Personality and Sleep: Neuroticism and Conscientiousness Predict Behaviourally Recorded Sleep Years Later

Sleep is one key feature of people's lives that defines their daily routine and reflects overall health and well‐being. To test the relevance of personality for core aspects of sleep, we examined if personality traits across the five broad personality domains predicted behaviourally recorded, week‐long sleep characteristics up to five years later (alongside subjective sleep quality). Data from 382 participants (63% female, aged 34–82 years) were drawn from the longitudinal study on Midlife in the United States Study—Biomarker project. In terms of mean tendencies, both neuroticism and conscientiousness signalled more sleep continuity (fewer interruptions) alongside better subjective quality. In terms of intra‐individual sleep variability, neuroticism predicted more variability in sleep duration, continuity, and subjective sleep quality, while conscientiousness predicted less variability in sleep duration and sleep continuity. Extraversion, agreeableness, and openness traits did not generally foreshadow behaviourally recoded sleep, only higher ratings of subjective quality. These links were robust to the impact of demographic factors and were not moderated by the duration of time between personality and sleep assessments. The findings distinguish which personality traits foreshadow core aspects of sleep and also implicate multiple traits as predictors of variability, not just mean tendencies, in behaviourally recorded sleep. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Personal identity and the otherness of one’s own body

Locke claims that a person’s identity over time consists in the unity of consciousness, not in the sameness of the body. Similarly, the phenomenological approach refuses to see the criteria of identity as residing in some externally observable bodily features. Nevertheless, it does not accept the idea that personal identity has to consist either in consciousness or in the body. We are self-aware as bodily beings. After providing a brief reassessment of Locke and the post-Lockean discussion, the article draws on phenomenological arguments that show the body as lived, that is, lived as one’s own body, but also possibly as “other” or “strange.” Against what has been claimed in recent writing, especially in literature on Merleau-Ponty, the author argues that the “mineness” of the body and its “alterity” are not two mutually exclusive features. In the final part of the article, the author suggests that the becoming strange of one’s own body may legitimately be considered as a prominent experience of what it means to be a person.

     

Karsavin as philosopher of personality

A brief outline of L.P.Karsavin’s theory of personality is presented, which reconstructs the system of key concepts of this theory and traces its evolution through Karsavin’s work. The system is analyzed in its relation to the two basic paradigms of European personalist thought, the anthropological paradigm developed in Western metaphysics, and the theological paradigm created by the Greek Church Fathers and practically not used in European philosophy. The conclusion is drawn that Karsavin’s personalism returns gradually to the theological paradigm and via the works of Vladimir Lossky it stimulated the contemporary renaissance of this paradigm in Orthodox theology.     

Some aspects of explanation in Boškovič

Bo?kovi?'s explanatory procedure and his concept of explanation represents a certain departure from Newton's causal theory and his theory of explanation. Apart from particular elements of causal explanation, Bo?kovi? developed an alternative, non‐causal explanatory strategy. In this paper two different elements of this strategy are discussed: (i) the micro‐reductive explanatory strategy based on Bo?kovi?'s idea of determination, and (ii) a type of explanation of a theory by means of a more general law, through a thought‐experiment. In addition, an outline of the proposed (iii) ‘argument theory’ of explanation in his mature period is made. These aspects are considered with respect to the realist and anti‐realist elements in Bo?kovi?'s epistemology.     

Nice or smart? Task relevance of self-characteristics moderates interpersonal projection

Two studies investigated the impact of trait relevance to a specific task on people's projection of their characteristics onto a cooperative partner. We either measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Study 2) the relevance of a trait to a specific cooperative task. In both studies, participants first rated themselves on a list of traits. Then they imagined completing a cooperative task with an unknown partner. Finally, they rated the partner on the same list of traits. In Study 1, we found partner ratings to be positively influenced by self ratings and the idiosyncratic measure of trait relevance. In Study 2, participants rated the self and the partner on competence and warmth traits while completing an intellectual or a social task. We found partner ratings to be positively influenced by self ratings more on competence than on warmth in the intellectual task, but more on warmth than on competence in the social task. These results suggest that people project onto others in a way that maximizes their chances to succeed in cooperation.     

Holding a mirror up to the self: egocentric similarity beliefs underlie social projection in cooperation

Similarity between partners entails positive consequences for cooperative interactions. But do people rely on this assumption to construe egocentric judgments about others? Five experiments examined the possibility that people project onto their partners because they believe that similarity to the self leads to success in cooperation. Studies 1a and 1b show that people hold an egocentric similarity belief in cooperation. Studies 2a and 2b test the existence of this belief in more indirect ways. The next three studies manipulate the applicability of the similarity belief and investigate its impact on projection. Study 3 finds that cooperation no longer leads to projection when participants expect a low probability of success. Study 4 replicates this effect in a real cooperative setting. Finally, Study 5 shows that projection occurs only when participants expect their characteristics to be responsible for the success of cooperation. The negative consequences of overestimating similarities in cooperation are discussed.     

Impact of negative cognitions about body image on inflammatory status in relation to health

Objective: Evidence suggests that body dissatisfaction may relate to biological processes and that negative cognitions can influence physical health through the complex pathways linking psychological and biological factors.

Design: The present study investigates the relationships between body image satisfaction, inflammation (cytokine levels), aerobic fitness level and obesity in 96 middle-aged men and women (48 normal and 48 overweight). All participants underwent measurements of body satisfaction, body composition, serological measurements of inflammation and aerobic capabilities assessment.

Results: Body image dissatisfaction uniquely predicted inflammation biomarkers, C-reactive protein and tumour necrosis factor-α, even when controlled for obesity indicators. Thus, body image dissatisfaction is strongly linked to inflammation processes and may promote the increase in cytokines, representing a relative metabolic risk, independent of most traditional risk factors, such as gender, body mass index and intra-abdominal (waist to hip ratio) adiposity.

Conclusion: Results highlight the fact that person’s negative cognitions need to be considered in psychologically based interventions and strategies in treatment of obesity, including strategies for health promotion. Results contribute to the knowledge base of the complex pathways in the association between psychological factors and physical illness and some important attempts were made to explain the psychological pathways linking cognitions with inflammation.     

How contact shapes implicit and explicit preferences: attitudes toward Roma children in inclusive and non‐inclusive environment

In two studies, the authors examined the effects of intergroup contact in inclusive and non‐inclusive environments on children's explicit and implicit prejudices. In both studies, supervised contact with Roma peers, instructed by inclusive program, led to a more positive explicit evaluation of Roma and less social distance, while it had no significant impact on implicit attitudes. In contrast, implicit attitudes were related to mere exposure to Roma (Study 2). Intergroup anxiety and self‐disclosure mediated the effect of inclusiveness level on explicit, but not on implicit attitudes. The results indicate that two types of attitudes might be formed via different routes, and that mere exposure and supervised contact influence them differently. This information could help tailor future prejudice reduction programs.