Taak 3 Obsessive-compulsive PD
Mudrack Job involvement, obsessive‐compulsive personality traits, and workaholic
behavioral tendencies
- Naughton proposed that workaholism may result from a combination of high job
involvement with an obsessive‐compulsive personality. This study was designed
specifically to elaborate upon and to explore this proposal. Both obsessive‐
compulsive personality and workaholism, however, seem to be multidimensional
rather than unidimensional variables, and their multidimensional nature needed
clarification before the study could proceed. Obsessive‐compulsive personality
consisted of six distinct traits: obstinacy (koppigheid), orderliness, parsimony
(spaarzaam), perseverance (vasthoudend), rigidity (rigiditeit/stijfheid), and superego.
Workaholism was operationalized as having two behavioral components: tendencies
both to engage in non‐required work activities, and to intrude actively on the work of
others. This study predicted specifically that high job involvement coupled with high
scores on the obstinacy, orderliness, rigidity, and superego traits would lead to high
scores on tendencies to engage in non‐required work. These four predictions received
some support in data emerging from a sample of 278 employed persons, although
support was strongest for the obstinacy and superego traits. These results add to
understanding of the work attitude of job involvement given its associations with some
obsessive‐compulsive traits, suggest the relevance of obsessive‐compulsive
personality in non‐clinical settings, and add to understanding of the phenomenon of
workaholism as behavioral tendencies.
- The purpose of this paper is to explore the speculative links between job involvement,
obsessive‐compulsive personality traits, and workaholic behavioral tendencies.
Specifically, this paper builds on the hypothesis advanced by Naughton that
workaholism can be predicted by the interaction between job involvement and
obsessive‐compulsive personality traits. Of the three variables that feature
prominently in this study, only job involvement is well understood, clearly defined,
and readily assessed with standardized measures. Obsessive‐compulsive traits and
workaholism, however, seem to be far less understood, and lack standardized
measures.
- six traits were used in this study to represent the obsessive‐compulsive personality:
obstinacy, orderliness, parsimony, perseverance, rigidity, superego
- Obstinate individuals tend to be convinced of the correctness and superiority of their
own beliefs and behaviors, and to be stubborn and uncompromising about these
- orderliness suggests tendencies to be precise, methodical, well organized, and not
given to procrastination.
- rigidity is associated with tendencies toward behavioral consistency, to follow
routines, to be inflexible and set in one's ways, and to be skeptical of change in any
form.
- Persons with a strong superego use their conscience as a guide, are highly
conscientious and responsible, are suspicious of pleasure, and believe that they are
more ethical than others.
- perseverance suggests dogged persistence, hard work, and tenacity, and a tendency not
to give up easily. Highly persevering individuals seem to be able to work for long
stretches without getting tired or bored.
- Parsimony implies that individuals are frugal, stingy, and inclined to hoard money and
other possessions. Such persons are thrifty, keep careful track of their money, and are
inclined to save money. In addition, such persons enjoy collecting things, cherish their
possessions, and enjoy looking through their possessions
1
, - it is predicted that scores on the “non‐required work” dimensions of workaholic
behavioral tendencies will be significantly associated with the interaction between job
involvement and four specific obsessive‐compulsive trait scores. Persons who are
involved in their jobs and who score highly on four specific traits (obstinacy,
orderliness, rigidity, superego) will be more likely than low scorers on these traits to
engage in non‐required work activities.
- Non‐required work scores were indeed highest in the presence of high job
involvement and both high obstinacy and high superego, and the interactions between
job involvement and these obsessive‐compulsive traits were statistically significant in
predicting non‐required work scores. The interactions between job involvement and
both orderliness and rigidity were not statistically significant. However, correlations
between job involvement and non‐required work scores were considerably larger
among highly orderly and highly rigid persons than they were among their less orderly
and less rigid counterparts.
