A three-step procedure for analysis of circumplex models: An example of narcissism located within the circumplex of personality metatraits

Evaluating an Abbreviated Version of the Circumplex Team Scan Inventory of Within-Team Interpersonal Norms

Abstract. The Circumplex Team Scan (CTS) assesses the degree to which a team’s interaction/communication norms reflect each segment (16th) of the interpersonal circle/circumplex. We developed and evaluated an abbreviated 16-item CTS-16 that uses one CTS item to measure each segment. Undergraduates ( n = 446) completing engineering course projects in 139 teams completed the CTS-16. CTS-16 items showed a good fit to confirmatory structural models (e.g., that expect greater positive covariation between items theoretically closer to the circumplex). Individuals’ ratings sufficiently reflected team-level norms to justify averaging team members’ ratings. However, individual items’ marginal reliabilities suggest using the CTS-16 to assess general circumplex-wide patterns rather than specific segments. CTS-16 ratings correlated with respondents’ and their teammates’ ratings of team climate (inclusion, justice, psychological safety). Teams with more extraverted (introverted) members were perceived as having more confident/engaged (timid/hesitant) cultures. Members predisposed to social alienation perceived their team’s culture as relatively disrespectful/unengaged, but their teammates did not corroborate those perceptions. The results overall support the validity and utility of the CTS-16 and of an interpersonal circumplex model of team culture more generally.

The devil is not as black as he is painted? On the positive relationship between food industry conspiracy beliefs and conscious food choices

Previous research found that conspiracy beliefs were usually activated when individuals faced different types of psychological threats and that they led mainly to maladaptive individual and societal outcomes. In this research, we assumed that potential harmfulness of conspiracy beliefs may depend on the context, and we focused on the link between food industry conspiracy beliefs and conscious food choices. We hypothesized that food industry conspiracy beliefs may allow for a constructive attempt to protect oneself against real or imagined enemies (i.e., food industry companies) by conscious food choices (e.g., paying attention to how much the food products are processed). We tested this hypothesis among Polish participants (Study 1; N = 608; cross-sectional and Study 2; N = 790; experimental). Study 1 confirmed that context-specific conspiracy beliefs (but not general notions of conspiracy) are associated with adaptive consumer behaviors. Study 2 showed that inducing feelings of threat related to the possibility of purchasing food contaminated by a harmful bacteria (vs. control condition) increased food industry conspiracy beliefs, which were further positively linked to conscious food choices. We discuss the role of threat and conspiracy beliefs in adaptive consumer behaviors related to food choices.

Bayesian and Maximum-Likelihood Modeling and Higher-Level Scores of Interpersonal Problems With Circumplex Structure

Difficulties in interpersonal behavior are often measured by the circumplex-based Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. Its eight scales can be represented by a three-factor structure with two circumplex factors, Dominance and Love, and a general problem factor, Distress. Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis is well-suited to evaluate the higher-level structure of interpersonal problems because circumplex loading priors allow for data-driven adjustments and a more flexible investigation of the ideal circumplex pattern than conventional maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis. Using a non-clinical sample from an online questionnaire study (N = 822), we replicated the three-factor structure of the IIP by maximum likelihood and Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis and found great proximity of the Bayesian loadings to perfect circumplexity. We found additional support for the validity of the three-factor model of the IIP by including external criteria-Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism from the Big Five and subclinical grandiose narcissism-in the analysis. We also investigated higher-level scores for Dominance, Love, and Distress using traditional regression factor scores and weighted sum scores. We found excellent reliability (with R tt ≥ 0.90) for Dominance, Love, and Distress for the two scoring methods. We found high congruence of the higher-level scores with the underlying factors and good circumplex properties of the scoring models. The correlational pattern with the external measures was in line with theoretical expectations and similar to the results from the factor analysis. We encourage the use of Bayesian modeling when dealing with circumplex structure and recommend the use of higher-level scores for interpersonal problems as parsimonious, reliable, and valid measures.

