The document discusses dispositionalism as the view that personality traits determine behavior. It explains that dispositionalists see personality traits as innate dispositions that cause individuals to behave in consistent ways across different situations. The document uses the example of Raymond Cattell's model of personality, which identified 16 primary personality factors measured by his 16PF personality test. It also discusses Hans Eysenck's model of personality as determined by the dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism and his research linking personality to illness.

1. WikiLeaks Case Study
Read the following WikiLeaks case study (linked below and
also available through ProQuest in the library).
Ryst, S. (2011). WikiLeaks fuels data breach fears (
http://search.proquest.com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/8397
62239?accountid=38569 ). Business Insurance, 45(1), 1-20.
The disclosures at WikiLeaks have raised significant concerns
about the damage caused by leaks. Some claim that in many
ways, the Wiki Leaks founder, Julian Assange, was terrorizing
nation states and corporations.
What corporate and/or national policy initiative do you think
should be put in place in Saudi Arabia to curb such forms of
cyberterrorism?
Directions:
· Be two (2) pages in length, not including the title or reference
pages.
· Include three (3) credible external references in addition to the
textbook
· Do not use I, We, They ....
· Your paper must follow APA style guidelines, as appropriate .
· Citations for every sentences.
· Not plagiarized ( we check that with turnitin.com).
Week 5 – Dispositionalism
MGMT341 – Industrial and Organizational Psychology
1

2. 1
Learning objectives
Personality and intelligence
Dispositionalism: personality as natural dispositions
Eysenck: personality and illness
Personality testing
2
2
Personality?
Most people believe that they have a personality and that it
affects their behaviour, but defining precisely what personality
is has proven very difficult
There are as many definitions of personality as there are books
or articles about it
Some authors present it as an individual’s underlying biological
tendencies, thus innate and inherited
Other authors believe that it is made of values and beliefs
acquired through education and socialisation and therefore the
product of conditioning
Still other authors argue that personality does not exist in any
real sense but is merely a label for game-playing, a metaphor
for the roles that people play
While there are authors who argue that whatever one does is a
manifestation of one’s personality, many hold that personality
can be known through observation of the stable tendencies in
people’s behaviour
At first sight, this is an acceptable starting point; everyone
displays regularities in behaviour
How to account for an absence of regularity, then: lack of
personality?
3

3. 3
Evidence for personality
Innate or the product of socialisation, consistency in behaviour
must be distinguished from the performance of roles
Policemen are supposed to be firm, firemen brave, salesmen
optimistic and judges distant, etc.: these characteristics cannot
be received as evidence for personality, since they can be
interpreted as signs of competence in one’s role
Similarly, purposive habits (like brushing one’s teeth every
night), although stable, are not deemed to be evidence for
personality because there are means to ends
To be considered acceptable evidence for personality, a stable
behaviour must be behaviour that persists in spite of roles or
objectives, that is, that goes against the performance of a role or
the achievement of an objective
People with a strong personality will therefore be unable to
adapt their behaviour to the demands of their role or the pursuit
of their objectives
4
4
Personality and intelligence
Conclusion: personality traits go against the ability to adapt to
changing situations
If intelligence is equated with the ability to perform roles and
achieve objectives in various circumstances, then personality
and intelligence are inversely correlated
That is, the more personality one has, the less intelligent one is!
Although most psychologists resist this conclusion, the

4. argument is very solid and in agreement with the attribution to
abnormal behaviour to personality ‘disorders’ or ‘imbalance’
That the above conclusion is sound is made clearer when one
turns to dispositionalism
5
5
Dispositions
A disposition is a feature or quality of an entity that pertains to
the very nature (or ‘essence’) of that entity
For instance, a disposition of (pure) water is to freeze when
cooled below zero degree in normal conditions; a disposition of
glass is to shatter when struck
It is impossible to think of water and glass without these
dispositions because water and glass cannot NOT behave
according to their dispositions
Dispositions are not unlike causes: they determine the
behaviour of the entity that has them
In psychology, the view that behaviour is the result of internal
personal characteristics is known as dispositionalism
These characteristics are said to be internal, in opposition to
external: that is, their ultimate origin is to be found within the
person and cannot be attributed to society via education or
culture
The person behaves according to his/her dispositions; as for
water and glass, the individual cannot behave but as determined
(caused) by his/her dispositions
Other names for dispositions are: internal attributions,
potentialities, traits or types
6

