The style and content of verbal production as indicators of basic personality structure

Abstract

The idea of verbal production as a source of information about one‟s personality is not a novelty. However, It‟s only in recent years that this notion has got its first empirical test within the paradigm of automatic analysis on the level of a single word, mainly through the use of the ‟LIWC‟ program on one hand, and the five factor personality model on the other. Previous studies have produced relatively inconsistent findings on the relationship between personality and verbal production and raised numerous methodological and conceptual issues. The purpose of this study was to identify objectively measurable aspects of content and style of verbal production that represent good markers of basic personality traits. In order for characteristics of verbal production to be regarded as variables of individual differences, first the temporal stability of categories of language use had to be verified, and then the relationship between verbal production and the personality variables. Data on verbal production in the task 'Steam of Consciousness', along with the data on the current emotional state of participants, were collected at ten equidistant time points during a period of two months. Data on the basic personality structure were collected using a questionnaire method based on self-reporting, and evaluation by significant others. In addition to dimensions defined by the five factor model (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness) this study includes two other basic traits, Amorality and Disintegration. Analysis of verbal production was done using a program for automatic text analysis – LIWCser. Results have shown that the average cross-time stability of LIWCser categories is moderate (ICCM=.609), and that the measures of verbal production are relatively reliable (if derived from a larger number of observations). However, the coefficients of temporal stability for a single category range from .245 to .967. The most consistent aspects of a one‟s verbal production are formal characteristics of text, frequent linguistic and wide psychological categories. In terms of the relationship between verbal production and basic personality structure, most of the robust findings of previous studies have been replicated. Nevertheless, due to cross-language differences certain correlations were not found, which underlines the importance of cross-cultural and cross language exploration of this problem. Correlations between the individual categories of verbal production and basic personality traits are of predicted direction, considering the results of previous studies as well as the nature of those traits. Additionally, correlations are of similar strength, regardless of whether the data were collected by self-report or ratings (.15 – .30) The findings of this study testify to the fact that verbal production is a rich source of information about a person, and that analysis of specific characteristics of language, under the right conditions, has the potential to be a significant supplement to existing methods of gathering information on the current state, as well as stable personality traits.

Ideja o verbalnoj produkciji kao izvoru informacija o ličnosti osobe nije nova. Ipak, tek poslednjih godina ovo pitanje dobija svoje prve empirijske provere unutar paradigme automatske analize verbalne produkcije na nivou pojedinačnih reči, prevashodno kroz upotrebu programa LIWC, sa jedne i Petofaktorskog modela ličnosti, sa druge strane. Ranija istraţivanja produkovala su relativno nekonzistentne nalaze o odnosu li;nosti i verbalne produkcije i otvorila mnogobrojna metodološka i koncepualna pitanja. Predmet ovog rada je bila identifikacija objektivno merljivih sadrţinskih i stilističkih aspekata verbalne produkcije koji predstavljaju dobre markere bazičnih dimenzija ličnosti. Kako bi se o karakteristikama verbalne produkcije moglo govoriti kao o varijablama individualnih razlika, prvo je proverena vremenska stabilnost jezičkih kategorija, a zatim i odnos verbalne produkcije i ličnosnih varijabli. Podaci o verbalnoj produkciji u zadatku Tok misli, zajedno sa trenutnim emotivnim stanjem ispitanika prikupljeni su u deset ekvidistantnih vremenskih tačaka tokom perioda od dva meseca. Podaci o bazičnoj strukturi ličnosti prikupljeni su upitničkom metodom na osnovu samoizveštaja i procene od strane bliskih drugih. Pored dimenzija diefinisanih Petofaktorskim modelom (Neuroticizam, Ekstraverzija, Otvorenost, Saradljivost, Savesnost), u ovo istraţivanje uključeni su i bazičene crte Dezintegracije i Amorala. Analiza verbalne produkcije izvršena pomoću programa za automatsku analizu teksta LIWCser. Rezultati su pokazali da je prosečna kros-vrmenska stabilnost LIWCser kategorija umerena (ICCM=.609), te da su mere verbalne produkcije relativno pouzdane ukoliko su izvedene iz većeg broja posmatranja. Ipak, koeficijenti kros-vremenske stabilnosti za pojedinačne kategorije kreću se u rasponu od .245 do .967. Najkonzistentniji aspekti verbalne produkcije osobe su formalne karakteristike teksta, učestale lingvističke i krupne psihološke kategorije. U pogledu odnosa verbalne produkcije i bazične strukture ličnosti, replikovan je najveći broj robusnih nalaza ranijih istraţivanja. Ipak, zbog kros-jezičkih razlika pojedine veze su izostale, što ukazuje na vaţnost kos-kulturalne i kros-jezičke eksploracije ovog problema. Korelacije izmeĎu pojedinačnih kategorija verbalne produkcije i bazičnih dimenzija ličnosti očekivanog su smera imajući u vidu ranija istraţivanja, kao i prirodu datih dimenzija. Dodatno, korelacije su sličnog intenziteta bilo da se radi o podacima o ličnosti prikupljenim metodom samoizveštaja ili metodom procene od strane bliskih drugih (.15 – .30). Nalazi ovog istraţivanja govore u prilog tome da je verbalna produkcija bogat izvor informacija o osobi i da analiza specifičnih karakteristika jezika pod adekvatnim uslovima ima potencijal da bude značajna dopuna postojećim metodama za prikupljenje informacija kako o trenutnom stanju, tako i o stabilnim karakteristikama osobe.