additional measures were included, which assessed the aspects of Citizenship Performance referred to as Individual Initiative and Helping Behaviour. The FFM dimension of Agreeableness was also added, because previous research indicates that, while Conscientiousness may be a better predictor of Individual Initiative, Helping Behaviour should be more closely associated with the FFM dimension of Agreeableness. However, using multiple ratings derived from the same raters can create common method bias in correlations, and so, in line with previous recommendations (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to control for this. The resulting correlations confirmed that there were strong relationships between the measures of Citizenship Performance and personality. Helping Behaviour had a strong relationship with supervisor-rated Agreeableness (.81), while Individual Initiative was significantly correlated with supervisor-rated Agreeableness (.44) and supervisor-rated Conscientiousness (.32). Active Support had strong correlations with these measures of personality (.57 and .55 respectively). The results of Study Three indicate that, for the participating supervisors, the Helping Behaviour dimension of Citizenship Performance is largely the same as the Agreeableness dimension of personality. Unlike Study Two, Active Support appeared to be not so closely associated with Conscientiousness, but instead seemed to occupy a position halfway between other-rated Conscientiousness and other-rated Agreeableness. Individual Initiative occupies a similar position, but is not so closely linked to these other-rated personality variables. Although these results suggest that, when compared with the students in Study Two, the supervisors in Study Three had a slightly different view of Active Support, it remains clear that much or most of the variance in each of these measures of Citizenship Performance is accounted for by these other-rated measures of personality. In order to understand why the strength of the relationship between the other-rated personality dimensions of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and the performance construct of Citizenship Performance, has been overlooked by previous researchers, it was necessary to reconsider the basic reasons for disagreement in ratings. Agreement between raters tends to vary considerably, depending on who is rating whom. Self-other agreement on ratings is typically modest, other-other agreement tends to be higher, but alternate-form and test-retest agreement are typically higher still. The reasons for this appear to be related to the extent to which ratings are produced using similar observations, and integrating these in similar ways, as well as the extent to which ratings are affected by specific aspects of individual rater-ratee relationships. Previous research has provided estimates for these effects which can be used to correct correlations for resulting biases. When these are applied to correlations between ratings of measures, such as performance or personality, which are provided by different other-raters, these correlations approximate unity. This includes the correlations, reported in this dissertation, between other-rated personality and other-rated Citizenship Performance. In conclusion, the results of the research reported in this dissertation are consistent with the idea that measures of Citizenship Performance are largely accounted for by other-rated measures of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness. It is argued that this conclusion is consistent with the lexical hypothesis which underlay the development of the FFM, as well as with the theoretical basis for the construct of performance. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the implications of this conclusion, for a range of fields, including understanding the relationship between personality and performance, methodological consequences for future research, and practical implications for staff selection and performance appraisal systems.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Applied Psychology
Full Text

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2009
Title from PDF (viewed on 30 July 2009) Department of Psychology Includes abstract Includes bibliographical references Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center

The focus of this dissertation is exploring personality factors that impact performance within a small insurance agency. The primary research question is, what is (or are) the best personality factor(s), sub-facets, or constructs, that contribute to increased performance within an insurance agency. Three of the Five-Factor Model dimensions, extroversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience along with grit and hardiness were examined, as well as their sub-facets. Grit and hardiness were not found to add additional explanation of the variance while five of the sub-facets were found to better explain the variance over the composite dimensions.