5. 6
Personality as dispositions
To conceive of personality as cluster of dispositions is to hold
that behaviour is explicable (thus predictable) in the terms of
basic and stable elements operating in all circumstances
Known as ‘traits’, these basic and stable elements can be either
the product of nature or of nurture: to avoid the confusion,
dispositionalists prefer to speak of ‘types’ or ‘personal factors’
(and of course ‘dispositions’) to refer to what they believe is
the source of behaviour
Whatever the case and however called, these ‘traits’ or
‘dispositions’ remain theoretical constructs: they are never
observed directly but must be inferred from behaviour
If dispositions are ultimately ‘in’ the person (that is, innate but
not acquired), then they must be biologically based and
inherited at birth
7
7
Cattell’s model
Raymond Cattell (1905-1998) was a dispositionalist; he is one
of the most important, if controversial, psychologists of the
20th century
His starting point was the ‘lexical hypothesis’ proposed in 1936
by psychologists Allport and Odbert, according to which if
there is a word for something, this thing must exist
Cattell analysed all words in English that are used to describe
people and how they behave
From an initial list of 18,000, he arrived at 4,500 words by
removing synonyms and words almost never used
Through semantic and factor analysis (correlation), he boiled
them down to 16

6. In other words, Cattell held that 16 words were enough to
describe all kinds of people
He called them the Personality Factors or Primary Trait
constructs
8
8
The 16 factors (1)Descriptors of Low RangePrimary
FactorDescriptors of High RangeImpersonal, distant, cool,
reserved, detached, formal, aloofWarmth (A)Warm, outgoing,
attentive to others, kindly, easy-going, participating, likes
peopleConcrete thinking, lower general mental capacity, less
intelligent, unable to handle abstract problemsReasoning
(B)Abstract-thinking, more intelligent, bright, higher general
mental capacity, fast learnerReactive emotionally, changeable,
affected by feelings, emotionally less stable, easily
upsetEmotional Stability (C)Emotionally stable, adaptive,
mature, faces reality calmlyDeferential, cooperative, avoids
conflict, submissive, humble, obedient, easily led, docile,
accommodatingDominance (E)Dominant, forceful, assertive,
aggressive, competitive, stubborn, bossySerious, restrained,
prudent, taciturn, introspective, silentLiveliness (F)Lively,
animated, spontaneous, enthusiastic, happy go lucky, cheerful,
expressive, impulsiveExpedient, nonconforming, disregards
rules, self-indulgentRule-Consciousness (G)Rule-conscious,
dutiful, conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule
boundShy, threat-sensitive, timid, hesitant, intimidatedSocial
Boldness (H)Socially bold, venturesome, thick skinned,
uninhibitedUtilitarian, objective, unsentimental, tough minded,
self-reliant, no-nonsense, roughSensitivity (I)Sensitive,
aesthetic, sentimental, tender minded, intuitive, refined
9

7. 9
The 16 factors (2)Descriptors of Low RangePrimary
FactorDescriptors of High RangeTrusting, unsuspecting,
accepting, unconditional, easyVigilance (L)Vigilant, suspicious,
skeptical, distrustful, oppositionalGrounded, practical, prosaic,
solution oriented, steady, conventionalAbstractedness
(M)Abstract, imaginative, absent minded, impractical, absorbed
in ideasForthright, genuine, artless, open, guileless, naive,
unpretentious, involvedPrivateness (N)Private, discreet,
nondisclosing, shrewd, polished, worldly, astute,
diplomaticSelf-Assured, unworried, complacent, secure, free of
guilt, confident, self-satisfiedApprehension (O)Apprehensive,
self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self
blamingTraditional, attached to familiar, conservative,
respecting traditional ideasOpenness to Change (Q1)Open to
change, experimental, liberal, analytical, critical, free thinking,
flexibilityGroup-oriented, affiliative, a joiner and follower
dependentSelf-Reliance (Q2)Self-reliant, solitary, resourceful,
individualistic, self-sufficientTolerates disorder, unexacting,
flexible, undisciplined, lax, self-conflict, impulsive, careless of
social rules, uncontrolledPerfectionism (Q3)Perfectionistic,
organized, compulsive, self-disciplined, socially precise,
exacting will power, control, self-sentimentalRelaxed, placid,
tranquil, torpid, patient, composed low driveTension (Q4)Tense,
high energy, impatient, driven, frustrated, over wrought, time
driven
10
10
The 16PF test

