Relationship between gender and knowledge of U.S. state names and locations

Two experiments were conducted to assess gender differences in knowledge of U.S. state names and locations. Subjects for both experiments were drawn from a population that was approximately 95% Caucasian, 2% Native American, 1% Black, 1% Asian, and 1% Hispanic. Experiment 1 demonstrated superior male performance with respect to ability to correctly label state outlines on a blank map. Providing subjects with a list of state names (as a recall aid) resulted in performance deficits that were of equivalent magnitude for both males and females. It is suggested that this may have changed subjects' labeling strategy. Experiment 2, which assessed ability to list state names, showed no gender differences and no effect for providing a blank map (as a recall aid). Therefore, the performance differences obtained in Experiment 1 appear mediated by a gender difference in geographical knowledge and not by a gender difference in knowledge of state names. Implications of geographical knowledge deficits are briefly discussed.     

Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies—A Framework for Studying Personality Change

The importance of personality for predicting life outcomes in the domains of love, work, and health is well established, as is evidence that personality traits, while relatively stable, can change. However, little is known about the sources and processes that drive changes in personality traits and how such changes might impact important life outcomes. In this paper, we make the case that the research paradigms and methodological approaches commonly used in personality psychology need to be revised to advance our understanding of the sources and processes of personality change. We propose Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies as a framework for studying personality change that can address the limitations of current methods, and we discuss strategies for overcoming some of the challenges associated with Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Hostility, job attitudes, and workplace deviance: test of a multilevel model

The authors tested a model, inspired by affective events theory (H. M. Weiss & R. Cropanzano, 1996), that examines the dynamic nature of emotions at work, work attitudes, and workplace deviance. Sixty-four employees completed daily surveys over 3 weeks, reporting their mood, job satisfaction, perceived interpersonal treatment, and deviance. Supervisors and significant others also evaluated employees' workplace deviance and trait hostility, respectively. Over half of the total variance in workplace deviance was within-individual, and this intraindividual variance was predicted by momentary hostility, interpersonal justice, and job satisfaction. Moreover, trait hostility moderated the interpersonal justice-state hostility relation such that perceived injustice was more strongly related to state hostility for individuals high in trait hostility.     

Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies

The present study used meta-analytic techniques (number of samples = 92) to determine the patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course. Results showed that people increase in measures of social dominance (a facet of extraversion), conscientiousness, and emotional stability, especially in young adulthood (age 20 to 40). In contrast, people increase on measures of social vitality (a 2nd facet of extraversion) and openness in adolescence but then decrease in both of these domains in old age. Agreeableness changed only in old age. Of the 6 trait categories, 4 demonstrated significant change in middle and old age. Gender and attrition had minimal effects on change, whereas longer studies and studies based on younger cohorts showed greater change.     

The effect of age and role information on expectations for big five personality traits

In four studies, the authors investigated the extent to which expectations for personality traits in age-graded roles correspond to patterns of personality trait change across the life course. In Studies 1 (N = 43) and 2 (N = 126), the authors examined the age-graded roles of high school student, college student, parent, and grandparent and found that expectations for how people behave in these age-graded roles showed strong parallels to the documented pattern of personality trait development and that this pattern of expectations was largely shared by younger and older participants. In Studies 3 (N = 252) and 4 (N = 123), the authors separated age and role information (e.g., marital, parental, and employment status) and found that people use both sources of information independently in forming expectations of others. The implications for understanding the interplay of expectations and personality trait development are discussed.     

Up or down: the influence of upcoming reinforcement on consummatory and operant behavior

Research has shown that animal subjects that are given a chance to consume a low-valued substance will consume less of it if a high-valued substance will soon be available than they would if the low-valued substance were to remain available (negative consummatory contrast). Research has also shown that subjects that lever press for a low-valued reinforcer will press the lever more often for that reinforcer if they will soon be able to lever press for a high-valued reinforcer than they would if they continue to press for the low-valued reinforcer (positive induction). The present study investigated these different changes in behavior across 3 experiments. The results suggest that the occurrence of contrast or induction does not depend on the type of substances that are used. We argue that further investigation of the contrast vs. induction issue is warranted because it has empirical, theoretical, and applied implications.     

