Your personality on a good day: How trait and state personality predict daily well-being

The dynamic mediation model (Wilt, Noftle, Fleeson, & Spain, 2012) explains the associations between personality traits and happiness through links between personality states and daily well-being. To test this model, and the mediators of these relations, we examined if between- and within-person variation in personality was associated with daily well-being for undergraduates (N = 133) and US adults (N = 117). The model explained the trait neuroticism and daily well-being association. Also, after controlling for traits, people were happier on days in which they were extraverted, agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable, and open to experience. Finally, these associations were partially mediated by the satisfaction of daily psychological needs. We discuss how the operationalization of state extraversion might impact its relation with daily well-being.     

A daily diary study of coping in the context of the job demands-control-support model

We examined one of the processes thought to underpin Karasek and Theorell’s job demands-control-support model (1990). This is that control and support accentuate better well-being by fostering problem-focused coping with work demands. We also examined whether other forms of coping implemented through control and support are related to indicators of well-being. In a daily diary study of 29 workers in a public hospital, we found higher levels of subsequent goal attainment were associated with problem-focused coping implemented by executing control. Problem-focused coping implemented by eliciting support was associated with higher concurrent and subsequent levels of pleasant affect. We found other forms of coping were also associated with affect and goal attainment. The results have implications for elaboration of the DCS model.     

Authenticity attenuates the negative effects of interpersonal conflict on daily well-being

Prior research has established a consistent relationship between felt authenticity and greater psychological and physical well-being. Nevertheless, a number of important questions remain regarding the role of authenticity in shaping individuals’ responses to stressful events in daily life. Interpersonal conflict in particular, has been established as one of the strongest contributors to daily stress, and a number of prior studies suggest that the negative effects of interpersonal conflict may be moderated by personality factors. The present work used a diary design to examine the role of trait authenticity in buffering individuals from the negative effects of interpersonal conflict. More importantly, we show that the protective role of trait authenticity functions independently from the previously established effects of agreeableness and neuroticism.     

Self‐report measures,facial feedback,and personality differences (BEES) in cooperative vs. noncooperative situations: Contribution of the mimic system to the sense of empathy

The present study integrated three different measures of emotional empathic behavior in a social context: verbal self‐report measures (empathic response, emotional involvement, emotional significance, and valence), facial mimicry (activity of corrugator and zygomaticus muscles), and personal response to the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES). Participants were presented with different interpersonal scene types (cooperation, noncooperation, conflict, indifference). Firstly, self‐rating on empathy, emotional involvement, and valence varied as a function of interpersonal context. Secondly, corrugator activity increased in response to conflictual and noncooperative situations; zygomatic activity increased in response to cooperative situations. Third, high‐ and low‐BEES subjects showed different empathic behavior: High‐empathic subjects were more responsive to empathy‐related situations than low‐empathic subjects. The convergence and divergence of these multidimensional measures was discussed.     

Happy States of America: A state-level analysis of psychological, economic, and social well-being

Cross-national research indicates that well-being is comparatively high in wealthy nations where importance is placed on freedom, self-expression, and independence. The present research aimed to replicate and extend previous work by examining the geographic distribution and correlates of well-being within the US. Links between the Gallup Organization’s Well-being Index and state-level indicators of wealth, class structure, education, social diversity, and personality were examined. Results suggested that residents of states with high levels of well-being were wealthier, better educated, more tolerant, and emotionally stable compared to residents of states with comparatively low levels of well-being. Analyses indicated that connections between well-being and class structure, diversity, and personality remained after controlling income. Causes and consequences of regional differences in well-being are discussed.     

记者痛感共情能力初步研究

本研究考察了记者人群与非记者人群对疼痛共情能力的差异,探讨职业训练对人类共情能力的影响。30名记者和30名非记者为本研究被试,分别给予疼痛图片或无疼痛图片后,要求被试对其进行疼痛评定。结果发现两组被试对无疼痛图片的痛感指数没有显著差异,但记者组的痛感指数明显高于非记者组,且疼感指数与记者的从业时间呈现显著的正相关性。这些结果表明记者人群在痛感共情能力上显著升高。进一步调查研究发现相对于非记者人群,记者在与人交往过程中更为在意他人,表明这可能是导致记者共情能力升高的原因之一。本研究运用实验研究的方法首次提供了记者共情能力升高的证据,并对影响因素进行了初步探讨,将有助于丰富本领域以及职业对人类共情能力影响机制的研究。     

The daydreamer: Exploring the personality underpinnings of daydreaming styles and their implications for well-being

In the present research, we looked at how positive-constructive daydreaming, guilty-dysphoric daydreaming, and poor attentional control associate with both broad (i.e., openness to experience) and specific (i.e., introspection) personality traits. A second aim was to determine how daydreaming styles were associated with psychological well-being. Across four studies, 1081 undergraduate (studies 1, 2, and 4) and MTurk (study 3) participants completed online questionnaires. A fixed-effect meta-analysis revealed that introspection was a significant predictor of both positive and negative daydreaming styles, but not a consistent predictor of poor attentional control. Positive-constructive daydreaming was more strongly associated with personal growth, purpose in life, and positive affect; guilty-dysphoric daydreaming was associated with depressive symptoms, negative affect, and lower psychological well-being, while poor attentional control was associated with lower positive well-being. Although correlational, these results demonstrate the usefulness of examining the experience and content of recurrent daydreaming and mind-wandering styles to further understand well-being.     