As political polarity and social divisiveness increase in the United States, more organizations and scholars are calling on institutions of higher education to rise to the occasion and incorporate into their objectives the development of competent citizenship (The National Task Force). Writing classrooms are particularly suited to these kinds of objectives as writing already proposes relationships between rhetor and audience that have ethical dimensions and require mutual honesty, accountability, and respect (Duffy, "The Good Writer"). Additionally, the Framework for Success, a document that has become central to shaping the goals of writing classrooms, articulates habits of mind, like openness and engagement, that lend themselves to healthy, productive citizenship and civic interactions. However, the inherence of these qualities and potential in writing classrooms is not always recognized or actualized. Instructors need a reliable pedagogical framework to guide their objectives and choices so that students develop citizenship competencies through their writing experiences. The theory of experiential learning (EL) is one promising avenue for such a pedagogical method. This thesis explains keys to understanding EL theory and implementing them in traditional classrooms and details lived examples from two classrooms that illustrate how EL in practice can help students develop habits of mind that in turn contribute to citizenship competencies.

As a result of this work, it was revealed that there is a connection between openness to experience and trust among employees of a company or enterprise. As a result of correlation analysis, it was found that openness to experience is interconnected with trust in an organization with positive reliable relationships. The result of the comparative analysis conducted in the research groups showed that the level of employee confidence directly depends on their level of openness to new experience and innovations.
В результате проведенной работы было выявлено, что существует связь между открытостью к опыту и доверием среди сотрудников компании или предприятия. В результате корреляционного анализа было обнаружено, что открытость опыту взаимосвязана с доверием к организации с положительными надежными отношениями. Результат данных сравнительного анализа, проведенного в исследовательских группах, показал, что уровень доверия сотрудников напрямую зависит от уровня их открытости к новому опыту и инновациям.

In the media, one type of prejudice is often discussed as isolated from other types of prejudice. For example, after Breivik’s massacre, intolerance toward Muslims was intensely debated (for good reasons). However, his manifesto also disclosed extreme attitudes towards women and gays, a fact which passed without much notice. Still, in understanding why some individuals are so extremely intolerant compared to others, the psychological unity underlying different kinds of prejudice (e.g., racism, sexism) needs to be considered. This psychological unity, referred to as generalized prejudice, provided the starting point for personality theories on prejudice because it suggests that some people are simply more biased than other people in principle. Today it is well known that two basic personality characteristics, agreeableness and openness to new experiences, are powerful predictors of prejudice. However, more precisely what these variables can, versus cannot, explain has received little attention. Consequently, the aim of this thesis was to provide a more fine-grained analysis of generalized prejudice and its personality roots. Paper I demonstrated that personality mainly accounts for variance shared by several prejudice targets (generalized prejudice) whereas group membership mainly predicts unique variance in prejudice towards a particular target group. Thus, personality and group membership factors explain prejudice for different reason, and do not contradict each other. Paper II demonstrated, across three studies, that agreeableness and openness to experience are related to self-reported (explicit) prejudice, but not automatically expressed (implicit) biases. Personality seems informative about who chooses to express devaluing sentiments, but not who harbors spontaneous biases. Finally, Paper III examined the assumption that personality explains (explicit) generalized prejudice because some people simply favor their own group over all other groups (ethnocentrism). Providing the first direct test of this assumption, the results from three studies suggest that while agreeableness and openness to experience explain generalized prejudice, they do not account for purely ethnocentric attitudes. This indicates a fundamental difference between ethnocentrism and generalized prejudice. All in all, self-reported personality seems to have little to do with spontaneous group negativity or simple ingroup favoritism. However, personality strongly predicts deliberate and verbalized devaluation of disadvantaged groups.
I media diskuteras ofta fördomar mot en viss grupp som helt skilda från fördomar mot andra grupper. Efter Breivik’s massaker debatterades till exempel intolerans mot muslimer i stor utsträckning, men det diskuterades inte mycket kring att han även uttryckt extrema åsikter om kvinnor och homosexuella. Likväl är den gemensamma nämnaren i sådana attityder av yttersta vikt för att förstå varför vissa individer är mer intoleranta än andra. Tidigare forskning visar att personer som är mer rasistiska än andra också tenderar att vara mer sexistiska, samt nedvärdera till exempel, handikappade människor. Den gemensamma nämnare i sådana attityder kallas generaliserad fördomsfullhet och utgör grundbulten i personlighetsteorier om fördomar då det pekar på att somliga alltid tycks ogilla/nedvärdera utsatta grupper. Idag är det även välkänt att två personlighetsvariabler, vänlighet och öppenhet för nya erfarenheter, beskriver vem som uttrycker mer fördomar än andra. Däremot har det inte ägnats mycket kraft åt frågan vad exakt det är som dessa variabler förklarar, respektive inte förklarar. Syftet med avhandlingen var därmed att erbjuda en mer detaljerad analys av kopplingen mellan personlighet och generaliserad fördomsfullhet. Artikel I visade att personlighet förklarar den gemensamma nämnaren i olika typer av fördomar, medan grupptillhörighet (exempelvis kön) förklarar skillnader som är unika för fördomar mot en viss grupp (kvinnor). Personlighet och grupptillhörighet kompletterar alltså varandra som förklaringar snarare än att vara motsägelsefulla, såsom vissa forskare menat. Tre studier från Artikel II visade att vänlighet och öppenhet till nya erfarenheter hänger samman med viljekontrollerade fördomar, men inte spontana negativa associationer. Målet med Artikel III var att undersöka om personlighet förklarar fördomar av anledningen att vissa alltid favoriserar sin egen grupp över andra grupper (så kallad etnocentrism). Denna tanke har tagits för givet inom forskning om fördomsfullhet, men antagandet har inte testats empiriskt. Resultaten från tre studier pekar på att, till skillnad från generaliserad fördomsfullhet, så visar etnocentrism i sig inte på några starka samband med personlighet. Sammanfattningsvis så hänger varken vänlighet eller öppenhet ihop med spontan gruppnegativitet eller att ogilla ”de andra”. Däremot så pekar personlighetsfaktorer i stor utsträckning på vem som väljer att uttryckligen nedvärdera utsatta grupper.

