Deon Meiring
University of Pretoria
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Publication
Featured researches published by Deon Meiring.
Journal of Personality | 2012
Jan Alewyn Nel; Velichko H. Valchev; Sebastiaan Rothmann; Fons J. R. van de Vijver; Deon Meiring; Gideon P. de Bruin
The present study, part of the development of the South African Personality Inventory (SAPI), explores the implicit personality structure in the 11 official language groups of South Africa by employing a mixed-method approach. In the first, qualitative part of the study, semistructured interviews were conducted with 1,216 participants from the 11 official language groups. The derived personality-descriptive terms were categorized and clustered based on their semantic relations in iterative steps involving group discussions and contacts with language and cultural experts. This analysis identified 37 subclusters, which could be merged in 9 broad clusters: Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Facilitating, Integrity, Intellect, Openness, Relationship Harmony, and Soft-Heartedness. In the second, quantitative part, the perceived relations between the 37 subclusters were rated by 204 students from different language groups in South Africa and 95 students in the Netherlands. The outcomes generally supported the adequacy of the conceptual model, although several clusters in the domain of relational and social functioning did not replicate in detail. The outcomes of these studies revealed a personality structure with a strong emphasis on social-relational aspects of personality.
South African Journal of Psychology | 2006
Deon Meiring; Fons J. R. van de Vijver; Sebastiaan Rothmann
This study addressed the cross-cultural suitability of an adapted version of the Fifteen Factor Questionnaire (15FQ+) in South Africa. Criteria for changes to the items of the original 15FQ+ included comprehension and cultural appropriateness. The instrument was administered in English to a pool of 16 339 participants from all parts of South Africa who had applied for entry-level police jobs in the South African Police Services (SAPS). Bias was studied at construct and item level. A higher level of overall structural equivalence was reported for the adapted version when compared with results found in research with the original version. However, some scales remain problematic. A slight decrease in the number of biased items was also found for the adapted version and it was concluded that item bias is not a major problem in this version. Despite these results pointing to the apparent adequacy of the adaptations, only marginal increases were found in terms of the internal consistencies when compared to the original version and for the black groups, in particular, consistency levels remained low. These low levels of consistency continue to limit the usefulness of the questionnaire.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology | 2013
Velichko H. Valchev; J. Alewyn Nel; Fons J. R. van de Vijver; Deon Meiring; Gideon P. de Bruin; Sebastiaan Rothmann
Using a combined emic–etic approach, the present study investigates similarities and differences in the indigenous personality concepts of ethnocultural groups in South Africa. Semistructured interviews asking for self- and other-descriptions were conducted with 1,027 Blacks, 58 Indians, and 105 Whites, speakers of the country’s 11 official languages. A model with 9 broad personality clusters subsuming the Big Five—Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Facilitating, Integrity, Intellect, Openness, Relationship Harmony, and Soft-Heartedness (Nel et al., 2012)—was examined. The 9 clusters were found in all groups, yet the groups differed in their use of the model’s components: Blacks referred more to social-relational descriptions, specific trait manifestations, and social norms, whereas Whites referred more to personal-growth descriptions and abstract concepts, and Indians had an intermediate pattern. The results suggest that a broad spectrum of personality concepts should be included in the development of common personality models and measurement tools for diverse cultural groups.
Cross-Cultural Research | 2011
Velichko H. Valchev; Fons J. R. van de Vijver; Jan Alewyn Nel; Sebastiaan Rothmann; Deon Meiring; Gideon P. de Bruin
The present study explored the personality conceptions of the three main Nguni cultural-linguistic groups of South Africa: Swati, Xhosa, and Zulu. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 116 native speakers of Swati, 118 of Xhosa, and 141 of Zulu in their own language. Participants provided free descriptions of 10 target persons each; responses were translated into English. Twenty-six clusters of personality-descriptive terms were constructed based on shared semantic content and connotations of the original responses. These clusters accounted for largely identical content in all three groups. The clusters represented an elaborate conception of social-relational aspects of personality revolving around the themes of altruism, empathy, guidance, and harmony. The patterning of responses suggests that the individual is viewed as inextricably bound to his or her context of social relationships and situations. The findings are discussed with reference to the Big Five model of personality and the culture and personality framework.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | 2013
Velichko H. Valchev; Fons J. R. van de Vijver; J. Alewyn Nel; Sebastiaan Rothmann; Deon Meiring
The present study investigates the differences between 3 ethnocultural groups in South Africa in the use of traits and contextual information for personality descriptions and the interaction of these differences with social distance from the target person and with personality domains. Semistructured interviews asking for self- and other-descriptions were conducted with 1,027 Blacks, 84 Coloureds and Indians, and 105 Whites, representing the countrys 11 official languages. In Part 1 we found similarities in the total set of categories used most often for personality description across the 3 groups-traits, behaviors, preferences, and perceptions (over 86%), which were context-free (over 66%)-as well as substantial differences between the groups in the relative use of these categories. In Part 2 we found that distance from the target person plays a role in cross-cultural differences in trait use and contextualization. In Part 3 we found significant interactions of culture with the use of traits and contextual information across agency-communion and 9 indigenous South African personality clusters similar to the Big Five. The responses of Blacks confirmed expectations for collectivistic groups (fewer traits and more contextualization) and of Whites for individualistic groups (more traits and less contextualization), and Coloureds and Indians had an intermediate pattern. The results are discussed in the framework of the trait and cultural psychology perspectives on personality.
