(Sympathy for) the Devil You Know: Openness, Psychological Entropy, and the Case of the Incumbency Advantage

Why do some individuals prefer lesser-known, riskier experiences over more well-known options in life? In this paper, we focus on the case of the electoral advantage to incumbency, and the role that psychological entropy reduction can play in undermining that advantage among individuals who lack simplifying heuristics, such as party brand loyalty. We build on recent work in political psychology, applying a more general political psychology framework linking the Big Five personality trait of Openness to a compulsion to gather and process information. Using data from the 2014 and 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Studies, we find more Open respondents are more willing to vote for more uncertain House challengers at higher rates, but only among Independent respondents who are unable to rely on partisan cues to simplify the psychological entropy presented by such challengers. This suggests Openness captures relative preferences for encountering and reducing psychological entropy rather than traditionally defined risk preferences.

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Associations Between Personality Traits and Cognitive Resilience in Older Adults

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gbaa135 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 76 (1) ◽

pp. 6-19

Author(s):

Eileen K Graham ◽

Bryan D James ◽

Kathryn L Jackson ◽

Emily C Willroth ◽

Patricia Boyle ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Big Five ◽

Cognitive Activity ◽

Data Access ◽

Big Five Personality Traits ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Post Mortem ◽

Religious Orders ◽

Using Data

Abstract Objectives The goal of this paper was to examine associations between personality traits and resilience to neuropathologic burden. Method Using data from the Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging Project, we identified a total of 1,375 participants with personality, cognitive, and post-mortem neuropathology data. We regressed cognition onto pathology and extracted the residuals as an indicator of cognitive resilience. We then modeled the effect of Big Five personality traits on cognitive resilience, adjusting for demographics, APOE status, medical comorbidities, and cognitive activity. The analytic plan was preregistered prior to data access or analysis, and all scripts and outputs are available online. Results Higher neuroticism was associated with greater vulnerability to pathology. Results from exploratory analyses suggest that higher conscientiousness was associated with less cognitive decline relative to the amount of pathology, or greater resilience. Education and cognitive activity did not moderate these associations. Discussion Personality may have a pathoplastic effect on neuropathology, as low neuroticism and high conscientiousness are associated with better function despite neuropathologic burden.

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An Investigation of Personality Types within the HEXACO Personality Framework

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001.30.4.181 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 181-187 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Michael C. Ashton ◽

Kibeom Lee

Keyword(s):

Big Five ◽

Factor Model ◽

Five Factor Model ◽

Community Sample ◽

Personality Types ◽

Personality Factors ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Multivariate Normal ◽

Using Data ◽

Peer Reports

Recent research aimed at identifying distinct personality types has generally searched for such types in the space of the dimensions of the Big Five or Five-Factor model. We extended this search to the space of the HEXACO model of personality structure, using data from a large community sample of adults. In a series of cluster analyses involving 3 to 7 clusters, the proportion of reliable variance in HEXACO dimensions that was accounted for by the types – i.e., clusters – was small, never exceeding that accounted for by clusters generated from random multivariate normal data. The predictive validity of the types and the dimensions was compared with respect to aggregated peer reports on the Big Five personality factors, and results showed that even the largest sets of HEXACO types accounted for only half as much variance as did the HEXACO dimensions. The results provide no evidence of meaningful personality types within the space of the HEXACO framework.

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The co-development of perceived support and the Big Five in middle and older adulthood

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025417690262 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 26-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Patrick L. Hill ◽

Sara J. Weston ◽

Joshua J. Jackson

Keyword(s):

Big Five ◽

Personality Trait ◽

Personality Development ◽

Perceived Support ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Older Adulthood ◽

Using Data ◽

Perception Of Support ◽

Positive Social Support ◽

Positive Support

The current study examined whether relationships also influence personality trait development during middle and older adulthood, focusing on the individual’s perception of support from the relationship partner. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study ( n = 20,422; mean age = 65.9 years), we examined the longitudinal relationships between Big Five personality trait levels and perceived support from children, family, friends, and spouses. Results found that participants who reported more positive social support and lower negative support also tended to score higher on conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience, but lower on neuroticism. Moreover, changes in positive support across relationship partners coincided with trait changes over time, in the form of more positive support was associated with seemingly adaptive changes on the Big Five. Findings are discussed with respect to identifying social influences on personality development in adulthood.