Gender differences in empathy: the role of the right hemisphere

The relationship between activation of the right cerebral hemisphere (RH) and empathy was investigated. Twenty-two men and 73 women participated by completing a chimeric face task and empathy questionnaire. For the face task, participants were asked to pick which of the two chimeric faces looked happier. Both men and women were significantly more likely to say the chimera with the smile to their left was happier, suggesting activation of the RH. As expected, men scored significantly lower than women on the empathy questionnaire, p = .003. A correlation was found between RH activation on the face task and empathy for women only, p = .037, suggesting a possible neural basis for gender differences in empathy.     

Links between unmitigated communion,interpersonal behaviors and well-being: A daily diary approach

We examined the links between unmitigated communion, interpersonal behavior, and well-being on a daily basis with 79 college students. After completing a baseline questionnaire, participants completed brief on-line questionnaires at the end of the day to assess support interactions, interpersonal behavior, and well-being for 10 consecutive days. We used multi-level modeling to examine whether unmitigated communion was connected to support and interpersonal behavior, whether support and interpersonal behavior were connected to well-being, and whether unmitigated communion moderated the latter relations. Unmitigated communion was related to increased support provision and a host of interpersonal difficulties. Daily support provision and being overly nurturant were positively related to well-being, but these relations were limited to individuals characterized by low unmitigated communion.     

Accounting for the evaluative factor in self-ratings provides a more accurate estimate of the relationship between personality traits and well-being

Social desirability may cause spurious relations in self-rating measures. The present study sought to disentangle socially desirable responding and content in the relation between measures of personality traits and well-being. Social desirability was operationalized as the evaluative factor (the tendency to react to evaluative content in questionnaire items). We collected self- and peer-ratings of personality and self-ratings of well-being from 219 participants. The evaluative factor in personality self-ratings significantly predicted well-being and explained more variance than all Big Five traits combined. The evaluative factor in personality peer-ratings had no unique relation to well-being. These findings suggest that previous estimates of the relationship between personality traits and well-being have generally been exaggerated. Different methods of accounting for social desirability are discussed.     

Assembling human empathy towards care robots: The human labor of robot sociality

This paper conceptualizes human to robot empathy as empathetic arrangements configured in caring spaces. Analyzing empathy towards care robots as arrangements comprising robots, spaces, discourses, bodies and institutions enables recognition of the way empathy is about self-other relationships while eschewing an understanding of empathy in terms of a reciprocal relationship between human and robot. Situating the therapeutic, zoomorphic robot, Paro and the health care support robot, Care-O-Bot as part of empathetic arrangements draws attention to how the cultivation of empathy towards robots governs and regulates patient sociality. In particular, it shows that these robots do not function as substitutes for human carers but instead are dependent on human labor if they are to deliver therapy ethically and effectively. They rely on the affective labor of the patient and the labor of carers and others in the arrangement.     

The role of response styles in the assessment of intraindividual personality variability

Although personality psychologists often focus on between-person differences, understanding intraindividual variability is also a critical focus of the subdiscipline. Despite the fact that non-self-report techniques exist for assessing variability, questionnaire-based measures are still the norm. In two studies (N = 149 and N = 202) we examine the possibility that intraindividual variability measures derived from repeated self-report assessments are affected by certain response styles. These studies, which use a variety of techniques for assessing within-person variability, show that standard measures are moderately to strongly correlated with theoretically unrelated variability measures, including those based on ratings of satisfaction with neutral objects or the personality of cartoon characters. These results raise questions about the validity and utility of widely used measures for assessing intraindividual variability.     

The predictive value of daily vs. retrospective well-being judgments in relationship stability

The present study examined the role of daily and retrospective judgments of well-being and relationship satisfaction in relationship longevity. Participating couples completed a 14-day diary report of well-being and relationship satisfaction. After the daily diary survey, they evaluated the 14-day period. Participants also rated their global relationship satisfaction at that time. Retrospective judgments of daily well-being predicted later relationship status better than daily ratings of well-being did, whereas daily ratings of relationship domain satisfaction predicted later status better than retrospective judgments of daily relationship domain satisfaction did. Furthermore, global relationship satisfaction predicted later relationship status better than daily ratings of relationship domain satisfaction did. In general, global, summary judgments had a greater predictive value of future relationship status than did specific, daily judgments. Finally, synchronicity of daily fluctuations of well-being between partners predicted later relationship status.     

