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The present research examined the role of approach and avoidance motivation in models of personality. Specifically, it examined the hypothesis that approach and avoidance temperaments represent the foundation of several basic dimensions espoused in the trait adjective, affective disposition, and motivational system approaches to personality. Factor analytic support for the hypothesis was obtained in Studies 1, 2, and 6; measures of extraversion, positive emotionality, and behavioral activation system loaded together on 1 factor (Approach Temperament) and measures of neuroticism, negative emotionality, and behavioral inhibition system loaded on another factor (Avoidance Temperament). This 2-factor structure was shown to be independent of response biases. In Studies 3–7, approach and avoidance temperaments were shown to be systematically linked to achievement goals (both nomothetic and idiographic). The findings are discussed in terms of an integrative approach to personality. The distinction between approach and avoidance motivation has been discussed by scholars for millennia, beginning with the ethical hedonism espoused by the ancient Greek philosophers Democritus (460–370 B.C.) and Aristippus (430–360 B.C.). Approach and avoidance motivation differ as a function of valence: In

Personality has been conceptualized from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and at various levels of abstraction or breadth (John, Hampson, & Goldberg, 1991; McAdams, 1995). Each of these levels has made unique contributions to our understanding of individual differences in behavior and experience. However, the number of personality traits, and scales designed to measure them, escalated without an end in sight (Goldberg, 1971). Researchers, as well as practitioners in the field of personality assessment, were faced with a bewildering array of personality scales from which to choose, with little guidance and no overall rationale at hand. What made matters worse was that scales with the same name often measure concepts that are not the same, and scales with different names often measure concepts that are quite similar. Although diversity and scientific pluralism are useful, the systematic accumulation of findings and the communication among researchers became difficult amidst the Babel of concepts and scales. Many personality researchers had hoped that they might devise the structure that would transform the Babel into a community speaking a common language. However, such an integration was not to be achieved by any one researcher or by any one theoretical perspective. As Allport once put it, “each assessor has his

We investigate several possible links between psychological factors and trading performance in a sample of 80 anonymous day-traders. Using daily emotional-state surveys over a fiveweek period as well as personality inventory surveys, we construct measures of personality traits and emotional states for each subject and correlate these measures with daily normalized profits-and-losses records. We find that subjects whose emotional reaction to monetary gains and losses was more intense on both the positive and negative side exhibited significantly worse trading performance. Psychological traits derived from a standardized personality inventory survey do not reveal any specific “trader personality profile”, raising the possibility that trading skills may not necessarily be innate, and that different personality types may be able to perform trading functions equally well after proper instruction and practice.

We design a field experiment to explore the use of social comparison to increase contributions to an online community. We find that, after receiving behavioral information about the median user’s total number of movie ratings, users below the median demonstrate a 530-percent increase in the number of monthly movie ratings, while those above the median decrease their ratings by 62-percent. When given outcome information about the average user’s net benefit score, aboveaverage users mainly engage in activities that help others. Our findings suggest that effective personalized social information can increase the level of public goods provision. (JEL C93, H41) With the increasing popularity of the Internet, information technology is changing the way we interact, entertain, communicate and consume. In online communities, groups of people meet to share information, discuss mutual interests, play games and carry out business. Users of communities such as SourceForge

Procrastination is a prevalent and pernicious form of self-regulatory failure that is not entirely understood. Hence, the relevant conceptual, theoretical, and empirical work is reviewed, drawing upon correlational, experimental, and qualitative findings. A meta-analysis of procrastination’s possible causes and effects, based on 691 correlations, reveals that neuroticism, rebelliousness, and sensation seeking show only a weak connection. Strong and consistent predictors of procrastination were task aversiveness, task delay, selfefficacy, and impulsiveness, as well as conscientiousness and its facets of self-control, distractibility, organization, and achievement motivation. These effects prove consistent with temporal motivation theory, an integrative hybrid of expectancy theory and hyperbolic discounting. Continued research into procrastination should not be delayed, especially because its prevalence appears to be growing.

How can individuals attain influence in organizations? Prior research has identified structural determinants of influence, such as formal authority and position in a social network. However, indirect evidence suggests that influence might also stem from personal characteristics. The authors tested whether influence can stem from the fit between the person and his or her organization (P–O fit). Consistent with expectations, extraverts attained more influence in a team-oriented organization, whereas conscientious individuals attained more influence in an organization in which individuals worked alone on technical tasks. Further, these effects held up after controlling for formal authority, job performance, and demographic characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The multiple ways in which individuals can gain influence are discussed.

We report new results on the relatively novel task of automatic classification of blog author personality. Promisingly high classification accuracies have recently been reported for four important personality traits (Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness). But the blog corpus used in that work required careful preparation, and was consequently quite small (with less than a hundred authors; and less than half a million words). Here, we provide an initial report on the classification accuracies that can be achieved when classifiers conditioned on the small corpus are applied to a larger, automatically-acquired blog corpus, using lowergranularity personality data and substantially less manual preparation (with over a thousand bloggers, and approximately five million words). Predictably, results on the larger corpus are not as impressive as those on the smaller; nevertheless, they point the way forward for further work.

lashelpingthestudentwithinterpersonal problemsorwithimproving interpersonal skills (Winston&Sandor , 1984b,p.8),areassociated withthedevelopmentalapproach.Incontrast,concrete task-oriented activities, suchasdiscussing courseselection,explainingdegreerequirements andregistrationprocedures,andmakingreferrals tootherresourcesoncampus,areassociatedwith theprescriptiveapproach(Fielstein,1989).Advisors limitprescriptive-advisingactivitiestoacademic matters(Winston&Sandor,1984a). Thetwoprevailingadvisingapproachesdonot differsolelyonthetypesoftaskassociatedwith them.Manyinterpersonalandrelationshipfactors arewovenintoandsubsumedunderthedevelopmentalapproach, andthesemaybethefactorsthat leadtostudentsatisf action.Relationshipvariables suchassuppor t,w armth,andrespect(Winston& Sandor,1984b)areassociatedwiththedevelopmentalapproachandma ybemutuall ye xclusiveof theprescriptiveapproach.Thecontributionofspecific elements, either thoseassociatedwiththe advising-adviseerelationshiportheadvisingacti

this paper to provide any concrete empirical demonstrations of the role these factors may play in depression. Rather, the following simulations serve as hopeful "might be's" and avenues for empirical confirmation. By simulating personality variables on a computer, theories about them can be rigorously specified. Hidden ambiguities may correspondingly become apparent, and thus theories of both normal and pathological behavior will stand a better chance of validation. Moreover, computational models which are biologiclaly motivated often serve to suggest physiological correlates of simulated phenomena, in this case, personality variables. Another reason to consider simulating personality factors on a computer involves the determination of vulnerability markers for depression. If some simulated personality factors are associated with greater expression of characteristics associated with depression after the model is subjected to a computational analog of a depression induction, we can examine the effects these factors have on a model before it assumes a state analogous to depression. By examining the pre-pathologized model, we may determine markers for people at risk for depression. Two final reasons for simulating the role of personality and individual difference variables in depression will become more apparent later in the chapter. First, neural networks are particularly suited for investigating the role of personality variables because parameters inherent to network simulations correspond neatly to aspects of personality. Without adding variables to an existing simulation, aspects of personality implicit in the models can be investigated. Second, by simulating characteristic individual differences in depressive information processing biases, variation in the behavior of...