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INCREMENTAL VALIDITY OF OPTIMISM AND PURPOSE FOR PREDICTING OLDER ADULTS’ DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.1151 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S314-S315

Author(s):

Lauren L Mitchell ◽

Chris Erbes ◽

Paul Arbisi

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Big Five ◽

Well Being ◽

Incremental Validity ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Psychological Constructs ◽

Symptom Trajectories ◽

Big Five Traits ◽

Using Data

Abstract After age 60, depressive symptoms tend to increase slowly over time on average across the population. However, individual trajectories vary, with some increasing more steeply, and others remaining stable. A broad array of psychological constructs have been demonstrated to predict depressive symptoms, including neuroticism, extraversion, optimism, and sense of purpose in life. It is important for psychologists to understand which among these factors are the strongest and most robust predictors. A substantial body of research demonstrates that Big Five personality traits are strongly associated with depressive symptoms (e.g., Hakulinen et al., 2015). Optimism and purpose are also associated with well-being (Carver et al., 2009; Pinquart, 2002), but it is not clear whether such associations could be accounted for by Big Five traits, which are also correlated with optimism and purpose. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 14,021), we tested the incremental validity of optimism and purpose for predicting older adults’ depressive symptoms, controlling for Big Five traits and demographics. A latent growth curve modeling approach allowed us to examine associations with trajectories of depressive symptoms over six waves (approximately 10 years). Results demonstrated that both optimism and purpose are significantly associated with baseline levels of depressive symptoms, over and above the Big Five. However, only Big Five traits were associated with linear and quadratic slope in depressive symptom trajectories. These findings suggest that optimism and purpose are not redundant with Big Five traits for predicting depressive symptoms, and may be valuable targets for intervention efforts.

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Human Character in the IPIP: Towards Shorter, More Content-Valid, and Cross-Culturally Comparable IPIP-VIA Character Strength Scales

10.31234/osf.io/k79qf ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Matthias Bluemke ◽

Melanie Viola Partsch ◽

Gerard Saucier ◽

Clemens M. Lechner

Keyword(s):

Big Five ◽

Character Strengths ◽

Community Sample ◽

Well Being ◽

Open Science ◽

Future Research ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Personality Item ◽

Self Transcendence ◽

Using Data

The “Values in Action” (VIA) framework is currently the most prominent approach to conceptualizing human character. VIA posits 24 character strengths that are purportedly valued across cultures and promote the well-being of both individuals and communities. However, unresolved limitations in the assessment of these character strengths continue to hamper theoretical progress in research on human character based on the VIA framework. Here we sought to lay a new foundation for ad-vanced assessment of strengths by refining and extensively validating an existing open-science inventory from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP). Using data from a U.S. community sample and four quota samples from the United Kingdom and Germany, we investigated whether valid, cross-culturally comparable, and economical assessment of the VIA character strengths is possible with the IPIP. Experts selected suitable items with the aim to obtain 24 balanced-keyed short scales. Different experts then translated these items to German. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, we established essential unidimensionality and well-fitting measure-ment models for each scale. All scales achieved at least partial scalar invariance across languages. Reliability estimates were satisfactory. Extensive analyses of the strengths’ nomological network placed character strengths between Big Five personality traits and basic human values, confirming that VIA strengths emphasize self-transcendence rather than self-enhancement. With few excep-tions, the 24 character strengths scales were sufficiently distinct from the Big Five, and many showed incremental predictive validity, also for “good life” criteria. The 96-item inventory “IPIP-VIA-R” offers a sound and fully open-science approach to future research on character strengths.

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Hardwired to attack. Candidates’ personality traits and negative campaigning in three European countries

Acta Politica ◽

10.1057/s41269-021-00222-7 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Alessandro Nai ◽

Anke Tresch ◽

Jürgen Maier

Keyword(s):

Political Psychology ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Political Communication ◽

Big Five ◽

Big Five Personality Traits ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Negative Campaigning ◽

Clear Cut ◽

Growing Body

AbstractA growing body of studies shows that the reasons for competing candidates to “go negative” on their opponents during elections—that is, attacking their opponents instead of promoting their own programs or ideas stem from strategic considerations. Yet, existing research has, at this stage, failed to assess whether candidates’ personality traits also play a role. In this article, we bridge the gap between existing work in political psychology and political communication and study to what extent the personality traits of competing candidates are linked with their use of negative campaigning strategies. We rely on candidate survey data for recent elections in three countries—Germany (2017), Switzerland (2019), and Finland (2019). The data includes self-reported measures for candidates’ “Big Five” personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness) and the the use of attacks towards their opponents during the campaign. Controlling for the usual suspects driving the use of negative campaigning we show that this latter is associated with low agreeableness and (marginally) with high extraversion and low conscientiousness. The role of personality for the focus of an attack (issue vs. character attacks) is somewhat less clear-cut. All in all, kinder and more stable candidates tend to go less negative; when they do, they tend to stay away from character-based attacks and somehow focus on issues.

