Research in motivational psychology has long been interested in implicit motives –– affectively charged preferences for classes of stimuli related to power, achievement, and affiliation. However, the existing literature on implicit motives has predominantly focused on variable-centered approaches. This study extended the literature by employing a person-centered approach. Specifically, we utilized Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) on data from the Operant Motives Test (OMT; Kuhl et al. in Diagnostik von motivation und selbstkonzept 129–149, 1999). Our analysis revealed eight distinct implicit motive configurations. Among them, we found configurations we expected: Relaxed Agency, Avoidant-Dependent, Intimacy Seekers, High-Flow, and Stressed Agency. We tested the incremental validity of these configurations beyond dimensional implicit motives for the prediction of interpersonal relationship satisfaction, depressiveness, and self-criticism. The Relaxed Agency and Intimacy Seekers were positively related to interpersonal relationship satisfaction. The Stressed Agency and Avoidant-Dependent were positively related to depressiveness. The Relaxed Agency was negatively related to self-criticism, while Avoidant-Dependent was positively related to it. Our results show that implicit motive configurations contribute to outcomes beyond dimensional implicit motives. We discussed the implications of our findings, including those related to the other discovered configurations.

Kruglanski et al. frame romantic love as a quest for significance. This commentary expands their model by integrating an evolutionary perspective, linking significance to mating and reproductive success. It highlights how additional psychological needs - such as emotional security, arousal, and sexual satisfaction - also shape romantic love. By situating these needs within evolved functions, the commentary clarifies how significance interacts with other motivational systems in the emergence and dynamics of romantic love.

The distinction between nomothetics and idiographics (and adjacent issues such as heterogeneities, generalizability, and ergodicity) is fundamental to a deeper understanding of personality-related phenomena and any psychological structures and processes in general. Thus, ignoring nomothetics and idiographics threatens the validity of inferences in personality and psychological science. As fruits from an EAPP-funded expert meeting, three articles (Phan et al., Kuper et al., and Modersitzki et al.) provide systematic accounts of nomothetics and idiographics from conceptual, methodological, and applied perspectives. Together, this tripartite article collection argues that nomothetics and idiographics (a) are each multi-faceted (i.e., are not uniform), (b) require nuanced interpretation and precise terminology, and (c) do not stand in opposition to each other but can be complementary and fruitfully integrated to enrich our understanding of psychological phenomena. In this mantle article, we explicate guiding motivations for addressing nomothetics and idiographics in the first place, provide more context and history on the issues involved, introduce and summarize main take-aways from the three articles, and conclude with a view on bigger picture issues and suggestions on ways forward. We also introduce and invite to join the recently founded Personality Consortium on Research in Idiographics and Nomothetics (PECORINO).

In our longitudinal study, we examined self-reported or explicit basic emotions, i.e., happiness, sadness, anxiety, and anger, in depressed patients during acute illness and inpatient treatment. For exploratory purposes, we also assessed implicit emotions. We analyzed how changes in emotional clarity relate to changes in emotions and depressive symptoms. A sample of depressed inpatients (n = 52) was examined at admission and on average after seven weeks of multimodal psychiatric treatment. A healthy control group (n = 52) was tested at the same time interval. Basic emotions were measured via the Differential Emotions Scale and a discrete-emotions variant of the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test. Emotional clarity was measured with the WEFG scales. Patients reported lower explicit happiness and heightened explicit sadness, anxiety, and anger compared to healthy controls, regardless of time of measurement. Across groups and time points, implicit happiness was greater than implicit sadness, anxiety, and anger, with no group differences. Patients’ emotional clarity improved and correlated with improvements in depressive symptoms, explicit happiness, sadness, and implicit anger. In summary, depressed patients experience heightened anxiety and anger, suggesting broader alterations of negative emotions beyond sadness. Increased emotional clarity during treatment was found to be correlated with changes in explicit and implicit affectivity.

Past work has linked character virtues to broad individual differences in personality and well-being, yet their manifestation in everyday life remains unclear. In a 22-day daily diary study, we examined associations of state courage, humanity, and wisdom with DIAMONDS situation characteristics, manageability, internal locus of control, the Big Five traits, and flourishing. pOsitivity, internal locus of control, manageability, Sociality, and Intellect were positively associated with all three virtue states at within- and between-person levels, whereas Negativity was negatively associated with them. The virtue states were also positively associated with conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and flourishing, and negatively associated with neuroticism. These findings show how virtues emerge dynamically in daily life and illuminate person-situation processes in everyday expressions of character virtue.

