Agreeableness Research Paper

This sample Agreeableness Research Paper is published for educational and informational purposes only. Free research papers are not written by our writers, they are contributed by users, so we are not responsible for the content of this free sample paper. If you want to buy a high quality research paper on any topic at affordable price please use custom research paper writing services.

Abstract

Agreeableness  is a  personality  dimension  (or  set  of related traits) that describes a class of individual differences  that   generally  have  to  do   with   being pleasant, likable, and harmonious in relations with others. Empirical research finds that Agreeableness as a dimension hangs together consistently (persons who are ‘‘kind’’ also tend to be ‘‘considerate’’), is relatively stable and enduring  over time, and is related to many kinds of human activity.

Outline

  1. Describing Agreeableness: What Is It?
  2. External Correlates: What Is Agreeableness Related To?
  3. Etiology/Antecedents: Where Does Agreeableness Come From?
  4. Conclusion

1. Describing Agreeableness: What Is It?

Agreeableness  has  become  the  label  most  frequently used for this personality  dimension,  but it is only one of many such labels. Some of the other labels used to describe the dimension (or closely related dimensions) are tender mindedness, friendly compliance versus hostile noncompliance, love versus hate, likability, communion, and conformity. It has been argued that none of these labels, including  Agreeableness, adequately  captures  either  the breadth  or the substantive  content  of this dimension of personality. As a label, Agreeableness has been criticized specifically for being too narrow and perhaps for overemphasizing acquiescence. Theorists have  suggested  that  it  may  be  more  appropriate   to refer  to  the   dimension   either   with  numerals   (the Roman numeral II has been used in the past) or simply with the letter A (for agreeableness, altruism, and affection).

At a theoretical  level, Agreeableness describes an underlying  system  (latent  variable)  of individual  differences.  It  is one  of five broad  personality  dimensions that appear in all versions of the five-factor approach to personality (i.e., the Five-Factor Model). The five-factor approach  describes personality  at perhaps  its broadest and most abstract (decontextualized) level. Trait adjectives that  are positively associated  with  Agreeableness include kind, warm, cooperative, unselfish, polite, trustful, generous, flexible, considerate,  and agreeable. Trait adjectives    that     are    negatively    associated     with Agreeableness include cold, unkind, uncooperative, selfish, rude, distrustful, stingy, stubborn, and inconsiderate. Overall, Agreeableness describes a broad, but related, set of  individual  differences  in  how  a  person  relates  to others.  Specifically, Agreeableness appears  to  describe differences in being predominantly  prosocial  or other oriented versus antisocial or self-oriented in social interactions.

Self-report measures of Agreeableness are those most frequently  used  for assessment.  The use of ratings  of Agreeableness by knowledgeable others (e.g., peers, teachers, parents) in addition to self-ratings is desirable from a psychometric standpoint but is less common due to the increased demands associated with collecting this information. Currently, there are several measures available  to  assess  Agreeableness  within   the  framework of the  five-factor approach  to  personality.  The  three most frequently  used measures  in research  are Goldberg’s adjective markers, the questionnaire-format Big  Five  Inventory   (BFI)  developed   by  John,  and the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory–Revised  (NEO)  developed  by McCrae  and Costa.  These  measures   vary  in  their   construction, length, and content,  yet empirical research shows that the five-factor dimensions  assessed by these measures, including Agreeableness, are nearly identical across measures. Focusing on Agreeableness, there is some discrepancy between the NEO and the other two measures.  The  main  difference is that  the  NEO includes warmth as a facet of Extraversion, whereas in the other two measures warmth is associated with Agreeableness. Overall, however,  outcomes  of studies  using different measures of Agreeableness show convergence. For most purposes,  the  various  measures  of Agreeableness are functionally equivalent.