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the role of Big Five personality dimensions (Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Neuroticism and Agreeableness) and justice perceptions (procedural, distributive, informational and interactional justice) on social loafing in a field setting. Another purpose was to explore potential moderation effects of personality and justice dimensions on social loafing. Data was gathered both from employees and their supervisors working in three leading software companies in Ankara, Turkey. The study was conducted in two phases. In the pilot study, social loafing and perceived coworker social loafing scales were developed. Task visibility scale was adapted to Turkish. The internal consistency reliabilities of the scales were tested by a pilot study with a sample of 53 employees. In the main study, hypothesis and potential moderation effects were tested by gathering data from 156 participants. Results supported only two hypotheses proposing positive relations between extraversion &
social loafing and neuroticism &
social loafing. Investigating potential moderators, distributive justice turned out to be moderator on the relation between extraversion and social loafing. Moreover, conscientiousness had moderation effect on the relation between informational justice and social loafing. The results were discussed along with practical implications, limitations of the study and future directions.

The purpose of this research was to identify motivational factors that would predict organisational commitment and citizenship behaviour. One important motivational factor is empowerment, which is an intrinsic motivator (Spreitzer, 1995, p. 121 table 5 ), this study examined the contribution of each of its four dimensions in predicting affective commitment and citizenship behaviours targeted towards both individuals and the organisation. I also investigated the association that leader-member exchange and three personality factors (extraversion, emotional stability and openness to experience) had with both empowerment and organisational outcomes (affective commitment, citizenship behaviours). I further examined empowerment mediation effects. This research was conducted among ten occupational groups at The Waikato District Health Board in New Zealand. 872 questionnaires were distributed and a final sample of 306 responses (35.1%) was obtained. The results, consistent across all occupational groups and other demographics, suggested that although extraversion, emotional stability and openness to experience individually contributed to empowerment, affective commitment and citizenship behaviours, when their contribution towards affective commitment and citizenship behaviour was examined simultaneously with empowerment and LMX contributions, personality contribution decreased. The regression equation results showed emotional stability as the only significant personality contributor towards citizenship behaviours. In addition, leader member exchange contribution was significant only towards affective commitment whereas empowerment was the strongest predictor of the three organisational outcomes explored. Moreover, two of the four empowerment dimensions were also found to mediate the relationship between LMX and affective commitment. However, no empowerment mediation effects were found between LMX and citizenship behaviours. Overall, this research provides valuable information on how to increase employee's affective commitment and extra role behaviours by adjusting organisation's structures and policies and fostering employees' perception of empowerment. Recommendations for further research and practical implications for organisations are discussed in the final chapter.