Research indicates that there are age and gender differences in implicit power, achievement, and affiliation motives, measured through participants’ interpretations of ambiguous pictures. However, past research on these group differences has not considered motivational dynamic effects during implicit motive assessment. These effects involve the idea that prior expressions of an implicit motive reduce the probability of its subsequent expressions throughout the assessment. Furthermore, these dynamic effects may also differ across age and gender. The present study examines (a) age and gender differences in implicit motives by considering the motivational dynamic effects during implicit motive assessment; and (b) age and gender differences in the motivational dynamic effects. We used Dynamic Thurstonian Item Response Theory (DT-IRT; Psychol Rev 121(3), 481–500, 2014) on data from participants (N = 3066) responding to the Operant Motives Test (OMT; University of Osnabruck 1999). Results revealed that older groups showed (a) higher levels of implicit power and achievement motives; and (b) weaker motivational dynamic effects for implicit power and achievement motives. Women compared to men displayed (a) a higher level of implicit affiliation motive; (b) a lower level of implicit power motive; (c) weaker motivational dynamic effects for implicit affiliation motive; and (d) stronger motivational dynamic effects for implicit power and achievement motives. We discussed theoretical implications.

Implicit affiliation, power, and achievement motives are affectively charged preferences that are measured through participants’ interpretations of ambiguous pictures. However, researchers have raised concerns about the reliability, labor-intensive implementation, and scoring of implicit motive measures. Thus, we introduced a cost-effective measure known as the Implicit Concerns Test (ICT). We conducted three studies to examine the psychometric properties of the ICT. The first study focused on internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and factorial validity of the ICT. The second study examined (a) the hypothesized three-factor model using CFA, and (b) the discriminant validity of the ICT against an explicit measure of motive – the short form of the Unified Motive Test (UMS-3; Schönbrodt Gerstenberg, 2012). Lastly, the third study explored the association between gender and implicit motive-related themes. We found acceptable levels of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and a three-factor structure for the ICT. Furthermore, the ICT demonstrated independence from the UMS-3, supporting its discriminant validity. As hypothesized, our findings indicated that women demonstrated a stronger preference for implicit affiliation-related themes and a weaker inclination towards power-related themes compared to men. Our findings imply that ICT procedures can complement alternative implicit motive measures and be applied in investigating other implicit constructs.

Interventions can foster personal growth. However, our understanding of the specific mechanisms for change and the types of interventions driving this growth process remains limited. In this study, we focused on emotion regulation ability as a potential mechanism. We examined the effects of an affirmation coaching intervention on changes in emotion regulation ability, an important facet of personality. In this coaching intervention, participants created a personal mantra/goal derived from a selected image and positive associations linked to this image (motto goals). This is considered to enhance emotion regulation abilities by internalizing self-stabilizing value. We assigned sixty-six participants to either this affirmation coaching intervention or one of two control coaching interventions: specific-goal versus indulgence coaching. Before and after each intervention, participants completed questionnaires. Only the affirmation coaching intervention significantly increased in adaptive aspects of personality. Notably, the affirmation coaching intervention increased emotion regulation ability, and this effect persisted even when controlling for extraversion and neuroticism. Furthermore, exploratory analysis showed that extraversion increased following the affirmation coaching, while neuroticism remained unchanged. Our results suggest that emotion regulation ability might be the key factor in personality growth. It could be more malleable and/or respond more strongly to short-term coaching, compared to neuroticism. Thus, the malleability of personality traits may not be an all-or-nothing phenomenon; rather, it could depend on the facet of emotion regulation ability. We discuss potential mechanisms of personality growth, distinguishing between emotion regulation and emotion sensitivity.

Psychology is concerned with both general laws of psychological functioning and with the individual person. The debate surrounding nomothetics and idiographics has been brought up repeatedly, but it has never been completely resolved. We therefore aim to provide conceptual clarity on how the terms "idiographic" and "nomothetic" are used and how conflating these with other concepts negatively impacts research. By differentiating distinct inferential goals and research approaches, we disentangle these confounding concepts. We demonstrate that the nomothetic-idiographic distinction alone is insufficient for categorizing research approaches in personality science. Specifically, we present a categorization of research approaches based on (a) the focal entity (person(s) versus population(s)) and (b) the type of generalization (no vs. entity-specific vs. cross-entity) resulting in a 2 x 3 matrix of research approaches. Finally, we propose a framework of 25 polytomous criteria to extend upon these distinctions. This framework can be mapped onto the generic empirical research process and may help researchers to make decisions in the research process more explicit.

