Personality inventories - Essay Example

ASSESSING BEHAVIOR USING PERSONALITY INVENTORIES The personality inventories are applied in assessing the traits which can influence a person's behavior towards work and in the workplace. Personal inventories contend that personality is composed of several factors, which influence the way individuals respond or behave given situations. A number of personality scales exist, and there is contention on how many factors are preferable in undertaking personality inventories. However, the more common inventories test 5 and 16 factors respectively (UNSW, 2003).

Among the characteristics of a personality inventory test are: 1) it often takes from 30 to 90 minutes to accomplish, 2) there is no time element in conducting the test, 3) tests are often administered using paper and pencil (although computer formats are increasingly becoming common), 4) answers are neither right nor wrong, 5) questions do not allow for "open responses", 6) tests often feature scales that measure inconsistency and/or positive or negative impression, 7) questions can be answered in a variety of ways designed so that the respondent's instinctive response would be the indicator of how they are most likely to respond to a situation, 8) answering truthfully will give the best profile for the respondent's personality (UNSW, 2003).

The Big Five Theory was developed by Costa and McCrae (1988). The five components are used to assess personality traits. The five factors include: Extroversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Neuroticism. Since they are considered as relatively stable traits, they are used to described variances in human personality. Extroversion measures the volition to seek the company of others and outside stimulation. This factor deals with social skills, how a person relates with other people, confidence in society, assertiveness, empathy towards others and warmth.

Conscientiousness demonstrates the desire to achieve, self-discipline, and responsibility. It also reflects competence and the degree of caution or spontaneity towards work. Agreeableness characterizes how a person gets along with others. It reflects the way people handle relationships, attitude towards authority, compliance with demands or expectations, their trustfulness and trustworthiness, and tendency to please others. Openness to Experience measures the willingness of a person to learn new things and subject himself to new experiences, leanings toward stability and structure in contrast to flexibility to undergo change and face new challenges.

Neuroticism is the tendency of an individual to experience anxiety in the face of situations. It deals with the person's ability to cope with situations he faces (Howard & Howard). Unlike their influence on genotypes and phenotypes, genes do not code for behavior. Although many neurotransmitters can account for a wide range of approach behavior, another wide range of other neurotransmitters would also account for avoidance behaviors. Genetic influences on behavior will most likely be moderated by environmental experiences (The Personality Project, 2004).

The environment can have a large influence on personality. Pavlov showed that a behavior (in his experiment, the salivating of a dog) could be elicited by a stimulus (food). B.F. Skinner on the other hand, showed that behavior could be learned. With his experiment using a mouse placed in a box, the subject learned that pressing a lever would release food. Thus, the mouse learned the behavior that if it presses the lever often, then food will be his reward every time. Children emulate adults and adopt behavior they have observed from others.

With reinforcements such as rewards and punishments, individuals learn to enhance behavior acceptable or normative to society (McKeachie, 1976). Gender roles are influenced by both the household and school, such that boys' and girls' behavior are within the norms of their sex. REFERENCES:McKeachie, Wilbert James. (1976) Psychology. New York: Addison-Wesley.Howard, P. and Howard, J. An Introduction to the Five Factor Model of Personality for Human Resource Professionals. The Center for Applied Cognitive Studies.

Charlotte, North Carolina. http://www.centacs.com/quickstart.htmThe Personality Project - Recommended Readings: Personality and Individual Differences - An Overview. William Revelle, Director. Graduate Program in Personality Department of Psychology. Northwestern University. http://personality-project.org/perproj/readings.htmlPersonality Inventories. UNSW Careers and Employment. The University of New South Wales. http://www.careers.unsw.edu.au/careerEd/jobApplications/interviews/psychTestPI.aspx