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  The impact of situations on behaviour

  Personality is not the only determinant of behaviour. Extroverts are more lively and talkative, and introverts tend to be quieter and more reflective. While some people are more extrovert than others, we all behave in a more extrovert manner in some situations than in others. When they are with close friends or family, people are more likely to be lively and talkative and share amusing stories; at work we may behave in a more formal manner, and at a job interview a person may talk only to answer questions. If you were to observe a teacher giving a lesson to a (well-behaved) class, it might seem that the teacher was the extrovert – doing all the talking, moving around the room, initiating interactions with the students. The students would seem like introverts sitting quietly listening, speaking only when asked.

  However, the initial impression is likely to be false. Both the teacher’s and the students’ behaviour are determined largely by the situation – that is, how it is appropriate to behave in class if you are a teacher and if you are a student. It is not possible to determine from this type of observation the personalities of the students or the teacher. If we were to examine the people’s behaviour more closely we might gain some more clues, but these also could be misleading. An extrovert teacher might tend to focus more on the individuals being taught, whereas an introvert might be more detached and less connected with the individual class members. But an experienced introvert teacher might have learned that it is important to maintain a connection with the class and make an effort to do so. Extrovert class members may find it more difficult to sit still and listen, and their discomfort with their role might be evident through fidgeting or other signs of restlessness. They may be quicker to respond to the teacher’s questions and more likely to take opportunities to interact with others or contribute and speak up when doing so. On the other hand, an introvert student might be bored with the topic and also restless or have a high need to please others and therefore be willing to contribute when called on to do so.

  If we consider the way we behave, particularly at work, far more of what we do is determined by the situation – the demands of the job or the expectations of our supervisor, colleagues or customers – than by anything to do with our own personality. When we speak and when we are silent, whether we sit still or move around, how much we help others, what we spend time thinking about, even how we dress and how we speak – these are all constrained by the requirements of the work we do and the organization we work for.

  Job fit

  If situations were the only determinant of our behaviour personality would not be a very important factor in the way people perform jobs. However, this is not the case. After the basic ability and skills of the job – word processing, cooking, dentistry, for example – research suggests that personality is the next most important indicator of suitability for a job. This is because although we can all moderate our behaviour to fit the needs of a situation, it can be hard to maintain the change over an extended period. The ‘true’ personality tends to come out, particularly in times of difficulty, fatigue or stress. The waiter who has been pleasant and attentive becomes tacitum and apathetic as the shift progresses; the computer programmer starts to lose concentration and make coding errors when a deadline is approaching.

  Someone whose personality suits the role can behave naturally, but the person whose personality does not match the requirements of a role has to act a part, and this takes energy. Some roles require taking calculated risks. For instance, a buyer for a department store has to make the decision in summer about what quantity of winter coats to order for the next season, but the number sold will depend on how cold the winter will be and when the cold weather arrives. Order too few, and the store will miss out on potential sales; order too many, and the store will be left with stock it cannot sell. A buyer who is risk averse will find this type of decision very stressful and may tend to err on the side of caution or spend too much time seeking more information and therefore postpone the decision, leading to increased costs or delayed delivery dates. Someone who is a moderate risk taker will probably deal with the situation more easily, and because they experience less anxiety about the decisions they will be able to focus on what is known about the situation (trends in previous years, the accuracy of long-term weather forecasts, the quality of the goods on offer and so on) and not be distracted by worrying about things that cannot be known. Of course, an extreme risk taker might not make good decisions by tending to underestimate the potential downside of decisions. So, while anyone with the appropriate knowledge and experience could make the necessary decisions, someone with the most appropriate personality characteristics would be more likely to make a good decision and would feel comfortable with the need to make decisions when, of necessity, many of the facts are unknown.

  Overall, the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience and/or the ability to learn them will be most important when selecting people for jobs, but after this the person’s personality will be the next most important thing for ensuring a superior level of performance.

