Allt fler människor deltar i lopp som sträcker sig över långa distanser. Denna studies syftevar att undersöka om dessa människors personligheter skiljer sig åt beroende på vilkengren de deltar i, och i så fall på vilket sätt. Med utgångspunkt i femfaktorteorin (Big Five)och med hjälp av ett självskattningsformulär, Revised NEO Personality Inventory, undersöktesoch jämfördes 214 löpare i Ultravasan 2015 och 145 cyklister i Cykelvasan 2015.Frågeställningen som föranledde arbetet var ifall löparnas personlighet skiljer sig från cyklisternas.Resultaten visade att löpare har en högre grad öppenhet i jämförelse med cyklisterna.Löparna hade även en lägre grad av extraversion i förhållande till cyklisterna,en skillnad som var statistiskt signifikant. Generellt sett visade resultaten små skillnadermellan löpare och cyklister. / More people than ever participate in long distance races and the purpose of this study wasto investigate the personality of these individuals. We had 214 Ultravasan runners and145 Cykelvasan cyclists complete the Revised NEO Personality Inventory test, to assesstheir personality based on the Big Five. The main question was whether the personality ofthe runners would differ from the cyclists’.Results showed that runners scored higher on openness compared to the cyclists.Furthermore, runners were significantly less extrovert than the cyclists. Generally however,the results showed minor differences in personality between the two groups.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att studera sambandet mellan personlighet och hur studenter upplever sin studiesituation. Tidigare studier har visat att personlighet hade ett samband med upplevelsen av studiesituationen, bl.a. upplevda studiekrav. Framför allt visade dessa studier att personlighetsaspekterna ”Samvetsgrannhet” och ”Vänlighet” hade ett samband den upplevda studiesituationen. Deltagande i undersökningen var 155 studenter (18–48 år (M=24,44 år, SD = 4,56). En nätenkät med två delar genomfördes; första delen mätte personlighet utifrån femfaktorteorin, den andra delen mätte studenters upplevelser av studiekrav, social interaktion, skicklighet i studierna samt studiekultur. Deltagaren fick svara på sammanlagt 116 påståenden i en likertskala. Signifikanta skillnader upptäcktes gällande hur deltagarna svarade på frågor om ”Neuroticism” och ”Studiekrav” beroende på kön och vilken utbildning deltagaren studerade. Studiens resultat visade signifikanta samband mellan personlighetsdragen “Neuroticism” och upplevda studiekrav samt “Samvetsgrannhet” och ”Skicklighet i studierna”. Sammanfattningsvis bekräftades två av studiens tre antaganden. / This study aim was to investigate the relationship between personality and how students perceive their study situation. Previous studies have shown that personality has a relation on students’ perceived study situations, for example, perceived study requirements. These studies especially showed that the personality traits “Agreeableness” and “Consciousness” had a relation on students’ perceived study situation. 155 Students participated (18-48 years (M= 24,44, SD = 4,56). A two-section online survey was conducted; the first part measured personality based on the big five theory, the second part measured students’ perception of their study situation of study requirements, proficiency in the studies, social interaction, and study culture. The participant had to respond to a total of 116 statements on a likert scale. Significant differences were discovered regarding how students responded to questions about “Neuroticism” and “Study requirements” depending on gender and education. The results of the study showed significant relationships between “Neuroticism” and students’ perception of their “Study requirements” and between “Conscientiousness” and students’ perception of their “Proficiency in the studies”. In conclusion, two out of three assumptions were confirmed.