8. Cattell’s psychometric test (often called the 16PF) measures
personality over the 16 dimensions he identified
The first edition was published in 1949, the fifth (and last)
appeared in 1993
The questionnaire is not timed; it is made of 187 questions and
usually takes less than 50 minutes to complete
NB: factor B (‘reasoning’) is not a personality factor strictly
speaking but a measure of analytical intelligence (questions are
similar to those of an IQ test)
Like all questionnaires, the 16PF transforms ‘inputs’ into
‘outputs’
That is, it does not have supernatural powers to ‘read’ the one’s
mind but scores and tallies answers over 16 dimensions (the 16
Personality Factors)
Its outcome is a personality profile made up of 16 independent
scores (each between 1 to 10) that must be interpreted by a
qualified psychologist
The questionnaire has been calibrated so that the average score
on each dimension is 5.5
11
11
Examples of questions
Rather than relying upon self-evaluations like ‘I am a warm and
friendly person’, the items (except for factor B) investigate
concrete situations; for instance
‘I can find enough energy to face my difficulties’
‘I hold back from criticizing people and their ideas’
‘On social occasions, I readily come forward’
‘My decisions are governed by my heart rather than my head’
‘When I find myself in a boring situation, I usually ‘tune out’
and daydream about other things’
‘When a bit of tact and convincing is needed to get people

9. moving, I am the one who does it’
12
12
13
Applications
The 16PF test has been used is a wide variety of situations and
objectives
Vocational and career planning
Personnel selection, promotion and leadership development
Clinical diagnosis and therapy planning
Identify students with potential academic, emotional and social
problems
Marital compatibility and satisfaction
Because some of Cattell’s 16 factors often go together and
because their reliability is open to question (see slide 24), later
psychologists argued that the 16 Primary Traits constructs can
be reduced to 5 Secondary Trait constructs, also know as the
‘Big Five’
Once widely used, the 16PF is no longer fashionable; it has
been displaced by the now very popular Big Five test
14
14
The ‘Big Five’ (B5)
Openness to experience

10. Individuals with high openness are said to pursue self-
actualization specifically by seeking out intense experiences;
conversely, those with low openness seek to gain fulfillment
through perseverance, sometimes even perceived to be dogmatic
and closed-minded
Conscientiousness
High conscientiousness are often perceived as stubborn and
obsessive; low conscientiousness are flexible and spontaneous,
but can be perceived as sloppy and unreliable
Extraversion
High extraversion is often perceived as attention-seeking and
domineering; low extraversion causes a reserved, reflective
personality, which can be perceived as aloof or self-absorbed.
Agreeableness
High agreeableness is often seen as naive or submissive; low
agreeableness personalities are often competitive or challenging
people
Neuroticism or emotional stability
A high need for stability manifests as a stable and calm
personality, but can be seen as uninspiring and unconcerned. A
low stability causes a reactive and excitable personality, often
very dynamic individuals, but they can be perceived as unstable
or insecure
15
15
Other tests
The Myers-Brigg Type Indicator (MBTI) was developed at
about the same time as Cattell’s
It is based on 4 bi-polar dimensions, leading to 16 personality
types
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was
created by clinical psychologists working at the University of

11. Minnesota (first version 1943, second 1989) to identify and
measure pathologies
Various versions exist to measure different families of
pathologies; they have 10 to 15 dimensions
The California Psychological Inventory (CPI; first version
1957, third version 1987) is based on the MMPI
The test measures not pathologies but 15 everyday, ordinary
personality concepts like ‘dominance’, ‘sociability’ or
‘empathy’, etc.
MMPI and CPI have been simplified and combined into
PsychScreen, a test used in the selection of personnel
16
16
17
Rorschach test – card 1
Big business
All tests combined, personality testing is big business today
In the USA alone, 40% of large companies spend together over
$400m each year on personality testing
About 2.5m people worldwide undertake the MBTI test each
year
92% of UK employers and 69% of Australian HR managers
believe psychometric tests are important and useful
In the USA, the MMPI test is used by 60% of police
departments
Many large companies in the banking or security industry will
not hire without the results of a personality test

