Biographical, trait, and behavioral-sampling predictions of performance in a stressful life setting

In a study with 71 US Army officers and 109 enlisted men who completed a battery of tests (Adjective Check List and several scales of the 16 PF and California Psychological Inventory), it was found that biographical, trait, and behavioral-sampling predictors, when combined, yielded a substantially and significantly larger prediction of performance ^h ( R = .72) ^H in a natural setting than any of these approaches achieved separately ( R s, respectively, of .64, .44, and .42). A canonical correlational analysis designed to determine which predictors best predict which component of the multifaceted criterion suggested that traits best predict other traits, while specific past behaviors and learning experiences best predict specific future skilled performances. Personality assessment, which has been preoccupied with simple competitions between behavioral-sampling and trait approaches, might progress faster if it reformulated its task in a broader, more cooperative fashion. (19 ref)