Jens B. Asendorpf

Double dissociation between implicit and explicit personality self-concept: The case of shy behavior.

Using the trait of shyness as an example, the authors showed that (a) it is possible to reliably assess individual differences in the implicitly measured self-concept of personality that (b) are not accessible through traditional explicit self-ratings and (c) increase significantly the prediction of spontaneous behavior in realistic social situations. A total of 139 participants were observed in a shyness-inducing laboratory situation, and they completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit self-ratings of shyness. The IAT correlated moderately with the explicit self-ratings and uniquely predicted spontaneous (but not controlled) shy behavior, whereas the explicit ratings uniquely predicted controlled (but not spontaneous) shy behavior (double dissociation). The distinction between spontaneous and controlled behavior was validated in a 2nd study.

Social Withdrawal, inhibition, and Shyness in Childhood

Contents: Part I:Conceptual and Methodological Issues: An Overview. K.H. Rubin, J.B. Asendorpf, Social Withdrawal, Inhibition, and Shyness in Childhood: Conceptual and Definitional Issues. J. Kagan, N. Snidman, D. Arcus, On the Temperamental Categories of Inhibited and Uninhibited Children. Part II:Biological and Familial Factors: Independent and Interdependent Contributions. R.J. Davidson, Childhood Temperament and Cerebral Asymmetry: A Neurobiological Substrate of Behavioral Inhibition. A. Engfer, Antecedents and Consequences of Shyness in Boys and Girls: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study. N.A. Fox, S.D. Calkins, Pathways to Aggression and Social Withdrawal: Interactions Among Temperament, Attachment, and Regulation. J. Stevenson-Hinde, A. Shouldice, Wariness to Strangers: A Behavior Systems Perspective Revisited. R.S.L. Mills, K.H. Rubin, Socialization Factors in the Development of Social Withdrawal. Part III:Social Behaviors, Skills, and Relationships. A.G. Broberg, Inhibition and Childrens Experiences of Out-of-Home Care. M. Rezendes, N. Snidman, J. Kagan, J. Gibbons, Features of Speech in Inhibited and Uninhibited Children. M.A. Evans, Communicative Competence as a Dimension of Shyness. Part IV:Peer and Self Perceptions. A. Younger, C. Gentile, K. Burgess, Childrens Perceptions of Social Withdrawal: Changes Across Age. S. Hymel, E. Woody, A. Bowker, Social Withdrawal in Childhood: Considering the Childs Perspective. Part V:Longitudinal Perspectives on Social Withdrawal and Inhibition. J.B. Asendorpf, Beyond Temperament: A Two-Factorial Coping Model of the Development of Inhibition During Childhood. K.H. Rubin, The Waterloo Longitudinal Project: Correlates and Consequences of Social Withdrawal from Childhood to Adolescence. D. Olweus, Victimization by Peers: Antecedents and Long-Term Outcomes.

Beyond Global Sociosexual Orientations : A More Differentiated Look at Sociosexuality and Its Effects on Courtship and Romantic Relationships

Sociosexuality is usually assessed as the overall orientation toward uncommitted sex, although this global approach may mask unique contributions of different components. In a large online study (N = 2,708) and a detailed behavioral assessment of 283 young adults (both singles and couples) with a 1-year follow-up, the authors established 3 theoretically meaningful components of sociosexuality: past behavioral experiences, the attitude toward uncommitted sex, and sociosexual desire (all measured by a revised version of the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory). Discriminant validity was shown with regard to (a) their factorial structure, (b) sex differences, (c) many established correlates of sociosexuality, and (d) the prediction of observed flirting behavior when meeting an attractive opposite-sex stranger, even down to the level of objectively coded behaviors, as well as (e) the self-reported number of sexual partners and (f) changes in romantic relationship status over the following year. Within couples, the 3 components also showed distinct degrees of assortative mating and distinct effects on the romantic partner. Implications for the evolutionary psychology of mating tactics are discussed.

