Establishing the social impact of individuation

The present research examined relations between individuation, the willingness to publicly differentiate oneself from others, and three dimensions that may lead to high social impact: creativity, leadership, and nonverbal expressiveness. Study 1 describes the development of a Q-sort prototype of the high individuator. In Study 2 the prototype was used to construct a new measure of individuation; individuation showed predicted relations with creativity, leadership, and nonverbal expressiveness. In Study 3 the prototype measure was used to examine the behavioral expression of individuation within the context of a combined managerial and personality assessment center. High individuators engaged in more creativity, leadership, and nonverbal expressiveness; they were more willing to express dissenting opinions; and they contributed more to a group discussion task than did low individuators. The results clarify the link between high individuation and high social impact.