Journal of personality and social psychology最新文献

In psychology, mobile sensing is increasingly used to record behavior in real-life situations. However, little is known about the selectivity of samples participating in these new data collection approaches and thus about potential risks to the validity of research findings. We therefore investigated two potential sources of selection bias in smartphone-based data collections. Specifically, we examined whether smartphone system ownership (Android vs. iOS, i.e., platform-related differences) and willingness to participate (nonparticipation vs. intention to participate vs. actual participation, i.e., nonresponse error) are associated with sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and personality characteristics. Using two large-scale panel studies, we found replicable patterns for platform-related differences (N = 1,218 and N = 5,123) and nonresponse error (N = 1,673 and N = 2,337): The ownership of Android devices (in comparison to iOS devices) was associated with lower levels of education, income, and extraversion. The willingness to participate in mobile sensing studies was found to be higher among younger age groups, males, those with higher levels of openness to experience, and those with lower levels of neuroticism. Furthermore, different person characteristics played different roles at different stages of the recruitment process. Taken together, the results show that some selection bias in mobile sensing studies exists and that the effects were small to moderate in magnitude as well as comparable to selection bias for other, more common data collection approaches, such as online surveys. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

A substantial part of people's social lives unfolds within groups. However, there is a notable research gap concerning if and how the personality characteristics that people bring to group interactions combine to predict person and group outcomes. In this study, we used the group actor-partner interdependence model (Kenny & Garcia, 2012) as a framework to integrate prior approaches and understand how the composition of two socially relevant personality traits-agency and communion-affects people and groups. We analyzed data from 432 participants (M_age = 26.61, 51% female) who formed 108 four-person groups and engaged in four different group tasks. Our findings yield three key insights: (a) At the person level, people's own trait levels were the main drivers of their behaviors, experiences, and performance. (b) At the group level, personality composition affected different outcomes than at the person level, with agency playing an overall more important role for group behaviors and experiences. (c) Notable composition effects at both levels emerged for conflict behavior: People who were similar to their group in terms of agency were more engaged in conflicts, and groups whose members had similar agency levels were more likely to experience conflicts as a whole. We contextualize our findings within a theoretical framework to better understand when and how personality composition in social interactions is important, and we review methodologies to capture its multifaceted components. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Age, cohort, and period effects are three ways to explain personality trait change over time. While past research mostly focused on age differences, showing relatively consistent patterns, evidence for cohort differences is more mixed, and period differences have hardly been examined. However, age, period, and cohort are exactly collinear (age = period-cohort), such that estimates are likely confounded and always hinge on so-called identification assumptions. Identification assumptions shape substantive conclusions, and inappropriate or inconsistent strategies may explain past discrepant findings. To address this age-period-cohort identification problem in personality change, we leveraged four large-scale (N_total > 2 Mio) repeated cross-sectional data sets from 2003 to 2022. Our aims were to demonstrate how identification assumptions common in personality studies impact estimates for age, cohort, and period and to use weaker, substantively informed assumptions to narrow down the range of plausible solutions. Results showed that common identification strategies of constraining one temporal effect to zero can dramatically affect conclusions-less for age-graded, but more for generational differences. Using weaker assumptions, our results indicated that all three factors-age, cohort, and period-likely contribute to trait differences over time. Assuming age-graded change in a certain direction revealed cohort-related decreases in extraversion, openness, and neuroticism and increases in agreeableness, alongside period-related increases in extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness. This suggests that several previously assumed cohort differences may actually be driven by period effects, overlooked due to strong identification assumptions. Overall, highlighting the importance of appropriate identification strategies, our results offer unique insights into factors driving trait differences over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

We form a first impression every time we meet someone unfamiliar to us. When this happens, we often have access to information about this person's appearance, voice and the first thing we learn about them is usually their name. Despite this, much of what we know about social evaluation processes has been almost exclusively based on facial information. Here, approximately 45,000 spontaneous first impression descriptors were sampled to identify the most common judgments we make when presented with information about someone's face, voice, and name at the same time as well as when presented with information about their voice or name only. Ratings of these most common traits were then collected, and exploratory factor analysis was used to establish the underlying structure of multimodal, voice-, and name-based first impressions. Consistent with facial impression models, the two underlying dimensions of social evaluation, approachability and competence, emerged consistently regardless of the degree or type of identity information available, further adding to the existing evidence for their universal nature. Additional independent dimensions capturing confidence and pretentiousness were also found for multimodal impressions. These more social aspects of first impressions highlight further cultural learning routes to impression formation in addition to the evolutionary ones that have been the sole focus of existing work based on unimodal impressions from faces. Such findings draw attention to the need to further understand the mechanisms behind first impressions from different identity cues and, more importantly, how these cues are integrated together to form person first impressions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Existing research examining the creation of positive and prosocial interpersonal relations has established moral elevation as an approach-oriented emotion to be associated with a range of positive and prosocial outcomes. In this article and with the goal to identify emotional mechanism for improving intergroup relations in contexts of conflict, we examined the effects of moral elevation on enhancing intergroup relations. Across four experimental studies (Ns = 1,131), conducted in four understudied countries directly affected or threatened by intergroup conflict, we demonstrated that induced moral elevation elicits important cognitive and emotional shifts toward adversarial groups, resulting in improved intergroup relations. Specifically, we show that inducing moral elevation through stories of outgroup moral exemplars (individuals who have risked their life to save the life of an outgroup member) enhanced perceptions of intergroup moral similarity and positive emotions toward the outgroup, consequently fostering greater approach and prosocial intergroup behaviors. This pattern proved consistent across four distinct contexts: nonconflict (Sweden), ongoing conflict (Pakistan), protracted conflict (Serbia), and postconflict (Bosnia and Herzegovina). This article advances existing theory on positive emotions by identifying a novel emotional mechanism conducive to improving intergroup relations in contexts of conflict and extends the impact of learning about exemplary moral behaviors performed by relevant others. Ultimately, this article underscores the relevance of moral elevation in mitigating intergroup conflicts using intergroup interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Studies have shown that anomie, that is, the perception that a society's leadership and social fabric are breaking down, is a central predictor of individuals' support for authoritarianism. However, causal evidence for this relationship is missing. Moreover, previous studies are ambiguous regarding the mediating mechanism and lack empirical tests for the same. Against this background, we derive a set of integrative hypotheses: First, we argue that perceptions of anomie lead to a perceived lack of political control. The repeated failure to exert control in the political sphere leads to feelings of uncertainty about the functioning and meaning of the political world. This uncertainty heightens people's susceptibility to authoritarianism because, we argue, the latter promises a sense of order, meaning, and the guidance of a "strong leader." We support our hypothesis in a large-scale field study with a representative sample of the German population (N = 1,504) while statistically ruling out alternative explanations. Adding internal validity, we provide causal evidence for each path in our sequential mediation hypothesis in three preregistered, controlled experiments (conducted in the United States, total N = 846). Our insights may support policymakers in addressing the negative political consequences of anomie. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).