Published Article
The relationship between the big five personality traits, Extraversion, Agreeableness Neuroticism, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience and deep and surface approaches to learning forms the basis of this article. The findings of a research study in this milieu will be presented to prove that earlier studies in this field have been upheld, but that an important deviation has occurred on certain levels of personality. A students way of learning implies the type of learning that is taking place. Ultimately we as lecturers want to encourage deep learning as this stimulates retention of information, important in production of students that are ready for employment.

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The main aim of this work is to iluminate Heidegger s ontological criticism of the freudian theory, which was collected by Medard Boss in the Zollikon s Seminars (1987). This criticism can only be understood in the light of the developments made by the philosopher in relation to Husserl s phenomenology. The main point is that Heidegger had investigated, in the 1920 s, the way of being of human beings, in order to have access to the fundamental question of the meaning of being in general (Seinsfrage). Such a procedure brought Heidegger to the development of a fundamental ontology which has psique as its subject matter. Therefore, he is able to approach phenomenologically something which is only implicit in the freudian theory. This one is concerned itself explicitly with certains pathologicals (neurotical symptoms) and non-pathologicals (dreams, misbehaviors, lapsos linguae etc) psiquic processes, on the base of which it developed a model of the mental functioning. Based on this common subject matter, Heidegger will criticize Freud for not having understood correctly the meaning of being of the psiquic, for having done an objetification, that means, for having understood it in the light of the unproper category of substance. Notwithstanding, both the philosopher nor the specialists after him, succeeded in identifying which substance is the psiquism in Freud s theory. What we intend to show is that for him it is an irritable substance. This is a caracterization that comes from the XIX century s physiology. Such a substance should further be understood in the light of physical (physicalism) and biological (darwinism) concepts. With this caracterization we were able then to contrast Freud s way of conceiving psiquism with Heidegger s proposal, that is to say, to contrast the concepts of irratable substance and fundamental openness. This can only be properly understood thou on the base of the differences in the way each one of the autors here in question understands what does it means to have an experience. The concept of experience plays, therefore, a decisive role, as we tried to show, in the determination of the being of the psiquic
Este trabalho teve por objetivo fundamental explicitar a crítica ontológica de Heidegger à teoria freudiana, compilada por Medard Boss nos Seminários de Zollikon (1987). Essa crítica só pode ser compreendida à luz das reformulações levadas a cabo pelo filósofo em relação à fenomenologia de Husserl. No essencial, Heidegger irá perguntar, nos anos 1920, pelo modo de ser do ente homem para, com isso, ter acesso à pergunta fundamental do sentido do ser em geral (Seinsfrage). Ao proceder dessa forma, Heidegger é levado a uma ontologia fundamental que tem como tema o modo de ser da psique. Com isso, ele aborda fenomenologicamente algo que é apenas implícito na teoria freudiana, que se ocupa, explicitamente, de certos processos psíquicos patológicos (sintomas neuróticos) e não patológicos (sonhos, chistes, atos falhos, lapsos de linguagem, etc) e a partir dos quais constrói um modelo do funcionamento mental. Com base nessa temática comum a ambos, Heidegger irá criticar Freud por esse último não ter compreendido corretamente o sentido do ser do psiquismo, de objetificá-lo, isto é, de compreendê-lo à luz da categoria não adequada de substância. Contudo, nem o filósofo, nem os estudiosos da área, identificaram que tipo de substância é o psiquismo para Freud. Pretendemos mostrar, no presente trabalho, que Freud o concebe como uma substância irritável, caracterização essa oriunda da fisiologia do século XIX, e essa última como devendo ser compreendida à luz de conceitos físicos (fisicalismo) e biológicos (darwinismo). Com essa caracterização pudemos, então, contrapor a maneira como Freud concebe o psiquismo com a maneira proposta por Heidegger, isto é, contrapor os conceitos de substância irritável ao de abertura fundamental. Contudo, essa contraposição só pode ser corretamente compreendida com base na maneira como se concebe a experiência humana. Essa última joga um papel decisivo, como procuramos mostrar, na determinação do ser do psiquismo

