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Published on: August 25, 2023
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Individual differences and personality traits across situations.
Julian A Nasello1,2, Jean-Marc Triffaux1,3, Michel Hansenne4
1Psychosomatic Medicine and Group Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Day Hospital "La Clé", Liège, Belgium.
Current Issues in Personality Psychology
|May 29, 2024
Summary
Most personality traits are flexible across different situations, except for openness. Across-situation variability (ASV) in personality traits may indicate potential psychopathology, particularly concerning conscientiousness.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Personality Science
Background:
- The Big Five theory categorizes personality into five traits: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness.
- Situational factors are known to influence personality expression.
- Across-situation variability (ASV) quantifies individual differences in personality change across contexts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the five personality traits vary across five distinct situations (family, work, friends, romantic partner, hobbies/leisure).
- To examine the relationship between ASV and specific personality domains.
- To explore ASV as a potential marker for personality disturbance.
Main Methods:
- 80 participants completed situation-specific versions of the Big Five Inventory.
- Network analysis was employed to explore the connections between ASV and personality traits.
Main Results:
- All personality traits, except openness, demonstrated significant changes across different situations.
- Openness remained stable across all assessed situations.
- Network analysis revealed a notable connection between ASV and conscientiousness, particularly in family and romantic partner contexts.
Conclusions:
- Personality traits exhibit considerable flexibility influenced by situational contexts.
- The stability of openness across situations warrants further investigation.
- ASV, especially its link with conscientiousness, may serve as a potential indicator of psychopathology.
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