  Organization fit

  Personality can be important in judging if a person will be successful in doing a job, but it can also be relevant to determining how well a person will fit into a particular organization. Every company or organization has its own culture, its own way of doing things. Some organizations are very friendly, egalitarian and informal. Others may be more structured and hierarchical. In some companies people are expected to spend time helping other employees with their work, while in others people are expected to get on with their own jobs. Some companies monitor quite closely how people work, but others let employees get on with things as long as the outputs are all right. The quality of the product produced may be of paramount concern to one organization; another may pay more attention to the quantity produced. As you read this, you may already have sensed that you would feel more comfortable working in certain of these organizational cultures rather than others. Personality is a large factor in this kind of fit. Someone who is flexible and has a high tolerance of ambiguity will fit in better in Company A, which is unstructured and deals in a spontaneous manner with issues as they arise. The same person might find Company B, which has a very planned and controlled approach with lots of procedures that must be carefully followed and documented, stifling and bureaucratic. Someone who is more regulated and prefers a more predictable environment might be very happy with Company B but find Company A chaotic and disorganized.

  What are questionnaires used for?

  Personality questionnaires are used for a number of different purposes. One of the most frequent is in making recruitment, selection and promotion decisions. The information about candidates’ personality style and how they approach things, relate to people, express their feelings and so on is relevant to how well they will perform in the job and fit into the organization. Personality profiles help in understanding how candidates might approach the job and the strengths and weaknesses associated with their approach.

  Questionnaires and other tests are an efficient way of providing a lot of information about candidates. One administrator can administer a questionnaire to a number of candidates at the same time. Questionnaires can also be administered via a computer and over the internet, and computer-based report generation helps make the use of questionnaires very efficient. Interviews and other selection procedures tend to take up a lot of time, often of senior people. Questionnaires are objective and standardized measures, and they provide an additional perspective to that gained through other selection means.

  Questionnaires are also used in development contexts. On an individual basis they can be used to help people better understand their personal style and how this might affect their performance. Insight into your personality is important in improving performance, and understanding how you naturally react to situations and people is a first step to developing more effective responses. For instance, being aware that you are the sort of person who dislikes change m
ay help you check an immediate negative response to suggestions from others and consider them more on their merits. Being aware of how you seem to other people is also useful in adapting and developing your work style. All this can be gained through the use of personality questionnaires. Leadership development work often focuses on how people respond to others, and the use of questionnaires can facilitate this. Coaches use questionnaires with their clients to understand them better and to develop an appropriate plan of action with them.

  Team building has the aim of helping groups of people to work better together. Questionnaires can help team members understand themselves and other team members better, and this can facilitate working together. When you understand why people respond as they do, it is often easier to be patient with them rather than becoming exasperated. For instance, realizing that Jose, one of the team members, likes to focus on one thing at a time will encourage you not to interrupt him unless necessary and to be less upset if he is a little impatient with you if you do interrupt him. Equally, being aware of how you come across to others may help you moderate your behaviour. For example, understanding that you are more of a risk taker than other people in the team will help you understand that their negative response to your suggestions is not personal but stems from their aversion to a more hazardous approach. You may need to set out your ideas more clearly and explain how you think the risks can be managed.

  Personality questionnaires can also be useful when an employee is not performing well in a role, experiences conflict with colleagues or has other types of problems at work. The results from a questionnaires can provide insight into the individual’s behaviour, the causes of friction or a difficulty with the job itself. This understanding can be used to help improve the individual’s performance. It can sometimes identify and help the person understand a fundamental lack of fit with the role or organization and in this case may encourage a search for more suitable employment.

  Career counsellors and outplacement consultants use questionnaires to understand people’s behavioural style, interests and motivation. This helps them to suggest new and adapted career tracks for clients that are likely to suit their needs but that might not have been thought of otherwise. Young people finishing their education can benefit from this help, but it can also be useful for people who are looking for a change of career in later life, perhaps after having been made redundant or giving up a job through ill health or disability. Questionnaires can also help people understand the impression they make on others at selection interviews and develop better strategies for ‘selling’ themselves to new employers. In Chapter 4 there is some discussion of how different personality styles might affect how people go about searching and applying for jobs and how they approach different types of assessment.

