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This dataset contains 2,818 trait descriptive adjectives in English and information about the extent to which each term is known among a large and approximately representative sample of U.S. adults. The list of personality-related terms includes all 1,710 adjectives previously studied by Goldberg (1982) and draws on prior work by Allport and Odbert (1936) and Norman (1967). The extent to which terms were known by respondents was based on the administration of vocabulary questions about each term-definition pair online to a sample of English-speaking U.S. residents with approximately average literacy levels. The open data are accompanied by an online database that allows the terms to be searched and filtered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent findings in psychological research have begun to illuminate cognitive and neural mechanisms of imagination and mental imagery, and have highlighted its essential role for a number of important outcomes, including outcomes relevant for the study of psychopathology and psychotherapy. Scientific study of imagination, however, has been constrained by the virtue of being framed mainly as an ability for mental imagery. Here we propose that imagination is a widespread phenomenon that we all engage in, and which affects a wide range of important outcomes beyond more commonly studied constructs like creativity. Thus, the Four-Factor Imagination Scale (FFIS) focuses on features of the imaginative process, and measures imagination in terms of individual differences in those features, including frequency, complexity, emotional valence, and directedness of imagination. Study 1 consisted of construct elicitation and generation of a large pool of candidate survey items. Study 2 (N = 378) conducted exploratory quantitative analysis on the preliminary pool of candidate items in a larger sample, revealing four distinct factors of the designed items. Study 3 (N = 10,410) confirmed the structure of the preliminary items, and reported internal consistency and unidimensionality, as well as convergent and discriminant validity of the resultant scales. The FFIS confirms that imagination is multi-faceted in nature, and is better approached as a constellation of more narrowly measurable constructs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to locate and orient ourselves with respect to environmental space is known as sense of direction (“SOD”). While there is considerable evidence for the predictive utility of self-report measures of this psychological construct, relatively little research has investigated the psychometric properties of the self-report scale by which it is most commonly measured – the Santa Barbara Sense of Direction scale (SBSOD, Hegarty et al., 2002) – or the broader personality correlates. The present study evaluated the factor structure of the SBSOD following administration to 12,155 individuals and situated it among prominent sources of individual differences, specifically the Big Five personality traits and intelligence. Findings suggest that the SBSOD scale has relatively high general factor saturation, and that a considerable portion of the variance in SBSOD scores is explained by other personality traits, including Conscientiousness ( r = 0.33), Intellect ( r = 0.27), Emotional Stability ( r = 0.26), and Extraversion ( r = 0.23). Cognitive ability was less highly correlated with SBSOD scores when measured at the level of general intelligence ( r = 0.11) and in terms of mental rotation ability ( r = .07). Recommendations are given for revision of the SBSOD scale based on item-level analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People differ. How and why they differ are the fundamental questions for personality psychologists. In this article we address three levels at which people differ: within individuals, between individuals, and between groups of individuals. A dynamic model of personality is considered where traits are seen as rates of change in states in response to environmental cues. Within individuals, motivational and behavioral states show inertial properties and lead to an analysis of rates of change and latencies of behavior. Between individuals, the analysis is one of frequency and duration of choices. When individuals self select into groups reflecting shared interests and abilities, the structure of these group differences reflects the consequences of the self selection. Examples of the dynamic model are given for each level of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the relationships between creative achievement, cognitive ability, temperament, and vocational interests using a large and diverse Internet-based sample. Ten creative domains (visual arts, music, creative writing, dance, drama, architecture, humor, scientific discovery, inventions, culinary arts) were positively associated with higher cognitive ability, intellect, and extraversion and lower agreeableness. Regarding cognitive ability, there was no evidence for the threshold effect on achievements. Regarding age, younger individuals endorsed a greater number of low-level achievements and older individuals endorsed more high-level achievements across the 10 creative domains. Other characteristics of individual differences (e.g., vocational interests) were more domain-specific for predicting creative achievement. We also introduce a revised method for the assessment and scoring of creative achievements and discuss suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the measurement of intelligence is important, researchers sometimes avoid using them in their studies due to their history, cost, or burden on the researcher. To encourage the use of cognitive ability items in research, we discuss the development and validation of the International Cognitive Ability Resource (ICAR), a growing set of items from 19 different subdomains. We consider how these items might benefit open science in contrast to more established proprietary measures. A short summary of how these items have been used in outside studies is provided in addition to ways we would love to see the use of public-domain cognitive ability items grow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]