"They Are Such an Asshole": Describing the Targets of a Common Insult Among English-Speakers in the United States

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brinkley M. Sharpe ◽  
Courtland Hyatt ◽  
Donald Lynam ◽  
Josh Miller

Insults convey information about the speaker’s perception of the target’s personality. Previous research has found that several commonly used insults (“asshole,” “dick,” “bitch”) are uniformly associated with self- and other-reported antagonism (or low Agreeableness). We aimed to replicate and extend these findings by focusing on the insult “asshole,” a common insult used to refer to both men and women. In the present study, participants (n = 397) described the “biggest assholes” in their lives using a measure of the Five-Factor Model of personality. “Assholes” described by participants were typically middle-aged, predominantly male, and included romantic partners, coworkers, bosses, family members, and friends. Results showed that “assholes” were perceived to be characterized by interpersonally relevant traits (i.e., low Agreeableness, high Anger). The consensus Five Factor Model profile for target “assholes” was similar to expert profiles of psychopathic, antisocial, and narcissistic personality disorders. Exploratory analyses conducted on open-ended descriptions of nominated bothersome “asshole-related” behaviors revealed common themes including manipulation, aggression, irresponsibility, and entitlement.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelina Sutin ◽  
Martina Luchetti ◽  
Damaris Aschwanden ◽  
Ji Hyun Lee ◽  
Amanda A Sesker ◽  
...  

The rapid spread of the coronavirus and the strategies to slow it have disrupted just about every aspect of our lives. Such disruption may be reflected in changes in psychological function. The present study used a pre-posttest design to test whether Five Factor Model personality traits changed with the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Participants (N=2,137) were tested in early February 2020 and again during the President’s 15 Days to Slow the Spread guidelines. In contrast to the preregistered hypotheses, Neuroticism decreased across these six weeks, particularly the facets of Anxiety and Depression, and Conscientiousness did not change. Exploratory analyses indicated that quarantine/isolation status moderated change such that Neuroticism only decreased for those not in quarantine, whereas Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness declined for participants in quarantine. The present research suggests modest changes in personality traits across the acute phase of the coronavirus outbreak.


Assessment ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Fergus ◽  
Joseph R. Bardeen

The Metacognitions Questionnaire–30 (MCQ-30) is a self-report measure that assesses metacognitive beliefs (i.e., beliefs about thinking). Prior research has supported a correlated five-factor model, but no known published study has examined the tenability of second-order or bifactor models of the MCQ-30. Results supported a bifactor model of the MCQ-30 in a sample of community adults from the United States ( N = 785), as well as separately among men ( n = 372) and women ( n = 413). Multiple-groups confirmatory factor analysis supported the configural and metric/scalar invariance of the bifactor model among men and women. Results further supported the incremental validity of one of the MCQ-30 domain-specific factors in accounting for unique variance in an index of health anxiety beyond the general metacognition factor. Results provide support for a bifactor conceptualization of the MCQ-30 and the invariance of that model across men and women.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 624-631
Author(s):  
James Gerhart ◽  
Paul Duberstein ◽  
Danielle Paull ◽  
Sean O’Mahony ◽  
John Burns ◽  
...  

Background: Opioid overdoses have reached epidemic levels in the United States and have clustered in Northeastern and “Rust Belt” states. Five Factor Model (FFM) personality traits also vary at the state level, with anger-prone traits clustered in the Northeast region. This study tested the hypothesis that state-level anger proneness would be associated with a greater increase in rates of opioid overdose death. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of state-level data on FFM traits, opioid overdose deaths, and other classes of preventable death. Robust mixed models tested whether change in rates of opioid overdose death from 2008 to 2016 was moderated by state-level anger proneness. Results: State-level anger proneness was significantly associated with greater increases in rates of opioid overdose deaths (B = 1.01, standard error = 0.19, P < .001, 95% confidence interval: 0.63-1.39). The slope of increase in opioid overdose death rates was 380% greater in anger-prone states and held after adjustment for potential confounders such as state-level prevalence of major depressive disorder, number of mental health facilities, and historical patterns of manufacturing decline. A similar pattern was observed between state-level anger proneness and benzodiazepine overdose deaths but was not significant for the latter after adjustment for potential confounders. Conclusion: These findings suggest that states characterized as more anger prone have experienced greater increases in opioid overdose deaths.