12. 18
18
Hans Eysenck (1916-1997)
Eysenck was a major contributor to personality psychology
He is remembered for conducting the first studies (from 1951)
linking personality with intelligence, political views and illness
In particular, he held that personality is biologically based (thus
stable throughout life) and that intelligence is mostly hereditary
Eysenck’s model of personality is based on two main
dimensions
Extraversion: activity, sociability, risk-taking, impulsiveness,
expressiveness, lack of reflection and responsibility
Anxiety (or neuroticism): low self-esteem, unhappiness, worry,
obsessiveness, guilt, hypochondriasis and lack of autonomy
(Psychoticism was added later; its role in Eysenck’s model is
unclear)
Although his name is well-known of psychologists and his ideas
have proved influential, Eysenck is not known of the general
public and his work remains controversial
Some of this findings have not been replicated
Some of his studies were funded by tobacco companies; this
attracted much criticism
Critics have accused him to have manipulated his data to
support his theories
19
Eysenck’s extraversion
For Eysenck, extraverts have a filter located in their lower
brain, which insulates their upper brain from stimulation
This filter makes extraverts seek more stimulation (louder
music, brighter lights, more numerous and intense relationships,

13. etc.) than introverts
Arguments
Alcohol is a depressant drug, yet when people take it, they
usually become more agitated: this is because alcohol acts like a
filter and thus makes people seek more intense stimuli
Twin studies: extraversion scores of 64 pairs of identical twins
separated from birth are more correlated (0.61) than of different
twins brought up together (-0.17)
20
Eysenck’s model
21
Biological factors
Conditioning
Personality dimensions:
Extraversion
Anxiety
Effects:
Neurosis
Psychosis
Crime
Accident
Sexual orientation
Political ideals
Activating experiences
Eysenck Personality Inventory
22
Type A
Type B

14. Personality and illness
23
Introverts
Extraverts
Anxious (neurotics)
Stable
Addictions
Suicides
Accidents
Crimes
Neuroses
Obsession
Depression
Phobia
Smoking
Overeating
Caffeine
Psychoses
Type A
CHD prone
Type B
Cancer-prone
23
Dispositionalism and personal responsibility
If dispositions are innate and define the behavior of the
individual who ‘has’ them, then they limit the range of his or
her behavior
For instance, if I have a strongly marked disposition to behave
boldly (extrovertly, agreeably, etc.), then I will (because I can
only) do so in most situations
In this sense, dispositionalism is a deterministic picture of
human nature

15. My dispositions cause me to behave in certain ways: I am not
responsible for my behavior, but my personality is
I do not act but my personality factors react to my (their)
environment as I watch helplessly myself behaving, perhaps in
ways I do not approve
Personal responsibility is a casualty of dispositionalism
Most personality psychologists do not seem to appreciate fully
this implication of their ideas, however; one who did was Hans
Eysenck
24
General critical comments
Although referring to biological characteristics, personality
tests like Cattell’s, Eysenck’s or the B5 are based on
hypothetical, self-reported behaviour and not on biological
evidence
In theory, if dispositions were really innate, they should be
assessable through saliva, blood test, urine sample, DNA
sequencing, etc.: to date, no such evidence has been
unambiguously identified
Eysenck himself never produced physiological evidence for his
link between lower brain and extraversion
25
25
Testing the tests (1)
To be acceptable, tests have to meet three general criteria
Accuracy: are test results accurate for the same person?
Validity: does the test actually measure what it is supposed to
measure?
Consistency: are the various components of the test consistent
(measure the same thing)?

