Research suggests that adult personality disorder characteristics are well-represented by dimensional structures that overlap highly with general personality traits. In this Registered Report, we extended this notion by examining continuity between general and maladaptive personality in a pooled child sample (N = 2579), with primary IRT analyses conducted on a subsample of 2106 participants. Results supported shared dimensions of Emotional Instability, Disagreeableness, and Disinhibition, but not Detachment, Compulsivity, or Psychoticism. Further, the pathological trait measure showed higher discrimination and captured more information at the normal and upper levels, while the normative trait measure performed well at lower levels. These findings offered supporting evidence for viewing some youth personality pathology domains as maladaptive variants of FFM traits, while highlighting the need for future research across all domains.
We investigated whether adolescent optimism moderates the association between parenthood and adult psychosocial and occupational outcomes. We examined 1596 German adolescents (63.8% female, baseline Mage = 12.9, 37.6% were parents at T2) at two measurement points 18 years apart using latent moderated regression models. At age 30, parents had lower occupational status and income, but higher life satisfaction than nonparents. Optimism predicted higher income, life satisfaction, social integration, and fewer psychosomatic and depressive symptoms in parents and nonparents. Optimism moderated the association between parenthood and mental health nonlinearly, with poorer outcomes among parents observed only at very low optimism levels (approximately two standard deviations below the mean). These findings highlight optimism as a long-term resource promoting adaptation to challenges.
Being able to assess others' self-control is critical because goal pursuit is often interdependent. We examined how accurately individuals judge others' self-control and related constructs, namely including perceived demands (frequency and intensity of temptations) and motivation to regulate behavior. Informant reports (N = 289) showed significant agreement with targets' self-reports (N = 176), and good consensus (n = 66) for self-control and motivation. Informant reports also predicted targets' daily self-control during a 7-day experience-sampling phase. Accuracy varied by construct and domain: Agreement was lower for motivation and for more private domains (e.g., leisure, sex, sleep vs. alcohol, eating). Domain-specific predictions were generally weak. Relationship closeness increased agreement but not predictive accuracy. Overall, the findings refine visibility-based accounts of personality judgment.
Socioanalytic theory proposes that interpersonal behavior is organized around the dual motives of Getting Along and Getting Ahead. Although these motives are highly relevant to leadership, leadership research lacks an empirically validated framework that maps leadership-relevant personality characteristics onto these fundamental motives. This paper introduces the Socioanalytic Leadership Circumplex (SLC), a model based on scales from the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) and Hogan Development Survey (HDS), and tests whether leadership-relevant personality characteristics align with a circumplex structure defined by socioanalytic dimensions. Across three studies, we evaluated the structural, convergent, and criterion validity of the SLC using independent samples and complementary analytic approaches.Study 1 established structural validity through confirmatory circumplex modeling, supporting a quasi-circumplex with distinct octants. Study 2A approximated this structure in a new sample and provided evidence of convergent validity through associations with observer-rated personality traits. Study 2B further replicated this pattern in an organizational sample and provided criterion validity evidence through systematic associations between SLC styles and 360-degree ratings of leadership effectiveness.Overall, the findings support the SLC as a coherent and empirically grounded framework for organizing leadership-relevant personality characteristics along the dimensions of Getting Along and Getting Ahead. The SLC advances leadership research by integrating socioanalytic theory with circumplex models of interpersonal behavior to better understand how personality shapes leadership style, interpersonal reputation, and leadership effectiveness.
This study examined actual change, perceived change, and change goals in global and domain-specific self-esteem and their adaptiveness for well-being. Data were drawn from five waves of the 8-year SELF study comprising 399 to 634 German adults per wave (Mage = 47.0, SD = 12.4 at intake). Participants generally expressed a desire to enhance their self-esteem, with substantial individual variability. Lower self-esteem predicted stronger change goals, and perceived changes were closely aligned with actual changes, particularly in performance self-esteem. Actual increases in self-esteem predicted higher life satisfaction and lower depressive symptoms, whereas change goals in some self-esteem domains were associated with lower well-being. Perceived increases were independently associated with adaptive outcomes, highlighting the importance of subjective self-evaluations alongside actual change.
Emotions and goals vary in daily life. Theories posit clearer mental representations of emotions and goals could facilitate goal pursuit. We tested whether emotional and goal clarity were associated with greater goal effort, progress, and attainment. Participants (n = 179; Mage = 35.3, SDage = 12.3) repeatedly rated (five times daily for 14 days) levels of emotional clarity and the clarity, effort, and progress of their main goal from the past hour. Multilevel models indicated emotional and goal clarity were significant within- and between-person predictors of goal effort, progress, and attainment. Variability in within-person effects was examined to characterize individual differences. Most results were robust when accounting for concurrent affect. Results illustrate links between clear mental representations of psychological activity and reports of real-world goal behavior.
