The psychological benefits of self-compassion, a construct associated with adaptively dealing with emotional suffering from life's problems appear to overlap with those of trait resiliency in terms of theoretical underpinnings and outcome research. This study investigated the relationship between self-compassion, personality, and gender in order to shed light on the construct's relevance to an existing framework of resiliency personality research. One hundred and twenty-three college students completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and Self-compassion Scale (SCS). A cluster-analysis of the BFI scores yielded three cluster prototypes consistent with overcontrolled, undercontrolled, and resilient personality prototypes identified in previous studies of children and adult community samples. Analyses revealed resilient individuals reported significantly higher overall Self-compassion (M = 3.08, SD = .25) compared to both overcontrolled (M = 2.85, SD = .20, t = -4.32, p <= .00) and undercontrolled types (M = 2.90, SD = .25, t = 3.53, p <= .00). Interestingly, there were no significant differences between overcontrolled and undercontrolled types or between men and women, on overall Self-compassion. A two by three MANOVA of gender and personality prototype on the SCS revealed a significant interaction on overall Self-compassion score (F = 3.92, p <= .02) and the Common Humanity subscale (F = 3.81, p <= .03). Post hoc analyses were conducted to examine the nature of the gender and personality interactions. The theoretical issues raised by these results are discussed and recommendations are made for utilizing self-compassion in treatment and future research.

The aim of this study is to increase our knowledge about the correlation between personality andself-esteem. A survey containing two instruments was spread through Facebook. The first instrument was a translation of Rosenberg's self-esteem scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) that measured the degree of self-rated self-esteem. The second instrument was a self-formulated personality test that measured the degree of extraversion and every facet of this personality trait.The questions answered in this study are (1) if there is a correlation between self-esteem and extraversion, (2) how strong the correlations are between self-esteem and the individual facets of extraversion, (3) which facets that have a significant impact on self-esteem and lastly (4) how high the internal consistency of the instruments used in this study is. All data was processed in SPSS and to answer the questions correlation- and regression analyzes as well as Cronbach's alpha were used.The study reports two results - one that includes all questions in the survey and one that only includes questions that were considered to have high internal consistency according to Cronbach's alpha. Both results show a correlation between extraversion and self-esteem. The first result showsa correlation between self-esteem and the facets activity level, warmth, assertiveness and positivefeelings, but to different degrees. The second result shows a correlation between self-esteem and every facet. Both results show that the facets positive feelings and assertiveness significantly correlateswith self-esteem, but the second result shows that the activity level also significantly correlates withself-esteem. Both instruments showed high internal consistency measured with Cronbach's alpha. / Syftet med denna studie är att öka kunskapen kring sambandet mellan personlighet och självkänsla.En enkät innehållande två instrument spreds via plattformen Facebook. Det första instrumentet var en översättning av Rosenbergs self-esteem scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) som mätte graden av självskattad självkänsla. Andra instrumentet var ett egenformulerat personlighetstest som mätte graden av extraversion samt varje fasett inom denna personlighetsegenskap. De frågeställningar som besvaras i denna undersökning är (1) ifall det finns ett samband mellan självkänsla och extraversion,(2) hur starka sambanden är mellan självkänsla och de enskilda fasetterna inom extraversion, (3) vilka fasetter som har en betydelse för självkänsla samt (4) hur hög den interna konsistensen är hos de instrument som använts. All data behandlades i SPSS och för att besvara frågeställningarna användeskorrelations- och regressionsanalyser samt Cronbachs alfa. Studien redovisar två resultat - ett som inkluderar alla frågor i enkäten och ett som endast inkluderar de frågor som ansetts ha hög internkonsistens enligt Cronbachs alfa. Båda resultaten visar ett samband mellan extraversion och självkänsla. Första resultatet visar samband mellan självkänsla och fasetterna aktivitetsnivå, värme,bestämdhet och positiva känslor, men i olika hög grad. Andra resultatet visar samband mellan självkänsla och samtliga fasetter. Båda resultaten visar att fasetterna positiva känslor och bestämdhet har ett signifikant samband med självkänsla men andra resultatet visar även att aktivitetsnivån har ettsignifikant samband. Båda instrumenten visade hög intern konsistens mätt med Cronbachs alfa.