Predicting the home location of serial offenders: a preliminary comparison of the accuracy of human judges with a geographic profiling system

The accuracy with which human judges, before and after 'training', could predict the likely home location of serial offenders was compared with predictions produced by a geographic profiling system known as Dragnet. All predictions were derived from ten spatial displays, one for each of ten different U.S. serial murderers, indicating five crime locations. In all conditions participants were asked to place an 'X' on each spatial display corresponding to where they thought the offender lived. In the control condition, a comparison was made between the accuracy of these predictions for 21 participants on two separate occasions a few minutes apart. In the experimental condition, between their first and second predictions the 21 participants were given two heuristics to follow--distance-decay and circle hypothesis. Results showed that participants with no previous knowledge of geographic profiling were able to use the two heuristics to improve the accuracy of their predictions. The overall accuracy of the second set of predictions for the experimental group was also not significantly different from the accuracy of predictions generated by Dragnet.     

Self-control and its influence on global/local processing: An investigation of the role of frontal alpha asymmetry and dispositional approach tendencies

People often inhibit or override their dominant response tendencies in order to complete tasks successfully. Exerting such self-control has been shown to influence attentional breadth differently depending on approach-motivated tendencies, as indexed by individuals’ behavioral activation system (BAS) scores. Approach motivation and attentional breadth have previously been associated with frontal alpha asymmetry (i.e., lateralized cortical activity in the frontal regions) where greater left-frontal activation is associated with greater approach motivation and reduced attentional breadth. The process model of self-control posits that exercising self-control leads to a subsequent increase in approach behavior in high BAS individuals, and this could be due to a shift towards left-hemisphere-frontal processing. This was the first study to examine both frontal asymmetry and attentional breadth before and after exercising self-control in low and high BAS individuals. Greater BAS, and greater difficulty exercising self-control, both positively related to more narrowed attentional breadth after completing the manipulation relative to before, but only after exercising self-control. However, breadth of attention and changes in attentional breadth were unrelated to frontal asymmetry, suggesting that the influence of self-control on individuals’ attentional breadth was not due to changes in frontal activation patterns.     

The Power of Personality: The Comparative Validity of Personality Traits, Socioeconomic Status, and Cognitive Ability for Predicting Important Life Outcomes

ABSTRACT— The ability of personality traits to predict important life outcomes has traditionally been questioned because of the putative small effects of personality. In this article, we compare the predictive validity of personality traits with that of socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive ability to test the relative contribution of personality traits to predictions of three critical outcomes: mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment. Only evidence from prospective longitudinal studies was considered. In addition, an attempt was made to limit the review to studies that controlled for important background factors. Results showed that the magnitude of the effects of personality traits on mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment was indistinguishable from the effects of SES and cognitive ability on these outcomes. These results demonstrate the influence of personality traits on important life outcomes, highlight the need to more routinely incorporate measures of personality into quality of life surveys, and encourage further research about the developmental origins of personality traits and the processes by which these traits influence diverse life outcomes.     

Reciprocal influences between parents' marital problems and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior

The present study examines reciprocal associations between marital functioning and adolescent maladjustment using cross-lagged autoregressive models. The research involved 451 early adolescents and their families and used a prospective, longitudinal research design with multi-informant methods. Results indicate that parental conflicts over child rearing predicted adolescent depressive symptoms and delinquency. In turn, these adolescent problems exacerbated parental conflicts over child rearing. Furthermore, conflict over child rearing served as the nexus through which more generalized marital dissatisfaction and adolescent adjustment problems were reciprocally interrelated. This research replicates earlier observations that marital problems intensify adolescent maladjustment and extends the literature by demonstrating that adolescent problems also predict marital conflict and ultimately marital dissatisfaction. In sum, the present study demonstrates that marital dissatisfaction, conflict over child rearing, and early adolescent adjustment difficulties are interwoven in a dynamic family system marked by reciprocity along these dimensions.