Journal of Research in Personality最新文献

Sense of purpose refers to the extent to which one feels that they have personally meaningful goals and directions guiding them through life. Though this construct predicts a host of benefits, little is known regarding the extent to which sense of purpose fluctuates within an individual and the affective changes tied to those fluctuations. The current study uses daily diary data to addresses this gap by exploring (1) how much sense of purpose and different components of purpose fluctuate from one day to the next, (2) the extent to which these fluctuations correlate with positive and negative affect, and (3) whether dispositional sense of purpose and age correlate with greater variability. Participants (N = 354) reported on their sense of purpose and positive and negative affect every day for 10 days. Results suggest that approximately 45–61 % of the variability in sense of purpose scores occurs between-person depending on how it is assessed. Furthermore, the within-person variability in sense of purpose is more strongly correlated with changes in positive affect relative to negative affect. Finally, higher levels of dispositional sense of purpose and age do not appear to be associated with how much variability an individual experiences in their purposefulness from one day to next. The discussion focuses on what these findings mean for the trait-like nature of sense of purpose, short-term sense of purpose measurement, lifespan development, and intervention efforts.

Research demonstrates that visions elicit positive affective reactions, which can mobilize and motivate behavior. However, the factors that determine their effectiveness remain largely unknown. We examine the role of self-concordance in shaping the extent to which visions elicit positive affect and promote vision-related goal pursuit. We develop and test a moderated mediation model, where self-concordance moderates the path from visions through positive affect to both goal commitment and goal progress. In a first cross-sectional experiment (N = 358), we found that an evoked vision (compared to merely listing a “superordinate goal”) produced more positive affect, especially when self-concordance was high (vs. low). A second time-lagged experiment with a one-month interval (N = 288) revealed that with high (vs. low) self-concordance, visions led to increased positive affect and commitment to vision-derived goals. A third time-lagged experiment (N = 254) confirmed the pattern with a more diverse sample, showing that it extends to goal progress as well. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and suggest directions for future research.

Internet Trolling refers to a behavior pattern in which individuals deliberately disrupt normal network communication, provoking other network users’ negative emotional reactions. Most previous researches focused on the correlation between sadism and Internet Trolling, but did not explore the impact of environmental factors on the two. Thus, Study 1 explored the causal relationships among sadism, Internet anonymity and Internet Trolling. And based on this, the intrinsic motivation of sadistic Internet Trolling was further identified. Study 2 explored the role of hurting others’ pleasure in the relationship between sadism and Internet Trolling through three sub-studies (2a, 2b, and 2c). The results suggest that high sadism takes Internet Trolling in anonymous scenarios, in order to feel more pleasure from the negative emotional reactions of other network users.

Character strengths lack a consensual definition, creating ambiguity in psychological research. This exploratory study tests whether previously discussed ideas about character strengths’ shared qualities (e.g., fulfilling, morally valued, traitlike) distinguish them from related concepts, such as the Big Five. Ten laypersons rated 12 of these “criteria” across 80 character strengths adjectives and 170 that pertained to the Big Five, emotions, anatomy, and bodily states. Results indicate that one or two criteria suffice to define character strengths with about 74% accuracy. However, these criteria could not distinguish character strengths from the Big Five, suggesting they may belong to the same conceptual category. We recommend adopting one of five working definitions based on these findings when introducing character strengths in future research.

Sexual and gender minority participants (SGM) are underrepresented in quantitative psychology research overlooking a growing portion of the population. Previous research reports differences in personality between few categorical designations of gender and sexual orientation. The current study sought to expand the gender similarities hypothesis and characterize the feasibility of recruiting an SGM-diverse sample online. In preregistered analyses of 1,259 participants (73% identifying as SGM), we found that data quality was high, personality differences between groups were small overall (|d|_average = 0.16; |d|_range = 0–0.66), and there was substantial variability between facet-level group differences (|d| ± 0.59). We discuss implications for the attainability of diverse samples, group comparisons, and representativeness.

Idiographic personality networks are gaining popularity for modeling individual differences, but their validity requires stability, which seems contradicted by theory and empirics. This study employs conventional idiographic network analysis to evaluate inter- and intra-individual variation in youngsters with a mild intellectual disability (N = 26; M_age = 23) who completed 60 daily self-reports. Results show high between-person heterogeneity in network structures, even within subgroups with a similar personality profile. Repeatedly estimating idiographic networks in a sliding 30-day window revealed within-person network variability throughout the 60 days. Both theory and our study suggest non-stationarity, which invalidates aggregated network estimates. This is problematic because capturing individuals’ stable personality networks is required to subsequently assess individual differences. We discuss implications for modeling and theory building.

Emotion recognition ability (ERA) is typically conceptualized as an adaptive ability that contributes to better social functioning and well-being. However, there is a lack of studies examining the link between ERA and well-being. In the present two-week daily diary study (N = 437), this association was investigated in more detail. Although ERA was not significantly correlated with mean levels of well-being, higher ERA predicted lower affect variability and instability. There was also evidence for a U-shaped relationship between ERA and well-being. Further, maladaptive emotion regulation and neuroticism moderated the ERA-well-being link. These findings suggest that ERA should not be seen as universally adaptive for well-being.

This study investigates narcissism's role in state-level health outcomes across the U.S. While often seen as maladaptive, narcissism's adaptive aspects, like self-enhancement, might promote better health. Analyzing data from 4,230 participants in 38 states, we explore the link between dark triad traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and health outcomes. States with higher narcissism had lower obesity and depression rates, and a lower likelihood of heart failure and hypertension deaths. However, these states reported less sleep and higher demand for plastic surgeons. This study is the first to provide a nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between dark triad traits and health on the state level, with significant implications for public health policies and interventions.