2. External Correlates: What Is Agreeableness Related To?

Over the past decade or so, cross-cultural  research has uncovered  the  same or  similar  five-factor personality structure  in  many  cultures  with  many  different  languages and in both adults and children.  In all cultures studied, Agreeableness has been seen as a major dimension of personality.  At a minimum,  this research indicates that  Agreeableness describes  a set of individual differences that are of interest  worldwide. The dimension is not an artifact of the English language, college age  participants,   or  Western  cultural  norms.  Recent research also suggests that despite the clear preference that  most  groups   have  for  persons   with  agreeable qualities over persons with disagreeable qualities, Agreeableness  differences  are  also  not  an  artifact  of social desirability,  self-presentation,  or  self-deception, nor are they merely a characteristic of observers’ evaluations. Instead, research suggests that Agreeableness describes a stable enduring set of qualities in individuals that is related to important  social outcomes.

Agreeableness differences can be studied in many different ways. One of the most common ways is to bring persons who differ on Agreeableness into a laboratory, where their behaviors can be assessed in various kinds of social  situations.  Typically, these  persons  are  college students. In laboratory studies of group processes, Agreeableness is related to lower within-group  conflict and to positive within-group  evaluations. For example, more agreeable people like their fellow group members more and are liked more in return. Research also shows that Agreeableness is negatively related to competitiveness in group  interactions  and is positively related  to expectations of enjoying group interactions. These findings suggest that Agreeableness may contribute to group cohesion  and may serve as a protective  factor against group dissolution. These findings also provide empirical support for the notion that Agreeableness can be mapped onto the social motives described by communion.

In some circumstances, being a more cooperative and generally more prosocial group member may contribute positively to group and individual functioning. In these circumstances,  one  would  expect  that  Agreeableness is related  to both  group and  individual-level  performance. In some situations, however, being considerate, trusting,  and compassionate  may undermine  a group’s performance  or an individual’s performance.  In these situations, Agreeableness may be unrelated, or even negatively related,  to performance.  One meta-analysis found  that  Agreeableness  was  negatively  related  to job performance for managers but also found that Agreeableness was positively related to job performance for  professionals  and  skilled  laborers.  A later  mea analysis found that in most studies, Agreeableness was unrelated to job performance but was positively related to teamwork.  In a competitive  business  environment, Agreeableness may be a more desirable quality for group members than  for managers or business leaders. To a certain extent, goals and tasks that emphasize competition, profits, and self-gain may run contrary to the selflessness and positive social orientation  associated with Agreeableness. This may, in part, explain findings that, across the life span, Agreeableness is negatively related to extrinsic success (e.g., salary) and career satisfaction. Perhaps  more  agreeable individuals  would  find more satisfaction, if not more success, in helping professions or public service than in corporate job environments.

Other research (some laboratory and some field studies) has examined Agreeableness and dyadic relationship processes and outcomes. One area of interest  has been the resolution of dyadic conflicts. If more agreeable individuals  are  more  motivated  to  maintain  positive social relations with others than are their less agreeable peers, one would expect more positive patterns of attributions  and behaviors from agreeable individuals than from their  peers  when  they have disagreements  with others. We might also expect that a concern for others would lead to less disagreement or conflict with others in  general.  Research  outcomes  have  shown  that  in both adolescents and adults, Agreeableness is positively related to constructive  conflict resolution  tactics (e.g., negotiation) and is negatively related to destructive conflict resolution tactics (e.g., physical force). Agreeableness is also negatively related to the number of daily conflicts that individuals  report  in daily diary records. After a conflict has occurred, agreeable individuals say that they are more upset by the conflict but are less likely to have vengeful attitudes  about the conflict or to use vengeance as a problem-solving tactic.

In general, more agreeable individuals appear to behave in ways that are constructive  rather than destructive to their relationships with others. This suggests that Agreeableness should  be positively related to relationship quality (e.g., fewer conflicts, more satisfaction) and perhaps  to  relationship   quantity  (e.g.,  more  friends, more  robust  social  networks).   Agreeable individuals may incur costs in maintaining  their relationships,  but they should also gain the benefits associated with having a strong social network.  During adolescence, research found that Agreeableness was positively related to the quality of teacher and peer relations as well as to peer social  status.  In  adults,  research  on  social  support showed  that  Agreeableness  was  positively  related  to the   perceived   support   satisfaction,   and   negatively related to the frequency, of negative social exchanges.