Anankastia or Psychoticism? Which One Is Better Suited for the Fifth Trait in the Pathological Big Five: Insight From the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits Perspective

Both the ICD-11 and the DSM-5 (Section III) classification systems introduced dimensional models of personality disorders, with five broad domains called the Pathological Big Five. Nevertheless, despite large congruence between the two models, there are also substantial differences between them, with the most evident being the conceptualization of the fifth dimension: Anankastia in the ICD-11 vs. Psychoticism in the DSM-5. The current paper seeks an answer to the question of which domain is structurally better justified as the fifth trait in the dimensional model of personality disorders. For this purpose, we provided both a conceptual and empirical comparison of the ICD-11 and the DSM-5 models, adopting the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits-a comprehensive model of personality structure built on the basis of the higher-order factors of the Big Five-as a reference framework. Two studies were conducted: the first on a sample of 242 adults (52.9% female; M age = 30.63, SD age = 11.82 years), and the second on a sample of 355 adults (50.1% female; M age = 29.97, SD age = 12.26 years) from the non-clinical population. The Personality Inventory for ICD-11 (PiCD), the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), and the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits Questionnaire-Short Form (CPM-Q-SF) were administered in both studies, together with the PID-5BF+M algorithm for measuring a common (ICD-11 + DSM-5) six-domain model. Obtained empirical findings generally support our conceptual considerations that the ICD-11 model more comprehensively covered the area of personality pathology than the DSM-5 model, with Anankastia revealed as a more specific domain of personality disorders as well as more cohesively located within the overall personality structure, in comparison to Psychoticism. Moreover, the results corroborated the bipolar relations of Anankastia vs. Disinhibition domains. These results also correspond with the pattern of relationships found in reference to the Big Five domains of normal personality, which were also included in the current research. All our findings were discussed in the context of suggestions for the content and conceptualization of pathological personality traits that flow from the CPM as a comprehensive model of personality structure including both pathological and normal poles of personality dimensions.

The Circumplex of Personality Metatraits and the HEXACO model: Toward refinement and integration

OBJECTIVE

There is a considerable body of evidence from the last 20 years, indicating the need for the reconceptualization of the highest level of the personality structure that the Big Five/Five-Factor Model (FFM) was assumed to occupy. The main goal of the presented study was to test the relationships between two models that have been developed in this respect: The Circumplex of Personality Metatraits (CPM), based on the higher-order factors of the Big Five, and the HEXACO model including a sixth basic personality dimension (Honesty-Humility).

METHOD

The sample consisted of 500 respondents (56.8% females; M_age = 31.9, SD_age  = 14.0), all of whom completed the CPM, HEXACO, and FFM measures.

RESULTS

The results corroborated the expectation that the HEXACO model can be coherently located within the CPM model, despite the latter is rooted in the FFM research tradition. However, this substantial integration has been made possible by a relatively slight but crucial modification of the CPM, already suggested by previous research.

CONCLUSION

After the modification, which concerned the location of the Neuroticism/Emotional stability trait, the CPM enables a comprehensive integration of major models of personality structure encompassing the Two-Factor Model, the FFM, and the HEXACO.

Type C Personality: Conceptual Refinement and Preliminary Operationalization

In this paper, we have presented our proposal for reconceptualization and operationalization of Type C (cancer-prone) personality. Based on theoretical analyses, taking into account both the literature on Type C and models of personality structure, we have proposed a two-facet structure of Type C, comprising Submissiveness (the interpersonal aspect) and Restricted Affectivity (the intrapersonal aspect). The study devoted to the validation of the measure of Type C involved 232 participants aged 18-70 (M = 29.35, SD = 8.93; 54% male). We used (a) our proposed measure of Type C personality and (b) the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits Questionnaire (CPM-Q-SF; Strus and Cieciuch, 2017), assessing personality metatraits. The measure of Type C proved to have acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha was 0.85 for Submissiveness and 0.78 for Restricted Affectivity). The measurement model in confirmatory factor analysis with two latent variables proved to be well-fitted to the data. We have also confirmed the hypothesis concerning the location of the two facets of Type C personality close to each other in the theoretically predicted area between the Delta-Plus/Self-Restraint and Beta-Minus/Passiveness metatraits (in the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits). The clinical value of the theoretically refined Type C can be tested in the next step in research on patients with cancer.