P1: Oyk/FZO P2: FBQ/FZO QC: FBQ/FZO T1: FBQ LE134-08.tex LE134/Alexander Hamilton October 30, 2005 18:21 MODELS OF PERSONALITY AND AFFECT FOR EDUCATION: A REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS Gerald Matthews University of Cincinnati Moshe Zeidner University of Haifa Richard D. Roberts Center for New Constructs, Educational Testing Service Personality plays a pivotal role in students’ experience of school, playing out its role in the relationships individuals share with peers and teachers, influencing classroom be- havior, and contributing to academic achievement. Three educational applications of personality research may be distinguished (Braden, 1995). The first is studying the im- pact of normal variation in personality on outcomes such as motivation, social orientation, and learning. The second application is the study of abnormality and exceptionality. Educators need diagnostic tools for identifying individu- als requiring special treatment because of dysfunctional personality, and also for recognition of the unusually gifted. The third application is facilitating educators’ management of personality variation. Examples include implementing treatment programs for disturbed chil- dren, tailoring instruction methods to the individual, and training social-emotional skills (Greenberg et al., 2003). These applications draw upon many different ap- proaches to the study and implementation of personality models in the classroom. In this chapter, we focus primar- ily on the dimensional approach to personality, which de- scribes multiple continuous traits, as opposed to typolog- ical descriptive schemes or idiographic case studies. The latter approaches are, of course, essential in understand- ing the individual, especially in the clinical context; to do them justice though would seemingly require an entire volume. Thus, this review will be limited to three types of psychological construct that play a pivotal role in the educational setting: (a) dispositional constructs, includ- ing personality traits and related stable personal qualities, (b) mediating processes that are influenced by traits and transmit their behavioral and experiential effects (e.g., coping with stress), and (c) educational outcomes such as promoting well-being, addressing problem behaviors, and improving academic achievement. The remainder of this introduction is structured as fol- lows. First, we review the key dispositional constructs for educational psychology. Second, we highlight the main mediating processes and outcomes to which personality traits relate and overview the applied relevance of per- sonality assessment. Third, given that the chapter focuses also on affect, we review relations between personality and emotion. Our intention is to establish some of our assumptions and frames of reference from the outset and to provide a compelling rationale for the particular focus that we have adopted throughout this chapter. 163