Similarity of extreme traits as a predictor of similarity of cognition and preference.
Item
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Title
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Similarity of extreme traits as a predictor of similarity of cognition and preference.
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Identifier
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AAI9325159
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identifier
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9325159
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Creator
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Waldman, Mel.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Howard Ehrlichman
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Date
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1993
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social | Psychology, Personality
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Abstract
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The question of whether all people can be relevantly described by all traits remains a significant issue in personality assessment. It is related to the larger question of whether the concept of personality traits has predictive utility. My approach is an alternative perspective to the moderator variable approach. Moderator variables are claimed to allow one to identify individuals at any level of a trait for whom the trait is relevant. Two such moderators are consistency and trait importance. However, this study was designed to explore the idea that trait extremity may determine or be a major component of trait relevance. I predicted that trait level itself could identify relevant traits for an individual. Furthermore, I hypothesized that individuals who obtain extreme scores on the same traits would be more similar to each other than would individuals who obtain moderate scores on the same traits. In this study, overlap in the use of cognitive constructs and movie preferences were employed as indicators of similarity between individuals. I predicted that there would be more overlap for individuals who shared extreme scores on traits than for individuals who shared intermediate scores on traits. A homogeneous sample of 56 female subjects 18-25 years old was obtained from the original sample of 133 undergraduate students at Queens College who participated in the study. Subjects filled out the Personality Research Form, the Personal Views Questionnaire, and the Trait Importance Questionnaire. Subjects who shared extreme traits had significantly greater movie overlap than subjects who shared intermediate traits but did not differ with respect to construct overlap. As the number of extreme shared traits increased, the amount of construct overlap significantly increased. However, the amount of movie overlap did not significantly increase. The amount of overlap for subjects sharing two or more intermediate traits and subjects sharing one intermediate trait was not significantly different. The findings were the same for constructs and movies. The implications of these results for further research are discussed. Finally, extreme traits were significantly more consistent but not significantly more important than intermediate traits.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
