A More Nuanced View of Reliability McCrae, Robert R.
Personality and social psychology review,
05/2015, Letnik:
19, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Retest reliability is a better predictor of validity than is internal consistency. One explanation for this is item-specific variance, which distinguishes different nuances of a facet and contributes ...to retest reliability but not internal consistency. Specific variance at the facet level is temporally stable, consensually validated, and heritable; a consideration of the role of specific variance in personality measures leads to a distinction between traits as the intersection (∩) versus the union (∪) of their constituents. I discuss specific variance at the item level and its implications for scale development and argue that retest reliability outpredicts internal consistency because item-specific variance has been shown to be observable, and is probably heritable and stable. I consider some implications of these ideas for the use of single-item scales, the causal interpretation of traits, and the notion of scalar equivalence. Finally, I note that the sources of random error in scales are still poorly understood.
It has been argued that facets do not represent the bottom of the personality hierarchy-even more specific personality characteristics, nuances, could be useful for describing and understanding ...individuals and their differences. Combining 2 samples of German twins, we assessed the consensual validity (correlations across different observers), rank-order stability, and heritability of nuances. Personality nuances were operationalized as the 240 items of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R). Their attributes were examined by analyzing item residuals, controlling for the variance of the facet the item had been assigned to and all other facets. Most nuances demonstrated significant (p < .0002) cross-method agreement and rank-order stability. A substantial proportion of them (48% in self-reports, 20% in informant ratings, and 50% in combined ratings) demonstrated a significant (p < .0002) component of additive genetic variance, whereas evidence for environmental influences shared by twins was modest. Applying a procedure to estimate stability and heritability of true scores of item residuals yielded estimates comparable with those of higher-order personality traits, with median estimates of rank-order stability and heritability being .77 and .52, respectively. Few nuances demonstrated robust associations with age and gender, but many showed incremental, conceptually meaningful, and replicable (across methods and/or samples) predictive validity for a range of interest domains and body mass index. We argue that these narrow personality characteristics constitute a valid level of the personality hierarchy. They may be especially useful for providing a deep and contextualized description of the individual, but also for the prediction of specific outcomes.
The magnitude of components of variance in trait scales-true score, method variance, and error-can be estimated from information on the mono-method correlations among personality traits within a ...domain and on cross-observer agreement on domains and facets. Estimates of these components in NEO Inventory facet scales were compared with prior estimates that were based on a consideration of internal consistency and retest reliability (McCrae, 2015). Together, results suggested that (a) about 40% of the variance in self-reports and single informant ratings is due to method variance; (b) as with substantive traits, method biases exist on several different levels, some broad, some narrow; and (c) consequently, a large number of distinct biases affect personality scale scores. Method biases beyond acquiescence and evaluation were also found in a clinical instrument, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5. Because many biases appear to be idiosyncratic, it is unlikely that validity scales could be created to assess or control all of them. These findings underscore the value of utilizing multiple informants in research and individual assessment. To the extent that they can be distinguished from valid variance, method biases are themselves of clinical interest as potentially important elements of the self-concept.
Public Significance Statement
Personality measures provide important information about individuals to clinicians and researchers, but they are not perfect. This study shows that personality scales are susceptible to a number of different biases when a single respondent is relied upon. Accurate assessment is facilitated by the use of multiple informants.
Some accounts of the evolution of music suggest that it emerged from emotionally expressive vocalizations and serves as a necessary counterweight to the cognitive elaboration of language. Thus, ...emotional expression appears to be intrinsic to the creation and perception of music, and music ought to serve as a model for affect itself. Because music exists as patterns of changes in sound over time, affect should also be seen in patterns of changing feelings. Psychologists have given relatively little attention to these patterns. Results from statistical approaches to the analysis of affect dynamics have so far been modest. Two of the most significant treatments of temporal patterns in affect-sentics and vitality affects have remained outside mainstream emotion research. Analysis of musical structure suggests three phenomena relevant to the temporal form of emotion: affect contours, volitional affects, and affect transitions. I discuss some implications for research on affect and for exploring the evolutionary origins of music and emotions.
Personality Across the Life Span Costa, Paul T; McCrae, Robert R; Löckenhoff, Corinna E
Annual review of psychology,
01/2019, Letnik:
70, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Trait stability and maturation are fundamental principles of contemporary personality psychology and have been shown to hold across many cultures. However, it has proven difficult to move beyond ...these general findings to a detailed account of trait development. There are pervasive and unexplained inconsistencies across studies that may be due to (
a
) insufficient attention to measurement error, (
b
) subtle but age-sensitive differences in alternative measures of the same trait, or (
c
) different perspectives reflected in self-reports and observer ratings. Multiscale, multimethod-and ideally multinational-studies are needed. Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for trait stability and change, but supporting evidence is currently weak or indirect; trait development is a fertile if sometimes frustrating field for theory and research. Beyond traits, there are approaches to personality development that are of interest to students of adult development, and these may be fruitfully addressed from a trait perspective.
Bleidorn et al. (2019) argued that personality traits, as important determinants of life outcomes, should be the object of treatment interventions. They suggested that self-reports on standard ...personality questionnaires provide necessary and sufficient evidence of trait change. However, the self-concept-on which self-reports are based-may change without any alteration in the underlying trait. Additional evidence, such as that provided by independent informant ratings, is needed, and multimethod assessments should be a feature of all studies of trait change.
The authors examined data (N = 34,108) on the differential reliability and validity of facet scales from the NEO Inventories. They evaluated the extent to which (a) psychometric properties of facet ...scales are generalizable across ages, cultures, and methods of measurement, and, (b) validity criteria are associated with different forms of reliability. Composite estimates of facet scale stability, heritability, and cross-observer validity were broadly generalizable. Two estimates of retest reliability were independent predictors of the three validity criteria; none of three estimates of internal consistency was. Available evidence suggests the same pattern of results for other personality inventories. Internal consistency of scales can be useful as a check on data quality but appears to be of limited utility for evaluating the potential validity of developed scales, and it should not be used as a substitute for retest reliability. Further research on the nature and determinants of retest reliability is needed.
I summarize an early effort to provide a conceptual basis for psychology. Natural science studies material objects, and its methods and assumptions may not be appropriate for the study of persons. ...Persons exist within the natural attitude and are characterized by such properties as temporality, responsibility, normality, and identity. Contemporary theories of mind focus on people’s understanding of how minds make decisions and shape behavior, but say little about the nature of the entity that possesses a mind; ethnopsychologies are concerned with cultural variations in beliefs about accidental rather than essential aspects of human psychology. The lay philosophical view of the person sketched here is intended to be broader and deeper. It is particularly relevant to trait psychology, appears to have been implicit in much trait research, and is generally consistent with empirical findings on personality traits.
Classical psychometrics held that scores on a personality measure were determined by the trait assessed and random measurement error. A new view proposes a much richer and more complex model that ...includes trait variance at multiple levels of a hierarchy of traits and systematic biases shaped by the implicit personality theory of the respondent. The model has implications for the optimal length and content of scales and for the use of scales intended to correct for evaluative bias; further, it suggests that personality assessments should supplement self-reports with informant ratings. The model also has implications for the very nature of personality traits.
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