4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37773
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item A study of the psychometric properties of the Personality and Values Questionnaire in a sample of the South African Population(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-03) Clack, Crystal; Laher, SumayaPersonality assessment plays a crucial role in various domains in South Africa. Both personality traits and values dimensions have been shown to be reliable predictors of performance and behaviour. Research on personality in South Africa is lacking, as is research on values. Assessment use in South Africa is governed by legislation, requiring evidence of reliability, validity, fairness, and a lack of bias. Most objective, self-report personality assessments are based on the Five Factor Model (FFM), which is widely accepted in personality as being universal. However, evidence on personality in South Africa suggests that there are additional elements to these factors. This study explored the applicability of the Personality and Values Questionnaire (PVQ) for use in the South African context. This was done by investigating internal consistency reliability, construct validity, and aspects of construct bias as they pertain to the potential for adverse impact. A non probability convenience sample of 288 participants completed the PVQ. The study took the form of a non-experimental, cross-sectional design. From the results, it was evident that the scales of the PVQ demonstrated adequate internal consistency reliability. In assessing construct validity, the five factor structure replicated similarly with regards to the Extraversion and Neuroticism domains, but the domains of Agreeableness, Openness, and Conscientiousness loaded differently to that proposed by the FFM and the test developers and more in line with other research on personality in South Africa. Evidence for construct bias was found. Women were likely to be more considerate of others, and concerned with how they appear to others. Black participants appeared more inclined towards harmony in interpersonal relationships and traditionalism. The differences for the language subgroups were small. The results suggest that the PVQ would have some suitability for use in South Africa depending on the context and sample. More research with larger and more diverse samples is needed.Item Exploring Personality Structure in South Africa: A Text Mining Approach(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-03-15) Gama, Beauty; Alence, Rod; Laher, SumayaPhysical expression, behavioural attributes and social relations of an individual can often be studied through personality traits. This has made personality research a relevant aspect of gaining a deeper understanding of people in various contexts, for clinical reasons as well as social relatability. Trait theory has been fundamental in utilizing statistical methods such as factor analysis to construct the personality models that currently exist. The Five Factor Model (FFM) is amongst the most widely accepted of these trait theory models. Personality assessment instruments are developed as operationalisations of these models. These include the Goldberg Adjective Checklist, the South African Personality Inventory (SAPI), and the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI). Recently, naturally occurring data like social media statuses or Facebook Posts are being considered as data examining personality structure. This study aims to explore personality structure data obtained from South African literary texts and text mining techniques. Various techniques of text mining such as parts of speech tagging, and unsupervised and supervised LDA topic modelling were applied to 60 South African literary texts. While topic modelling showed limitations when used in an unsupervised manner, when guided by thematic clusters it presented comprehensible trait classifications that fit with the clusters as defined by the FFM. The instances where there was no fit corresponded with the literature which demonstrates poor fit for those constructs in African constructs. The results also showed that there is a difference in the expression of personality traits between men and women with the differences concurring with those found in the broader literature on gender differences across personality. While the text corpus for this study was small, there is evidence to suggest that text mining techniques could be used to assist in research on personality structure. Text mining is an approach that requires further research as it can be useful in dealing with large data that is naturally occurring to provide a better contextual exploration of personality.Item Personality profiles of the Namaqua rock mouse (Micaelamys namaquensis), the Mozambique thicket rat (Grammomys cometes) and the woodland dormouse (Graphiurus murinus)(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Mampa, Nthabiseng; Linhsan, Emmanuel Do; Madikiza, KimPersonality is the variation in behaviour amongst individuals, which arises as a result of genetic differences and exposure to different environments. Although the term is usually associated with humans, multiple studies have found evidence for personality in other non-human taxa such as rodents, fish, reptiles, and primates, which ultimately showed that personality is ubiquitous. Personality determines how individuals react in different situations throughout their life, such as when they encounter stressors, interact with their conspecifics, prey and predators, how they select seeds and the distance to which they disperse, when displaying aggression, and when facing novel objects, their propensity to take risks, among other behaviours. Personality traits are most described using terms such as bold and shy, aggressive, docile, and avoidant. These terms relate to individual coping style, temperament, and correlated traits. Given the importance of personality, this study was aimed at studying personality in the woodland dormouse, Mozambique thicket rat and Namaqua rock mouse, in order to understand personality and how it varies among species and within species, i.e., between sexes. In consideration of the importance of genetic factors in the development of personality, it was expected that there would be differences among the three rodent species despite being exposed to similar environmental conditions. It was also expected that there would be differences between males and females within each species due to the influence of sex hormones on personality. Two standardised personality tests were conducted, namely the open-field and the novel object test to measure boldness, shyness, exploration, and avoidance when facing novelty by observing the frequency and duration of the behavioural responses exhibited during these tests. The study showed that rodents react to novelty by showing both shy and bold behavioural responses. However, the three species differ from each other in boldness and shyness. Males and females also showed differences in their behavioural responses to novelty. Overall, this study highlighted two strategies used for survival in nature. In consideration of this, it would be beneficial to preserve pristine forests to protect keystone structures that are crucial for preserving diversity in species and personality types. However, more studies on long-term trapping and correlation with personality tests could reveal more information on the personality profiles and their subsequent consequences.