2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 487-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Jokela ◽  
Alexandra Alvergne ◽  
Thomas V. Pollet ◽  
Virpi Lummaa

We examined associations between Five Factor Model personality traits and various outcomes of reproductive behavior in a sample of 15 729 women and men from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) and Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) survey. Personality and reproductive history was self–reported in adulthood (mean age: 53 years). High extraversion, high openness to experience, and low neuroticism were associated with larger number of children in both sexes, while high agreeableness and low conscientiousness correlated with larger offspring number in women only. These associations were independent of marital status. There were also more specific associations between personality and timing of childbearing. The findings demonstrate that personality traits of the Five Factor Model are systematically associated with multiple reproductive outcomes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Author(s):  
Gabriela González

The concluding chapter explains how race had served defenders of slavery by providing them with an excuse to hold men and women in bondage. For their inhumane treatment of Africans during the Age of Enlightenment to be justified, their humanity needed to be ideologically stripped away—scientific racism served that purpose. Racist theories also kept other groups in subaltern positions. Mexicans with mestizo, mulatto, and Indian genealogies experienced racialization in the United States. Simply put, Americans, proud of their liberal political heritage and their democratic institutions, needed to see oppressed groups as somehow sub-human in order to reconcile their political beliefs with the nation’s less than egalitarian realities. It is for this reason that the politics of redemption practiced by Mexican immigrant and Mexican American activists merits attention.


Author(s):  
Ramón J. Guerra

This chapter examines the development of Latino literature in the United States during the time when realism emerged as a dominant aesthetic representation. Beginning with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) and including the migrations resulting from the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Mexican Revolution (1910), Latinos in the United States began to realistically craft an identity served by a sense of displacement. Latinos living in the United States as a result of migration or exile were concerned with similar issues, including but not limited to their predominant status as working-class, loss of homeland and culture, social justice, and racial/ethnic profiling or discrimination. The literature produced during the latter part of the nineteenth century by some Latinos began to merge the influence of romantic style with a more socially conscious manner to reproduce the lives of ordinary men and women, draw out the specifics of their existence, characterize their dialects, and connect larger issues to the concerns of the common man, among other realist techniques.


Author(s):  
Robbee Wedow ◽  
Daniel A. Briley ◽  
Susan E. Short ◽  
Jason Boardman

This chapter uses twin pairs from the Midlife in the United States study to investigate the genetic and environmental influences on perceived weight status for midlife adults. The inquiry builds on previous work investigating the same phenomenon in adolescents, and it shows that perceived weight status is not only heritable, but also heritable beyond objective weight. Subjective assessment of physical weight is independent of one’s physical weight and described as “weight identity.” Importantly, significant differences are shown in the heritability of weight identity among men and women. The chapter ends by discussing the potential relevance of these findings for broader social identity research.


2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052097031
Author(s):  
Cary Leonard Klemmer ◽  
Ashley C. Schuyler ◽  
Mary Rose Mamey ◽  
Sheree M. Schrager ◽  
Carl Andrew Castro ◽  
...  

Prior research among military personnel has indicated that sexual harassment, stalking, and sexual assault during military service are related to negative health sequelae. However, research specific to LGBT U.S. service members is limited. The current study aimed to explore the health, service utilization, and service-related impact of stalking and sexual victimization experiences in a sample of active-duty LGBT U.S. service members ( N = 248). Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit study participants. U.S. service members were eligible to participate if they were 18 years or older and active-duty members of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, or U.S. Air Force. This study included a sizeable portion of transgender service members ( N = 58, 23.4%). Sociodemographic characteristics, characteristics of military service, health, and sexual and stalking victimization in the military were assessed. Regression was used to examine relationships between health and service outcomes and sexual and stalking victimization during military service. Final adjusted models showed that experiencing multiple forms of victimization in the military increased the odds of visiting a mental health clinician and having elevated somatic symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology, anxiety, and suicidality. Sexual and stalking victimization during U.S. military service was statistically significantly related to the mental and physical health of LGBT U.S. service members. Interventions to reduce victimization experiences and support LGBT U.S. service members who experience these types of violence are indicated. Research that examines the role of LGBT individuals’ experiences and organizational and peer factors, including social support, leadership characteristics, and institutional policies in the United States military is needed.


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