Self-determination theory (SDT) has been used to study motivation and motivational strategies within many different domains one of the most pertinent being academia. The theory emphasizes the importance of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs and places a strong emphasis on environmental factors as both fostering and impeding of motivational energies, while simultaneously giving less importance to intrapersonal determinants of motivation such as personality and attachment. This gap in the literature was addressed in this study by investigating that aspect of academic motivation which has not been of a salient interest to SDT. To test the hypotheses that Neuroticism, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and attachment styles are associated with Intrinsic Motivation, with attachment being a stronger predictor, 272 participants at a midsize university completed a survey including scales assessing personality traits, attachment style, and academic motivation. Data were analyzed using correlation, regression, and moderation analyses and as hypothesized, all three personality traits were significantly associated with Anxiety and Avoidance attachment dimensions, which in turn were related to Intrinsic Motivation, though only partially. Attachment Avoidance emerged as the most important dimension of attachment accounting for a significant amount of variance in Intrinsic Motivation beyond personality and illustrating the relatedness component of self-determination theory. Implications of these results include both theoretical (example, conceptualizing relatedness in terms of attachment Avoidance), and practical (example, suggestions for instructors on methods for increasing student Intrinsic Motivation) aspects.

abstract: The five-factor model of personality is a conceptual model for describing personality, and represents five traits which are theorized to interact with each other to form personality. The Big Five Questionnaire-Children (BFQ-C) was developed by Barbaranelli, Caprara, Rabasca and Pastorelli (2003) specifically to measure the five factor model in children. The original version was in Italian, but it has subsequently been translated and used in Dutch, German, and Spanish samples. Given that the BFQ-C has support in Europe, obtained in four different languages it seems promising as an assessment of personality for English speaking children and adolescents. The BFQ-C was translated into English utilizing translation and back translation in order to maintain a high conceptual equivalency. The current study utilizes principal components analysis in order to examine the structure of the English language translation of the BFQ-C in a sample of American adolescents. Results indicate that in contrast to the Italian study, findings from this study suggest a six component solution as the most effective interpretation of the data. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Educational Psychology 2012

Inom psykologin har det länge varit intressant att studera personligheter för att förklara individers beteenden. Ett välstuderat beteendemönster är om personer är prosociala eller inte. Prosociala är generösa mot andra och icke-prosociala ser till sin egen vinning. Tidigare studier har visat att personlighetsegenskaper som Big Five och socioekonomisk status kan påverka en persons generositet och förmodligen predicera prosocialitet. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka personlighetsegenskaper som predicerar att en person är prosocial. Social önskvärdhet kontrolleras för att se om personer som beter sig socialt önskvärt även var prosociala. Social Value Orientation, ett ekonomiskt spel, användes i studien för att mäta om en person var prosocial. Resultatet baserades på 131 undersökningsdeltagares svar på en enkät. En multipel regressionsanalys visade att ingen prediktor förutom socioekonomisk status var relaterad till om en person var prosocial. Dock gick samtliga variabler i förutspådd riktning vilket är värt att lyfta fram.

The profession of rescuers is very stressful and requires high level of resistance against stress, connected to pro-social tendencies, which are altruism and empathy. The theoretical part is divided into five topics related to the research. These topics are: helping professions, competence of helping professions, pro-social behaviour, integrated emergency system in the Czech Republic and the last theoretical part concerns personality. The objective of this research was to identify some personality characteristics of rescuers in South Bohemian region, in consideration of pro-social behaviour. The research was carried out in rescue service in South Bohemian region and at the University of South Bohemia. Research was devised through a questionnaire that was given to 77 rescuers (12 of them were studying the subject rescuer at the University of South Bohemia).

