Personality Traits Predict Smartphone Usage

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 701-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Stachl ◽  
Sven Hilbert ◽  
Jiew–Quay Au ◽  
Daniel Buschek ◽  
Alexander De Luca ◽  
...  

The present study investigates to what degree individual differences can predict frequency and duration of actual behaviour, manifested in mobile application (app) usage on smartphones. In particular, this work focuses on the identification of stable associations between personality on the factor and facet level, fluid intelligence, demography and app usage in 16 distinct categories. A total of 137 subjects (87 women and 50 men), with an average age of 24 ( SD = 4.72), participated in a 90–min psychometric lab session as well as in a subsequent 60–day data logging study in the field. Our data suggest that personality traits predict mobile application usage in several specific categories such as communication, photography, gaming, transportation and entertainment. Extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness are better predictors of mobile application usage than basic demographic variables in several distinct categories. Furthermore, predictive performance is slightly higher for single factor—in comparison with facet–level personality scores. Fluid intelligence and demographics additionally show stable associations with categorical app usage. In sum, this study demonstrates how individual differences can be effectively related to actual behaviour and how this can assist in understanding the behavioural underpinnings of personality. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie von Stumm

Intelligence-as-knowledge in adulthood is influenced by individual differences in intelligence-as-process (i.e., fluid intelligence) and in personality traits that determine when, where, and how people invest their intelligence over time. Here, the relationship between two investment traits (i.e., Openness to Experience and Need for Cognition), intelligence-as-process and intelligence-as-knowledge, as assessed by a battery of crystallized intelligence tests and a new knowledge measure, was examined. The results showed that (1) both investment traits were positively associated with intelligence-as-knowledge; (2) this effect was stronger for Openness to Experience than for Need for Cognition; and (3) associations between investment and intelligence-as-knowledge reduced when adjusting for intelligence-as-process but remained mostly significant.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Mõttus ◽  
Christopher J. Soto ◽  
Helena R. Slobodskaya ◽  
Mitja Back

Do individual differences in personality traits become more or less pronounced over childhood and adolescence? The present research examined age differences in the variance of a range of personality traits, using parent reports of two large samples of children from predominantly the USA and Russia, respectively. Results indicate (i) that individual differences in most traits tend to increase with age from early childhood into early adolescence and then plateau, (ii) that this general pattern of greater personality variance at older childhood age is consistent across the two countries, and (iii) that this pattern is not an artefact of age differences in means or floor/ceiling effects. These findings are consistent with several (noncontradictory) developmental mechanisms, including youths’ expanding behavioural capacities and person–environment transactions (corresponsive principle). However, these mechanisms may predominantly characterize periods before adolescence, or they may be offset by countervailing processes, such as socialization pressure towards a mature personality profile, in late adolescence and adulthood. Finally, the findings also suggest that interpreting age trajectories in mean trait scores as pertaining to age differences in a typical person may sometimes be misleading. Investigating variance should become an integral part of studying personality development. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiebke Bleidorn ◽  
Christopher J. Hopwood ◽  
Mitja D. Back ◽  
Jaap J.A. Denissen ◽  
Marie Hennecke ◽  
...  

The importance of personality for predicting life outcomes in the domains of love, work, and health is well established, as is evidence that personality traits, while relatively stable, can change. However, little is known about the sources and processes that drive changes in personality traits and how such changes might impact important life outcomes. In this paper, we make the case that the research paradigms and methodological approaches commonly used in personality psychology need to be revised to advance our understanding of the sources and processes of personality change. We propose Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies as a framework for studying personality change that can address the limitations of current methods, and we discuss strategies for overcoming some of the challenges associated with Longitudinal Experience–Wide Association Studies. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Thielmann ◽  
Robert Böhm ◽  
Benjamin E. Hilbig

Recently, Haesevoets, Folmer, and Van Hiel (2015) strongly questioned the comparability and equivalence of different mixed–motive situations as modelled in economic games. Particularly, the authors found that different game correlated only weakly on average and loaded on two separate factors. In turn, personality traits failed to consistently account for behavioural tendencies across games. Contrary to the conclusions of Haesevoets et al., these findings are actually perfectly in line with the game–theoretic understanding of the different economic games. If one considers the variety of specific motives underlying decisions in different games, Haesevoets et al.'s findings actually support the validity of different games rather than questioning it. This, in turn, emphasizes the necessity for the plethora of different games that have been developed over decades in economics and psychology. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith M. Welker ◽  
Justin M. Carré

Persistence is an important predictor of future successes. The present research addresses the relationship between testosterone and persistence in men. One hundred eighteen men were randomly assigned to win or lose a competitive number tracing task against a confederate or complete the task alone in a non–competitive control condition. Saliva samples were collected prior to and after the competition or control conditions. Participants were then given a maximum time of 30 min to spend attempting to solve unsolvable puzzles, with the option to quit at any time. In contrast to our prediction, changes in testosterone concentrations in response to the competitive interaction did not predict persistence behaviour. However, individual differences in testosterone concentrations (pre–competition/non–competition) were positively correlated with persistence. These findings are the first to examine associations between neuroendocrine function and persistence behaviour in people and suggest that testosterone should also be considered when predicting persistence–related outcomes. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J. Brandt ◽  
Christine Reyna