16. To measure accuracy, psychologists ask people to complete
their test several times and compare results, the idea being if a
test is accurate, its results for the same person must be stable
over time
While 16PF and B5 test / retest correlations are good to
acceptable over short period of times (people tend to answer in
similar ways when tested days or weeks apart), longer term
correlations are much weaker and the longer the interval, the
weaker the correlation
Some tests like the MBTI have low to very low correlation
scores even for short intervals (a few days) between test and
retest
People ‘learn’ the questionnaire as they complete it; this
presumably influences their answers
The accuracy of personality tests is therefore uncertain
26
26
Testing the tests (2)
Since the Personality Factors are arrived from the observation
(or self-report) of behaviour, they logically cannot be used to
explain, let alone predict, behaviour
‘Shy people behave shyly’ is true but is a tautology, since the
only way one can say that A is shy is because A behaves shyly
in the first place
This is the classic circularity problem which can only be broken
if an independent observation of the factor (e.g., shyness) is
provided, by way of a biological test for example
This comment alone should suffice to disqualify personality
tests completely
Personality tests are administered in situations in which tester
and tested have a vested interest
Answers provided under duress are of dubious value

17. Besides, can pen-and-paper situations be compared with real
ones? Is it not the case that actual circumstances will always
take precedence over theoretical conditions?
For the individual tested, the temptation is very great to answer
not truthfully but as per one’s understanding of the tester’s
expectations, i.e., in socially desirable ways, adjusted to the
actual situation
27
27
Testing the tests (3)
Studies have repeatedly found that test scores do not correlate
with behaviour and performance at work
At best, correlations have been measured at 0.21 (B5
‘Conscientiousness’ factor), leaving 95.6% of variance
unexplained
The average correlation between the B5 scores and performance
is 0.07, meaning that the test ‘explains’ 0.005% of behaviour…
Conclusion: the validity of tests like the MBTI, MMPI, CPI,
16PF or B5 is too low to be taken seriously
Anyone making a decision on their results is a lot more likely to
make a mistake than by throwing a coin (which correlates with
behaviour 50% of the time)
Serious psychologists reluctantly admit this problem and try to
deflect it by speaking of traits or factors as ‘theoretical
constructs’, imperfect because reflecting the status of current
research
After decades of research, however, no significant progress has
been made
28

18. 28
Testing the tests (4)
Tests measure personality over a fixed number of dimensions
(16, 5, etc.) by asking a fixed number of questions (187 for the
16PF, including demographics items)
That is, a given trait or factor is tested a number of times (tests
do not necessarily measure different factors the same number of
times)
Checking the consistency of a test amounts to checking whether
the various questions which probe the same factor are answered
consistently
These internal coefficient correlation are known as Cronbach’s
alpha coefficients
While some tests have personality factors achieving alpha
coefficients of 0.8 (i.e., questions probing that factor are
consistently answered 64% of the time), values below 0.5 are
not uncommon (meaning that questions for the factor are
answered inconsistently 75% of the time or more)
Cronbach coefficient for Cattell’s dimension N (‘privateness’)
is 0.19: one is justified in wondering what, if anything, the
questions measure (consistency is only 3.6%!)
Source: Barret, P & Kline, P. 1982. An Item and Radial Partial
Factor Analysis of the 16PF Questionnaire. Personality and
Individual Difference Journal, 3(3): 259-270
It was this embarrassing lack of consistency that spurred
psychologists into simplifying Cattell’s 16 factors in the 5
factors of the Big Five
They merged and renamed those factors that achieve the highest
coefficients
29

19. 29
Equal Employment Opportunity aspects
When present, EEO regulations apply to all selection methods
and techniques, including interviews and tests
An organisation using tests to select or promote employees must
be able to prove
That its tests are related to success or failure on the job
(validity)
That its tests do not unfairly discriminate against minority or
even nonminority subgroups
Most personality tests would not resist a legal challenge
Ex: PsychScreen test in Soroka v. Dayton Hudson Corporation
(Target Stores), California Court of Appeal, First District, 1991
30
Soroka v. Dayton Hudson Corporation
Sibi Soroka applied for a job as security guard for Dayton
Hudson Corporation in 1988
As part of the selection process, he was asked to complete
PsychScreen (704 true/false questions, about 2 hours to
complete)
Although hired, in 1989 Soroka filed against DHC for
discrimination on the basis of religion, sex and race
The lawsuit slowly made its way through the Californian justice
system; in January 1992, the Californian Supreme Court agreed
to hear the case
That PsychScreen probed into private religious and sexual
matters was admitted by DHC, but, as Californian laws allow,
they argued that security concerns trumped privacy protection
Regulatory changes introduced in 1990 made this defense look
very weak; in 1993, DHC agreed to settle the matter out of court
$1.3m were placed in a compensation fund and DHC promised
not to use PsychScreen in California again