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Little Evidence for Associations Between the Big Five Personality Traits and Variability in Brain Gray or White Matter

10.1101/658567 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Reut Avinun ◽

Salomon Israel ◽

Annchen R. Knodt ◽

Ahmad R. Hariri

Keyword(s):

White Matter ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Surface Area ◽

Big Five ◽

Brain Structure ◽

Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽

Big Five Personality Traits ◽

Small Sample ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Using Data

AbstractAttempts to link the Big Five personality traits of Openness-to-Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism with variability in trait-like features of brain structure have produced inconsistent results. Small sample sizes and heterogeneous methodology have been suspected in driving these inconsistencies. Here, we tested for associations between the Big Five personality traits and multiple measures of brain structure using data from 1,107 university students (636 women, mean age 19.69±1.24 years) representing the largest attempt to date. In addition to replication analyses based on a prior study, we conducted exploratory whole-brain analyses. Four supplementary analyses were also conducted to examine 1) possible associations with lower-order facets of personality; 2) modulatory effects of sex; 3) effect of controlling for non-target personality traits; and 4) parcellation scheme effects. The analyses failed to identify any significant associations between the Big Five personality traits and variability in measures of cortical thickness, surface area, subcortical volume, or white matter microstructural integrity, except for an association between greater surface area of the superior temporal gyrus and lower scores on conscientiousness that explained 0.44% of the morphometric measure’s variance. Notably however, the latter association is largely not supported by previous studies. The supplementary analyses mirrored these largely null findings, suggesting they were not substantively biased by our choice of analytic model. Collectively, these results indicate that if there are direct associations between the Big Five personality traits and variability in brain structure, they are of likely very small effect sizes and will require very large samples for reliable detection.

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A Coordinated Analysis of Big-Five Trait Change Across 16 Longitudinal Samples

10.31234/osf.io/ryjpc ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eileen Kranz Graham ◽

Denis Gerstorf ◽

Tomiko Yoneda ◽

Andrea Marie Piccinin ◽

Tom Booth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Big Five ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Growth Curve Models ◽

Trajectories Of Change ◽

Trajectory Models ◽

Multi Level ◽

Using Data ◽

Study Sites ◽

Over Time

This study assessed change in the Big Five personality traits. We conducted a coordinated integrative data analysis (IDA) using data from 16 studies including over 60,000 respondents to examine trajectories of change in the traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. Coordinating models across multiple study sites, we fit nearly identical multi-level linear growth curve models to assess and compare the extent of trait change over time. Quadratic change was assessed in 8 studies with four or more measurement occasions. Across studies, the linear trajectory models revealed stability for agreeableness and decreases for the other four five traits. The non-linear trajectories suggest a U-shaped curve for neuroticism, and an inverted-U for extraversion. Meta-analytic summaries indicate that the fixed effects are heterogeneous, and that the variability in traits is partially explained by baseline age and country of origin. We conclude from our study that neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness go down over time, while agreeableness remains relatively stable.

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Unfolding the Association between the Big Five, Frugality, E-Mavenism, and Sustainable Consumption Behavior

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12020490 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 490 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Muhammad Awais ◽

Tanzila Samin ◽

Muhammad Awais Gulzar ◽

Jinsoo Hwang ◽

Muhammad Zubair

Keyword(s):

Social Networking ◽

Big Five ◽

Social Networking Sites ◽

Online Survey ◽

Sustainable Consumption ◽

Positive Association ◽

Causal Modeling ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Consumption Behavior ◽

Using Data

Materialistic lifestyle, along with the increase in the world’s population, is leading to unlimited hyper-consumption due to raising the global demand for services and goods. Marketing strategies can be acclimatized to offer more viably to the vital segment of buyers by engaging e-mavens, their antecedents of big five personality traits, frugality, and sustainable consumption behavior are needed to comprehend. The study assessed the novel endeavor to exhibit a potential relationship among the big five, e-mavenism, frugality, and sustainable consumption behavior in social networking sites. This body of knowledge adds to comprehend sustainable consumption behavior and fills many gaps by using data from a sample (n = 387) of social networking sites users from China. Causal modeling technique (SEM) is affianced to evaluate the study hypotheses. The data from an online survey disclose a positive association of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience with e-mavenism. The results affirm that e-mavenism is positively correlated with frugality. Moreover, frugality is vital in the growth of sustainable consumption behavior as well. Eventually, e-mavenism positively influences sustainable consumption behavior. These results enhance understanding of sustainable consumption behavior and provide an opportunity that marketing managers may apply these constructs into their strategies to achieve competitive advantage.

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The Big Five personality traits and burnout among Malaysian HR professionals

Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration ◽

10.1108/apjba-09-2014-0106 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 2-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Angeli Santos ◽

Michael Mustafa ◽

Gwi Terk Chern

Keyword(s):

Big Five ◽

Financial Institution ◽

Big Five Personality ◽

Surface Acting ◽

Content Type ◽

Work Related ◽

Emotions In The Workplace ◽

Using Data ◽

The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether Malaysian HR professionals emotions regulation strategy mediates the relationship between their personality and burnout. To date few studies have examined such issues, especially among emerging Asian economies such as Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – A model linking the Big Five personality to emotions regulation (deep and surface acting (SA)) and burnout was tested using data from 136 employees from a large Malaysian financial institution. Findings – Results indicate that the Big Five had different effects on burnout and emotion regulation. Only SA mediated the relationship between extroversion, emotional stability and openness on personal-related burnout and between extroversion and openness on work-related burnout. Originality/value – The study represents one of the first attempts in the literature to explore how individual differences and emotions influence burnout among HR professionals. The study also addresses calls in the literature to further explore the role of emotions in the workplace in non-Western contexts.

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