The purpose of the study was to compare differences among 18 personality trait scales of the California Personality Inventory (CPI), six American Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (AAHPER) tests of physical fitness, and Ponderal Index (PI, or body mass) measurements for a population of ethnic Chinese and aboriginal Taiwanese junior high school male athletes and nonathletes; the secondary purpose was to determine relationships among these variables. The study sample included 839 subjects, administered the tests at 18 junior high schools in Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). Statistical analysis was prepared at the Institute of Physical Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, ROC. The subject population included 183 subjects active in team sports (volleyball, soccer, baseball), 214 subjects active in individual sports (track and field, wrestling, swimming), and 442 nonathlete subjects between the ages 13 to 16 years. From the results of this investigation, it was found that ethnic Chinese and aboriginal Taiwanese subjects differed significantly on several of the CPI trait scales and physical fitness tests, but that there were no significant differences between the two racial classifications for PI measurements. Athlete subjects from both racial classifications scored significantly higher than nonathletes on all of the physical fitness tests, and upon several of the CPI trait scales. Nonathletes from both racial classifications scored significantly higher than athletes from both groups for the PI measurements. In addition, team sport athletes scored significantly higher than individual sport athletes on physical fitness tests for sit-ups, the long jump, and the 600-yard run, as well as for PI measurements and the CPI Self-Acceptance scale. Significant interactions were found between athletes and nonathletes from both racial classifications for the sit-ups, shuttle run, and 50-yard dash physical fitness test and the CPI Communality scale, and between individual and team sport athletes from both racial classifications for the pull-ups and sit-ups physical fitness tests. For the ethnic Chinese subjects, with the exception of pull-ups, there was a significant interaction between all physical fitness tests and for 15 of the 18 CPI trait scales; for the aboriginal Taiwanese subjects, there was a significant interaction between all of the physical fitness tests and total CPI score. No significant correlationships were found between the CPI trait scales, tests of physical fitness, and PI measurements for ethnic Chinese subjects, whereas significant correlations among the same variables were established for the aboriginal Taiwanese subjects. For the latter, as physical fitness test scores increased, there was a tendency for certain personality characteristics (Dominance, Capacity for Status, Sociability, Social Presence, Self-Acceptance, Achievement via Independence, Intellectual Efficiency, and Femininity) to become increasingly strong influences. / Graduation date: 1992

The effect of Socially Desirable Responding (SDR) and response distortion on personality and selection measures has been debated for decades (Edwards, 1957b; Messick&Jackson, 1961; Morgeson et al., 2007, Ones, Viswesvaran,&Reiss, 1996). One area of this broad topic that has received less attention over the years has been the effectiveness of the scales used to measure SDR when evidence of potential response distortion is present. Using a MANOVA, this study found significant differences between job candidate and incumbent responses on the scales of the 16PF (Cattell&Cattell, 1995), which can be indicative of SDR (Rosse et al., 1998). However, no difference between the groups was found on the Impression Management scale used to measure SDR. Differences based on the job function of the respondents were also explored.

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): Janice Laurence, Kenneth Thomas. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-60). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): Brad Johnson, Susan Hocevar. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-66). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): William Bowman, Kenneth Thomas. Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-92). Also available online.

This is a descriptive study that poses the questions and discussion regarding use of personality tests in prediction of future job performance of the current undergraduate hospitality students. A gap exists between the perception of the skills and competencies of high performers and the perception of hospitality students (Berezina et al., 2011; Malan, Berezina & Cobanoglu, 2012). The purpose of this study is to investigate if personality tests will help in predicting the success of students in their preferred job setting as compared to current high performers (managers). The use of personality tests increased substantially after 1988, when the government banned the use of polygraphs (Employee Polygraph Protection Act, 1988 as cited in Stabile, 2002). Although there is no right or wrong answer to personality test questions, the answers would allow employers to have a better idea if there is a sufficient fit between the applicant and the position sought. To compare the personality types of successful hotel managers and hospitality students to determine if there is a need to customize the hospitality curriculum in order to produce graduates who will fit to the correct type of positions, a convenient sample was drawn from a hotel management company's managers and hospitality students of a university in the Southeast USA. The sample for this study was 175 Managers and 150 Students. With the 144/175 (82% response rate) manager and 76/150 (51% response rate) students the main findings show there is a significantly difference between managers and students. This indicates that current hospitality students and current managers have different perceptions about hospitality industry. Since current students will work on the industry in the future, the difference needs to be eliminated by both curricular and extra-curricular activities. There are also significant differences among managerial positions' (general manager, assistant general manager, and director of sales) LDP scores. This could indicate that it might not be a good fit to promote these individuals from one position to other within the company since each position differs from each other.