These positive relationships  with others  may either stem from or contribute  to a positive relation between Agreeableness and evaluations of the self. As discussed previously, agreeable individuals view others favorably and are viewed favorably by others. Research also shows that  agreeable  individuals  view themselves  favorably. During   adolescence,   Agreeableness  and   self-esteem are positively related  in both  self-ratings and  teacher ratings. In adults, Agreeableness is positively related to happiness  and  subjective  well-being. Agreeableness is negatively related  to anger,  hostility,  and  (indirectly) depression in both daily and general dispositional self-reports.  In general,  agreeable individuals  earn  higher scores  on  measures  of adjustment  than  do  their  less agreeable peers.  Conversely,  research  shows that  less agreeable individuals are more likely to exhibit various kinds  of externalizing  problems  during  both  adolescence and adulthood.

3. Etiology/Antecedents: Where Does Agreeableness Come From?

In considering the development of individual differences in Agreeableness, researchers  have taken  two distinct but related approaches. The first approach is to examine the specific contribution  of genes to individual  differences in Agreeableness. Over the years, behavioral genetic studies  have attempted  to determine  the contribution of both genetic and environmental (shared and nonshared)  influences on personality. Results have varied, with at least one study suggesting that among the Big Five dimensions, Agreeableness is the most susceptible  to  environmental   influences.  However,  most  of the behavioral genetic studies do not find that Agreeableness is any less heritable  than  the other  Big Five dimensions.  Some theorists suggest that all of the Big Five dimensions, including Agreeableness, represent entirely  genetically driven,  biologically based dispositions.  Supporting  this  claim  are  a  variety  of studies showing that constructs  related to Agreeableness, such as altruism, prosocial behavior, and empathy, also show moderate to high heritabilities.

The second approach  to identifying the root of individual  differences  in  Agreeableness has  been  to  link adult  personality   to  infant  and  child  temperament. One problem is that the individual differences identified through  modern  temperament  approaches  rarely map directly onto adult personality traits. Agreeableness, in particular, has no clear antecedent among temperament constructs.  This may, in part, have to do with the emphasis of Agreeableness on the quality of peer relations and  other-oriented responsiveness.  During  infancy, it may be difficult to detect individual  differences in the concern  for  the  quality  of  relationships   with  others given that infants have a comparatively  limited  repertoire  of both  behaviors  and  communication   abilities. In  addition,   in  comparison   with  other   personality dimensions  such  as Extraversion  and  Neuroticism,  if Agreeableness  is  already  present  as  a  disposition,  it may require the development of more elaborate cognitive processes (e.g., perspective taking, theory of mind) before it can be observed.

Among the temperament  traits that have been observed, theorists  have suggested that individual differences in  effortful or  executive  control  may be an antecedent  of individual  differences in Agreeableness. Effortful control refers to the ability to suppress a dominant response for a subdominant  response. In particular,  effortful control  is related to the ability to cope with frustration  and respond  adaptively to goal blockage. More generally, researchers  have proposed that effortful control  is linked to both cognitive (e.g., attention) and emotional self-regulatory capabilities. In this light, individual differences in Agreeableness may reflect differences in the ability to monitor and control a variety of self-centered or even antisocial impulses in social situations.  For  example,  in  daily  interactions, less agreeable individuals report feeling (and probably exhibit)  more anger and hostility than  do their  more agreeable peers. These feelings of anger and hostility may stem from an underlying  inability to regulate or suppress emotions to avoid damaging relationships.