- this study explored the nature of the relationships between job involvement,
obsessive‐compulsive personality, and workaholism. This research has thus helped to
link two bodies of literature whose connections had heretofore been unexplored
(organizational and clinical). The possible overlap between the study of work attitudes
in organizational settings and the examination of personality disorders in clinical
settings may represent a fruitful departure point for gaining additional insights into the
phenomena considered in both areas of study. This study also extended our
understanding of possible causes and implications of workaholism as behavioral
tendencies. Such tendencies appear to consist of a private and non‐social dimension
(thinking of ways to perform work “better”), and a more visible dimension that has
direct impact on others (intruding on the work of others to insure that it is performed
“correctly”). This study focused on the first of these dimensions, and determined that
high job involvement coupled with high scores on specific obsessive‐compulsive
traits seems to lead to tendencies to engage in non‐required work (notwithstanding
the obvious limitations of cross‐sectional data). The measures developed by Mudrack
and Naughton (2001) seem consistent with conceptual definitions of workaholism, and
are associated with relevant organizational variables. These measures therefore seem
to be able to shed light on an important subject: workaholism.
Yovel: Who Sees Trees Before Forest? The Obsessive-Compulsive Style of Visual Attention
- It has been suggested that individuals with obsessive-compulsive personalities tend to
focus on small local details in their surroundings, whereas histrionic individuals are
characterized by more global information processing. Using the global-local
hierarchical-letters paradigm, we were able to provide support for the first but not the
second hypothesis. Measures related to obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
were associated with excessive visual attention to small details of the hierarchical
letters. Specifically, the obsessive-compulsive cognitive style was associated with
local interference, which reflects the effects of distraction by to-be-ignored small
details on identification of global information.
- The basic assumption that underlies the global-local paradigm is that any visual scene
can be thought of as composed of a hierarchical network of subscenes that are
interrelated by spatial relationships. The globality of any of these subscenes depends
on the place it occupies in this hierarchy. Thus, properties at higher levels are more
global than those at lower levels, which are in turn more local.
- In the focused-attention global-local task used in the current study, participants were
asked to focus their attention on one of the levels (global or local) of each of a series
of hierarchical letters and to decide on each trial which of the two target letters (H or
2
Mudrack Job involvement, obsessive‐compulsive personality traits, and workaholic
behavioral tendencies
- Naughton proposed that workaholism may result from a combination of high job
involvement with an obsessive‐compulsive personality. This study was designed
specifically to elaborate upon and to explore this proposal. Both obsessive‐
compulsive personality and workaholism, however, seem to be multidimensional
rather than unidimensional variables, and their multidimensional nature needed
clarification before the study could proceed. Obsessive‐compulsive personality
consisted of six distinct traits: obstinacy (koppigheid), orderliness, parsimony
(spaarzaam), perseverance (vasthoudend), rigidity (rigiditeit/stijfheid), and superego.
Workaholism was operationalized as having two behavioral components: tendencies
both to engage in non‐required work activities, and to intrude actively on the work of
others. This study predicted specifically that high job involvement coupled with high
scores on the obstinacy, orderliness, rigidity, and superego traits would lead to high
scores on tendencies to engage in non‐required work. These four predictions received
some support in data emerging from a sample of 278 employed persons, although
support was strongest for the obstinacy and superego traits. These results add to
understanding of the work attitude of job involvement given its associations with some
obsessive‐compulsive traits, suggest the relevance of obsessive‐compulsive
personality in non‐clinical settings, and add to understanding of the phenomenon of
workaholism as behavioral tendencies.
- The purpose of this paper is to explore the speculative links between job involvement,
obsessive‐compulsive personality traits, and workaholic behavioral tendencies.
Specifically, this paper builds on the hypothesis advanced by Naughton that
workaholism can be predicted by the interaction between job involvement and
obsessive‐compulsive personality traits. Of the three variables that feature
prominently in this study, only job involvement is well understood, clearly defined,
and readily assessed with standardized measures. Obsessive‐compulsive traits and
workaholism, however, seem to be far less understood, and lack standardized
measures.