Previous studies of the influence of personality on behaviour in experimental games have provided conflicting and inconclusive results. The present investigation was designed to search on a broad front for personality correlates of behaviour in a two-person bargaining game, the one used being a derivation of the Deutsch and Krauss Trucking Game. Five personality tests, covering fifty-three personality traits, were administered to 192 undergraduate students attending courses at The University of Stirling, and from these the experimental groups were randomly chosen, the only constraint being the sex of the subjects. The tests were The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, The Guilford/Zimmerman Temperament Survey, The Study of Values Test, The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, and The Test of Social Insight. The trucking game was played for 30 trials by two groups of subjects, each containing 24 male dyads and 24 female dyads, under two experimental conditions: Condition I, where subjects had access to full information regarding the other's payoffs, and Condition II, where only incomplete information of the other's payoffs was available. It was hypothesized that behaviour in the game would be influenced by (i) amount of information available about the payoffs of the other; (ii) sex of the players (comparing single-sexed dyads); and (iii) players' personality. No differences due to either amount of information available about the other's payoffs, or sex of the players, were found. An analysis of the data provided by the combined experimental groups, however, successfully located indications of personality effects on behaviour in the game, as measured by total joint payoff summed over 30 trials, total time taken, the number of concessions made to the other player, and first strategy-choice on individual trials. The personality variables concerned were Emotional Stability and Radicalism/Conservatism, (Factors C and Ql of The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire); Personal Relations, (Factor P of The Guilford/Zimmerman Temperament Survey); Theoretical Value, (T scale of The Study of Values Test); Exhibition, ('exh' variable of The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule); and Cooperativeness, (Scale III of The Test of Social Insight). It is suggested that the relationship of these personality variables to game-playing behaviour should be the subject of further investigation.

Test feedback has been recommended as an effective adjunct to brief therapy, despite a continued lack of empirical support. Previous research demonstrates the benefits of providing test feedback; however, it is unclear whether feedback interventions are responsible for producing positive outcomes. To clarify the efficacy of incorporating test feedback into the counseling process, a constructive research strategy was followed to examine collaborative MMPI-2 feedback as an isolated treatment component in brief counseling. A multiple source effect, as outlined by social influence theory (Strong, 1968) and the elaboration likelihood model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981), was proposed to explain the benefits of collaborative test feedback. Specifically, the source characteristics of the counselor and the test were hypothesized to facilitate counseling outcomes.Forty undergraduate students, who were willing to discuss personal concerns with a counselor during two counseling sessions, were randomly assigned to either a counseling-only or a counseling + feedback intervention. The counseling process in both treatment groups was the same (i.e., participants answered personal questions), but MMPI-2 feedback was provided only in the counseling + feedback group. After each counseling session and a two-week follow-up, participants completed the Session Impact Scale, Outcome Questionnaire, Counselor Rating Form, Thought Listing procedure, as well as counseling attitudes and persuasion to change measures.Regardless of whether personality feedback was provided, the counseling sessions were evaluated favorably, participants' psychological functioning improved, and counselors were perceived to be influential. Although group differences were not large enough to be statistically significant, providing MMPI-2 feedback was associated with more reliable change in symptomatic distress. In addition, participants from both groups reported comparable levels of cognitive processing and counseling attitudes and were similarly persuaded to alter their behavior. Because significant changes occurred regardless of test feedback, counseling outcomes were not moderated by providing test feedback. Multiple source effects were not demonstrated in the test feedback process. These results indicate common therapeutic factors, such as answering therapeutic questions and finding solutions to presenting concerns, are responsible for treatment gains previously attributed to test feedback. Suggestions for future test interpretation research are provided and recommendations for theoretical development are discussed. / Department of Educational Studies

The prediction of adolescents' antisocial behavior was central to this investigation. Specifically, use of the Psychopathy Checklist, Revised (PCL) as a predictor of the treatment outcome of a residential unit for juvenile delinquents was evaluated. Toward this goal, three foci guided hypothesis generation and testing. Multiple hypotheses were tested to consider (a) the predictive validity of the PCL, (b) the match between the PCL and Moffitt's (1993b) taxonomy of antisocial behavior and (c) the utility of the PCL as a selection instrument for assignment of juvenile delinquents to behavioral residential unit treatment. Subjects consisted of 80 adolescent, racially-mixed males (28 unit residents, 52 high school students).Predictive validity was evidenced for criteria consisting of future incarceration and future violent and nonviolent criminal offenses committed over the year following PCL administration. Prediction of future incarceration produced results similar to those found with adult prisoners (80% of psychopaths and 21% of nonpsychopaths were incarcerated). Moreover, PCL scores accounted for 26% of the variability in violent offenses and 40% of the variability of nonviolent offenses committed by subjects during the follow-up year.The match between Moffitt's taxonomy of antisocial behavior and the PCL was evidenced by data gathered on those subjects who were known to have engaged in antisocial behavior (N=71). The constructs that Moffitt (1993b) argued would mediate antisocial behavior and are measured with PCL items (such as neuropsychological executive functioning) significantly improved the prediction of future antisocial behavior over that accounted for by Moffitt's taxonomy. In fact, PCL items accounted for more unique variability in future offenses committed than did Moffitt's taxonomy.Utility analyses indicated that the PCL could be used to improve the prevention of success-improbable delinquents from being assigned residential treatment. Dollar value utility analysis indicated that over $5800 per resident could be reallocated to other interventions by assigning success-improbable delinquents to other treatments. Doing so was projected to result in over $175,000 less to be spent on treating unsuccessful residents. It was also argued that utility analysis figures could be to argue for development of alternative programs for delinquents who would probably be unsuccessful in the residential unit program. Residents who presented with internalized psychiatric disorders were not identified using the proposed cutoff score. Therefore, it was recommended that a second test be used to detect delinquents in need of in-patient psychiatric care. / Department of Educational Psychology

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1993. / Bibliography: leaves 116-128.