The aim of this qualitative study was to attain an increased understanding as to how several upper-secondary school students perceived and experienced teachers using humour during classroom discourse. The study was based on the following questions: What does humour mean to the students? What are the forms of humour utilized by teachers? How do students perceive the use of humour with regards to learning processes? Are there recommendations and cautionary measures for teachers to consider when incorporating humour in teaching? Methodology used was a semi-structured interview of 13 questions. Participants consisted of six students aged 16 to 19 years. The length of the interviews varied between 20-35 minutes. Results of the interviews indicated that openness and understanding the unique sense of humour existing in each classroom, as well as self-confidence and a moderate use of humour, are necessary to effectively incorporate humorous text and anecdotes in lessons to facilitate learning processes. However, the study revealed that openness is pivotal in the construction and maintenance of positive learning climates. Students did not experience humour during ESL lessons, indicating a possible lack of contextual knowledge in language teaching practices.

Institutions of higher education serve students in more ways than simply fostering academic growth. University and college campuses are often the introduction people have to the societal, interpersonal, and career/field specific expectations they will be guided by after completing their degree. One way for universities to do this is through the cultivation of critical consciousness by way of encouraging engagement in diversity-related activities. This study examined associations between engagement in diversity-related activities and reported levels of critical consciousness, along with differences between students of color and White students in patterns of association. Diversity-related experiences, including extracurricular diversity activities, positive cross-racial interactions, curriculum inclusion, and experiences of microaggressions, strongly correlated to levels of critical consciousness for students of color and White students. These findings add support to previous research that suggests diversity experiences on college campuses positively influence students. However, the findings also suggest differences in the outcomes that these diversity-related experiences links to for students of color versus White students. Community involvement was more strongly correlated to extracurricular diversity activities for White students than students of color. In turn, social justice orientation was more strongly linked to extracurricular diversity activities, positive cross-racial interactions, and experiences of microaggressions for students of color than for White students. Linked between diversity-related experiences and multicultural openness were not moderated by ethnicity. These findings suggest that there may be differences between behaviorally based experiences/outcomes and attitudinally based experiences/outcomes for students of color vs. White students. Overall, engagement in diversity-related activities was strongly correlated with critical consciousness among all students. Findings provide guidance for curriculum development, the development and implementation of diversity-based initiatives on college campuses, and adherence to mission statements to foster more inclusive environments for all students.

A major focus of many U.S. higher-education institutions is to increase internationalization of their campus through, in part, the promotion of study abroad experiences among domestic students and to recruit and retain international students to their institution. This study explored the effects of certain factors on various domains of the Global Engagement Measurement Scale (GEMS) – Cultural Engagement, Ambiguity Tolerance, Knowledge of Host Site, and Diversity Openness – among U.S. students who have studied abroad and international exchange students who have studied in the U.S. There was a particular focus, on determining whether U.S. study abroad students, compared to international students, rate differently on GEMS scales, after controlling for other possible confounding variables. Participants were recruited from three Southeastern, public, 4-year universities and were eligible if they were enrolled at any of those universities in the last five years. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed several factors significantly affected each of the various outcomes on the GEMS. Cultural Engagement and Ambiguity Tolerance were both predicted by the institution of study and the type of student (U.S. study abroad versus international exchange). Knowledge of Host Site was predicted by whether or not the trip was government sponsored, pre-trip familiarity with the host culture, and type of student. The overall regression model for Diversity Openness was not significant. These results provide insights into key factors that affect the overall global engagement of college students and can be used to inform university faculty and staff about features they can add to improve campus internationalization efforts.

