Trait self-enhancement as a buffer against potentially traumatic events: A prospective study.

Longitudinal research has associated the disposition toward self-enhancing biases with better adjustment following potentially traumatic events (PTEs). However, self-enhancement was always measured in these studies after the PTE, thus confounding it with exposure. This study used a prospective design that tracked PTEs in college students over a 4-year period using an online checklist (n = 69). Most participants experienced at least 1 PTE, and the mean number of PTEs was 4.40. Trait self-enhancement, measured at the beginning of the study and prior to the PTEs, was associated with reduced distress in both the first and fourth year of college. Participants with greater exposure to PTEs had greater distress in their fourth year; however, individuals high in self-enhancement were relatively unaffected by PTE exposure. High self-enhancement participants were also rated as better copers in anonymous ratings obtained from participants' close friends. Overall, these results offer the first prospective evidence demonstrating that self-enhancement serves as a buffer against the potentially harmful effects of trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age changes in personality and their origins: Comment on Roberts, Walton, and Viechtbauer (2006).

Comments on the original article "Patterns of Mean-Level Change in Personality Traits Across the Life Course: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies," by B. W. Roberts, K. W. Walton, and W. Viechtbauer (see record 2006-00818-001). Although Roberts et al depicted the present authors as proponents of the immutability of traits, in fact we have always acknowledged the possibility of change, and we are pleased that the results of their meta-analysis are consistent with our conclusions about modest change after age 30. We agree with B.W. Roberts et al that analyses should be conducted at the level of more specific traits, but prefer the 30 facets of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory to the Social Dominance-Social Vitality distinction. The origins of age changes might be found either in environmental influences common to all cultures or in biologically based intrinsic maturation; we offer some reasons for preferring the latter interpretation. Meta-analyses are useful but not definitive, and the resolution of the origin question lies in further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality traits, perceived risk, and risk-reduction behaviors: A further study of smoking and radon.

Personality traits and risk perceptions were examined as predictors of changes in smoking behavior. Participants (N = 697) were part of a randomized controlled trial of interventions to reduce exposure to the combined hazard of radon and cigarette smoke. Participants with higher perceived risk at baseline for the combination of smoking and radon were more likely to have a more restrictive household smoking ban in place at 12-month follow-up (p p p     

Does who you marry matter for your health? Influence of patients' and spouses' personality on their partners' psychological well-being following coronary artery bypass surgery.

Research suggests that presurgical personality attributes influence postsurgical well-being in both patients and their spouses in the context of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. The authors hypothesized that a spouse's characteristics would influence a partner's psychological well-being, regardless of whether he or she was the patient or the caregiver. In this study, 111 male patients and their caregiver spouses completed measures of neuroticism, optimism, perceived marital satisfaction, and depression prior to elective CABG. Follow-up was conducted at 18 months. As expected, higher caregiver presurgical neuroticism predicted higher patient depressive symptoms at follow-up, with caregiver's concurrent 18-month affect controlled for. Likewise, higher patient presurgical neuroticism predicted higher caregiver depressive symptoms at follow-up. Additionally, higher patient presurgical depressive symptoms and lower presurgical optimism contributed to greater caregiving burden. Relationship satisfaction moderated these effects. These results suggest that partners' personality traits are important determinants of both patients' and their caregiving spouses' well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding the role of impulsivity and externalizing psychopathology in alcohol abuse: Application of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale.

The present study explores the relation among 4 personality traits associated with impulsive behavior and alcohol abuse. Personality traits were measured using the 4 subscales of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS: S. P. Whiteside & D. R. Lynam. 2001). The UPPS and measures of psychopathology were administered to clinical samples of alcohol abusers high in antisocial personality traits (AAPD), alcohol abusers low in antisocial personality traits (AA), and a control group (total N = 60). Separate analyses of variance indicated that AAPDs had significant elevations on all 4 UPPS scales, whereas the AAs and controls differed only on the Urgency subscale. However, when controlling for psychopathology, group differences on the UPPS scales disappeared. The results suggest that personality traits related to impulsive behavior are not directly related to alcohol abuse but rather are associated with the elevated levels of psychopathology found in a subtype of alcohol abusers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal attraction and personality: What is attractive--self similarity, ideal similarity, complementarity or attachment security?

