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Spearman's hypothesis tested at the level of items states that differences between ethnic groups on the items of an IQ test are a function of the g loadings of these items, such that there are small differences between ethnic groups on items with low g loadings and large differences between ethnic groups on items with high g loadings, and it has been confirmed in a fairly substantial number of studies. Most biological variables show correlational patterns that are more similar to the pattern in group differences than non-biological variables. In this paper, we tested Spearman's hypothesis, comparing a group of Sudanese children and adolescents (N = 7226) with other groups of children and adolescents from Denmark, Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia, South Africa, Estonia, Ukraine, Ireland, Russia, and Chile (total N = 13,105). The analyses were carried out on 19 comparisons between the Sudanese children and the other children. Aggregating all data points from the present study showed that Spearman's hypothesis was strongly confirmed with a sample-size–weighted r with a value of .70; it is argued that applying corrections for statistical artifacts would make this value substantially larger. These outcomes suggest that biological variables, including brain-related variables, are more important than non-biological variables in explaining group differences.

Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion. © 2015, The Author(s). Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion.

The perception of ensemble characteristics is often regarded as an antidote to an established bottleneck in focused attention and working memory, both of which appear to be limited in capacity to a few objects only. In order to test the associative law of summation, observers were asked to estimate the mean size of four circles relative to a reference circle. When there was no time to scrutinize each individual circle, observers discriminated the mean size difference identically, irrespective of whether the same summary size increment or decrement was added to or subtracted from the size of only one, two, or all four circles. Since observers judged the size of individual circles, the position of which was indicated after they were displayed, considerably less accurately than the mean size of the four circles, it is very unlikely that explicit knowledge of the size of the individual elements is the basis of mean size judgments. The sizes of individual elements were pooled together in an obligatory manner before size information had reached awareness. The processing of size information seems to be largely constrained to only one measure at a time, with a preference for mean size rather than the individual measures from which it is assembled. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rankings of countries on mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness continue to puzzle researchers. Based on the hypothesis that cross-cultural differences in the tendency to prefer extreme response categories of ordinal rating scales over moderate categories can influence the comparability of self-reports, this study investigated possible effects of response style on the mean levels of self-reported Conscientiousness in 22 samples from 20 countries. Extreme and neutral responding were estimated based on respondents’ ratings of 30 hypothetical people described in short vignettes. In the vignette ratings, clear cross-sample differences in extreme and neutral responding emerged. These responding style differences were correlated with mean self-reported Conscientiousness scores. Correcting self-reports for extreme and neutral responding changed sample rankings of Conscientiousness, as well as the predictive validities of these rankings for external criteria. The findings suggest that the puzzling country rankings of self-reported Conscientiousness may to some extent result from differences in response styles.

The distinction between the effects people expect alcohol to have on themselves and on others is poorly understood. This study employs the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality for investigating these two types of beliefs. Participants responded to short personality questionnaires with instructions to describe themselves and an average young man while moderately intoxicated; they also described their actual and desired personality trait levels. Intoxication was believed to decrease Conscientiousness and increase Neuroticism as well as Extraversion for actors as well as observers alike, while predictions for Openness and Agreeableness depended on the rating target. Profile similarity analysis revealed that, although both types of beliefs reflected socially undesirable trait levels in domains other than Extraversion, actor-expectations were less undesirable than observer-expectations. Implications of the findings suggest that the FFM can be profitably used to study intoxication-related beliefs.

Objectives: Diet has health consequences, which makes knowing the psychological correlates of dietary habits important. Associations between dietary habits and personality traits were examined in a large sample of Estonians (N = 1,691) aged between 18 and 89 years. Method: Dietary habits were measured using 11 items, which grouped into two factors reflecting (a) health aware and (b) traditional dietary patterns. The health aware diet factor was defined by eating more cereal and dairy products, fish, vegetables and fruits. The traditional diet factor was defined by eating more potatoes, meat and meat products, and bread. Personality was assessed by participants themselves and by people who knew them well. The questionnaire used was the NEO Personality Inventory-3, which measures the Five-Factor Model personality broad traits of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, along with six facets for each trait. Gender, age and educational level were controlled for. Results: Higher scores on the health aware diet factor were associated with lower Neuroticism, and higher Extraversion, Openness and Conscientiousness (effect sizes were modest: r = .11 to 0.17 in self-ratings, and r = .08 to 0.11 in informant-ratings, ps < 0.01 or lower). Higher scores on the traditional diet factor were related to lower levels of Openness (r = -0.14 and -0.13, p < .001, self- and informant-ratings, respectively). Conclusions: Endorsement of healthy and avoidance of traditional dietary items are associated with people's personality trait levels, especially higher Openness. The results may inform dietary interventions with respect to possible barriers to diet change.