Studies have shown that Trait Emotional Awareness (TEA) – the ability to recognize one's emotions – and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) are both negatively associated with psychological disorders. Although these studies imply that TEA is related to HRV and may explain the association between HRV and psychological disorders, there is limited research investigating this implication. Such investigation is essential to illuminate the psychophysiological processes linked to psychological disorders. The present study aims to investigate a) the association between TEA and HRV, b) the association between HRV and psychological disorders, and c) whether TEA explains the association between HRV and psychological disorders. A sample of 41 German students completed self-report questionnaires as indicators of psychological disorders, including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Snaith & Zigmond, 1983) for anxiousness and depressiveness, as well as the somatization scale of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL; Derogatis et al., 1976) for physical complaints. HRV was measured at baseline (resting HRV) and during exposure to a fear-provoking movie clip (reactive HRV). As hypothesized, a) TEA showed a positive association with reactive HRV, b) HRV showed negative associations with anxiousness and physical complaints, and c) TEA explained the relationships between reactive HRV and anxiousness, as well as physical complaints. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find any association between HRV and depressiveness. We discussed the contribution of TEA to psychophysiological health, limited generalizability of the current study, and direct future research to explore the underlying mechanisms linking TEA to health.

Bei diesem Lehrbuch handelt es sich um die 2., vollständig überarbeitete Auflage des „Lehrbuchs der Persönlichkeitspsychologie“ von Julius Kuhl. Es beschreibt verschiedene traditionelle Sichtweisen und Ansätze aus der Persönlichkeits- und Motivationspsychologie sowie ihre wichtigsten Forschungsbefunde. Dies geschieht in einer Weise, dass ein integratives Verständnis der menschlichen Persönlichkeit und somit vernetztes Denken erleichtert wird. Die Kapitel sind nicht nach vorherrschenden theoretischen Ansätzen (Schulen) oder Forschungsthemen geordnet, sondern systematisch nach sieben psychischen Prozessebenen: Gewohnheiten, Temperament, Affekt, Stressbewältigung, Motive, komplexe Kognition und Selbststeuerung. Persönlichkeit lässt sich demnach als die für das Individuum typische Art und Weise beschreiben, wie das Zusammenwirken der verschiedenen Prozessebenen das Erleben und Handeln steuert. Nach einem einleitenden Kapitel widmet sich jedes Kapitel des Lehrbuchs einer Prozessebene, behandelt theoretisch-historische Ansätze und stellt aktuelle Befunde vor. Das Lehrbuch schließt mit theoretischen und empirischen Entwicklungen, die das Zusammenwirken verschiedener Prozessebenen beleuchten, und einer Darstellung der Theorie der Persönlichkeits-System-Interaktionen. Zahlreiche Kästen mit Zusammenfassungen, Definitionen und Beispielen gliedern den Text und erleichtern das Lernen. Reflexions- und Übungsaufgaben dienen der Prüfungsvorbereitung.

Philosophers and scientists have been puzzling over the potential antecedents and consequences of self-awareness or its relative absence since time immemorial. One major reason is the difficulty of identifying individuals’ actual needs, emotions, or goals and thus making statements about their level of self-awareness. Drawing on a “duality of mind” approach, we review our research that quantified discrepancies between first-person perspective and third-person perspective assessments of motives (“needs”), emotions, and goals as indicators of relative self-awareness. Also, we expand on their proximal causes related to personality–situation interactions and their emotional and motivational consequences. We discuss similarities among the three branches of research on motives, emotions, and goals and, lastly, provide an outlook for future research.

Current brain stimulation protocols for patients with bipolar disorders propose brain stimulation according to a model of opposing cerebral dominance in mania and bipolar depression by stimulating the right or left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during manic or depressive episodes, respectively. However, there is very little observational, rather than interventional, research on such opposing cerebral dominance. In fact, this is the first scoping review that summarizes resting-state and task- related functional cerebral asymmetries measured with brain imaging techniques in manic and depressive symptoms or episodes in patients with formal bipolar disorder diagnoses. In a three-step search process MEDLINE, Scopus, APA PsycInfo, Web of Science Core Collection, and BIOSIS Previews databases as well as reference lists of eligible studies were searched. Data from these studies were extracted with a charting table. Ten resting-state EEG and task-related fMRI studies met inclusion criteria. In line with brain stimulation protocols, mania relates to cerebral dominance in regions of the left frontal lobe, such as the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Bipolar depression relates to cerebral dominance in regions of the right frontal and temporal lobe, such as the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and temporal pole. More observational research on cerebral asymmetries in mania and bipolar depression can advance brain stimulation protocols and potentially inform standard treatment protocols.