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For more information see Uher,
2008a, 2008b,
and 2011.
Meta-theoretical concepts of personality variation within
populations
Variable-centred and individual-centred approaches
Meta-theoretical concepts of personality variation across populations (e.g. species)
Comparisons of personality variation among populations (e.g.
species)
Meta-theoretical concepts of personality variation within
populations
Individuals can be characterised by their consistent behavioural tendencies
in which they differ from one another. This implies that individuals show
a certain stability in how they behave. To extract the individuals’ stable behavioural tendencies from the flood of spontaneous individual behaviour, measurements have to be aggregated at least over multiple occasions
(the so-called Principle of Aggregation; Epstein, 1979, 1980; for empirical
examples in nonhuman primates see Uher et al.,
2008). Empirical stability disentangles
individual-specific patterns (personality) from random and error
variation, which are immanent in any behavioural measurement.
Two complementary approaches are basic to
comparative differential and personality research:
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Variable-centred and individual-centred approaches
Individuals differ from one another in the degree to which they show
particular behavioural tendencies. In variable-centred analyses, comparability is
studied in the individuals' stable rank-order differences on
different personality dimensions. A complementary viewpoint arises from
considering the individual's unique and stable configuration of
scores on many different personality dimensions visualised in its personality
profile that is studied with individual-centred analyses (Stern, 1911;
for empirical examples of both approaches in nonhuman primates see Uher
& Asendorpf,
2008; Uher et al., 2008; Uher, in press). |
Meta-theoretical concepts of personality variation across populations (e.g. species)
Variations of individual-specific patterns can also be studied across different
populations, such as species.
Extending concepts from cross-cultural personality research, three basic
types of personality dimensions can be construed. Population-specific dimensions
describe variations of individual-specific patterns that occur in only one particular population, but not
in other populations.
Universal dimensions, by contrast, describe variations of
individual-specific patterns that occur in different populations. Weak universal dimensions
describe variations that show similar means and variances in different
populations, whereas
strong universal dimensions describe variations that show
significant differences in means and variances among the considered
populations. Such personality
dimensions are therefore also
population comparative dimensions. These basic types of
personality dimensions are analysed with population-specific, universal and
population-comparative correlational analyses (including factor analysis;
for details see Uher,
2008a).
Comparisons of personality variation among populations (e.g.
species)
Populations can be compared in their positioning effects on shared personality dimensions,
that is, on
weak and strong universal dimensions. They can also be compared in patterning
effects they exert on the empirical intercorrelating structures of
their between-individual variations analysed statistically such as by
factor analysis (for details see Uher,
2008b).
References:
- Epstein, S. (1979). The stability of behavior: I. On predicting most of the people much of the time.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1097–1126.
- Epstein, S. (1980). The stability of behavior: II. Implications for psychological research.
American
Psychologist, 35, 790–806.
- Stern, W. (1911). Die differentielle Psychologie in ihren methodischen Grundlagen
(2. Auflage). [Differential Psychology in its methodological foundations
(2nd ed.)]. Leipzig, Germany: Barth.
- Uher, J. (in press 2011). Individual behavioral phenotypes: An
integrative meta-theoretical framework. Why 'behavioral syndromes'
are not analogues of 'personality'. Developmental Psychobiology. DOI
- Uher, J. (in press 2009). Personality in nonhuman primates: What can we learn from human
personality psychology? In A. Weiss, J. E. King, & L. Murray (Eds.),
Personality and behavioral
syndromes in nonhuman primates. New York, NY: Springer.
- Uher, J. (2008a). Comparative
personality research: Methodological approaches (Target article). European
Journal of Personality, 22, 427-455. [pdf]
DOI
- Uher, J. (2008b). Three
methodological core issues in comparative personality research. European Journal of Personality, 22, 475-496.
[pdf]
DOI
- Uher, J., & Asendorpf, J. B. (2008). Personality assessment in the Great Apes: Comparing
ecologically valid behavior measures, behavior ratings, and adjective ratings.
Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 821–838. [pdf]
DOI
- Uher, J., Asendorpf, J. B., & Call, J. (2008). Personality in the behaviour of Great Apes: Temporal
stability, cross-situational consistency and coherence in response. Animal Behaviour, 75, 99–112.
[pdf] DOI
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