In the last years the idea has resurfaced that traits can be measured in a reliable and valid and this can be useful inthe prediction of human behavior. The five-factor model appears to represent a conceptual and empirical advances in the field of personality theory. Necessary orthogonal factors (Goldberg, 1992, p. 26) to show the relationships between the descriptors of the features in English is five, and its nature can be summarized through the broad concepts of Surgency, Agreeableness, Responsibility, Emotional Stability versus neuroticism and openness to experience (John, 1990, p96) Furthermore, despite the criticisms that have been given to the model, represents a breakthrough in the field of personality assessment. This approach means a contribution to the study of personality, without being the integrative model of personality. / En los últimos años ha reaparecido la idea de que los rasgos pueden ser medidos de manera confiable y válida y esto puede ser útil enla predicción de la conducta humana. El modelo de los cinco factores parece representar un avance conceptual y empírico en el campo de la teoría de la personalidad. Los factores ortogonales necesarios (Goldberg, 1992, p. 26) para mostrar las interrelaciones entre los descriptores de los rasgos en idioma inglés es cinco, y su naturaleza puede resumirse a través de los conceptos amplios de Surgency, Agradabilidad, Responsabilidad, Estabilidad emocional versus neuroticismo y Apertura a la experiencia (John, 1990, p96 ) Asímismo, a pesar de las críticas que se han dado al modelo, representa un avance en el campo de la evaluación de la personalidad. Este enfoque significa un aporte a los estudios de la personalidad, sin ser el modelo integrativo de la persobalidad.

Tidigare forskning har visat att vi drar slutsatser om andra personer redan utifrån ansikten och detta påverkar oss i många skeden i livet. Till viss del har även korrektheten av dessa bedömningar undersökts i olika situationer, t.ex. foto och/eller text utifrån arbetsansökningar och sociala medier. Ingen studie har undersökt hur väl vi kan bedöma andra individers personlighet beroende på relationsperspektiv och grad av information. Vi testade därför två hypoteser gällande Facebook; 1) Närstående bedömer bättre en individs personlighet än främlingar, oavsett informationsgrad, 2) Mer information kommer ge främlingarna en mer korrekt bedömning. För att besvara hypoteserna fick 90 deltagare skatta 15 deltagares personlighet utifrån tre olika relationsperspektiv; närstående, främling utifrån profilbild eller främling utifrån Facebookprofil. Samtliga deltagare rekryterades huvudsakligen från två lärosäten och genom bekvämlighetsurval. Resultatet gav stöd för första hypotesen men inte andra hypotesen. En närstående bedömer personlighet bättre än en främling och informationsgrad påverkar inte främlingars korrekthet signifikant. Dock kunde främlingar göra en bedömning som påvisade en bättre korrelation än noll. Detta menar vi har implikationer för främst rekryterare som ofta utgår från sociala medier i sin bedömning av arbetsansökande.

Due to the growth of online shopping and services, various types of products can be recommended to an individual. After reviewing the current methods for cross-domain recommendations, we believe that there is a need to make different types of recommendations by relying on a common base, and that it is better to depend on a target customer’s information when building the base, because the customer is the one common element in all the purchases. Therefore, we suggest a recommender system (RS) that develops a personality profile for each product, and represents items by an aggregated vector of personality features of the people who have liked the items. We investigate two ways to build personality profiles for items (IPPs). The first way is called average-based IPPs, which represents each item with five attributes that reflect the average Big Five Personality values of the users who like it. The second way is named proportion-based IPPs, which consists of 15 attributes that aggregate the number of fans who have high, average and low Big Five values. The system functions like an item-based collaborative filtering recommender; that is, it recommends items similar to those the user liked. Our system demonstrates the highest recommendation quality in providing cross-domain recommendations, compared to traditional item-based collaborative filtering systems and content-based recommenders.

This study examined the relationship between several individual differences (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, creative self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and polychronicity) and creativity. It also examined how the organizational climate (support for creativity) moderated the relationship between the individual differences and creativity. All the individual differences except for polychronicity were positively correlated with creativity as well as support for creativity. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) found that the individual differences explained 58% of the variance in creativity and that support for creativity moderated the relationship between conscientiousness and creativity and between extraversion and creativity. Because of noticed similarity between creativity and creative self-efficacy items, a factor analysis was done which confirmed some overlap. Implications of the findings of this paper are discussed.