Two large cross-cultural databases on personality were used to study the relationship between culture-level mean scores of Conscientiousness and 18 country-level criterion variables including health indicators, religiosity, democracy, corruption, economic wealth and freedom, and the presence of a favorable business environment. Compared to previous research, more rigorous requirements for the study of the predictor-criterion relationships were formulated and followed. Mean Conscientiousness scores were significantly related to most of the criteria but, importantly, the relationships differed largely across facets of the broad Conscientiousness domain. In several facets, the patterns of relationships to the external criteria were consistent with clearly formulated multi-variate predictions but the pattern of relationships was moderated by the type of ratings (self- vs. observer-ratings). (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

It is widely believed that, on those personality traits that are more visible to an external observer, two judges will reach a higher level of agreement than on those traits that are more difficult to judge. This view is challenged in the current paper, using a sample of 672 participants in the age range of 18–87 years who described their own personality and were judged by an external observer who knew them well, using the NEO PI-3 questionnaire ( McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005 ). The self-observer agreement on the 30 personality subscales varied from .38 (O3: Feelings) to .57 (E5: Excitement Seeking). Approximately one-half of the variance in the agreement level was explained by the standard deviation of the sum scores of these subscales: self-observer agreement was higher in the subscales on which individual differences were larger. After correction for the range of variance, differences in self-observer agreement substantially diminished. It is proposed that judges who know each other well reach an approximately equal level of agreement on all the Big Five personality traits.

This study reports results from the first International Body Project (IBP-I), which surveyed 7,434 individuals in 10 major world regions about body weight ideals and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the female Contour Drawing Figure Rating Scale (CDFRS) and self-reported their exposure to Western and local media. Results indicated there were significant cross-regional differences in the ideal female figure and body dissatisfaction, but effect sizes were small across high-socioeconomic-status (SES) sites. Within cultures, heavier bodies were preferred in low-SES sites compared to high-SES sites in Malaysia and South Africa ( ds = 1.94-2.49) but not in Austria. Participant age, body mass index (BMI), and Western media exposure predicted body weight ideals. BMI and Western media exposure predicted body dissatisfaction among women. Our results show that body dissatisfaction and desire for thinness is commonplace in high-SES settings across world regions, highlighting the need for international attention to this problem.

In this study, 3705 participants from across the Russian Federation were asked to rate their own personality traits, those of a typical Russian living in their region, and those of an ideal person, using the National Character Survey (NCS). Another large group of participants ( N = 3537) was asked to identify an ethnically Russian college-aged man or woman whom they knew well and rate this target using the NEO PI-R. The mean personality profiles of the typical Russian converged significantly with self-rated personality traits ( r = .63, p r = .33, p = .08). However, the former correlation lost its significance when the mean ratings of an ideal person ratings were controlled for ( r = .35, p = .06). The mean ratings of a typical Russian converged even more substantially with the personality profile of an ideal person ( r = .71, p

If you are an accurate judge of your friends’ openness, are you also good at rating their conscientiousness? In this paper we examined how well self–other agreement on one personality trait accords with self–other agreement on other personality traits. Data from four Estonian and Belgian samples containing 818 targets and 1281 knowledgeable raters were analyzed. Results demonstrated that self–other agreement only moderately generalizes from one personality trait to another suggesting that the predictability of an individual can vary for different personality traits. When trait agreement was decomposed into the contributions of individual pairs of raters, these were only moderately correlated with different coefficients of profile agreement, suggesting that these two forms of agreement are far from being identical.

Consensus studies from 4 cultures--in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Germany--as well as secondary analyses of self- and observer-reported Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) data from 29 cultures suggest that there is a cross-culturally replicable pattern of difference between internal and external perspectives for the Big Five personality traits. People see themselves as more neurotic and open to experience compared to how they are seen by other people. External observers generally hold a higher opinion of an individual's conscientiousness than he or she does about him- or herself. As a rule, people think that they have more positive emotions and excitement seeking but much less assertiveness than it seems from the vantage point of an external observer. This cross-culturally replicable disparity between internal and external perspectives was not consistent with predictions based on the actor-observer hypothesis because the size of the disparity was unrelated to the visibility of personality traits. A relatively strong negative correlation (r = -.53) between the average self-minus-observer profile and social desirability ratings suggests that people in most studied cultures view themselves less favorably than they are perceived by others.

This paper focuses on the role of the pitch cue in the perception of Estonian quantity degrees. The significance of the tonal component is investigated through comparison of native vs. learned identification of the quantities. The study reports on perception tests with manipulated natural speech stimuli given to Estonian native (L1) listeners and non-native (L2) listeners with different language backgrounds. Our earlier results [Lippus, P., Pajusalu, K., & Allik, J. (2007). The tonal component in perception of the Estonian quantity. In J. Trouvain, & Barry, W. J. (Eds.), The proceedings of the 16th international congress of phonetic sciences: 16th international congress of phonetic sciences , Saarbrucken, Germany, 6–10 August 2007 (pp. 1049–1052)] showed that native Estonian listeners use pitch as an important cue for perceiving the overlong quantity (Q3), but the cue plays no significant role for L2 listeners. In this study we analyze more closely the effect of the listeners’ native language on the perception of Estonian quantities. Finnish and Russian L1 listeners successfully learn the Estonian three-way quantity distinction without considering the pitch cue. Latvian L1 listeners show some confusion between the long and overlong quantity degree, which could be explained by reference to the tonal and temporal contrasts in their native language.

