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Abstract: This project examined relationships among two dimensions of the “Big Five” personality factor theory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the conflict resolution styles of competing, collaborating, accommodating, and avoiding (Thomas & Kilmann, 1974). Some 288 students at Colorado State University participated. The Big Five personality measures of agreeableness (A) and extraversion (E) were significant predictors of all four conflict resolution style scores. These findings show that contemporary personality measures are significant predictors of conflict resolution styles. The findings suggest that personality measures may be helpful predictors of conflict resolution style preference in mediation and negotiation situations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We examined the effects of trait driving anger, aggressive stimuli, and anonymity on aggressive driving behavior in a driving simulation task. High and low driving anger participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (a) anonymous vs. identifiable driver; and (b) exposure to aggressive stimuli versus nonaggressive stimuli. Participants drove more aggressively when they were anonymous (d = .28) and exposed to aggressive stimuli (d = .05). Males drove more aggressively than did females (d = .06). No main or interaction effects were found for trait driving anger. Results suggest that situational factors affecting other forms of aggression are also important in aggressive driving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research in the area of driver anger and aggression has shown that several personality factors contribute to the growing problem. Pilot research indicated that drivers attribute human qualities such as a gender and name to their vehicles which suggested that this tendency to anthropomorphize the vehicle might predict aggressive driving tendencies. Two hundred four undergraduates completed personality inventories for both themselves and their vehicle along with several measures of driving anger and aggressive tendencies. Results suggest that driver and vehicle personalities were related but distinct, indicating that drivers were not just projecting their own personality onto the vehicle. Driver and vehicle personality scores were correlated with several indexes of aggressive driving tendencies. In some cases, vehicle personality predicted aggressive driving better than driver personality. However, initial decision of drivers to anthropomorphize did not relate to differences in aggressive driving tendencies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Noise, or unwanted sound, exposure has been shown to have a wide range of negative physical and psychological effects. Although situational context, sound characteristics, and individual expectation affect the experience of noise and its related outcomes, the personality trait of noise sensitivity also plays a critical role in assessing noise impacts. As the most widely used 21-item Noise Sensitivity Scale measure of sensitivity is often too long to administer in time-sensitive field settings, the authors conducted five studies to create and validate a shortened, field friendly version of the original, longer measure of noise sensitivity. The resulting five-item measure of noise sensitivity was shown to be internally consistent, temporally stable, highly correlated with the original measure, and predictive of noise-related outcomes such as attitudes toward specific noise, acceptability ratings of noise events, and motivations for visiting quiet locations. The applied value of the scale and implications for facilitating future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors hypothesized that (1) attraction toward a stranger based on attitudinal similarity is automatic, but cognitive evaluation of the stranger's quality before the measurement of attraction can make attraction nonautomatic or controlled; (2) personal evaluations from the stranger activate automatic attraction and cognitive evaluation; (3) controlled attraction from attitudes and automatic attraction and cognitive evaluation from personal evaluations engender reverse-causal effects (i.e. they mediate each other); and (4) attraction and cognitive evaluation are distinct constructs. Attitudinal similarity between the participant and the stranger or personal evaluations of the former by the latter were varied in Experiment 1 (N = 96), and were crossed with each other in Experiment 2 (N = 240). Orders of response measurement were either cognitive evaluation followed by attraction or attraction followed by cognitive evaluation. Results confirmed the hypotheses. Implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]