Temperaments arc often regarded as biologically based psychological tendencies with intrinsic paths of development. It is argued that this definition applies to the personality traits of the five-factor model. Evidence for the endogenous nature of traits is summarized from studies of behavior genetics, parentchild relations, personality structure, animal personality, and the longitudinal stability of individual differences. New evidence for intrinsic maturation is offered from analyses of NEO Five-Factor Inventory scores for men and women age 14 and over in German, British, Spanish, Czech, and Turkish samples (N = 5,085). These data support strong conceptual links to child temperament despite modest empirical associations. The intrinsic maturation of personality is complemented by the culturally conditioned development of characteristic adaptations that express personality; interventions in human development are best addressed to these.There are both empirical and conceptual links between child temperaments and adult personality traits. The empirical associations are modest, but the conceptual relations are profound. Explaining how this is so requires a complicated chain of arguments and evidence. For example, we report cross-sectional data showing (among other things) that adolescents are lower in Conscientiousness than are middle-aged and older adults in Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Turkey. The relevance of such data may not be immediately obvious, but in fact they speak to the transcontextual nature of personality traits and thus to the fundamental issue of nature versus nurture.

Most people hold beliefs about personality characteristics typical of members of their own and others' cultures. These perceptions of national character may be generalizations from personal experience, stereotypes with a “kernel of truth,” or inaccurate stereotypes. We obtained national character ratings of 3989 people from 49 cultures and compared them with the average personality scores of culture members assessed by observer ratings and self-reports. National character ratings were reliable but did not converge with assessed traits. Perceptions of national character thus appear to be unfounded stereotypes that may serve the function of maintaining a national identity.

Three major personality prototypes were derived on the basis of a Big Five instrument (NEO-PI) by means of replicated cluster analysis in two Spanish samples (a sample from the general population and a student sample). The replicability of the three prototypes within and their consistency between the two samples were evaluated. In addition, subtypes were analysed in a similar way. Finally, the relation between prototype assignment and level of education was examined in the sample from the general population. Within-study replicability was satisfactory only for the student sample. Comparison with the results for a similar instrument (NEO-PI-R) applied to a German sample showed satisfactory consistency only for the student sample. Discussion centres on the strong sample dependency of the results.

886This study examined a gratitude intervention repeating Emmons and McCullough study (2003) in a Spanish sample. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (gratitude, hassles and any event) and kept daily records during 2 weeks of gratitude, affect, quality of relationships, physical and subjective well-being. We added design features to assess the intervention long-term impact (follow-up measures), and to improve the design control (pre-treatment measures). Following the cited authors' analysis, i.e., comparing groups only in the post-test, we replicated their results, finding differences in positive affect and gratitude between the gratitude condition and the hassles condition. However, when including both the pre and the follow-up measures in the analysis, results were replicated only partially, as the difference in gratitude disappeared. Moreover, the difference in positive affect between groups in the post-test seemed to be influenced mainly by a decrease in positive affect in the hassles group. Post-test differences between groups in positive affect disappeared in the follow-up. Gratitude interventions may have an effect on well-being, but we consider other methods to promote gratitude besides gratitude journals should be tested.Este estudio examina una intervención en gratitud repitiendo el estudio de Emmons y McCullough (2003) en una muestra española. Los participantes fueron asignados de manera aleatoria a una de tres posibles condiciones (gratitud, escollos y cualquier suceso) y evaluaron diariamente durante dos semanas la gratitud, el afecto, la calidad de las relaciones, el bienestar físico y el bienestar subjetivo. Añadimos nuevos aspectos al diseño para evaluar el impacto de la intervención a largo plazo (medidas de seguimiento) y para mejorar el control (medidas pretest). Al hacer los mismos análisis que los autores previamente citados, es decir, al comparar los grupos sólo en el postest, replicamos sus resultados, ya que encontramos diferencias en afecto positivo y en gratitud entre el grupo de gratitud y el grupo de los escollos. Sin embargo, cuando incluimos las medidas pretest y las de seguimiento en el análisis, replicamos los resultados sólo de manera parcial, ya que la diferencia en gratitud desapareció. Además, la diferencia en afecto positivo entre los grupos en el postest parecía estar influida principalmente por un descenso en afecto positivo en el grupo de escollos. Las diferencias entre los grupos en afecto positivo en el postest desaparecieron en el seguimiento. Las intervenciones basadas en la gratitud pueden tener un efecto sobre el bienestar, pero consideramos que se deberían investigar otros métodos aparte de los diarios de gratitud.Palabras clave: gratitud, emociones positivas, bienestar subjetivo, intervenciones positivas, psicología positiva.

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