Selecting for extroversion but rewarding for conscientiousness

The causal effects of extroversion and conscientiousness, two Big Five personality dimensions, were assessed on both selection and work success in a naturally occurring field study. College students (N = 96) completed Neuroticism-Extroversion Openness Five-Factor Inventory personality scales during their freshman year and subsequently provided starting salary and salary growth measures after graduating and joining the labour market. The results revealed that extroversion and conscientiousness had opposite effects: Extroversion was related to starting salary but not salary growth whereas conscientiousness was unrelated to starting salary growth but significantly so to salary growth. An explanation is that extroversion is easily observed during selection because it indicates warmth and high energy whereas it is less helpful on the job because social vitality does not affect work goals and dominance is counterproductive, especially in nonmanagerial, entry-level jobs. Conversely, conscientiousness is difficult to observe during selection, and grade point average (an excellent proxy for conscientiousness) is not requested. However, conscientious employees grow their salaries quicker because they are intrinsically motivated and well organized.     

Psychoanalytic inpatient psychotherapy of depression – Two naturalistic samples throughout the course of a decade

Background: While the general effectiveness of psychodynamic inpatient psychotherapy has been established, very few studies have specifically investigated the effectiveness of psychodynamic inpatient treatment of depression, though depressed patients represent the largest group of inpatients.

Method : This study investigated two naturalistic samples of depressed patients regarding treatment outcome as well as clinical and treatment characteristics. Patients were treated in a psychoanalytical psychosomatic hospital unit. Data was collected from 2000 to 2002 (N=234) and from 2008 to 2010 (N=514). Data was acquired at admission and discharge.

Results: The findings reveal high pre-post effect sizes for symptom reduction (SCL-90-R), general functioning (GAF) and medium changes of interpersonal problems (IIP). The improvement on the IIP was significantly higher for patients with comorbid personality disorder. Based on therapist ratings, the sample treated from 2008-2010 showed higher levels of impairment on several levels: chronic, complex, functional (GAF) and structural (OPD).

Conclusion: Findings indicate that patients show substantial short-term benefit following psychoanalytic inpatient psychotherapy, as practiced under naturalistic conditions. Open questions remain regarding the long-term nature of these benefits and the possible influence of placebo-effects.     

The relationship between face recognition ability and socioemotional functioning throughout adulthood

The relationship between face recognition ability and socioemotional functioning has been widely explored. However, how aging modulates this association regarding both objective performance and subjective-perception is still neglected. Participants, aged between 18 and 81 years, performed a face memory test and completed subjective face recognition and socioemotional questionnaires. General and social anxiety, and neuroticism traits account for the individual variation in face recognition abilities during adulthood. Aging modulates these relationships because as they age, individuals that present a higher level of these traits also show low-level face recognition ability. Intriguingly, the association between depression and face recognition abilities is evident with increasing age. Overall, the present results emphasize the importance of embedding face metacognition measurement into the context of these studies and suggest that aging is an important factor to be considered, which seems to contribute to the relationship between socioemotional and face-cognitive functioning.     

人格研究中国化之我见

人格是一个人的存在方式。人不是一个纯自然的范畴,而是受社会文化和历史制约的。当今西方人格心理学不是普世的人格心理学,它虽然有多种定义,但其核心是强调个人的独特性。中华文化注重个人所肩负的社会义务、历史责任和道德价值,强调个人要正确处理与他人、与集体、与社会、与自然界的关系,而不是个人的独特性。人格研究中国化就是从中国的实际出发研究中国人的人格,努力创建具有中国特色的人格心理学,更好地为我国的人才培养和社会发展服务。我们在教学中应当引导并支持学生厘清概念,深入中国实际,采用质性和量化相结合的方法开展人格的中国化研究;鼓励师生学以致用,优化人格,成为幸福的进取者。     

Personality and Neural Correlates of Mentalizing Ability

Theory of mind, or mentalizing, defined as the ability to reason about another's mental states, is a crucial psychological function that is disrupted in some forms of psychopathology, but little is known about how individual differences in this ability relate to personality or brain function. One previous study linked mentalizing ability to individual differences in the personality trait Agreeableness. Agreeableness encompasses two major subdimensions: Compassion reflects tendencies toward empathy, prosocial behaviour, and interpersonal concern, whereas Politeness captures tendencies to suppress aggressive and exploitative impulses. We hypothesized that Compassion but not Politeness would be associated with better mentalizing ability. This hypothesis was confirmed in Study 1 (N = 329) using a theory of mind task that required reasoning about the beliefs of fictional characters. Post hoc analyses indicated that the honesty facet of Agreeableness was negatively associated with mentalizing. In Study 2 (N = 217), we examined whether individual differences in mentalizing and related traits were associated with patterns of resting‐state functional connectivity in the brain. Performance on the theory of mind task was significantly associated with patterns of connectivity between the dorsal medial and core subsystems of the default network, consistent with evidence implicating these regions in mentalization. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Predicting dental attendance from dental hygienists’ autonomy support and patients’ autonomous motivation: A randomised clinical trial

Objective: To test the hypothesis that a Self-Determination Theory (SDT) intervention designed to promote oral health care competence in an autonomy-supportive way would predict change in caries competence relative to standard care. Further, to test the SDT process path-model hypotheses with: (1) the intervention and individual differences in relative autonomous locus of causality (RALOC) predicting increases in caries competence, which in turn would positively predict dental attendance; (2) RALOC negatively predicting dental anxiety, which would negatively predict dental attendance; (3) RALOC and caries disease referred to the dentist after an autonomy-supportive clinical exam directly positively predicting dental attendance; and (4) the intervention moderating the link between RALOC and dental attendance.