Participants were asked to assess personality traits of a typical individual with high or low academic or practical abilities. Opinions about the perceived relationships between personality and intelligence strongly converged. A typical intelligent person was believed to be emotionally stable, extraverted, open to new experiences, and conscientious, differing on these traits diametrically from a typical individual endowed with low abilities. The perceived associations between ability and personality traits contrast with the typically weak correlations found between psychometrically measured intelligence and personality. Despite a considerable overlap between ability-related personality stereotypes and social desirability ratings of the personality traits, there was a discrepancy in the attitudes towards agreeableness. Although the facets of agreeableness were regarded as socially advantageous, participants did not believe that trust, straightforwardness and altruism are necessarily characteristic of a smart person. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Both expert and folk psychologists believe that only children are spoiled, selfish, lonely, and socially estranged. In this study, we demonstrate that the stereotypical personality profile of a typical only child differs consistently from the stereotypical profile of those who have siblings on 23 out of the 30 NEO-PI-R subscales. These differences between stereotypical personality profiles do not reflect self-descriptions because the self-rated personality profiles made by only children coincide almost perfectly with the self-rated personality profiles of those who have brothers or sisters. The multiple children stereotype reflects rather accurately both the mean normative and the socially desirable personality profile. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction. Stable individual differences in personality traits have well-documented associations with various aspects of health. One of the health outcomes that directly depends on people's behavioral choices, and may therefore be linked to personality traits, is having a sexually transmitted disease (STD).Aim. The study examines the associations between a comprehensive set of basic personality traits and past STD history in a demographically diverse sample.Methods. Participants were 2,110 Estonians (1,175 women) between the ages of 19 and 89 (mean age 45.8 years, SD = 17.0). The five-factor model personality traits (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) and their specific facets were rated by participants themselves and knowledgeable informants. Sex, age, and educational level were controlled for.Main Outcome Measure. History of STD diagnosis based on medical records and/or self-report.Results. History of STD diagnosis was associated with higher Neuroticism and lower Agreeableness in both self- and informant-ratings. Among the specific personality facets, the strongest correlates of STD were high hostility and impulsiveness and low deliberation.Conclusions. Individual differences in several personality traits are associated with a history of STD diagnosis. Assuming that certain personality traits may predispose people to behaviors that entail a higher risk for STD, these findings can be used for the early identification of people at greater STD risk and for developing personality-tailored intervention programs. Mottus R, Realo A, Allik J, Esko T, and Metspalu A. History of the diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease is linked to normal variation in personality traits. J Sex Med 2012;9:2861-2867.

In cross–national studies, mean levels of self–reported phenomena are often not congruent with more objective criteria. One prominent explanation for such findings is that people make self–report judgements in relation to culture–specific standards (often called the reference group effect), thereby undermining the cross–cultural comparability of the judgements. We employed a simple method called anchoring vignettes in order to test whether people from 21 different countries have varying standards for Conscientiousness, a Big Five personality trait that has repeatedly shown unexpected nation–level relationships with external criteria. Participants rated their own Conscientiousness and that of 30 hypothetical persons portrayed in short vignettes. The latter type of ratings was expected to reveal individual differences in standards of Conscientiousness. The vignettes were rated relatively similarly in all countries, suggesting no substantial culture–related differences in standards for Conscientiousness. Controlling for the small differences in standards did not substantially change the rankings of countries on mean self–ratings or the predictive validities of these rankings for objective criteria. These findings are not consistent with mean self–rated Conscientiousness scores being influenced by culture–specific standards. The technique of anchoring vignettes can be used in various types of studies to assess the potentially confounding effects of reference levels. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study investigated the role of adolescents’ cognitive ability, personality traits and school success in predicting later criminal behaviour. Cognitive ability, the five–factor model personality traits and the school grades of a large sample of Estonian schoolboys ( N = 1919) were measured between 2001 and 2005. In 2009, judicial databases were searched to identify participants who had been convicted of misdemeanours or criminal offences. Consistent with previous findings, having a judicial record was associated with lower cognitive ability, grade point average, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and higher neuroticism. In multivariate path models, however, the contributions of cognitive ability and conscientiousness were accounted for by school grades and the effect of neuroticism was also accounted for by other variables, leaving grade point average and agreeableness the only independent predictors of judicial record status. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The relationship between EEG frontal alpha asymmetry and Big Five personality traits was investigated on a large student sample ( n = 208, 69 men). Alpha asymmetry is a widely used index of affective and motivational processes that is also related to both vulnerability and symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders. However, findings involving conceptually relevant personality traits such as behavioral inhibition and activation have been mixed. Furthermore, only a few studies have employed the Five-Factor Model. In the current sample asymmetry was negatively correlated with Neuroticism ( r = −.14, p r = −.34, p r = −.04, p = .68). This distinction could not be explained by treating experimenter’s gender as a moderator of the relationship between personality and asymmetry. Taken together, these findings point towards possible gender-specific involvement of various underpinnings of Neuroticism (e.g. behavioral inhibition and worry).