Hershberger S L, Plomin R, Pedersen N L
Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1995 Oct;69(4):673-85. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.69.4.673.
Metatraits measure individual differences in construct relevancy, whereas traits measure individual differences in construct extremity. Twenty-four traits and metatraits were examined in this study using 157 pairs of identical twins reared together, 95 pairs of identical twins reared apart, 211 pairs of fraternal twins reared together, and 228 pairs of fraternal twins reared apart obtained from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (see N. L. Pedersen et al., 1991). Reliability and stability analyses of the metatraits revealed generally lower reliability and stability across time compared to traits. Quantitative genetic analyses of the relationship between traits and metatraits indicated that approximately 69% of the metatrait's genetic variance is shared with the trait, with 31% of its genetic variance unique to the metatrait. These results suggest that metatraits provide a useful additional view of personality.
元特质衡量的是个体在构念相关性上的差异，而特质衡量的是个体在构念极端性上的差异。本研究使用了从瑞典老年收养/双胞胎研究中获取的157对一起抚养的同卵双胞胎、95对分开抚养的同卵双胞胎、211对一起抚养的异卵双胞胎以及228对分开抚养的异卵双胞胎，对24种特质和元特质进行了考察（见N. L. 佩德森等人，1991年）。元特质的信度和稳定性分析表明，与特质相比，其随时间推移的信度和稳定性普遍较低。对特质和元特质之间关系的定量遗传分析表明，元特质约69%的遗传方差与特质共享，其31%的遗传方差是元特质独有的。这些结果表明，元特质为个性提供了一个有用的补充视角。
