scholarly journals Broken Bodies, Broken Spirits: How Poor Health Contributes to A Cynical Worldview

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Stavrova ◽  
Daniel Ehlebracht
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Poor Health ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Longitudinal Mediation ◽  
Path Analyses ◽  
Cynical Hostility ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Bidirectional Associations ◽  
Perceived Constraints

Cynical hostility (or cynicism) is often considered as a major factor leading to bad health outcomes. The present research proposes that poor health might represent both a consequence and a source of cynicism. Using cross–lagged path analyses, we documented bidirectional associations between health and cynicism in a nationally representative sample of Germans (Study 1) and a large sample of the American elderly (Study 2): cynical individuals were more likely to develop health problems, and poor health promoted the development of a cynical worldview over time. These results were obtained using different indicators of health status, including both self–reported and interviewer–administered physical measures. Longitudinal mediation analyses showed perceived constraints to mediate the effect of poor health on cynicism. This effect remained robust even when adding an alternative mediator—depressive symptoms. Additional analyses showed that any particular health limitation was prospectively related to cynicism to the degree to which this limitation was associated with an increased sense of constraints in individuals’ life. © 2018 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Relationships among Personality, Situational Construal and Social Outcomes

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Morse ◽  
Kyle S. Sauerberger ◽  
Elysia Todd ◽  
David Funder
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Intermediate Step ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Observer Ratings ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Q Sort

The present study demonstrates a novel way of exploring the relationship between personality and social outcomes by examining an understudied intermediate step: situational construal. Construal is assessed in terms of the degree to which one's description of a situation agrees with others’ descriptions of the same situation (normativity) and the degree to which the description is positively valenced. Participants (N = 256) provided information about their personality and subsequently used the Riverside Situational Q–sort to describe their construal of three in–lab interactions with unacquainted others. A measure of positive behavioural social outcomes was constructed from observer ratings of the video–recorded interactions. Extraversion, agreeableness, openness and neuroticism (negatively) were related to positive behavioural social outcomes, as well as to normativity and positivity of construal. Additionally, normativity and positivity of construal were related to positive social outcomes. However, mediation analyses did not confirm that construal mediates the relation between personality and positive social outcomes. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Education as an Antidote to Cynicism

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Stavrova ◽  
Daniel Ehlebracht
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Personal Control ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Longitudinal Mediation ◽  
Education Effect ◽  
Psychological Mechanism ◽  
Perceived Constraints

Although cynical beliefs about human nature yield numerous adverse consequences for individuals’ life outcomes and well-being, very little is known about factors that counteract the development of cynical beliefs. Drawing from the literature on the “education effect” describing the importance of education in overcoming close-mindedness and negative views of others, we propose that education can represent an antidote to cynicism. The results of two large-scale longitudinal studies showed that education was associated with lower levels of cynicism over time spans of 4 and 9 years. Longitudinal mediation analyses underscored the role of individual differences in perceived constraints, a facet of personal control, as the psychological mechanism underlying the education effect: Higher education is associated with a reduced perception of constraints, which is in turn related to less endorsement of cynical beliefs.

Personality in Action: Assessing Personality to Identify an ‘Ideal’ Conscientious Response Type with Two Different Behavioural Tasks

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 808-825
Author(s):  
Gabriela Gniewosz ◽  
Tuulia M. Ortner ◽  
Thomas Scherndl
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Cognitive Styles ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Subjective Response ◽  
Response Type ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Typological Approach ◽  
Related Response

Performance on achievement tests is characterized by an interplay of different individual attributes such as personality traits, motivation or cognitive styles. However, the prediction of individuals’ performance from classical self–report personality measures obtained during large and comprehensive aptitude assessments is biased by, for example, subjective response tendencies. This study goes beyond by using behavioural data based on two different types of tasks, requiring different conscientious–related response behaviours. Moreover, a typological approach is proposed, which includes different behavioural indicators to obtain information on complex personality characteristics. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Does Cooperation in the Laboratory Reflect the Operation of A Broad Trait?

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H.B. McAuliffe ◽  
Daniel E. Forster ◽  
Eric J. Pedersen ◽  
Michael E. McCullough
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Dictator Game ◽  
Bifactor Model ◽  
Trust Game ◽  
General Factor ◽  
Valid Measure ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Economic Games ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Self Assessments

The Dictator Game, a face valid measure of altruism, and the Trust Game, a face valid measure of trust and trustworthiness, are among the most widely used behavioural measures in human cooperation research. Researchers have observed considerable covariation among these and other economic games, leading them to assert that there exists a general human propensity to cooperate that varies in strength across individuals and manifests itself across a variety of social settings. To formalize this hypothesis, we created an S–1 bifactor model using 276 participants’ Dictator Game and Trust Game decisions. The general factor had significant, moderate associations with self–reported and peer–reported altruism, trust, and trustworthiness. Thus, the positive covariation among economic games is not reducible to the games’ shared situational features. Two hundred participants returned for a second session. The general factor based on Dictator Game and Trust Game decisions from this session did not significantly predict self–reported and peer–reported cooperation, suggesting that experience with economic games causes them to measure different traits from those that are reflected in self–assessments and peer–assessments of cooperativeness. © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Dissociative Experiences Mediate the Relationship Between Traumatic Life Events and Types of Skin Picking. Findings From Non-clinical Sample

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Kłosowska ◽  
Rachela Antosz-Rekucka ◽  
Alina Kałużna-Wielobób ◽  
Katarzyna Prochwicz
Keyword(s):  
Life Events ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Skin Picking ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Dissociative Experiences ◽  
Traumatic Life Events ◽  
Path Analyses ◽  
Excoriation Disorder ◽  
The Relationship

