MOANE, GERALDINE THERESE; PHD
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, 1985
PSYCHOLOGY, PERSONALITY (0625); PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL (0451)
Network analysis presents itself as a paradigm which can address the interface
of the individual and the
social system. While explicitly acknowledging the importance of individual agency,
however, it has
produced little theory or research designed to address the question of how characteristics
of individuals
are related to the form that social networks take. The personality research
paradigm provides well
developed perspectives and methods which are used to address this question.
Measures of the
structure, composition and relational content of social networks were obtained
from a sample of college
educated midlife women, along with the following measures of personality: the
CPI, the ACL, the MBTI,
and the Washington Sentence Completion Test. These data were obtained as part
of a longitudinal
study which collected a variety of data concerning family and social status,
life history and so forth.
Analysis of the relationship between social network measures and personality
and social measures
indicated that a variety of personality and social measures were related to
social networks measures in
specific and coherent ways. Personality measures were the most important predictors
of all of the
network measures except for the size of the network and the frequency and duration
of the relationships
with network members. Personality Inventory scales measuring empathy, social
poise, extraversion,
intuition, an orientation toward change and variety, and well-being and maturity
correlated mainly with
density and with measures of network composition. Personality inventory scales
measuring nurturance,
affiliation, dependency and anxiety were mainly related to measures of the kinds
of relationships that
obtained between ego and alters. In general, social variables were more likely
to correlate with network
structure and composition, with the exception of socio-economic status, which
correlated mainly with
measures of the relationships between network members. Discussion of the findings
highlighted the
psychological dimensions and functions that were found to underlie aspects of
egocentric social
networks. Further explorations of the relationship between social networks and
personality drew on
symbolic interactionism, psychoanalysis, interactional approaches to personality,
and the developmental
perspective.
Social
Systems Simulation Group
P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA 92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX (619) 660-1603 |