The aim of this study was to examine sex workers openness in regards to sex sale when communicating with other people and authorities. The essential questions that laid the foundation of this research were different factors that influence an individual on their choice of openness and concealment of their experiences, and also how they cope with the consequences of this. The results of this study are based on qualitative interviews conducted with five sex workers. The theoretical framework used to analyze the study’s findings is Erving Goffman’s theory of Stigma and Dramaturgical metaphor. The results indicate that sex workers experience difficulties with being open with other entities, including relationships and authorities. The underlying factors behind this appear to be among other things, based on current laws and social stigma in the society. Sex workers experiences of openness to people in their environment have been both positive and negative. Nevertheless, they have mostly been met with prejudices and dislikes. This signifies that many sex workers feel compelled to withhold and conceal their experiences to others. Our findings also show that sex workers use different strategies when coping with concealment of sex sale, which can have an emotional distress for some individuals.

Social network development has been studied in the social sciences for the last several decades, but little work has applied social network theory to study-abroad research. This study seeks to quantitatively describe factors that predict social network formation among study-abroad students while in the host countries. Social networks were measured in terms of the number of friends the students made, the number of distinct social groups reported, and the number of friends within those groups. The Study Abroad Social Interaction Questionnaire was compared against these pre-trip factors: intercultural competence, target-language proficiency, prior missionary experience, gender, study-abroad program, neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, openness to new experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Results showed that pre-trip oral proficiency in the target language was the strongest predictor of the number of friends made in-country. Certain programs showed stronger predictive statistics in terms of size of largest social group, number of social groups, and number of friends made. A distinction is made between total number of friends and number of friends who are more likely to be native speakers. Neither intercultural competence nor personality showed a significant correlation with the number of friendships made during study abroad.

This study uses annual data for the period 1975-2014 for South Africa and Botswana, and 1979-2013 for Lesotho to examine empirically the impact of trade openness on economic growth in these three South African Customs Union (SACU) countries. The motivation for this study is that SACU countries are governed by the common agreement for the union that oversees the movement of goods that enter the SACU area. However, although these countries are in a com-mon union, they have quite different levels of development. Based on the country’s level of development, Lesotho is a lower middle-income and least developed country, whereas Botswana and South Africa are upper middle-income economies. Thus, these disparities in the levels of economic development of SACU countries i are expected to have different implications in relation to the extent to which trade openness affects economic growth. It is within this background that the current study seeks to examine what impact trade openness has on economic growth in each of the three selected countries. To check the robustness of the empirical results, this study uses four equations based on four different indicators of trade openness to examine the linkage between trade openness and economic growth. While Equation 1, Equation 2 and Equation 3 employ trade-based indicators of openness, Equation 4 uses a modified version of the UNCTAD (2012a) trade openness index that incorporates differences in country size and geography. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration and error-correction modelling, the study found that the impact of trade openness on economic growth varies across the three SACU countries. Based on the results for the first three equations, the study found that trade openness has a positive impact on economic growth in South Africa and Botswana, whereas it has no significant impact on economic growth in Lesotho. Based on Equation 4 results, the study found that after taking the differences in country size and geography into account, trade openness has a positive impact on economic growth in Botswana, but an insignificant impact in South Africa and Lesotho. For South Africa and Botswana, the main recommendation from this study is that policy makers should pursue policies that promote total trade to increase economic growth in both the short and the long run. For Lesotho, the study recommends, among other things, the adoption of policies aimed at enhancing human capital and infrastructural development as well as the broadening of exports, so as to enable the economy to grow to a threshold level necessary for the realisation of significant gains from trade.
Economics
Ph. D. (Economics)