We propose that individual differences in the resistance to social change and the acceptance of inequality can have divergent effects on legitimacy depending on the context. This possibility was tested in a sample of 27 European countries ( N = 144 367) and across four experiments (total N = 475). Individual differences in the resistance to social change were related to higher levels of perceived legitimacy no matter the level of inequality of the society. Conversely, individual differences in the acceptance of inequality were related to higher levels of perceived legitimacy in unequal societies, but either a relationship near zero or the opposite relationship was found in more equal societies. These studies highlight the importance of distinguishing between individual differences that make up political ideology, especially when making predictions in diverse settings. © 2017 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 292-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Mõttus

Much of personality research attempts to identify causal links between personality traits and various types of outcomes. I argue that causal interpretations require traits to be seen as existentially and holistically real and the associations to be independent of specific ways of operationalizing the traits. Among other things, this means that, to the extents that causality is to be ascribed to such holistic traits, items and facets of those traits should be similarly associated with specific outcomes, except for variability in the degrees to which they reflect the traits (i.e. factor loadings). I argue that, before drawing causal inferences about personality trait–outcome associations, the presence of this condition should be routinely tested by, for example, systematically comparing the outcome associations of individual items or facets, or sampling different indicators for measuring the same purported traits. Existing evidence suggests that observed associations between personality traits and outcomes at least sometimes depend on which particular items or facets have been included in trait operationalizations, calling trait–level causal interpretations into question. However, this has rarely been considered in the literature. I argue that when outcome associations are specific to facets, they should not be generalized to traits. Furthermore, when the associations are specific to particular items, they should not even be generalized to facets. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 456-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liselotte den Boer ◽  
Theo A. Klimstra ◽  
Susan J.T. Branje ◽  
Wim H.J. Meeus ◽  
Jaap J.A. Denissen

The social investment theory (SIT) proposes that personality maturation is triggered by transitions into age–graded roles and psychological commitment to these roles. The present study examines the predictions of SIT by focusing on the transition from student life to working life. We analysed three–wave longitudinal data and compared participants who made the transition into working life ( N = 226), participants who combined education with work ( N = 387), and participants who did not make the transition at all ( N = 287). In contrast to the predictions of SIT, we found no differences in personality maturation between individuals who made the transition into working life and those who did this only partly or not at all. Psychological commitment to work did not explain individual differences in personality maturation for those who made the transition (partly) into working life after controlling for multiple testing. Therefore, the present study did not support the predictions of SIT. © 2019 The Authors European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Pusch ◽  
Felix D. Schönbrodt ◽  
Caroline Zygar–Hoffmann ◽  
Birk Hagemeyer

Although rooted in reality, partner perceptions often reflect wishful thinking due to perceivers’ needs. Dispositional needs, or motives, can differ between persons; however, little is known about their differential associations with everyday partner perception. The present study used data from a 4–week experience sampling study ( N = up to 60942 surveys from 510 individuals nested in 259 couples) to examine the effects of perceivers’ partner–related implicit and explicit communal motives on the perception of (i) global communal partner behaviour and (ii) specific communal and uncommunal partner behaviours. The results of truth and bias models of judgement and quasi–signal detection analyses indicate that strong implicit communal approach motives and strong explicit communal motives are associated with the tendency to overestimate the partner's communal behaviour. Additionally, strong implicit communal approach motives were associated with the tendency to avoid perceptions of uncommunal partner behaviour. Neither implicit nor explicit communal motives had an effect on accuracy in the perception of particularly communal partner behaviour. The results highlight the relevance of both implicit and explicit communal motives for momentary partner perceptions and emphasise the benefits of dyadic microlongitudinal designs for a better understanding of the mechanisms through which individual differences manifest in couples’ everyday lives. © 2019 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Wilt ◽  
William Revelle

Personality psychology is concerned with affect (A), behaviour (B), cognition (C) and desire (D), and personality traits have been defined conceptually as abstractions used to either explain or summarise coherent ABC (and sometimes D) patterns over time and space. However, this conceptual definition of traits has not been reflected in their operationalisation, possibly resulting in theoretical and practical limitations to current trait inventories. Thus, the goal of this project was to determine the affective, behavioural, cognitive and desire (ABCD) components of Big–Five personality traits. The first study assessed the ABCD content of items measuring Big–Five traits in order to determine the ABCD composition of traits and identify items measuring relatively high amounts of only one ABCD content. The second study examined the correlational structure of scales constructed from items assessing ABCD content via a large, web–based study. An assessment of Big–Five traits that delineates ABCD components of each trait is presented, and the discussion focuses on how this assessment builds upon current approaches of assessing personality. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology


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