Earlier quantitative entrepreneurial studies with a focus on poverty rate has centred their arguments and analyses entirely on income differences which has resulted in a high poverty rate among self-employed. Their results shows that variables such as age, gender, hours of labour and structure of the household significantly affect the poverty rate among self-employed. In this study we aim the focus on material living standards instead of income differences, thus using a more representative approach while studying entrepreneurial poverty. The purpose of the study was to examine how personality traits (big five) affect the material living standards among the self-employed in Sweden, using a group of employed as a control group. Variables earlier known to affect the poverty risk among self-employed where used as control variables together with education and household income. With this new aspect on entrepreneurial research, we found that four out of five personality traits affect the material living standard among self-employed. Two out of the five personality traits, openness and extraversion, where found uniquely on self-employed. Among the control variables only gender and household income seemed to affect the material living standard, thus excluding the effect of age, hours of labour, education and household structure. This indicates that personality traits should be considered using while studying poverty among the self-employed.

The ability to control one’s behaviour is a fundamental cognitive function subserved by the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Whereas the neural basis of inhibitory control is reasonably well-established, the possible influence of individual differences in personality on cortical activity associated with this ability remains largely unexplored. The present study obtained self-report ratings of Five-Factor Model personality traits from 42 healthy adults while hemodynamic oxygenation in the PFC was recorded during a Go/No-Go task. Results indicated that Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Openness to Experience were associated with attenuated activity in the lateral PFC, a region critical for emotion regulation and behavioural control, whereas Extraversion and Conscientiousness were associated with greater activation in these regions. Activity within the medial PFC, an area linked to task engagement and self-monitoring, shared a positive association with Agreeableness. These findings provide important insights into how neural systems supporting inhibitory control may be affected by individual differences in personality.

Researchers criticize predominant expected return models for being imprecise and based on fundamentally flawed assumptions. This dissertation evaluates Implied Cost of Capital, CAPM and the Three-Factor model abilities to estimate returns. We study each models expected return association to realized return and test for abnormal returns. Our sample covers the period 2000 to 2012 and includes 2916 US firms. We find that Implied Cost of Capital has a stronger association with realized returns than CAPM and the Three-Factor model. Implied Cost of Capital also has lower abnormal returns not accounted for by expected returns. Our results suggest that we can replace CAPM and the Three-Factor model with Implied Cost of Capital.

The ability to control one’s behaviour is a fundamental cognitive function subserved by the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Whereas the neural basis of inhibitory control is reasonably well-established, the possible influence of individual differences in personality on cortical activity associated with this ability remains largely unexplored. The present study obtained self-report ratings of Five-Factor Model personality traits from 42 healthy adults while hemodynamic oxygenation in the PFC was recorded during a Go/No-Go task. Results indicated that Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Openness to Experience were associated with attenuated activity in the lateral PFC, a region critical for emotion regulation and behavioural control, whereas Extraversion and Conscientiousness were associated with greater activation in these regions. Activity within the medial PFC, an area linked to task engagement and self-monitoring, shared a positive association with Agreeableness. These findings provide important insights into how neural systems supporting inhibitory control may be affected by individual differences in personality.

Very little research has examined the role of personality in important life outcomes and support needs of adults with intellectual disabilities. This exploratory study includes a sample of 102 community-dwelling adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and begins to evaluate the relative contributions of general personality and personality disorder as it they concern their adaptive functioning, Axis I psychopathology symptoms, and residential and vocational supports. Observer ratings of personality disorder and Five Factor Model and Reiss Profile general personality functioning were obtained from direct service providers who knew the participants well, and archival file data (e.g., IQ, adaptive functioning scores, medications prescribed, and diagnoses) were collected after informed consent and assent were obtained from the participants. The results suggest that both personality and personality disorder, relate the intensity of supports required, the number of psychiatric medications prescribed, maladaptive behavior, and the amount of Axis I psychopathology exhibited by the participants. Results of the study are discussed with reference to implications for service delivery and planning and future research.

The current study provides convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity data for a measure of schizotypia from the perspective of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of general personality structure. Nine schizotypia facet scales were constructed as maladaptive variants of respective facets of the FFM (e.g., Aberrant Ideas as a maladaptive variant of FFM Openness to Ideas). On the basis of data from 143 undergraduates the convergent validity of these nine facet scales was tested with respect to 11 established measures of schizotypia and the respective facets of the FFM. Discriminant validity was tested with respect to other personality disorders and facets from other FFM domains. Incremental validity was tested with respect to the ability of the FFM schizotypia facet scales to account for variance in two established measures of schizotypia, after variance accounted for by respective FFM facets and other established measures of schizotypia were first removed. The findings support the validity of these new facet scales as measures of schizotypia and as maladaptive variants of the FFM.

