scholarly journals Is Negative Campaigning a Matter of Taste? Political Attacks, Incivility, and the Moderating Role of Individual Differences

2020 ◽  
pp. 1532673X2096554
Author(s):  
Alessandro Nai ◽  
Jürgen Maier

We test how individual differences moderate the attitudinal effects of attack politics in two online experiments among US respondents, surveyed through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk ( N = 1,408 and N = 1,081). Study 1 tests the moderating effect of personality traits (Big Five, Dark Triad) on the effectiveness of character vs. policy attacks. Study 2 investigates the difference between civil and uncivil attacks and explores the moderating effect of Big Five, Dark Triad, tolerance to negativity and conflict avoidance. Results suggest that the effects of negativity and incivility are not uniform across all respondents. For instance, evaluations of the sponsor are more negative after exposure to negative messages for respondents high in conflict avoidance; respondents high in psychopathy are more likely to have a more negative opinion of the target after being exposed to character attacks, whereas incivility worsen the perception of the target for individuals low in conflict avoidance and agreeableness. Harsher campaigns, in other terms, work particularly well for some – and are particularly rejected by others. The implications of these trends are discussed.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Siritzky ◽  
David M Condon ◽  
Sara J Weston

The current study utilizes the current COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the importance of accounting for the influence of external political and economic factors in personality public-health research. We investigated the extent to which systemic factors modify the relationship between personality and pandemic response. Results shed doubt on the cross-cultural generalizability of common big-five factor models. Individual differences only predicted government compliance in autocratic countries and in countries with income inequality. Personality was only predictive of mental health outcomes under conditions of state fragility and autocracy. Finally, there was little evidence that the big five traits were associated with preventive behaviors. Our ability to use individual differences to understand policy-relevant outcomes changes based on environmental factors and must be assessed on a trait-by-trait basis, thus supporting the inclusion of systemic political and economic factors in individual differences models.


2020 ◽  
pp. 194855061989897 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Markowitz ◽  
Timothy R. Levine

Research has documented substantial individual differences in the proclivity for honesty or dishonesty and that personality traits meaningfully account for variations in honesty–dishonesty. Research also shows important situational variation related to deception, as situations can motivate or discourage dishonest behaviors. The current experiment examines personality and situational influences on honesty–dishonesty in tandem, arguing that their effects may not be additive. Participants ( N = 114) engaged in an experimental task providing the opportunity to cheat for tangible gain. The situation varied to encourage or discourage cheating. Participants completed the HEXACO-100 and the Dark Triad of Personality scales. Both situational variation and personality dimensions predicted honesty–dishonesty, but the effects of personality were not uniform across situations. These results were also supported using public data from an independent, multilab sample ( N = 5,757). We outline how these results inform our understanding of deception, situational influences, and the role of disposition in honesty.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 220-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savannah Boele ◽  
Jelle J. Sijtsema ◽  
Theo A. Klimstra ◽  
Jaap J.A. Denissen ◽  
Wim H.J. Meeus ◽  
...  

The present study examined the role of person–group dissimilarity in personality in peer victimization. It was hypothesized that adolescents who show more deviation from the classroom norm in personality experience more peer victimization. Data from 1108 adolescents (48% boys; Mage = 13.56 years, SD = 1.13) from 54 classrooms were used to test this hypothesis. Data included measurements of self–reported and bully–disclosed victimization and Big Five and Dark Triad personality traits. Results of generalized linear mixed models including polynomial equations and subsequent response surface analyses partly supported our hypothesis. Person–group dissimilarity in the shape of personality profiles was related to more bully–disclosed victimization, but not to self–reported victimization. Dissimilarity in neuroticism and Machiavellianism was related to both more self–reported and bully–disclosed victimization. Dissimilarity in extraversion, openness to experience, and psychopathy was only related to more self–reported victimization. Unexpectedly, dissimilarity in agreeableness was related to less self–reported victimization. Moreover, our results also indicated that certain levels of congruent person–group combinations in agreeableness, neuroticism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy were related to more peer victimization. Overall, findings of this study emphasize the importance of considering classroom norms in relation to peer victimization. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter K. Jonason ◽  
Ashley N. Lavertu

