Personality, Cultural Values, and Ability

Personality

• captures what people are like  

  • Relatively stable set of characteristics

  • May be genetically determined

Cultural values

• shared beliefs about desirable modes of conduct

Ability

• captures what people can do

The Big Five

• Conscientiousness 

• Agreeableness

• Neuroticism

• Openness

• Extraversion

Conscientiousness 

• (i.e. reliable, hardworking, ambitious)

• Strongest predictor of job performance

• accomplishment striving reflects a desire to accomplish task-related goals 

• Agreeableness

• captures a tendency to cooperate with others in a warm and sympathetic fashion

  • (i.e. kind, cooperative, helpful)     

  • Good for customer service

Neuroticism

• reflects the tendency to experience negative moods and emotions frequently on a day-to-day basis.

  •  (i.e. nervous, moody, insecure, unstable)

Openness

• (i.e. curious, imaginative, creative)

  • High scores perform better in artistic/scientific/fluid fields

Extraversion

• (i.e. talkative, sociable, assertive, bold)

  • Status driving reflects a strong desire to obtain power and influence within a social structure

Zero Acquaintance Situation

•  meeting someone for the very first time 

Situational Strength

• differences between individuals 

  • Strong:  the situation is stronger  than your personality

  • Weak: the personality traits are likely to come out

positive affectivity

• a tendency to experience pleasant, engaging moods such as enthusiasm, excitement, and elation

negative affectivity

• a tendency to experience unpleasant moods such as hostility, nervousness, and annoyance

Cognitive ability

•  is involved in problem-solving

  • Spatial

  • Verbal ability refers to excelling oral and written communication

  • Quantitative ability is all about math

  • Reasoning ability entails solving problems using insight, rules, and logic.

  • Perceptual ability is being able to perceive, understand, and recall patterns of information. 

• Emotional Ability

• Self-awareness

• Emotional regulation — being able to recover quickly

Physical ability

• Strength

• Stamina

• Flexibility

• Coordination

• Psychomotor abilities

• Sensory Abilities