Thus, we predicted that scores on both the Analytical/Tough-minded scale and the Curious/Energetic scale would positively correlate with the statement, “Sex is an essential part of a successful relationship
We predicted that individuals scoring highest on the Cautious/Social Norm Compliant scale would be significantly more likely to be members of an organized, conventional religious group, as this is consistent with genetic data associating aspects of the serotonin system with religiosity (Lorenzi et al., 2005; Ott et al., 2005) and traditionalism (Golimbet et al., 2004).
We anticipated that participants who scored highest on the Cautious/Social Norm Compliant scale would be more politically conservative because self-reported conservatives in other western countries score higher than self-reported liberals on scales of respect for authority and tradition (Graham et al., 2009), characteristics of the proposed Cautious/Social Norm Compliant dimension. Also, traditionalism is linked in the biological literature with aspects of the serotonin system (Golimbet et al., 2004). We also hypothesized that participants who scored highest on the Prosocial/Empathetic scale would be significantly more liberal in their political views, because self-reported liberals in dozens of countries score higher than conservatives on scales of caring/nurturance (Graham et al., 2009), traits associated in the biological literature with the estrogen and oxytocin systems (Knickmeyer et al., 2006).
, 1994; Meston and Frohlic, 2000), so we anticipated that those individuals with a higher sex drive would be more likely to regard sex as important to a successful partnership. ” Further, since higher central serotonin regularly suppresses sexual desire and sexual function (Rosen et al., 1999), we also predicted that higher scores on the Cautious/Social Norm Compliant scale would negatively correlate with the statement, “Sex is an essential part of a successful relationship,” because individuals with a lower sex drive might regard sex as less important to a successful partnership.
Divergent findings might point out the unique contributions of the FTI
We undertook the comparison between the FTI and the NEO-FFI for two reasons: (1) the NEO PI-R and NEO FFI are widely used as psychometric comparators for temperament and personality instrument development and validation; so this comparison might further the understanding of the characteristics likely to be associated with each of the four proposed temperament dimensions of the FTI; and (2) all of the scales of the NEO PI-R and NEO FFI have shown modest heritability (Plomin and Caspi, 1999) and the FTI is designed to measure heritable behavior patterns associated with temperament. Positive correlations would be evidence that it could measure heritable behavior patterns, also.
Regarding our comparison between the FTI and the NEO-FFI, we had three predictions: (1) that scores on the Curious/Energetic scale of the FTI would correlate with those on the Open to New Experiences scale of the NEO-FFI because both scales have been associated with exploratory behavior, novelty-seeking and curiosity (Costa and McCrae, 1992; Depue and Collins, 1999); (2) that scores on the Cautious/Social Norm Compliant scale of the FTI would correlate with the Conscientious scale of the NEO-FFI because both the NEO-FFI domain of Conscientiousness and the Cautious/Social Norm Compliant scale on the FTI attempt to measure self-control and self-regulation (Costa and McCrae, 1992), as well as the desire to plan and organize (DeYoung and Gray, 2009); (3) that higher scores on the Analytical/Tough-minded scale of the FTI would correlate negatively with high scores on the Agreeable scale of the NEO-FFI because tough-mindedness is likely to be the opposite of tender-mindedness, a trait in the Agreeableness domain of the NEO-FFI.
We had no predictions regarding a correlation between the Neuroticism scale of the NEO-FFI and any scale of the FTI because the FTI does not attempt to measure neuroticism; nor did we have any hypotheses regarding a correlation between the Extraversion scale of the NEO-FFI and any scale of the FTI because the FTI does not attempt to measure extraversion.