- six traits were used in this study to represent the obsessive‐compulsive personality:
obstinacy, orderliness, parsimony, perseverance, rigidity, superego
- Obstinate individuals tend to be convinced of the correctness and superiority of their
own beliefs and behaviors, and to be stubborn and uncompromising about these
- orderliness suggests tendencies to be precise, methodical, well organized, and not
given to procrastination.
- rigidity is associated with tendencies toward behavioral consistency, to follow
routines, to be inflexible and set in one's ways, and to be skeptical of change in any
form.
- Persons with a strong superego use their conscience as a guide, are highly
conscientious and responsible, are suspicious of pleasure, and believe that they are
more ethical than others.
- perseverance suggests dogged persistence, hard work, and tenacity, and a tendency not
to give up easily. Highly persevering individuals seem to be able to work for long
stretches without getting tired or bored.
- Parsimony implies that individuals are frugal, stingy, and inclined to hoard money and
other possessions. Such persons are thrifty, keep careful track of their money, and are
inclined to save money. In addition, such persons enjoy collecting things, cherish their
possessions, and enjoy looking through their possessions
1
, - it is predicted that scores on the “non‐required work” dimensions of workaholic
behavioral tendencies will be significantly associated with the interaction between job
involvement and four specific obsessive‐compulsive trait scores. Persons who are
involved in their jobs and who score highly on four specific traits (obstinacy,
orderliness, rigidity, superego) will be more likely than low scorers on these traits to
engage in non‐required work activities.
- Non‐required work scores were indeed highest in the presence of high job
involvement and both high obstinacy and high superego, and the interactions between
job involvement and these obsessive‐compulsive traits were statistically significant in
predicting non‐required work scores. The interactions between job involvement and
both orderliness and rigidity were not statistically significant. However, correlations
between job involvement and non‐required work scores were considerably larger
among highly orderly and highly rigid persons than they were among their less orderly
and less rigid counterparts.
- this study explored the nature of the relationships between job involvement,
obsessive‐compulsive personality, and workaholism. This research has thus helped to
link two bodies of literature whose connections had heretofore been unexplored
(organizational and clinical). The possible overlap between the study of work attitudes
in organizational settings and the examination of personality disorders in clinical
settings may represent a fruitful departure point for gaining additional insights into the
phenomena considered in both areas of study. This study also extended our
understanding of possible causes and implications of workaholism as behavioral
tendencies. Such tendencies appear to consist of a private and non‐social dimension
(thinking of ways to perform work “better”), and a more visible dimension that has
direct impact on others (intruding on the work of others to insure that it is performed
“correctly”). This study focused on the first of these dimensions, and determined that
high job involvement coupled with high scores on specific obsessive‐compulsive
traits seems to lead to tendencies to engage in non‐required work (notwithstanding
the obvious limitations of cross‐sectional data). The measures developed by Mudrack
and Naughton (2001) seem consistent with conceptual definitions of workaholism, and
are associated with relevant organizational variables. These measures therefore seem
to be able to shed light on an important subject: workaholism.
Yovel: Who Sees Trees Before Forest? The Obsessive-Compulsive Style of Visual Attention
- It has been suggested that individuals with obsessive-compulsive personalities tend to
focus on small local details in their surroundings, whereas histrionic individuals are
characterized by more global information processing. Using the global-local
hierarchical-letters paradigm, we were able to provide support for the first but not the
second hypothesis. Measures related to obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
were associated with excessive visual attention to small details of the hierarchical
letters. Specifically, the obsessive-compulsive cognitive style was associated with
local interference, which reflects the effects of distraction by to-be-ignored small
details on identification of global information.
- The basic assumption that underlies the global-local paradigm is that any visual scene
can be thought of as composed of a hierarchical network of subscenes that are
interrelated by spatial relationships. The globality of any of these subscenes depends
on the place it occupies in this hierarchy. Thus, properties at higher levels are more
global than those at lower levels, which are in turn more local.
- In the focused-attention global-local task used in the current study, participants were
asked to focus their attention on one of the levels (global or local) of each of a series
of hierarchical letters and to decide on each trial which of the two target letters (H or
2