Extant studies of parent-youth narcissism resemblance yield associations of varying strength. Youth characteristics may account for variable patterns of intergenerational narcissism resemblance by influencing whether and how children internalize a parent's narcissistic traits and behaviors. This study examined pathways linking childhood maternal narcissism (age 10) to adolescent narcissism (age 17), as shaped by children's assigned sex at birth and self-esteem (age 10). Participants were 197 youth (50.8% assigned female; 46.7% Latine) and their biological mothers (55.3% Latina) who completed laboratory assessments at ages 10 and 17. A significant twoway interaction indicated that child self-esteem moderated the impact of maternal narcissism on adolescent narcissism, with significant resemblance only among children who reported lower self-esteem. Further, a significant three-way interaction by assigned sex revealed that the two-way interaction between maternal narcissism and child self-esteem was significant for daughters, but not for sons. These findings suggest that efforts to promote a stable and internally grounded sense of self during childhood may protect children from internalizing their mother's narcissistic traits and negative parenting practices in ways that curtail the development of narcissism later in adolescence, particularly for daughters of narcissistic mothers.
Moral condemnation can emerge in response to perceived threat. We investigated whether trait threat sensitivity predicts moral condemnation across multiple domains. In Study 1 (n = 151), avoidance motivation (BIS) was positively associated with general moral condemnation, whereas sensation seeking was negatively associated, even when controlling for social conservatism. Study 2 (n = 206) replicated these findings, which remained robust after controlling for empathic concern and perspective taking. In Study 3 (N = 302), BIS predicted greater moral condemnation of harm and sanctity violations indirectly via appraisals of these actions as personally threatening, even when controlling for harm-and disgust-based explanations. A similar mediation pattern emerged for sensation seeking and moral condemnation of sanctity violations but not harm violations.
Narrative identity research has shown how individuals construct meaning through life stories, yet whether large language models (LLMs) can simulate such patterns remains unclear. This paper evaluates whether LLMs reproduce patterns from narrative personality research across U.S. and Chinese contexts. Study 1 showed GPT4o-generated narratives reproduced age, gender, and cultural linguistic patterns, with limitations in nuanced markers. Study 2a used GPT-4o-mini to generate narratives and GPT-4o, Qwen3, and their ensemble as coders, reproducing well-being associations in the U.S. but partially in Chinese simulations. Replacing the generator with Qwen3, Study 2b recovered these associations in both simulated samples. These findings suggest LLMs can reproduce, within their outputs, patterns documented in human research, while model choice and culturallinguistic grounding shape simulation fidelity.
Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) refers to individual differences in how sensory information is perceived and processed and is assumed to reflect heightened sensory sensitivity, implying lower sensory thresholds. In this study, we examined associations between SPS (DOES and the Highly Sensitive Person Scale) and objectively measured detection and pain thresholds across auditory, visual, thermal, olfactory, and vestibular modalities in 150 female participants, who also provided modality-specific self-ratings. The results showed no systematic associations between objective thresholds across modalities and no consistent relationships between SPS and objective thresholds. In contrast, SPS was small to moderately associated with subjective sensitivity ratings, particularly for pain thresholds. Overall, the findings suggest that SPS reflects differences in subjective appraisal rather than enhanced objective sensory sensitivity.
Using Response Surface Analysis in 41,606 individuals from 74 countries, this study examined how combinations of participants' self-assessments and their perceptions of their partners across nine trait domains predict participants' Intimacy, Passion, Commitment, and Relationship Satisfaction. Two distinct profiles emerged. For socially desirable valence traits (e.g., kindness, physical attractiveness), partner idealization dominated: relationship quality was highest when participants rated their partners above themselves, alongside strong additive effects. For value-based traits (e.g., political orientation), perceived discrepancies predicted lower relationship quality regardless of direction. Gender differences were minimal. Culture mattered more. In more modernized cultures, desirable valence traits were stronger predictors of relationship quality. Overall, these findings suggest that relationship quality reflects domain-and context-specific dynamics that vary across traits and sociocultural contexts.
