Listeners generally rate speakers of high initial ethos (such as university professors) using mildly self-deprecating humor highly on traits like "wittiness" and "funniness." A three-part study investigated whether a speaker of lower initial ethos (such as a student) can "get away" with such self-deprecation. In Experiment 1, college students read…

In a study designed to further define individual differences in reading comprehension, 200 students enrolled in developmental reading courses at a large urban university participated in an experiment that investigated the relationship between personality type and reading comprehension. The students took a reading comprehension test consisting of…

Research on trait descriptions of interpersonal behavior tends to converge on a two-dimensional representation in which descriptive variables are arrayed in a circular fashion around the major axes of affiliation and dominance. Wiggins' self-report adjective checklist (1979) reflects this theoretical ordering. To explore the utility of Wiggins'…

A study correlated the results of the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI) and two holistically scored narrative writing samples to determine how high school students' intellectual and emotional characteristics affected their writing improvement. Students in a small West Coast high school completed the OPI and generated a pretest writing sample in…

This study aims to explore leadership characteristics and contribute evidence to the validity of Jungian personality typology by investigating the relationship between principals' personality types and their reported problem-solving strategies. To test the hypothesis that the manner in which the principals report that they would solve a problem…

It has been predicted that, if an androgynous identity represents a higher level of psychosocial functioning, there should be a significant relationship between androgynous sex role identity and high self-esteem. To test this hypothesis, 139 male and female high school seniors completed the Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development, the Bem Sex…

Using a counseling technique format of video and audio-taping, feedback, modeling, and role playing, the effects of taking an active counseling role by the counseling supervisor was shown to produce changes in counselor-trainee personality characteristics, as measured by the MMPI. Significant changes were noted in seven of the 15 variables,…

Interactions between husbands and wives are often assessed in terms of power distribution, based on decision-making outcomes. To examine the association of the dominance of "spouse" over "parents" and "peers" orientation with perceived behavioral and affective mutuality in the couple's financial management, couples…

Eleanor Roosevelt and Antoine de Saint-Exupery are described as strongly developed self-actualizing people. They were selected as subjects of this study because they are generally believed to possess self-actualizing characteristics and because their positions as public figures made it more likely that data on them would be accessible.…

The relationship between attrition and a student's personality type was studied, using the Myers-Briggs Type indicator (MBTI), which classifies people according to extraversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judgment/perception. In a second study, the extent to which a student's congruence with the personality types of…

Personality differences among black populations of varying socioeconomic backgrounds from Jamaica and the U.S. were investigated using Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control measure, the Gough-Heilbrun Adjective Check List and Kelly's Role Construct Repertory Test. Results demonstrate the differential utility of these personality measures for…

THE BACKGROUNDS, MOTIVATIONS, AND PERSONALITIES OF THREE GROUPS WERE INVESTIGATED TO DETERMINE THE SOURCE AND TYPE OF EDUCATIONAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS THAT ARE CONDUCIVE TO CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY. A SAMPLE OF 30 PSYCHOLOGISTS WAS SELECTED AND, AFTER SOME INVESTIGATION, WAS DIVIDED INTO THE FOLLOWING GROUPS--(1) CREATIVE, (2)…

In order to place research on social anxiety in proper perspective, the factors actually measured by social anxiety scales must be examined. Five social anxiety scales and four personality questionnaires were administered to college undergraduates (N=78). Factor analyses of the data revealed two distinct factors. The first factor, to which…

The relationship between psychosocial development and ego identity was explored among a group of 29 married women, 21-59 years old. After being interviewed, subjects were assigned to one of four categories of identity status, based on their statements regarding decision-making and commitment. There were significant differences between identity…

The sample consisted of 109 women in traditionally male professions and 112 women in traditionally female professions with a mean age of 51.8. Subject selection was based on whether women were under-represented or over-represented in particular fields as stated in the 1960 U.S. census. The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, the Adjective…