Even if there were large heritable or temperamental contributors  to Agreeableness, it would still be necessary to  know  how  social learning  histories  and  life experiences shape these tendencies into adult individual differences. There is good evidence that cultures differ in the values they assign to Agreeableness; accordingly,  we might  expect  average differences in Agreeableness among children reared in different cultures. Nevertheless, differences within cultures remain.   Agents  of  socialization   may   leave   their marks,  but  persons  enter  the  socialization  environment with something more complicated than blank slates. Some individuals will be receptive to agents of socialization, absorbing and internalizing cultural values,   whereas   other   individuals   will  resist.   In this approach,  then,  socialization  can produce  large effects on Agreeableness, yet adult differences in Agreeableness within  cultures  are the end-state  products of Person Socialization interactions.

Consistent with this line of reasoning, recent research has  demonstrated   complex  links  between  childhood self-regulation   and   adult   Agreeableness.  Childhood self-regulation  has,  in  turn,  been  linked  both  to  the quality of child-rearing practices and to temperamental characteristics.  It is possible that temperamental  characteristics and socialization experiences may interact in a variety of ways to produce  individual  differences in Agreeableness. For example, temperamental  characteristics may contribute to the selection of particular social ecologies that restrict the range of socialization experiences available to any given individual. Children who lack self-control and are easily frustrated may make for poor relationship partners and may subsequently be rejected  by their  peers.  Consequently,  these  children might miss important  socialization experiences provided  by peer  relationships.  Temperament  may  interact with  parent–child  relationships  to  affect socialization experiences  in  a  similar  way. As children  get  older, they may also consciously choose to place themselves in particular environments that are consonant with their temperamental  predispositions.  Similarly, as adult personality characteristics  emerge, they may interact  with situations  to reinforce underlying  predispositions.  For example,  if given a choice,  highly  agreeable children may choose to avoid highly competitive  situations.  If forced into competitive situations, highly agreeable children may attempt  to convert the situation  into a more cooperative one or otherwise adapt to the social norms associated with highly competitive interactions.

4. Conclusion

Agreeableness is a dimension of personality associated with  motives for maintaining  positive  relations  with others. It is a superordinate  descriptor  for a system of lower order affective, behavioral, and cognitive tendencies. Cultures  may differ in the emphasis they put on socializing children into seeking harmonious  relations with others, but differences remain within cultures. Agreeableness   differences   in   people   seem   to   be relatively stable over time and across settings. Agreeableness may have developmental origins in temperament   and  in  skills  in  coping  with  frustration. These differences are associated with corresponding tendencies in dealing with conflict, emotional responsiveness to others, group interaction, interpersonal relationships, and self-evaluation. For many life events, Agreeableness  is  associated  with  positive  outcomes such as good social relations, friendships, better adjustment,  and  social recognition  (with  the  exception  of external  rewards,  e.g., salary). There is some suggestion that  agreeable persons  are less effective as managers,  but  there  is no  evidence  (at  least  so far)  for claims that agreeable persons are less attractive, more conforming, more compliant, or more submissive than their peers.

References:

  1. Graziano, G., &  Eisenberg,  N. (1997).  Agreeableness: A dimension  of personality.  In R. Hogan, J. Johnson,  & S.  Briggs  (Eds.),   Handbook  of  personality  psychology (pp. 795–824). San Diego: Academic Press.
  2. Kohnstamm,   A.,  Halverson,  C.  F.,  Mervielde,  I.,  & Havill, V. L. (1998). Parental descriptions of child personality: Developmental antecedents of the Big Five? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  3. Wiggins, J. S. (1991). Agency and communion as conceptual coordinates  for the  understanding   and  measurement  in interpersonal     In  D.  Cicchetti,   &  W.  Grove (Eds.),  Thinking  critically  in  psychology: Essays  in  the honor   of  Paul   E.   Meehl  (pp.   89–113).   New   York: Cambridge University Press.

See also:

Free research papers are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can use our professional writing services to order a custom research paper on any topic and get your high quality paper at affordable price.

ORDER HIGH QUALITY CUSTOM PAPER


Always on-time

Plagiarism-Free

100% Confidentiality
Special offer! Get discount 10% for the first order. Promo code: cd1a428655