Det svenska partisystemet är relativt unikt till följd av att det har en tydlig endimensionell struktur. Internationell forskning har visat på samband mellan personlighetsfaktorer och politisk hemvist. Mest framträdande är kopplingen mellan öppenhet och vänstersympatier, samt samvetsgrannhet och högersympatier. Det förefaller även som att politiker skiljer sig från den genomsnittlige väljaren när det gäller framför allt extraversion, samvetsgrannhet och öppenhet. I en svensk kontext är forskningen mer begränsad och således finns ett behov av att nyansera bilden. För att undersöka dessa samband hos ungdomspolitiker i Sveriges största politiska ungdomsförbund, SSU och MUF, genomfördes en enkätundersökning baserad på BFI-44 med N = 161. Ett nationellt representativt stickprov om N = 1524 som genomfört BFI-10 i samband med en undersökning av SOM-institutet fick representera den genomsnittlige väljaren. För att testa hypoteserna genomfördes ett flertal independent samples t-test. Resultaten indikerade att ungdomspolitiker i SSU inte var mer öppna än ungdomspolitiker i MUF (d = 0.062) och att ungdomspolitiker i MUF var signifikant mer samvetsgranna än deras motparter i SSU (d = -0.28). Ungdomspolitiker i SSU visade signifikant högre resultat på neuroticism (d = 0.52) och ungdomspolitikerna som grupp var mer extroverta (d = 0.22) och öppna (d = 0.27) än den genomsnittlige väljaren. Resultaten låg i stora drag i linje med tidigare forskning. Några av avvikelserna gick inte att underbygga teoretiskt, men spekulerades kunna kopplas till den unika svenska politiska kontexten. Vidare spekulerar vi kring sambanden mellan personlighetsdrag och politisk preferens mot bakgrund av studiens resultat. / The Swedish political party system is relatively unique because of its clear one-dimensional structure. International research has shown a connection between personality characteristics and political affiliation. The connection that stands out is that between openness and left sympathies and conscientiousness and right sympathies. It also appears that politicians diverge from the average voter when it comes to extraversion, conscientiousness and openness. In a Swedish context the research is more limited and therefore there is a need to add nuance. To explore these relationships a survey based on BFI-44 was conducted with N = 161. A nationally representative sample of N = 1524 that had conducted BFI-10 as part of a survey by the SOM-insitute got to represent the average voter. To test the hypotheses a multitude of independent samples t-tests was conducted. The results indicated that the youth politicians of SSU were not more open than the youth politicians of MUF (d = 0.062), and that youth politicians of MUF were significantly more conscientious than their counterparts in SSU (d = -0.28). Youth politicians of SSU registered a significantly higher score for neuroticism (d = 0.52) and the youth politicians as a group were more extroverted (d = 0.22) and open (d = 0.27) than the average voter. The results were largely in line with earlier research. Some of the deviations couldn’t be supported from a theoretical perspective but was speculated to have a connection to the unique Swedish political context. Furthermore, we speculate about the connection between personality characteristics and political preference considering the results of this study.

This program of research was aimed at investigating a novel application of computer aided text analysis (CATA). To date, CATA has been used in a wide variety of disciplines, including Psychology, but never in the area of personnel selection. Traditional personnel selection techniques have met with limited success in the prediction of costly training failures for some occupational groups such as pilot and air traffic controller. Accordingly, the overall purpose of this thesis was to assess the validity of linguistic style to select personnel. Several studies were used to examine the structure of language in a personnel selection setting; the relationship between linguistic style and the individual differences dimensions of ability, personality and vocational interests; the validity of linguistic style as a personnel selection tool and the differences in linguistic style across occupational groups. The participants for the studies contained in this thesis consisted of a group of 810 Royal Australian Air Force Pilot, Air Traffic Control and Air Defence Officer trainees. The results partially supported two of the eight hypotheses; the other six hypotheses were supported. The structure of the linguistic style measure was found to be different in this study compared with the structure found in previous research. Linguistic style was found to be unrelated to ability or vocational interests, although some overlap was found between linguistic style and the measure of personality. In terms of personnel selection validity, linguistic style was found to relate to the outcome of training for the occupations of Pilot, Air Traffic Control and Air Defence Officer. Linguistic style also demonstrated incremental validity beyond traditional ability and selection interview measures. The findings are discussed in light of the Five Factor Theory of Personality, and motivational theory and a modified spreading activation network model of semantic memory and knowledge. A general conclusion is drawn that the analysis of linguistic style is a promising new tool in the area of personnel selection.