碩士
長庚大學
工商管理學系
101
Nurse personality influences care quality and patient safety. According to the Big Five personality, openness indicates the tendency of being curious and motivated to find ways to improve work performance. Applied to the health care industry, openness can motivate professionals to detect the potential threats that would hurt patients. Therefore, openness would be helpful for improving patient safety. Besides, previous studies identified that work experience and time pressure influence job performance. Thus, this study includes openness, working experience, and time pressure to examine how these factors impact patient safety. The sample consisted of 488 nurses from a medical center. The study results indicate that nurse openness is positively related to patient safety. Moreover, the study results indicate that time pressure is negatively related to patient safety. The study also found that working experience may not be positively related to patient safety. This study provided the hospital managers insights that the nurse openness and time pressure are important to patient safety.

碩士
銘傳大學
企業管理學系
105
This study examines how proactive personality, openness to experience personality and information exchange with co-worker effect to employee’s creativity. The study was conducted in Vietnam. Questionnaires were given to personally to 320 from several companies in Hanoi, Vietnam. There were 300 questionnaires return with all completely responses were used for the statistical analysis. The items in the questionnaire including proactive personality, openness to experience personality, information exchange with co-worker and individual creativity. The collected data were computed and analysis through factors analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, descriptive statistic, correlation and multiple regression analysis. The finding of the study has shown that proactive personality and openness to experience have a positively relationship with individual creativity. Moreover, information exchange with co-worker have no moderating effect between proactive personality, openness to experience personality and individual creativity but the study found that information exchange with co-worker has a positive relationship with proactive personality and openness to experience personality.

碩士
國立成功大學
高階管理碩士在職專班(EMBA)
106
In the competitive business environment, innovative business thinking and strategies are the core characteristics that must be possessed by the enterprise organizations in the telecommunication industry. This study attempts to discuss whether the employees in the organization team are export-oriented. Under the leadership of conversion leaders, is it easy to have creative ideas? In order to answer these questions, there are two parts of the study's conduction of creative design. They are the main effect part and the adjustment effect part. In the main effect part, it is to explore the extrovert personality traits that employees have, which have a positive impact on the creation of ideas. On the other hand, in the part of adjusting the effect, conversion leaders will increase the degree of creativity of employees. The analysis found that the practitioners' telecom industry extroverted personality traits contribute to the creativity of their work. In conversion-type leadership as a regulatory variable, it turns out that the managers of the work team are transitional leadership styles that do not affect the degree of personal creativity. That is, when the employee is an openness to experience personality trait, the supervisor is a transitional leader. There is no difference in the creativity of employees.

碩士
國立中央大學
企業管理學系
105
With the total market share of globally-known cosmetics brands gradually decrease over the years, many inexpensive cosmetics brands and domestic off-the-shelf brands enter this competitive market. Under the circumstances, consumer’s brand attitude becomes more important. The present study explores not only the direct effect from brand image to brand attitude, but also the mediating effect of consumer involvement, and the moderating effect of openness to experience personality. Three hundred and fifty seven valid questionnaires were collected from online consumers who have used facial care products before. The results show that involvement mediated the relationship between brand image and brand attitude. Also, the personality of openness to experience moderated the relationship between involvement and brand attitude. The implications of the findings, limitations, future research directions, and managerial implications are discussed.

