Journal of Research in Personality最新文献

Loneliness—the subjective experience of social isolation—is a common experience that can become an enduring feature of everyday life. How does feeling lonely relate to spending time alone? In this descriptive-exploratory study, we used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a naturalistic observation tool that samples sounds from participants’ daily lives, to assess time spent alone as an index of social isolation. We combined data from three samples (N = 426) to examine the association between subjective and objectively-assessed isolation, and whether the association varies as a function of gender, marital status, and age. The constructs are weakly but significantly correlated, and spending more than 75% of time alone was associated with much higher loneliness scores, especially among older adults.

Prior studies have documented a link between narcissism and both pornography use and feelings of addiction to pornography, yet most have used unidimensional measures of narcissism, which provide inadequate coverage of narcissistic traits. This work examined relationships between a three-factor model of narcissism and both self-reported pornography use and self-reported addiction to pornography. Across two samples of undergradautes, two national samples in the U.S., and one pre-registered national sample in the U.S. (Aggregate N across sample > 6,500), we found consistent positive associations only between narcissistic antagonism and pornography use and perceived addiction. These findings suggest that the more entitled, exploitative, and caustic aspects of narcissism are likely driving links between narcissism more broadly and pornography related variables.

People’s attachment orientation contributes to their emotional experiences. However, the associations between attachment orientation and emotion dynamic features have remained unclear. In this preregistered study, we tested the associations of attachment orientation with baseline level, variability, inertia, and differentiation of emotions using two ecological momentary assessment adult samples (N = 122; N = 127). Attachment anxiety predicted a higher baseline level of negative emotions in both samples and a lower baseline level of positive emotions in one sample. Attachment avoidance predicted a lower baseline level of positive emotions in both samples. After covarying baseline level, no associations of attachment orientation were detected with variability, inertia, and differentiation. Our findings suggest that attachment orientation is associated with baseline level rather than other emotion dynamic features.

The relation between Need for Cognition and well-being receives increasing research interest. We report two studies linking Need for Cognition to well-being in a population representative sample of N = 200 participants and in two further subsamples comprising students (n = 256) and working adults (n = 198). Higher Need for Cognition was strongly associated with increased positive affect and lower burnout levels. Students with higher Need for Cognition were more satisfied with the content of their studies, working individuals reported increased job satisfaction. Our results support the notion of associations between Need for Cognition and well-being while it is necessary to distinguish between well-being facets and burnout dimensions. They indicate that Need for Cognition should be considered a resource for well-being.

We hypothesized that people’s personal belief in a just world (PBJW) is associated with decreased relationship-based dishonesty. We tested our hypothesis in 11 studies using community samples and different methodological approaches. One internal meta-analysis across all 11 studies (total N = 4970) yielded a negative but non-significant overall effect (Fisher’s z = −0.07), thus providing no support for our hypothesis. A more detailed look revealed that studies measuring estimated levels of partner’s dishonesty yielded significantly stronger negative associations to people’s PBJW compared to studies that measured dishonesty emanated by oneself. We discuss what the results mean for research on belief in a just world and derive new approaches for future research in this field.

Do people feel better about themselves on days when they are more satisfied with their relationship? This study addressed this question in a sample of 238 first-time parents who provided daily reports of their self-esteem and relationship quality 6 weeks before, 6 months after, and 18 months after the birth of their first child. Consistent with theory and between-person evidence, we found both mothers and fathers to have higher self-esteem on days when they were more satisfied with their relationship than on an average day. The link between daily relationship quality and self-esteem was robust across the transition to parenthood and generalized across people with different levels of dispositional self-esteem and ages.

Women tend to perform better in college than their admission test scores predict. The observed differential prediction of men's and women's academic performance based on academic tests is known as the female underprediction effect. Prior research demonstrates that gender differences in trait-level conscientiousness explain some of the observed female underprediction effect. The current study examined the effects of the facets of conscientiousness (i.e., self-efficacy, orderliness, dutifulness, achievement-striving, self-discipline, and cautiousness) in mediation analyses which were expected to partially explain the relationship between gender and academic performance after controlling for test scores. The results show that the relationship between gender and GPA is mediated by trait-level conscientiousness and, more specifically, that the effect is mediated by the facet of self-efficacy.

Recent studies further the development of trait-state models for vocational interests. Unlike personality, vocational interest states were found to vary mainly below respective trait levels. This preregistered experience-sampling study (N = 217, N_obs = 5,631) aimed to replicate and explain why the trait-state relation in vocational interests differs from personality. We tested competing assumptions about the conceptualization of interest states. Across two operationalizations using items that were (not) tailored to participants’ daily lives, interest states varied mainly below trait levels. This suggests that the distinct pattern is no measurement artifact, but that interest traits generally constrain the experience of states in daily life. Overall, the results refine the conceptualization of interest states and demonstrate that different psychological constructs meaningfully differ in their trait-state relations.

Emotion-triggered impulsivity is robustly tied to psychopathologies. We hypothesized that one form of emotion-triggered impulsivity, Feelings Trigger Action, would be correlated with speech disfluencies during high arousal. Participants with a range of internalizing and externalizing symptoms completed a stressful speech task in which they were videorecorded while discussing a controversial topic. Skin conductance was gathered to index arousal. Consistent with hypotheses, Feelings Trigger Action scores related to modestly higher levels of speech repairs when participants were experiencing relatively higher arousal (N = 198).  There was some evidence that a second form of emotion-triggered impulsivity also related to more speech errors during high arousal. Findings provide early evidence that speech disfluencies might be one manifestation of emotion-triggered impulsivity. Limitations and direction for future research are considered.