Latent Profiles of Personality and Decision Making Regulation Styles

Decision making (DM) generally assumes that the person is performing a choice between a multitude of alternatives under uncertainty and possible risk. According to the concept of dynamic regulative systems (Kornilova, 2016), preferred or most relied on DM strategies are linked in an integrative way with a variety of personality traits that can be at the top of the hierarchy. These include risk readiness, rationality, and Dark Triad traits as reflective of a generally unstable personality core. Decision-Making Tendency Inventory (DMTI; Misuraca et al., 2015) defined DM characteristics via maximization, satisficing and minimization. However, the relationships between DM characteristics captured by DMTI and the listed personality traits have not been explored before. The goal of the current study was establishing latent personality profiles in a person-centered approach that integrates DM “tendencies” and the listed personality traits by identifying relatively homogenous subgroups of individuals with similar profiles. Methods. 625 individuals in the age from 17 to 39 years (М = 20,17, SD = 3,02; 84% females) participated in the study. We used DMTI, Dirty Dozen, and LFR questionnaires to measure DM tendencies, Dark Triad traits, and risk readiness/rationality, respectively. Latent profile analysis was performed in VarSelLCM for R. Results. The results indicated the presence of three latent profiles in the data after adjustments for age and sex. Risk readiness and Dark Triad traits were positively related with maximizing and satisficing, forming one latent class. In another class lower rationality, on the other hand, was linked with minimization. In the third class higher rationality accompanied lower Dark Triad traits. Conclusions. The results provide evidence in favor of the general hypothesis that latent profiles of personality traits are associated with distinct preferences for specific DM tendencies. Higher levels of maximizing, satisficing, and minimizing were not related to subclinical psychopathy or Machiavellianism. Higher narcissism and risk readiness, generally unrelated, are nonetheless characteristic of the latent class that prefers maximizing and satisficing. Preference for minimization of effort during DM was associated with lower rationality. Latent class or latent profile analysis is a powerful technique that sheds new light on the relationships between personality and DM, beyond the contributions of variable-centered approaches such as correlational analysis.

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