Women's well-being: The role of individual differences

The present study examined the relationship between physical and psychological well-being, personality characteristics and demographic variables related to motherhood, work and marital status in a sample of 3,723 Dutch women. Analysis revealed several interesting relationships. First, whereas neuroticism was negatively related to both physical and psychological well-being, extraversion was positively related to well-being. Second, a clear positive relationship emerged between work participation and both types of well-being. Results are discussed in terms of the vulnerability stress model.     

Measuring well-being: A comparison of subjective well-being and PERMA

We compared Seligman’s PERMA model of well-being with Diener’s model of subjective well-being (SWB) to determine if the newer PERMA captured a type of well-being unique from the older SWB. Participants were 517 adults who completed self-report measures of SWB, PERMA, and VIA character strengths. Results from four analytic techniques suggest the factor underlying PERMA is capturing the same type of well-being as SWB. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a latent correlation of r = 0.98 between SWB and PERMA. Exploratory structural equation modeling found two highly related factors (r = 0.85) that did not map onto PERMA and SWB. SWB and PERMA factors showed similar relationships with 24 character strengths (average correlation difference = 0.02). Latent profile analyses yielded subgroups of people who merely scored high, low, or mid-range on well-being indicators. Our findings suggest that while lower-order indicators SWB and PERMA have unique features, they converge onto a single well-being factor.     

Networks of prospective thoughts: The organisational role of emotion and its impact on well-being

Recent research has shown that many prospective thoughts are organised in networks of related events, but the relational dimensions that contribute to the formation of such networks are not fully understood. Here, we investigated the organisational role of emotion by using cues of different valence for eliciting event networks. We found that manipulating the emotional valence of cues influenced the characteristics of events within networks, and that members of a network were more similar to each other on affective components than they were to members of other networks. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of events within networks were part of thematic clusters and cluster membership significantly modulated the impact of represented events on current well-being, in part through an intensification of the emotion felt when thinking about these events. These findings demonstrate that emotion contributes to the organisation of future thoughts in networks that can affect people's well-being.     

PERMA and the building blocks of well-being

Seligman (2011) hypothesized that PERMA (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) are the elements of well-being. Goodman, Disabato, Kashdan & Kaufmann (2017) reported strong evidence that subjective well-being is the final common path of such elements and their data are entirely consistent with Seligman’s hypothesis. They argued, incorrectly however, that he suggested that PERMA constituted a different kind of well-being rather than just its building blocks. The complicated issue, one that transcends psychometrics, of how to decide on elements of well-being is discussed.     

The role of individual difference variables in ageism

The aim of this study was to examine the role that personality traits, empathy traits, and gratitude have on ageist attitudes and aging anxiety. Consistent with previous research, participants who exhibited greater aging anxiety were more prone to ageist attitudes. Participants with greater dispositional gratitude exhibited significantly less aging anxiety and less ageist attitudes. All of the Big Five personality traits, with the exception of extraversion, were found to be significant determinants of ageist attitudes, aging anxiety, or both. With the exception of personal distress, none of the empathy dimensions predicted either aging anxiety or ageist attitudes.     

配偶情绪智力对员工工作投入的影响：员工生活幸福感的中介作用和性别的调节作用

本文关注配偶情绪智力对员工工作投入的跨领域的人际间影响。基于努力-恢复模型视角和情绪智力文献, 本文提出高情绪智力的配偶能够通过提升员工生活幸福感, 从而促进员工工作投入。此外, 通过整合社会性别角色理论, 本文进一步讨论了员工性别的调节作用。通过两个子研究, 本文发现：配偶情绪智力与员工生活幸福感之间呈现正相关关系; 员工生活幸福感与员工工作投入之间呈现正相关关系; 员工生活幸福感中介了配偶情绪智力对员工工作投入的影响; 并且, 员工性别调节了配偶情绪智力和员工生活幸福感之间的关系, 即当员工为男性时, 配偶情绪智力对该员工生活幸福感的正向影响更强; 此外, 员工性别还调节了员工生活幸福感在配偶情绪智力和员工工作投入之间起到的中介作用。本研究首次提出和检验了配偶情绪智力对员工工作投入的跨领域的人际间积极影响, 具有理论和实践上的重要意义。     

The impact of empathy and reappraisal on emotional intensity recognition

Empathy represents a fundamental ability that allows for the creation and cultivation of social bonds. As part of the empathic process, individuals use their own emotional state to interpret the content and intensity of other people’s emotions. Therefore, the current study was designed to test two hypotheses: (1) empathy for the pain of another will result in biased emotional intensity judgment; and (2) changing one’s emotion via emotion regulation will modulate these biased judgments. To test these hypotheses, in experiment one we used a modified version of a well-known task that triggers an empathic reaction We found that empathy resulted in biased emotional intensity judgment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a bias in the recognition of emotional facial expressions as a function of empathy for pain. In experiment two, we replicated these findings in an independent sample, and further found that this biased emotional intensity judgment can be moderated via reappraisal. Taken together, our findings suggest that the novel task used here can be employed to further explore the relation between emotion regulation and empathy.