Aim: Skin-picking (excoriation) disorder is considered as a form of maladaptive coping methods used by individuals who have difficulties in applying more adaptive strategies. Skin-picking development has been suggested to be preceded by traumatic life events. Dissociative symptoms have been reported as experienced by skin-picking sufferers during picking episodes. The purpose of the study was to examine whether the link between trauma and automatic type of skin-picking is mediated by the frequency of dissociative experiences, and whether the COVID-19 pandemic conditions have changed this relationship in any way.Methods: The study sample consisted of 594 adults (76% women) aged from 18 to 60. Traumatic life events, dissociative experiences, and types of skin-picking (focused vs. automatic) were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Mediation analyses and multigroup path analyses were carried out.Results: Dissociative experiences partially mediated the link between traumatic events and both types of skin-picking. The model was robust considering the conditions in which survey was filled out (pre-pandemic vs. pandemic).Conclusions: Traumatic life events and dissociative experiences are associated with both automatic and focused skin-picking regardless of pandemic conditions. Further studies are needed to understand mechanisms underlying the relationship between dissociation and skin-picking styles.

Episode 3: Personality Structure and Change (Transcript)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emorie D Beck
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Personality Structure ◽  
Personality Psychology

This is a show on the science of how people are different from one another, where these differences come from, how they develop, and why they matter. The podcast's hosts are Lisanne de Moor, René Mõttus, and Rebekka Weidmann, three personality researchers. It is a collaboration of the European Journal of Personality and the European Association of Personality Psychology (EAPP), and sponsored by EAPP. www.personalitypsychologypodcast.com. In this episode, we hear a presentation by Emorie Beck on her research on nomothetic and idiographic approaches to personality structure and change, couched in a historical perspective.

Objections to the HEXACO Model of Personality Structure—and why those Objections Fail

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Ashton ◽  
Kibeom Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Association ◽  
Personality Structure ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Personality Research ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Dimensional Models ◽  
Hexaco Model

The six–dimensional HEXACO model of personality structure and its associated inventory have increasingly been used in personality research. But in spite of the evidence supporting this structure and demonstrating its advantages over five–dimensional models, some researchers continue to use and promote the latter. Although there has been little overt, organized argument against the adoption of the HEXACO model, we do hear sporadic offerings of reasons for retaining the five–dimensional systems, usually in informal conversations, in manuscript reviews, on social media platforms, and occasionally in published works. In this target article, we list all of the objections to the HEXACO model that we have heard of, and we then explain why each objection fails. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Searching for Prosociality in Qualitative Data: Comparing Manual, Closed–Vocabulary, and Open–Vocabulary Methods

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 903-916
Author(s):  
William H.B. McAuliffe ◽  
Hannah Moshontz ◽  
Thomas G. McCauley ◽  
Michael E. McCullough
Keyword(s):  
Support Vector Machine ◽  
European Association ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Support Vector Machine Classifier ◽  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Training Sample ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Personal Strivings

Although most people present themselves as possessing prosocial traits, people differ in the extent to which they actually act prosocially in everyday life. Qualitative data that were not ostensibly collected to measure prosociality might contain information about prosocial dispositions that is not distorted by self–presentation concerns. This paper seeks to characterise charitable donors from qualitative data. We compared a manual approach of extracting predictors from participants’ self–described personal strivings to two automated approaches: A summation of words predefined as prosocial and a support vector machine classifier. Although variables extracted by the support vector machine predicted donation behaviour well in the training sample ( N = 984), virtually, no variables from any method significantly predicted donations in a holdout sample ( N = 496). Raters’ attempts to predict donations to charity based on reading participants’ personal strivings were also unsuccessful. However, raters’ predictions were associated with past charitable involvement. In sum, predictors derived from personal strivings did not robustly explain variation in charitable behaviour, but personal strivings may nevertheless contain some information about trait prosociality. The sparseness of personal strivings data, rather than the irrelevance of open–ended text or individual differences in goal pursuit, likely explains their limited value in predicting prosocial behaviour. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

On Post–Apocalyptic and Doomsday Prepping Beliefs: A New Measure, Its Correlates, and the Motivation to Prep

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam K. Fetterman ◽  
Bastiaan T. Rutjens ◽  
Florian Landkammer ◽  
Benjamin M. Wilkowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Dominance ◽  
European Association ◽  
Social Dominance Orientation ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Projective Test ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
Societal Relevance ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Popular Television ◽  
Do So

Post–apocalyptic scenarios provide the basis for popular television shows, video games, and books. These scenarios may be popular because people have their own beliefs and visions about the apocalypse and the need to prepare. The prevalence of such beliefs might also hold societal relevance and serve as a type of projective test of personality. However, there are no quantitative accounts of post–apocalyptic or prepping beliefs. As such, we conducted seven studies ( Ntotal = 1034) to do so. In Studies 1 and 2, we developed a post–apocalyptic and prepping beliefs scale, explored its correlates, and confirmed its structure and psychometric properties. In Study 3, we attempted to activate a ‘prepper’ mindset and further explore the correlates of the new scale. In Studies 4 and 5, we investigated covariations in daily feelings, thoughts, and events, and prepping beliefs. In Studies 6a and 6b, we compared scores from ‘real’ preppers and to a non–prepping group. Overall, we found that post–apocalyptic concerns and prepping beliefs are predictive of low agreeableness and humility, paranoia, cynicism, conspiracy mentality, conservatism, and social dominance orientation. We also found that increased belief in the need to prep is associated with God–belief, negative daily experiences, and global political events. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology

European Association of Personality Psychology

2020 ◽  
pp. 1427-1428
Author(s):  
Jaap J. A. Denissen ◽  
John F. Rauthmann ◽  
Mitja D. Back
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Personality Psychology
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