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Behavioral And Personality Expectations Associated With Status Positions
Abstract:
Two parallel studies explore whether status-positions may be character- ized by certain general behaviors and personality traits. Fifty-two status- positions, including selected ethnic, occupational, age, sex, and familial categories, were ranked and rated on twenty-eight personality and behavioral characteristics by substantial samples of college students. Analysis of these data indicated that some behavioral characteristics and personality traits are consistently attributed to particular status-positions independently of method (rating or ranking), with little or no effects attributable to the five orders of presentation used. Factor analysis of the status-positions yielded five factors for both the ratings and the rankings, four of which were interpretable and scored: Likeability, Defiance, Responsibility, and Emotionality. The factor structure found was related to previous research on characteristics of persons. Profiles of the status-positions using mean scores based on these four factors plus assertiveness were presented.
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