Identification Problems in Personality Psychology

Lex Borghans, Bart Golsteyn (), James Heckman and John Humphries

No 5605, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper discusses and illustrates identification problems in personality psychology. The measures used by psychologists to infer traits are based on behaviors, broadly defined. These behaviors are produced from multiple traits interacting with incentives in situations. In general, measures are determined by these multiple traits and do not identify any particular trait unless incentives and other traits are controlled for. Using two data sets, we show, as an example, that substantial portions of the variance in achievement test scores and grades, which are often used as measures of cognition, are explained by personality variables.

Keywords: achievement test; identification problem; personality; psychology; grades (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D03 D89 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2011-03
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (80)

Published - published in: Personality and Individual Differences, 2011, 51 (3), 315-320

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https://docs.iza.org/dp5605.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Identification Problems in Personality Psychology (2011)
Working Paper: Identification Problems in Personality Psychology (2011)
Working Paper: Identification problems in personality psychology (2011)
Working Paper: Identification problems in personality psychology (2011)
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