Cloninger's tridimensional theory of personality: Construct validity in a sample of college students

✍ Scribed by Nixon, Sara J.; Parsons, Oscar A.

• Book ID: 122523782
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 695 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0191-8869
• DOI: 10.1016/0191-8869(89)90238-9

✦ Synopsis

The construct validity of Cloninger's recently developed Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) was examined in a sample of 225 male and female college students. Scores for each of the personality dimensions (novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and reward dependence) were analyzed with respect to gender, academic major, college GPAs, and abstraction test scores. Results support Cloninger's theoretical concept of three essentially independent personality dimensions. Construct validity for the TPQ was found in that females were higher than males on measures of harm avoidance and a measure of reward dependence, and engineers were lower on reward dependence and novelty seeking than other college students. Other analyses suggest that the interaction of personality traits and intellectual performance IS dependent upon task demands.