Friday, August 13, 2010
Personality set for life by 1st grade, study suggests
Sat Aug 7, 1:36 PM
LiveScience Staff
LiveScience.com
Our personalities stay pretty much the same throughout our lives, from our early childhood years to after we're over the hill, according to a new study.
The results show personality traits observed in children as young as first graders are a strong predictor of adult behavior.
"We remain recognizably the same person," said study author Christopher Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside. "This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts."
The study will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Tracking personalities
Using data from a 1960s study of approximately 2,400 ethnically diverse schoolchildren (grades 1 - 6) in Hawaii, researchers compared teacher personality ratings of the students with videotaped interviews of 144 of those individuals 40 years later.
They examined four personality attributes - talkativeness (called verbal fluency), adaptability (cope well with new situations), impulsiveness and self-minimizing behavior (essentially being humble to the point of minimizing one's importance).
Among the findings:
Talkative youngsters tended to show interest in intellectual matters, speak fluently, try to control situations, and exhibit a high degree of intelligence as adults. Children who rated low in verbal fluency were observed as adults to seek advice, give up when faced with obstacles, and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.
Children rated as highly adaptable tended, as middle-age adults, to behave cheerfully, speak fluently and show interest in intellectual matters. Those who rated low in adaptability as children were observed as adults to say negative things about themselves, seek advice and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.
Students rated as impulsive were inclined to speak loudly, display a wide range of interests and be talkative as adults. Less impulsive kids tended to be fearful or timid, kept others at a distance and expressed insecurity as adults.
Children characterized as self-minimizing were likely to express guilt, seek reassurance, say negative things about themselves and express insecurity as adults. Those who were ranked low on a self-minimizing scale tended to speak loudly, show interest in intellectual matters and exhibit condescending behavior as adults.
Changing personality
Previous research has suggested that while our personalities can change, it's not an easy undertaking.
Personality is "a part of us, a part of our biology," Nave said. "Life events still influence our behaviors, yet we must acknowledge the power of personality in understanding future behavior as well."
Future research will "help us understand how personality is related to behavior as well as examine the extent to which we may be able to change our personality," Nave said.
LiveScience Staff
LiveScience.com
Our personalities stay pretty much the same throughout our lives, from our early childhood years to after we're over the hill, according to a new study.
The results show personality traits observed in children as young as first graders are a strong predictor of adult behavior.
"We remain recognizably the same person," said study author Christopher Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside. "This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts."
The study will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Tracking personalities
Using data from a 1960s study of approximately 2,400 ethnically diverse schoolchildren (grades 1 - 6) in Hawaii, researchers compared teacher personality ratings of the students with videotaped interviews of 144 of those individuals 40 years later.
They examined four personality attributes - talkativeness (called verbal fluency), adaptability (cope well with new situations), impulsiveness and self-minimizing behavior (essentially being humble to the point of minimizing one's importance).
Among the findings:
Talkative youngsters tended to show interest in intellectual matters, speak fluently, try to control situations, and exhibit a high degree of intelligence as adults. Children who rated low in verbal fluency were observed as adults to seek advice, give up when faced with obstacles, and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.
Children rated as highly adaptable tended, as middle-age adults, to behave cheerfully, speak fluently and show interest in intellectual matters. Those who rated low in adaptability as children were observed as adults to say negative things about themselves, seek advice and exhibit an awkward interpersonal style.
Students rated as impulsive were inclined to speak loudly, display a wide range of interests and be talkative as adults. Less impulsive kids tended to be fearful or timid, kept others at a distance and expressed insecurity as adults.
Children characterized as self-minimizing were likely to express guilt, seek reassurance, say negative things about themselves and express insecurity as adults. Those who were ranked low on a self-minimizing scale tended to speak loudly, show interest in intellectual matters and exhibit condescending behavior as adults.
Changing personality
Previous research has suggested that while our personalities can change, it's not an easy undertaking.
Personality is "a part of us, a part of our biology," Nave said. "Life events still influence our behaviors, yet we must acknowledge the power of personality in understanding future behavior as well."