This paper investigated grade-related and sex differences in structure and mean levels of HEXACO traits in two samples of Italian middle-school adolescents, using self-report (N = 1707) and parental perspectives (N = 403). Results suggested that HEXACO traits are already formed by around age 10 or 11 and remain stable across middle-school grades. Compared to students in lower grades, adolescents in higher grades exhibited lower levels of Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, although the lower levels of Agreeableness observed was due only to girls. Girls scored higher on self-reported Emotionality and Openness to Experience, whereas boys scored higher on Extraversion and Agreeableness. In general, facet-level analyses mirrored trait-level sex and grade differences. Finally, parents reported fewer sex differences than adolescents.
Whether individual differences in Social Desirability (SD) reflect a substantive personality aspect or a stylistic response bias remains debated. Using a 6-wave dataset (1-year lag; N = 2,648), this study aimed to examine whether SD (measured with a 10-item dichotomous scale) exhibits patterns of stability and change similar to those of personality constructs typically related to adjustment. Tetrachoric (auto)correlations and a series of longitudinal structural equation models for categorical variables were adopted. After establishing thresholds/ loadings invariance, results showed (a) high rank-order stability, positive mean-level change, and significant interindividual differences in intraindividual change; (b) consistent associations between SD baseline levels and Big Five traits; (c) consistent associations between SD individual-level change and job satisfaction. Overall, findings support the trait-like nature of SD.
Narcissism implies maintaining self-worth through social feedback, yet little is known about how individuals high-vs-low in narcissism experience day-to-day consequences of self-presentation. Using a daily-diary design (N = 154), we examined whether grandiose and vulnerable narcissism predict social media posting behaviours, perceived social outcomes, and subjective well-being. Narcissistic admiration positively predicted daily selfpresentation, positivity, and favourable interpersonal outcomes, whereas narcissistic rivalry or vulnerability predicted poorer outcomes or greater unmet expectations. Vulnerable narcissism predicted lower well-being and amplified the negative impact of unmet relationship-initiation expectations. These findings show that perceived social outcomes are shaped primarily by individuals' expectations and interpretations rather than posting behaviour, highlighting the importance of unmet interpersonal goals for the well-being of those high in vulnerable narcissism.
Personality traits, and notably extraversion, may lead to the attribution of human capacities to non-human entities and may be driven by human social connectedness. To investigate this possibility, we conducted a multilevel meta-analysis to estimate the mean overall effect size of the correlation between extraversion and anthropomorphism. Additionally, we constructed several mixed-effects models to test for the presence of moderating effects. The results suggest a significant relationship between extraversion and anthropomorphism. Moreover, this relationship is moderated by the type of non-human entity used, indicating a stronger relationship when spiritual or natural non-human entities were used in primary studies. The results and limits of the research are discussed.
Collaborative partnerships are often formed following a first encounter. For example, unacquainted individuals may collaborate to complete a project, develop a product, or solve a problem. Using the Social Relations Model, this study examined the extent to which first-encounter trait perceptions predicted collaborative partner preferences. Previously-unacquainted participants (N = 297, 55 groups, 55.9% female) interacted dyadically and provided round-robin ratings of extraversion, honesty-humility, competence, and partner preference. At the target level, individuals who were consistently viewed as extraverted and competent were consistently preferred more as partners. At the relationship level, individuals who were uniquely viewed as honest-humble and competent were uniquely preferred more as partners. Findings underscore the relevance of target- and relationship-specific perceptions in predicting first-encounter collaborative partner preferences.
This study examines the relationship between human-and computer-coded narrative themes and well-being. U.S. adults (mean age = 39; 53% male; 75% White/European American) were surveyed across three waves. At baseline (NT1 = 663), participants narrated how the COVID-19 pandemic changed them and reported their hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Four (NT2 = 455) and nine months (NT3 = 291) later, well-being was reassessed. Narratives were coded for motivational (agency, communion) and affective (redemption, contamination) themes. Human-coded themes showed stronger concurrent and prospective associations with both wellbeing dimensions than computer-coded themes. However, narrative themes were not reliably linked with changes in well-being. Distinct patterns of associations between motivational and affective themes and well-being dimensions were also observed.
This study explored whether individuals with different types of environmental sensitivity—a core personality trait—use distinct coping strategies, and how these patterns vary across individualistic (UK) and collectivistic (China) cultures. Participants included 259 UK and 369 Chinese undergraduates, categorized into five sensitivity types. We examined their use of problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant coping strategies. Sensitivity types showed distinct coping profiles: highly sensitive individuals used all strategies more frequently; vigilant types favored avoidant coping, and vantage types leaned toward problem-focused coping. Notably, the link between sensitivity type and emotion-focused coping differed across cultures. These findings highlight the role of both individual traits and cultural context in shaping coping behaviors and underscore the importance of considering both in future research on stress and adaptation.