  2 What is personality?

  Personality is a word used in everyday language, and in one sense it is well understood. However, the sense in which psychologists use the word is a little specialized. In everyday language we talk about people who have ‘lots of personality’ or who are ‘lacking in personality’. For psychologists everyone has personality, but the word refers specifically to people’s typical behavioural and emotional characteristics. It is what makes people into distinct individuals with their own patterns of thinking, feeling, responding to others and doing things. Someone described in everyday language as ‘having personality’ might actually be someone who is lively, animated and vivacious. Someone who is described as ‘lacking personality’ might be someone who is reserved, modest and quiet. For psychologists personality refers to people’s preferences in a range of areas, including how they relate to others, their thinking and action style and their typical feelings and emotions.

  The ancient Greeks referred to ‘temperament’ and differentiated four humours – sanguine, phlegm, choler and melancholy – which Shakespeare also used to describe his characters. Chinese philosophy uses the five elements – metal, water, wood, fire and earth – to classify many things, including people’s temperament. Star signs are also associated with personality factors: Aries are said to be energetic and restless, Pisces are considered to be shy.

  Although the nature of man has been discussed in philosophy and literature through the ages, it was the late nineteenth century before psychology was born as a science and personality began to be studied more carefully. Early theorists suggested that personality might be related to physical characteristics – for example, that stout people were outgoing in nature. One theory, phrenology, was based on relating irregularities in the skull to personality factors. The work of people like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung was influential in changing the way that personality was perceived. Their theories were particularly concerned with how personality might develop out of early childhood experiences.

  The formal measurement of personality is mostly an invention of the twentieth century. In 1936 US psychologists Gordon Allport and H.S. Odbert collected over 18,000 English language adjectives that could describe people and researched them to determine how they might be categorized and systematized. This work has been central to the development of modern personality theory. They recognized that some words referred to physical characteristics – tall and plump, for example – and some referred to very temporary states – excited and surprised. The words most relevant to personality were those that referred to more enduring or stable characteristics that were not physical, such as bold and friendly.

  We concentrate on characteristics that are stable and enduring because these will characterize people and are therefore relevant in thinking about people’s behaviour over a long period – years rather than hours or days. We all have transitory moods – everyone experiences anger, sadness or exhilaration from time to time, for example – and these moods are typically a response to what is happening around us. This is not what we mean by personality. However, someone who has a tendency to anger easily might be described as fiery, excitable or irritable. These descriptions reflect a more stable characteristic or disposition, which can be thought of as part of the person’s personality.

  Although personality is made up of stable characteristics, this is not to say that personality cannot change over time. Our experiences throughout our lives, particularly in childhood, influence the way we see the world and how we respond to it. Such changes could be thought of as changes to our personality, but they are just as likely to be due to our better knowledge of ourselves. We develop ways of responding that suit us and our personality. Research suggests that personality is relatively stable over time. Old people who are extroverts were almost certainly extrovert as children. However, experience can modify some aspects of personality, and particularly traumatic experiences can have a major effect. Counselling and therapy can also effect change in some aspects of personality.

  There is strong evidence for a genetic component in personality. This means that some of our personality traits are inherited from our parents and grandparents. Identical twins are found to be more similar in personality than fraternal twins, and twins who are reared apart – that is, adopted by different families at birth – are often found to share personality characteristics later in life. New parents become aware of the personality of their baby even in its first few months of life. This does suggest that some aspects of personality may be ‘hard wired’ into our make-up, and it might explain why personality tends to be relatively stable over time. Because personality tends to be stable, it makes sense to take it into account when looking at the suitability of people for jobs and developing their performance at work.

  Although personality is relatively unchanging, behaviour can change. Introverts can learn to be socially skilled and to interact with others. They can become effective at typically non-introvert activities such as making presentations and leading a team. Equally extroverts can learn to behave in a quiet, restrained manner, and they may learn to appreciate more internally focused experiences, such as meditating. This does not mean that extroverts have become introverts, or vice versa. Ra
ther, each has developed a broader perspective than that which comes naturally to them and has expanded their behavioural repertoire.