20. 31
Examples of PsychScreen questions
I feel sure that there is only one true religion.
I have no patience with people who believe there is only one
true religion.
My soul sometimes leaves my body.
A minister can cure disease by praying and putting his hand on
your head.
I believe in a life hereafter.
I am very religious (more than most people).
I believe my sins are unpardonable.
I believe there is a God.
I wish I were not bothered by thoughts about sex.
I have never been in trouble because of my sex behavior.
I am very strongly attracted by members of my own sex.
I have often wished I were a girl. (Or if you are a girl) I have
never been sorry that I am a girl.
I have never indulged in any unusual sex practices.
I like to talk about sex.
Many of my dreams are about sex matters.
32
Source: http://www.danpinello.com/Soroka.htm
32
Faking the tests
One never scores well on a personality test; at best, one does
not score badly
The reality is that, although many tests have a ‘lie scale’, they
are easily faked
‘Lie scale’ questions are questions that do not seek to measure a
personality factor but are meant to check whether the tester

21. responded honestly to the other questions; examples:
‘Would you rather win that lose a game?’
‘Do you sometimes boast a little?’
‘Have you sometimes told lies in your life?’
Answers to these questions that do not match testers’
expectations are considered as lies (yet one could prefer losing
in some circumstances, one sometimes boasts a lot, etc.),
regardless of whether the person is honestly deluded about
himself or herself
The safest strategy when completing a personality test is to
answer in the most common and pedestrian way possible
(conservative, but not too much) so as to score ‘in the middle’
in as many personality factors or dimensions as possible
In this way, the tester will have very little to say about the
tested except that he or she has a ‘well rounded personality’
(whatever this expression is supposed to mean)
33
Drucker: performance, not personality
34
Peter Drucker (1909-2005) wrote repeatedly against the use of
personality tests in the workplace; he insisted that
Jobs have to be objective and determined by outputs rather than
inputs such as the personality of the incumbent or applicant
Structuring jobs to fit personality or hiring based on personality
leads to favouritism, conformity and blandness
‘Perfect fit’ becomes misfit when the environment changes
The ultimate test of management is performance not personality,
however defined
Would you have hired them?
35

22. Dispositionalism: the personality cult
Although personality appears to be inversely correlated with
intelligence…
Although personality tests are unreliable, invalid and
inconsistent…
Although personality test scores cannot be correlated with
performance at work…
Although most personality tests breach privacy protection
regulations…
… they are still actively promoted by unscrupulous consulting
companies and are increasingly popular with many uninformed
if presumably well-meaning HR managers because they provide
a scientific varnish to selection and promotion decision
36
A. Students write two essays: one answering a question of group
A and the other answering a question of group B. The essay of
group A is worth 20 marks, the essay of group B is worth 10
marks. Aim for 500 words minimum for essay A and for 300
words for essay B.
B. Essays will be marked against three criteria of equal weight:
relevance, clarity and use of classroom material.
C. Choose only the question you know how to answer and will
get me a 100% right
D. For part A (2 pages you have to write)
E. First explain the authors point view then explain your point
of view….. Opinion agree or disagree
Group A – possible essay questions (20 marks)
1. Why did Alfred Koestler write: ‘psychoanalysis is the disease

23. it pretends to cure’?
2. How can behaviorism be said to be an inconsistent
psychology?
3. Why is Mead’s model of human existence incapable of
accounting for conflict?
4. Why did Thomas Szasz write: ‘psychiatry is the disease it
pretends to cure’?
5. What does Sartre mean when he claims that consciousness is
nothingness? Why does this perspective lead one to see
managerial authority as a fiction?
Part B
1) PERSONALITY
-Write in general about it
I will upload the slides for this topic
Videos that may help
https://youtu.be/QR2MOSbjo-M
https://youtu.be/5kM1NoRnVF4
https://youtu.be/CU4sn_-9cAA
example Answers for part A
( what I wrote in class)