Future research will "help us understand how personality is related to behavior as well as examine the extent to which we may be able to change our personality," Nave said.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Govt plays down child porn fears over new scanners
2 hours, 20 minutes ago
LONDON (AFP) - The government sought on Tuesday to allay fears that body scanners being introduced at airports would break laws against creating indecent images of children.
Transport officials said the scanners would be introduced at Heathrow within weeks and then rolled out to other airports as part of efforts to tighten security after the failed US airliner bomb plot on Christmas Day.
Privacy campaigners told the Guardian the images created by the machines were so graphic they amounted to "virtual strip searching" and have called for safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers involved.
Terri Dowty, of civil rights group Action On Rights For Children, said the scanners could breach child protection laws, which made it illegal to create an indecent image or a "pseudo-image" of a child.
"They do not have the legal power to use full body scanners in this way," she told the newspaper.
Rights group Liberty urged body scanning to be used only when necessary and with "the strongest degree of privacy protection."
"Any response to terrorism must be proportionate and respectful of the human rights values of dignity, privacy and equal treatment," the group said in a statement.
A Department for Transport spokesman said a code of practice was being drawn up for airport staff who will use the scanners.
"We understand the concerns expressed about privacy in relation to the deployment of body scanners," he said.
"It is vital staff are properly trained and we are developing a code of practice to ensure these concerns are properly taken into account.
"Existing safeguards also mean those operating scanners are separated from the device, so unable to see the person to whom the image relates, and these anonymous images are deleted immediately," he added.
Another spokesman said operator BAA would introduce the scanners "initially at Heathrow within weeks, and we are consulting urgently with the airport industry on how they might best be introduced at other UK airports."
BAA -- which also runs Stansted airport in London, and Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports -- has said it will introduce scanners "as soon as practical."
Some countries, led by the United States, have announced additional security measures at airports since a Nigerian man was charged with trying to blow up a US-bound jet on December 25.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, reportedly confessed to being trained by an Al-Qaeda bombmaker in Yemen for the suicide mission on the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
It was foiled when explosives allegedly sewn into the man's underwear failed to detonate, and passengers jumped on him.
2 hours, 20 minutes ago
LONDON (AFP) - The government sought on Tuesday to allay fears that body scanners being introduced at airports would break laws against creating indecent images of children.
Transport officials said the scanners would be introduced at Heathrow within weeks and then rolled out to other airports as part of efforts to tighten security after the failed US airliner bomb plot on Christmas Day.
Privacy campaigners told the Guardian the images created by the machines were so graphic they amounted to "virtual strip searching" and have called for safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers involved.
Terri Dowty, of civil rights group Action On Rights For Children, said the scanners could breach child protection laws, which made it illegal to create an indecent image or a "pseudo-image" of a child.
"They do not have the legal power to use full body scanners in this way," she told the newspaper.
Rights group Liberty urged body scanning to be used only when necessary and with "the strongest degree of privacy protection."
"Any response to terrorism must be proportionate and respectful of the human rights values of dignity, privacy and equal treatment," the group said in a statement.
A Department for Transport spokesman said a code of practice was being drawn up for airport staff who will use the scanners.
"We understand the concerns expressed about privacy in relation to the deployment of body scanners," he said.
"It is vital staff are properly trained and we are developing a code of practice to ensure these concerns are properly taken into account.
"Existing safeguards also mean those operating scanners are separated from the device, so unable to see the person to whom the image relates, and these anonymous images are deleted immediately," he added.
Another spokesman said operator BAA would introduce the scanners "initially at Heathrow within weeks, and we are consulting urgently with the airport industry on how they might best be introduced at other UK airports."
BAA -- which also runs Stansted airport in London, and Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports -- has said it will introduce scanners "as soon as practical."
Some countries, led by the United States, have announced additional security measures at airports since a Nigerian man was charged with trying to blow up a US-bound jet on December 25.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, reportedly confessed to being trained by an Al-Qaeda bombmaker in Yemen for the suicide mission on the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
It was foiled when explosives allegedly sewn into the man's underwear failed to detonate, and passengers jumped on him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