Design: A randomised two-group experiment was conducted at a dental clinic with 138 patients (M_age = 23.31 yr., SD = 3.5), with pre- and post-measures in a period of 5.5 months.

Results: The experimental model was supported. The SDT path model fit the data well and supported the hypotheses explaining 63% of the variance in dental attendance.

Conclusions: Patients personality (RALOC) and hygienists promoting oral health care competence in an autonomy-supportive way, performance of autonomy-supportive clinical exams and reductions of anxiety for dental treatment have important practical implications for patients’ dental attendance.     

Predicting Romantic Interest at Zero Acquaintance: Evidence of Sex Differences in Trait Perception but Not in Predictors of Interest

We evaluated five competing hypotheses about what predicts romantic interest. Through a half‐block quasi‐experimental design, a large sample of young adults (i.e. responders; n = 335) viewed videos of opposite‐sex persons (i.e. targets) talking about themselves, and responders rated the targets' traits and their romantic interest in the target. We tested whether similarity, dissimilarity or overall trait levels on mate value, physical attractiveness, life history strategy and the Big Five personality factors predicted romantic interest at zero acquaintance and whether sex acted as a moderator. We tested the responders' individual perception of the targets' traits, in addition to the targets' own self‐reported trait levels and a consensus rating of the targets made by the responders. We used polynomial regression with response surface analysis within multilevel modelling to test support for each of the hypotheses. Results suggest a large sex difference in trait perception; when women rated men, they agreed in their perception more often than when men rated women. However, as a predictor of romantic interest, there were no sex differences. Only the responders' perception of the targets' physical attractiveness predicted romantic interest; specifically, responders' who rated the targets' physical attractiveness as higher than themselves reported more romantic interest. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

中小学教师职业人格与主观幸福感的关系:工作投入的中介作用

采用问卷调查法,以692名中小学教师作为被试,探讨教师职业人格和主观幸福感的关系及其机制。结果发现：（1）专家型教师在职业人格得分上显著高于新手、熟手型教师,体现出与教师职业更匹配、更具适应性的人格特点;（2）职业人格与主观幸福感正相关显著,职业人格可通过影响工作投入程度进而影响主观幸福感,工作投入在二者之间起部分中介作用;（3）新手、熟手和专家型教师职业人格影响主观幸福感的作用机制存在差异：新手职业人格直接影响主观幸福感,熟手大部分通过工作投入影响主观幸福感,而专家完全通过工作投入影响主观幸福感。研究表明,教师职业人格可通过提高工作投入程度,进而提升其主观幸福感。     

2004至2013年中国大学生人格变迁的横断历史研究

已有研究发现大学生的心理健康等心理状态随社会变迁而发生变化,那么作为个体内在特质的人格是如何随年代变化呢?本研究对2004至2013年65篇采用五因素人格量表的研究进行了横断历史分析,以揭示47029名大学生人格特质的变化趋势。结果发现：（1）2004至2013年期间,大学生的人格五个因子得分与年代之间均呈现显著正相关,大学生人格特质发生了整体变化。（2）大学生的神经质、外向性、开放性和严谨性得分在10年期间均上升1个标准差以上,其d值在1.06~1.30之间,宜人性提高0.57个标准差。大学生在变得更加外向、开放、严谨和宜人的同时,情绪稳定性也更差。（3）男女大学生人格特质的变化既有共同趋势,又存在明显差异,男生的五个因子得分都显著上升,但是女生的开放性无变化,宜人性却有所下降。     

Inspired by Mary Jane? Mechanisms underlying enhanced creativity in cannabis users

Previous research suggests cannabis may enhance some aspects of creativity, although the results remain somewhat equivocal. Moreover, it is unclear whether differences in cannabis users’ personalities may account for any potentially beneficial effects of cannabis on creativity. This study was designed to examine whether sober cannabis users demonstrate superior self-reported and objective creativity test performance relative to non-users, and to determine whether any of the Big 5 personality domains underlie these effects. A sample of sober cannabis users (n = 412) and non-users (n = 309) completed measures of cannabis consumption, personality, self-reported and objective creativity. Relative to non-users, sober cannabis users self-reported higher creativity, and performed significantly better on a measure of convergent thinking. Controlling for cannabis users’ higher levels of openness to experience abolished these effects. Therefore, while cannabis users appear to demonstrate enhanced creativity, these effects are an artifact of their heightened levels of openness to experience.