Annemarie Eigenhuis

Personality predicts individual variation in fear learning: a multilevel growth modeling approach

Although fear-learning research has tended to focus on typical responses, there is substantial individual variation in response to threat. Here, we investigated how personality is related to variability in associative fear learning. We used multilevel growth curve modeling to examine the unique and interactive effects of Stress Reaction (SR) and Harmavoidance (HA; Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire scales) and their corresponding higher-order factors on differential fear conditioning (n = 225) and extinction (n = 109; 24–48 hr later). Fear was indexed by fear potentiation of the eyeblink startle reflex. Our findings demonstrated weaker discrimination between threat and safety with high levels of SR. Subsequently, both retention of differential fear acquisition and extinction were weaker with high levels of SR and HA, thereby indicating maladaptive fear learning, whereas they were stronger with low levels of SR and high levels of HA, which suggests efficient fear learning. These findings illustrate how specific personality traits may operate to confer vulnerability or resilience for anxiety disorders.

Personality Differences Between the United States and the Netherlands The Influence of Violations of Measurement Invariance

Cross-cultural comparisons of personality have yielded inconsistent results, which might be partly due to poor model fit and disregard of differential item functioning (DIF). Here, the brief Dutch form of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ-BF-NL) was tested for cross-cultural measurement invariance (MI), using multiple group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) for categorical outcomes. Representative Dutch and U.S. samples (both Ns = 1,055) were used for model exploration and student samples (both Ns = 410) for cross-validation. The MPQ-BF-NL appeared partially strict invariant. In all, 19% of the items contained DIF when scales were treated separately, while in the full model, allowing for 150 cross-loadings, 40% of the items contained DIF. The majority of DIF was observed in thresholds (i.e., difficulty parameters). Not accounting for DIF would yield invalid inferences for 4 out of 11 primary scales. Higher corrected factor scores were evident in the U.S. sample for Social Closeness and Stress Reaction, whereas lower for Achievement and Aggression, respectively, suggesting that the U.S. society, relative to the Dutch, fosters more community and less agency.

Distinguishing between demoralization and specific personality traits in clinical assessment with the NEO-PI-R

Demoralization, a nonspecific unpleasant state that is common in clinical practice, has been identified as a potential source of nonspecificity in the assessment of personality and psychopathology. The aim of this research was to distinguish between Demoralization and specific personality traits in a widely used measure of personality: the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R). NEO-PI-R and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 questionnaires were completed by 278 patients of a specialized clinic for personality disorders in The Netherlands. Furthermore, a replication sample was used consisting of 405 patients from the same institution who completed NEO-PI-R questionnaires, as well. A measure of Demoralization was derived (NEOdem, a NEO-PI-R-based Demoralization scale) using factor analytic techniques. Results indicated that the Demoralization Scale scores were reliable and showed expected patterns of convergence and divergence with conceptually relevant Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-RF scales. When items contributing to Demoralization-related variance were removed from the NEO-PI-R scales, increased specificity was notable with regard to external correlates. These results provide supportive evidence for the validity and heuristic potential of distinguishing between Demoralization and specific personality traits within the NEO-PI-R.

Development and validation of the Dutch brief form of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ-BF-NL)

This study describes the development and psychometric properties of the Dutch brief form of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ-BF-NL). Representative samples from the Netherlands (N = 1,055) and the United States (N = 1,153) and a Dutch student sample (N = 987) were used for development, cross- and external validation, respectively. The authors’ strategy for item selection and scale validation replicated the development of the U.S. brief form (MPQ-BF). Internal consistencies were generally good and comparable to the U.S. version, as were correlations with the U.S. full-length scales and higher order structure. Moreover, convergent and divergent patterns were consistent with prediction, with Positive Emotionality related to social and activating behavior, Negative Emotionality to anxiety, and Constraint to reversed impulsivity and externalizing behaviors. In sum, the MPQ-BF-NL provides the Dutch-Flemish language area with a personality inventory well suited for both psychopathology research and clinical practice and offers new opportunities for fundamental and cross-cultural studies on personality.

Change in self-reported personality during major depressive disorder treatment : A reanalysis of treatment studies from a demoralization perspective

Change in self-reported personality trait scores (especially Neuroticism and Extraversion) over the course of treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) has been robustly demonstrated. We believe that these observed changes on personality trait scales may reflect reduction in demoralization rather than changes in personality per se. Data were combined from 3 archival samples: a randomized clinical trial and 2 naturalistic follow-up studies. All participants (N = 300) received either psychotherapy or psychopharmacological treatment. Pre- and posttreatment participants were assessed with the revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI–R), the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD–I7), and Beck Depression Inventory—II (BDI–II). Comparisons were made between “unadjusted” and “adjusted” NEO-PI–R substantive personality trait scales—in which demoralization-related items were removed from their original trait scale (i.e., adjusted NEO-PI–R scales) and also used to form a separate NEO demoralization scale (NEOdem). The NEOdem scale changed more over the course of treatment (d = .41) compared with the adjusted NEO-PI–R scales, which manifested only small changes (d < |.19|). Moreover, the adjusted NEO-PI–R trait scales revealed much smaller changes compared with their unadjusted counterparts. The study provides further support for the utility of distinguishing between demoralization and NEO-PI–R traits in clinical assessment and research. A substantial part of change in self-reported personality during treatment for depression resulted from a reduction in demoralization.

Personality in General and Clinical Samples: Measurement Invariance of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire.

A growing body of research suggests that the same general dimensions can describe normal and pathological personality, but most of the supporting evidence is exploratory. We aim to determine in a confirmatory framework the extent to which responses on the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) are identical across general and clinical samples. We tested the Dutch brief form of the MPQ (MPQ-BF-NL) for measurement invariance across a general population subsample (N = 365) and a clinical sample (N = 365), using Multiple Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MGCFA) and Multiple Group Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (MGESEM). As an omnibus personality test, the MPQ-BF-NL revealed strict invariance, indicating absence of bias. Unidimensional per scale tests for measurement invariance revealed that 10% of items appeared to contain bias across samples. Item bias only affected the scale interpretation of Achievement, with individuals from the clinical sample more readily admitting to put high demands on themselves than individuals from the general sample, regardless of trait level. This formal test of equivalence provides strong evidence for the common structure of normal and pathological personality and lends further support to the clinical utility of the MPQ.

What is beyond general personality? Some clinical reflections on contextualized traits, goals and narratives

I propose that goals (and cognitive strategies) are a natural level for the representation of personality, with narrative analysis conceptualizing the person at a broader level and the trait perspective conceptualizing the person at a narrower level. The existence of generalized representations of personality may be an individual difference variable. Distinctions among narratives, goals and traits could be viewed as more methodological than theoretical. Copyright (C) 2015 European Association of Personality PsychologyWe connect Dunlop’s integrative article with three social-psychological insights about self-construal (e.g. as ‘me’ or ‘us’). Firstly and secondly, individuals’ flexible and context-sensitive self-construal directs how they perceive themselvesand their social context (‘self-as-actor’) and how they can exercise agency through their self (‘self-as-agent’); thirdly, self-narratives (‘self-as-author’) substantiate self-coherence and direct which contexts individuals agentically seek out. We thus suggest that the self is ‘Janus-faced’ because of its amazing potential for fluid transitions between different selves (as actors, agents and authors and at both the individual and collective levels).