Little is known about whether personality characteristics influence initial attraction. Because adult attachment differences influence a broad range of relationship processes, the authors examined their role in 3 experimental attraction studies. The authors tested four major attraction hypotheses--self similarity, ideal-self similarity, complementarity, and attachment security--and examined both actual and perceptual factors. Replicated analyses across samples, designs, and manipulations showed that actual security and self similarity predicted attraction. With regard to perceptual factors, ideal similarity, self similarity, and security all were significant predictors. Whereas perceptual ideal and self similarity had incremental predictive power, perceptual security's effects were subsumed by perceptual ideal similarity. Perceptual self similarity fully mediated actual attachment similarity effects, whereas ideal similarity was only a partial mediator. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic psychosocial factors and acute physiological responses to laboratory-induced stress in healthy populations: A quantitative review of 30 years of investigations.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 135(5) of Psychological Bulletin (see record 2009-12487-006). There is an error in Table 1. On p. 840 the entry for Hill et al. 1987 should be Masters et al. 2004.] This meta-analysis included 729 studies from 161 articles investigating how acute stress responsivity (including stress reactivity and recovery of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis, autonomic, and cardiovascular systems) changes with various chronic psychosocial exposures (job stress; general life stress; depression or hopelessness; anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect; hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior; fatigue, burnout, or exhaustion; positive psychological states or traits) in healthy populations. In either the overall meta-analysis or the methodologically strong subanalysis, positive psychological states or traits were associated with reduced HPA reactivity. Hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior was associated with increased cardiovascular (heart rate or blood pressure) reactivity, whereas anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect was associated with decreased cardiovascular reactivity. General life stress and anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect were associated with poorer cardiovascular recovery. However, regarding the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, there were no associations between the chronic psychosocial factors and stress reactivity or recovery. The results largely reflect an integrated stress response pattern of hypo- or hyperactivity depending on the specific nature of the psychosocial background. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and job performance: Test of the mediating effects of motivation among sales representatives.

Research shows consistent relations between personality and job performance. In this study the authors develop and test a model of job performance that examines the mediating effects of cognitive-motivational work orientations on the relationships between personality traits and performance in a sales job (N=164). Covariance structural analyses revealed proximal motivational variables to be influential mechanisms through which distal personality traits affect job performance. Specifically, striving for status and accomplishment mediate the effects of Extraversion and Conscientiousness on ratings of sales performance. Although Agreeableness was related to striving for communion, neither Agreeableness nor communion striving was related to success in this sales job. The importance of the proposed motivational orientations model is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pinpointing reality: How well can people judge true and mistaken emotional childhood memories?

The present study evaluated how well people are able to identify completely mistaken emotional memories from childhood. Further, possible individual differences, including personality/interpersonal traits and cue utilization strategies, contributing to this ability were examined. 137 participants (aged 17-34 yrs) viewed videos of true and mistaken childhood memory reports and judged whether the target had actually experienced the described event. Results indicate that 60% of judges accurately identified mistaken memories (greater than chance) and 53% accurately identified true memories (performing at chance). Compared to inaccurate judges, accurate judges were interpersonally less unassuming-ingenuous and more arrogant-calculating and aloof-introverted. Accurate judges also reported using more overall cues to formulate their judgments than inaccurate judges. Brief exposure to information about empirically based cues to mistaken memories prior to veracity judgments impaired rather than facilitated judgment ability. Implications for credibility assessment in applied settings and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective well-being is heritable and genetically correlated with dominance in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

The hypothesis that subjective well-being (SWB) is heritable and genetically correlated with Dominance was tested using 128 zoo chimpanzees. Dominance was a chimpanzee-specific personality factor including items reflecting Extraversion and low Neuroticism. SWB was measured with a 4-item scale. The best behavior genetic model included additive genetic and nonshared environmental effects for SWB and Dominance, marginal maternal effects for SWB, a high genetic correlation, and a low nonshared environmental correlation. Results indicated that the shared variance between SWB and Dominance was a consequence of common genes and that the unique variance between SWB and Dominance was a consequence of the nonshared environment. These findings indicate that common genes may underlie the correlation between human personality factors and SWB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)