Faculty of Humanities. School of Humanities and Communitiy Development. 0214946y tespsuch@yahoo.com
The five-factor model (FFM) of personality has established itself as the predominant model of personality trait structure (Digman, 1990). The NEO-PI-R has been used as one of the most useful FFM measures. Its reliability and validity has been approved through out the world and this study sought to explore the utility of the NEO-PI-R in the Eritrean context as well by translating the NEO-PI-R English version into Tigrigna language. Reliability and validity analyses were considered and an effort was also made to establish Eritrean norms. The descriptive statistics, norms and reliability co-efficients obtained in this study were not exactly similar to the USA sample, and this was not surprising having cultural difference, however, it was quite satisfactory as a pioneer study in Eritrean context. The scree plot showed that five factors could be extracted in this study. These findings lend support to an extent to the cross-cultural applicability of the instrument. In addition evidence of face, and content validity explorations indicated that this instrument was valid across cultures. Further evidence from inter-group comparisons across variables like age, gender, and level of education supports this argument. However, since the sample size and composition were problematic, there was question in the norming. As a whole the study suggested that NEO-PI-R could make a contribution in the Eritrean context as an initial personality assessment instrument.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
As the world continues to diversify and we begin to move towards a majority-minority America, it becomes ever critical for organizations to utilize diversity training effectively to create a more equitable work environment. This is especially true when considering the growth of Latino immigrants in the work force and how majority group members may view this as a threat to their group dominance, resulting in experiences of discrimination and prejudice towards minorities. However, research regarding the best methods to utilize to reduce prejudice against specific targeted groups has been inconclusive, and little work has been done to investigate personality characteristics as potential boundary conditions of diversity training effectiveness. Thus, the goal of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of two diversity training methods, perspective taking and imagined contact, specifically for trainees low in Openness to Experience who may be especially resistant to training. To test this over two time points (two weeks apart), we recruited White participants ( N= 471) via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, highlighted the demographic changes occurring in the modern workforce, randomly assigned them to either the perspective taking, imagined contact, or control condition, and then measured their Openness to Experience, intergroup anxiety, prejudiced attitudes and behavioral intentions towards Latino immigrants. Results revealed no significant interactions with Openness to Experience, thus resulting in its omission from the final model. Results also did not provide evidence for the training methods having a significant direct effect on the reduction of prejudice and the increase in behavioral intentions towards Latino immigrants. However, there was support found for intergroup anxiety such that it mediated the relationship between the diversity training methods and prejudiced attitudes and behavioral intentions. Exploratory analyses also revealed imagined contact to be more effective at reducing prejudice and increasing positive behavioral intentions via a reduction in intergroup anxiety compared to the perspective taking condition. Implications, future research, and limitations are discussed.

Controversy exists over the validity of child Openness to Experience (OE), which is typically considered a major trait in adult personality models. In an effort to establish construct validity for child OE, data were collected for 346 children (51% girls) approximately 9–10 years of age (M = 9.92, SD = 0.83). Parents completed questionnaires about their children’s personality, temperament, and behavioral problems and competencies. Factor analyses of relevant personality and temperament facets revealed a robust and measurable OE factor made up of three facets: Intellect, Imagination, and Sensitivity. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity was established via associations with other higher-order personality traits, behavioral problems, and behavioral competencies. The results underscore the importance of drawing from both temperament and personality literatures in attempts to establish construct validity for child trait domains as well as of moving beyond the higher-order domain and examining facet-level associations between OE and child behavior.

碩士
高雄醫學大學
香粧品學系碩士班
104
The study used the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as the research model to explore what factors would and now influence consumers to purchase cosmetics. The researcher expanded the TPB model by adding brand image, involvement, consumer knowledge and openness to experience as variables. The study employed both paper-based and web-based questionnaires to survey. Some of the people living in Taiwan were chosen to objects. Totally 400 valid questionnaires were collected for the study. The researcher applied SPSS 20.0 as statistical software to analyze the data and gained the results: In the TPB model, attitude and subjective norm have no significant influence on the behavioral intention of buying cosmetics, and only perceived behavioral control have positive influence on behavioral intention of buying cosmetics. In addition, brand image and involvement have no significant on behavioral intention of buying cosmetics, and consumer knowledge and openness to experience have positive influence on behavioral intention of buying cosmetics. Some suggestions have been made for future studies as well as cosmetic companies to better understand the consumers’ behavior in purchasing cosmetics.