The current thesis tests empirically the relationship of the dimensional trait model proposed for the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders with five-factor models (FFM) of personality disorder (PD). The DSM-5 Personality and Personality Disorders Work Group proposes to diagnose the disorders largely in terms of a 25 trait dimensional model organized within five broad domains (i.e., negative affectivity, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism). Consistent with the authors of DSM-5, it was predicted that negative affectivity would align with FFM neuroticism, detachment with FFM introversion, antagonism with FFM antagonism, disinhibition with low FFM conscientiousness and, contrary to the authors of DSM-5, psychoticism would align with FFM openness. Suggested changes in trait placements according to FFM of PD research were also tested. Four measures of five factor models of general personality were administered to 445 undergraduates along with the Personality Inventory for DSM-5. The results of the present study provided support for the hypothesis that all five domains of the DSM-5 dimensional trait model are maladaptive variants of general personality structure, including the domain of psychoticism; however, the findings provided mixed support for suggested trait placement changes in the DSM-5 model.

The Five Factor Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (FFOCI) was developed in part to facilitate a shift from the categorical classification of personality disorder to a dimensional model; more specifically, the five-factor model. Questions though have been raised as to whether obsessive-compulsive personality disorder can be understood as a maladaptive variant of FFM conscientiousness. The purpose of the present study was to provide a further validation of the FFOCI, as well as to compare and contrast alternative measures and models of OCPD. A total of 380 participants, including 146 oversampled for OCPD traits, were recruited from introductory psychology courses at the University of Kentucky. Administered were the FFOCI, measures of general personality (e.g.,, International Item Pool, 5-Dimensional Personality Test), trait scales associated with OCPD (e.g.,, workaholism, compulsivity, propriety), and alternative measures of obsessive compulsive personality disorder. All measures were administered via SurveyMonkey, a secure online survey service. Results supported the validity of the FFOCI, but also demonstrated substantive differences among the alternative measures of OCPD, particularly with respect to their relationship with FFM conscientiousness, antagonism, and introversion.

Background: When a company is employing new salespeople, much is expected from these. The company is hoping that the new candidate is going to perform well and contribute to the fullest. One of the big questions that the organization has to face is how to evaluate and sift through sales candidates in order to find the best suited one. Previous studies have shown to some extent that a person's personality can be connected to how well they are performing in different occupations. One commonly used framework for assessing personality is the Five Factor Model (FFM) which is able to account for different traits without overlapping. One way to assess a person's personality traits is by the use of the big five inventory questionnaire (BFI). Purpose: To describe if there is a correlation between personality traits and sales performance in the Swedish car dealership market.Method: The research was a quantitative study of two Swedish car dealerships, where 60 out of 72 employees at Hedin Bil & Holmgrens Bil answered the BFI questionnaire. The response rate was 83%. The survey was sent out by mail to the two companies whose responsible managers divided their sales staff in three different groups (good performing, average performing and bad performing) according to the company's organizational goals.Conclusion: The conclusion of this study is that one of the hypotheses was supported and four rejected by the salespeople participating. The only hypothesis that was supported was that Neuroticism would correlate negatively with sales performance.

According to attachment theory, the establishment of an attachment bond to a caregiver not only provides the infant with protection from danger, but also many other resources presumably beneficial to the child’s general psychological development. Although there is substantial empirical support for a link between attachment security and social functioning in childhood and adolescence, less is known about whether childhood attachment contributes to social functioning beyond adolescence. Similarly, attachment has been found predictive of broad aspects of a person’s functioning, but few attempts have been made to link attachment to the currently dominating perspective on personality, the Five Factor Model (FFM). Results in Study I partially supported our expectations, by showing prospective links from middle childhood security to various aspects of social functioning in young adulthood. Further, security contributed to developmental change in social functioning from middle childhood to young adulthood. In Study II, middle childhood security was found to predict some of the FFM personality traits (primarily extraversion and openness) concurrently and prospectively, partially supporting our expectations. The third aim of this thesis was to address whether attachment disorganization, which has usually been found predictive of maladaptive phenomena, may predict also other, non-pathological outcomes. In Study II, we found that higher levels of disorganization in young adulthood were concurrently associated with more openness and lower conscientiousness. Furthermore, in Study III disorganization was shown to be concurrently associated with more New Age spirituality and more absorption in adulthood. In addition, absorption was, in accordance with our expectations, found to statistically mediate the link between disorganization and New Age spirituality. Hence, these findings supported our assumption that disorganization might be expressed in other life domains besides specifically maladaptive ones. Taken together, we suggest that attachment spreads its influence to a broad set of life domains through its continuous influence on general psychological components such as cognitive representations and self-regulation abilities. However, the modest strength of our results indicates that attachment is only one among several factors involved in the development of social functioning, personality traits, and spirituality.