Combining trait consistency and learning specificity approaches to personality, with illustrative data on faculty teaching performance

• Published in: Personality and individual differences 1987, Vol.8 (1), p.59-66
• Main Authors: Rushton, J.Philippe, Murray, Harry G., Erdle, Stephen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Personality traits; Personality. Affectivity; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/0191-8869(87)90011-0

Data on personality and teaching performance in university professors are brought to bear on the debate about the consistency of social behaviour. We argue: (a) that traits can best be inferred by sampling from a domain of specific acts and then aggregating across them to gain a representative composite; and (b) that the modification of behaviour largely represents the alteration of specific acts. In particular, we report data showing: (a) that extraversion correlates 0.51 with teaching effectiveness; (b) that this relationship is mediated by specific classroom behaviours; (c) that extraversion correlates 0.33 (on average) with single teaching behaviours, as compared to 0.50 with an aggregate of behaviours; and (d) that training on specific classroom behaviours improves teaching effectiveness. We conclude that both consistency and specificity exist in behaviour and that each provides a useful focus for analysis. Schematic models representing different levels of explanation are provided.