How do individual differences in personality and sexuality relate to social attitudes? We contend that personality traits and sexual orientation are descriptions of underlying biases (e.g., perceptual) that exert top-down influences into all of life's domains including social attitudes. The present study (N=200 women) examined individual differences in sex-based and race-based social attitudes as a function of the Big Five traits, the Dark Triad traits, and sexual orientation. We found that affiliative-based motivations in the form of agreeableness, openness, and narcissism predicted the desire and tendency to affiliate with other women. We also found fear-based (i.e., neuroticism) and entitlement-based (i.e., narcissism) traits were associated with efforts towards political action for gender equality. We found a "go-along" disposition (i.e., agreeableness and openness) was associated with greater endorsement of traditional gender roles. We replicated associations between the Big Five traits (i.e., openness and agreeableness) and race-based social attitudes. Uniquely, Machiavellianism was associated with more race-based social attitudes but with diminished endorsement of traditional gender roles. And last, we suggest that experienced discrimination among bisexual women may lead them to be less likely to hold both undesirable race-based and sex-based social attitudes.


Psihologija ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofija Cerovic ◽  
Ivana Petrovic

The study explores the relative contribution of interviewers? personality and interviewers? ratings of candidate?s personality in predicting interviewers? ratings of candidate?s job suitability and examines the moderating effect of interviewers? personality on the relationship between ratings of candidate?s personality and job suitability. Results showed that ratings of candidate?s Big Five personality traits were related to ratings of candidate?s job suitability, as well as were interviewers? Agreeableness and Extraversion. Interviewers? Openness and Agreeableness had a moderating effect on the relationship between interviewers? ratings of candidate?s personality traits and ratings of candidate?s job suitability. Results reveal the role that interviewer?s Agreeableness, Extraversion and Openness play in the assessment of candidate in the selection interview.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Zettler ◽  
Christoph Schild ◽  
Lau Lilleholt ◽  
Lara Kroencke ◽  
Till Utesch ◽  
...  

People and institutions around the world have been affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Herein, we investigate the role of both basic (HEXACO and Big Five) and specific (Dark Factor of Personality, Narcissistic Rivalry and Admiration) personality traits for 17 criteria related to COVID-19, grouped into (i) personal perceptions in terms of risks and worries about the disease, (ii) behavioral adjustments in terms of following the health recommendations and hoarding, and (iii) societal evaluations in terms of the appropriateness of different measures and feelings of social cohesion. (Internal) Meta-analytic results across five samples from two countries (overall N = 10,702) show—next to gender and age effects—the importance of several traits, including Emotionality/Neuroticism for personal perceptions and anti- or prosocial traits for behavior in line with health recommendations. The investigation thus highlights the importance of individual differences in uncertain and changing situations and the COVID-19 pandemic in particular.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412110021
Author(s):  
Cristian Cabrera ◽  
Jorge-Manuel Dueñas ◽  
Sandra Cosi ◽  
Fabia Morales-Vives

Although research in recent years has revealed widespread discrimination against transgender people, few studies have addressed the attitudes of those who discriminate. In fact, although studies report that bullying is very common in adolescence, little is known about the attitudes of adolescents towards transgender people. This study aimed to determine the roles of social reputation, family socialisation, the big five personality traits and aggressiveness in transphobia and gender bashing among adolescents. The sample consisted of 479 students (50.1% boys) aged 14–19 (M = 15.04; SD = 1.06). The results revealed that transphobia and gender bashing were significantly related to the study variables. Specifically, the results showed that transphobia is largely predicted by variables of the type related to affect and personality, while gender bashing is largely related to variables of a social and reputational nature. Similarly, differences were found between genders, with boys having significantly higher scores than girls for transphobia and gender bashing, as well as specificity of predictors. The implications of these findings are discussed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062095257
Author(s):  
Nick Modersitzki ◽  
Le Vy Phan ◽  
Niclas Kuper ◽  
John F. Rauthmann

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in people’s private and public lives that are unprecedented in modern history. However, little is known about the differential psychological consequences of restrictions that have been imposed to fight the pandemic. In a large and diverse German sample ( N = 1,320), we examined how individual differences in psychological consequences of the pandemic (perceived restrictiveness of government-supported measures, global pandemic-related appraisals, subjective well-being) were associated with a broad set of faceted personality traits (Big Five, Honesty-Humility, Dark Triad). Facets of Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness were among the strongest and most important predictors of psychological outcomes, even after controlling for basic sociodemographic variables (gender, age). These findings suggest that psychological consequences of the pandemic depend on personality and thus add to the growing literature on the importance of considering individual differences in crisis situations.


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