In this special section, 9 studies and 6 commentaries make a unique contribution to the study of personality. They focus on the five-factor model and, in particular, one of those 5: conscientiousness. This trait has had astonishing success in the actuarial prediction of adaptive outcomes in adulthood and aging, but we have little understanding of…

Research Findings: The present cross-sectional study investigated the question of whether 6 different temperament dimensions (inhibition to novelty, social orientation, motor activity, positive emotionality, negative emotionality, and attention) influenced cognitive and affective theory of mind (ToM) in 168 children (86 three/four-year-olds and 82…

Among emerging adult populations, the increasingly prevalent use of online social media, such as Facebook, and its relationship to individual personality traits and interpersonal relationships are of growing interest to researchers. The current study sought to investigate how attachment style, personality traits based on the Five Factor Model, and…

The emotional reactivity hypothesis holds that, over the course of phylogeny, the selection of animals with less reactive temperaments supported the development of sophisticated social-cognitive skills in several species, including humans (Hare, 2007). In the ontogenetic human case, an emotional reactivity hypothesis predicts that children with…

A successful transition from kindergarten to 1st grade requires a positive combination of multiple dimensions of child competence. Using latent class analysis, we simultaneously examined the academic skills, work attitude, and social/behavioral competence of a large sample of Dutch kindergarten children to identify profiles of kindergarten…

We investigated the degree to which parent positive personality characteristics in terms of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability predict similar adolescent personality traits over time, as well as the role played by positive parenting in this process. Mothers and fathers of 451 White adolescents (52% female, mean age = 13.59…

This study explored the utility of trait emotional intelligence (EI) for predicting students' university graduation outcomes six years after enrolment in university. At the start of the program, 1,015 newly registered students completed a brief multidimensional self-report EI assessment and provided consent to track their subsequent degree…

The utility of psychopathy measures in predicting violence is largely explained by their assessment of social deviance (e.g., antisocial behavior; disinhibition). A key question is whether social deviance "interacts" with the core interpersonal-affective traits of psychopathy to predict violence. Do core psychopathic traits multiply the (already…

The current study examined the relations between individual differences in sustained attention in infancy, the temperamental trait behavioral inhibition in childhood, and social behavior in adolescence. The authors assessed 9-month-old infants using an interrupted-stimulus attention paradigm. Behavioral inhibition was subsequently assessed in the…

This study, conducted in 2004, investigated the direct effect of interparental conflict (IPC) about child-raising issues on the social skills of middle-class US children who attended a suburban preschool and the buffering effect of teacher support (n = 170). Findings indicated that greater IPC was associated with poorer child social skills. The…

This study examined the relationship between psychosocial well-being and a multicultural personality disposition in undergraduates (N = 124). Measures of universal-diverse orientation, hardiness, psychosocial-interpersonal functioning, self-esteem, and political correctness ideology were administered. Results indicated that the multicultural…

Investigates effectiveness of communicative variables for predicting leadership emergence in long-term, nonlaboratory groups. Concludes that leadership prediction is possible based on group's ratings of selected communicative functions. Group sensitivity to communicative functions at initial session allows for potential group leader selection.…

Adaptive behavior refers to behaviors that demonstrate an age-appropriate level of adjustment and independence within one's cultural group. Many adaptive behaviors involve social perception, which may be described as knowing who does what, with whom, where, and when. The demonstration of these behaviors may be an important factor in the ability of…

Interviews were held with 88 mentally retarded institutionalized adults (ages 18 to 30) in order to identify types of verbal and nonverbal behavior that are associated with making positive or negative impressions on others and that therefore might be priority targets for communication training efforts. (Author)

The Index of Personality Characteristics (IPC) and the Social Reasoning subtest of the British Ability Scales were administered to 36 students with behavior disorders (BD) and 37 nonexceptional students in grades 3-7. Results indicated that the IPC composite score in combination with the Social Reasoning subtest accurately predicted BD…