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Identification Problems in Personality Psychology


Lex Borghans


University of Maastricht - Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Bart Golsteyn


Maastricht University - Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); Stockholm University - Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI)

James J. Heckman


University of Chicago - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); American Bar Foundation; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

John Eric Humphries


affiliation not provided to SSRN
March 2011

NBER Working Paper No. w16917

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.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 21

working papers series


Date posted: April 4, 2011  

Suggested Citation

Borghans, Lex, Golsteyn, Bart, Heckman, James J. and Humphries, John Eric, Identification Problems in Personality Psychology (March 2011). NBER Working Paper No. w16917. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1801087

Contact Information

Lex Borghans (Contact Author)
University of Maastricht - Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) ( email )
P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, MD6200
Netherlands
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany
Bart Golsteyn
Maastricht University - Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) ( email )
P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, MD6200
Netherlands
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany
Stockholm University - Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) ( email )
Kyrkgatan 43B
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden
James J. Heckman
University of Chicago - Department of Economics ( email )
1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States
773-702-0634 (Phone)
773-702-8490 (Fax)
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
American Bar Foundation
750 N. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60611
United States
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)
Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany
John Eric Humphries
affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )
No Address Available
Feedback to SSRN (Beta)


Paper statistics
Abstract Views: 242
Downloads: 30
References:  37
Citations:  2

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