Psychological Assessment | 2015
Velichko H. Fetvadjiev; Deon Meiring; Fons J. R. van de Vijver; Jan Alewyn Nel; Carin Hill
We present the development and the underlying structure of a personality inventory for the main ethnocultural groups of South Africa, using an emic-etic approach. The South African Personality Inventory (SAPI) was developed based on an extensive qualitative study of the implicit personality conceptions in the countrys 11 official languages (Nel et al., 2012). Items were generated and selected (to a final set of 146) with a continuous focus on cultural adequacy and translatability. Students and community adults (671 Blacks, 198 Coloreds, 104 Indians, and 391 Whites) completed the inventory. A 6-dimensional structure (comprising a positive and a negative Social-Relational factor, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness) was equivalent across groups and replicated in an independent sample of 139 Black and 270 White students. The SAPI correlated highly overall with impression-management aspects, but lower with lying aspects of social desirability. The SAPI social-relational factors were distinguishable from the Big Five in a joint factor analysis; the multiple correlations with the Big Five were .64 (positive) and .51 (negative social-relational). Implications and suggestions for emic-etic instrument and model development are discussed.
Journal of Psychology in Africa | 2010
Deo J.W. Strümpfer; Riette Eiselen; Deon Meiring; Jack S. Phalatse
The study investigated whether differences between contrasting groups reflect significant differences in psychological well-being scores. Membership of hazardous vs. less hazardous occupations in the same profession served as proxy measures of well-being. Antonovskys Sense of Coherence (SOC), Block & Kremens Ego-resiliency, and Goldbergs Emotional Stability scales were validated. Study 1 compared mine rescue team members and ordinary miners (n = 34, 41) and Study 2 police special task force members and regular officers (n = 43, 41). In Study 1, SOC and job satisfaction predicted group membership. In Study 2, satisfaction with life and extraversion scales predicted group membership, as did SOC in a secondary analysis. The SOC scale could predict psychological well-being in hazardous work settings.
Journal of Social Sciences | 2012
Retha Watson; Lené I. Jorgensen; Deon Meiring; Carin Hill
Abstract The South African Police Service (SAPS) is an organisation where employees are exposed to numerous stressful and traumatic episodes which affects the employee’s emotion functioning. Although several pro-active psychological programs exist within the organisation, they do not effectively assist the employee with coping with stressors on an emotion level. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate an emotion competence intervention for the SAPS. From the literature study, several emotion competencies were found that will illustrate emotion intelligent behaviour. The criteria, methodology and content to include in an emotion competence intervention for the SAPS was established and included in the development of the intervention. The intervention was evaluated by a panel of experts (N=13), suggesting only a few minor adaptations. These suggestions were incorporated in the final emotion competence intervention. Limitations included the small amount of experts that evaluated the intervention, as well as the absence of functional SAPS members as part of the panel of experts. Recommendations for future studies were made.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | 2017
Velichko H. Fetvadjiev; Deon Meiring; Fons J. R. van de Vijver; J. Alewyn Nel; Lusanda Sekaja; Sumaya Laher
The cross-cultural universality of behavior’s consistency and predictability from personality, assumed in trait models though challenged in cultural psychological models, has usually been operationalized in terms of beliefs and perceptions, and assessed using single-instance self-reports. In a multimethod study of actual behavior across a range of situations, we examined predictability and consistency in participants from the more collectivistic Black ethnic group and the more individualistic White group in South Africa. Participants completed personality questionnaires before the behavior measurements. In Study 1, 107 Black and 241 White students kept diaries for 21 days, recording their behaviors and the situations in which they had occurred. In Study 2, 57 Black and 52 White students were video-recorded in 12 situations in laboratory settings, and external observers scored their behaviors. Across both studies, behavior was predicted by personality on average equally well in the 2 groups, and equally well when using trait-adjective- and behavior-based personality measures. The few cultural differences in situational variability were not in line with individualism–collectivism; however, subjective perceptions of variability, operationalized as dialectical beliefs, were more in line with individualism–collectivism: Blacks viewed their behavior as more variable than Whites. We propose drawing a distinction between subjective beliefs and objective behavior in the study of personality and culture. Larger cultural differences can be expected in beliefs and perceptions than in the links between personality and actual behavior.
Journal of Psychology in Africa | 2011
Cara S. Jonker; Althea Van der Merwe; Johnny R. J. Fontaine; Deon Meiring
This study determined the meaning of emotion in a sample of white Afrikaans-speaking adults (n=120; males =32, females=88, age range =18–48+ years). Data were collected using the Meaning Grid (Scherer, 2005). The analysis examined the factor loadings of emotion words via a factor analysis and factor scores of 24 emotion terms were determined. Results indicated the following dimensions to characterize the meaning of emotion in the sample: activation-pleasantness, arousal/unpredictability and a power-control. The conclusion can be drawn that four dimensions are needed to satisfactory represent the meaning of emotion words in the white Afrikaans language group.