Recommendations for increasing replicability in psychology

Replicability of findings is at the heart of any empirical science. The aim of this article is to move the current replicability debate in psychology towards concrete recommendations for improvement. We focus on research practices but also offer guidelines for reviewers, editors, journal management, teachers, granting institutions, and university promotion committees, highlighting some of the emerging and existing practical solutions that can facilitate implementation of these recommendations. The challenges for improving replicability in psychological science are systemic. Improvement can occur only if changes are made at many levels of practice, evaluation, and reward. Copyright

Personality-relationship transaction in young adulthood

Personality and social relationships were assessed twice across a 4-year period in a general population sample of 489 German young adults. Two kinds of personality-relationship transaction were observed. First, mean-level change in personality toward maturity (e.g., increase in Conscientiousness and decrease in Neuroticism) was moderated by the transition to partnership but was independent of other developmental transitions. Second, individual differences in personality traits predicted social relationships much better than vice versa. Specifically, once initial correlations were controlled for, Extraversion, Shyness, Neuroticism, self-esteem, and Agreeableness predicted change in various qualities of relationships (especially with friends and colleagues), whereas only quality of relationships with preschool children predicted later Extraversion and Neuroticism. Consequences for the transactional view of personality in young adulthood are discussed.

The discrepant repressor: Differentiation between low anxiety, high anxiety, and repression of anxiety by autonomic-facial-verbal patterns of behavior

This study examined the notion that personality questionnaires can be used to predict different styles of coping with anxiety as expressed by individual differences in patterns of autonomic, verbal, and nonverbal reactions. In line with earlier modifications of the repression-sensitization concept, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS) were used to select four groups of 12 subjects each from a pool of 206 male students in Germany: low-anxious subjects (low MAS, low SDS), repressors (low MAS, high SDS), high-anxious subjects (high MAS, low SDS), and defensive high-anxious subjects (high MAS, high SDS). Several measures of autonomic arousal, facial activity, and self-reported affect were obtained during a potentially anxiety-arousing free-association task and during a number of control conditions, including a funny film. Significant differences in baseline-corrected heart rate and self-reported anxiety as well as rated facial anxiety all indicated that repressors exhibited a discrepancy between low self-reported anxiety and high heart rate and facial anxiety; low-anxious subjects reported an intermediate level of anxiety, although they showed low heart rate and facial anxiety; high-anxious subjects had consistently high values on all three variables; and the defensive high-anxious group showed an intermediate level of anxious responding. These group differences were specific to the task of freely associating to phrases of mixed (sexual, aggressive, neutral) content (but not to other experimental situations) and to self-reported anxiety (but not to other self-rated emotions or task difficult), indicating that they reflect individual differences in coping with anxiety.

Beyond Social Withdrawal: Shyness, Unsociability, and Peer Avoidance

Theoretical considerations regarding the significance of early peer interaction for later development suggest that socially withdrawn children may represent an ‘at risk’ population. An analysis of beh

The Transaction between Parents’ Perceptions of their Children’s Shyness and their Parenting Styles

In recent years, researchers have examined factors that “determine” parenting beliefs, styles, and behaviours. One potential determinant of parenting is the child him/herself. Child characteristics, such as temperament, have been cited as evocative influences on parenting beliefs and behaviours. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal relations between children’s social wariness/inhibition and parents’ beliefs about how to best socialise their children. Questionnaire data on child temperament and parenting practices were collected from the parents (mothers and fathers) of sixty 2-year-olds; identical data were collected 2 years later. Observations of inhibited behaviour were taken at two years. Results indicated that few differences existed between mothers’ and fathers’ expressed parenting styles at ages 2 and 4 years. Second, parental perceptions of child shyness at age 2 were: (a) stable to age 4; and (b) predicted a lack of encouragement of independence at age 4. Third, parents’ expressed lack of encouragement of independence, although stable from 2 to 4 years, failed to predict child shyness at age 4. The findings support the conjecture that young children’s dispositional characteristics predict subsequent maternal and paternal behaviour.

Personality–Relationship Transaction in Adolescence: Core Versus Surface Personality Characteristics

Personality effects on perceived support from social relationships and vice versa were longitudinally studied over adolescence. Within personality, core (Big Five personality traits) and surface characteristics (global self-worth, perceived peer acceptance, and loneliness) were distinguished. Core, but not surface, characteristics at age 12 predicted support from both parents and peers at age 17 after controlling for support at age 12. Support at age 12 predicted surface, but not core, characteristics at age 17 after controlling for personality at age 12. These findings are interpreted within a dual model of personality-relationship transaction. Core characteristics are relatively stable traits that are largely immune against experiences in relationships and continuously influence their flux and flow. Surface characteristics are more open to relationship influences, and are therefore less stable.

Development of Inhibition During Childhood: Evidence for Situational Specificity and a Two-Factor Model

The inhibition of 99 children was observed from the start ofpnsschool through Grade 1 in multiple settings: adult strangers, dyadic play with unfamiliar and familiar peers, and regular free play in class. A multisetting-multimcthod-multioccasion analysis revealed (a) a high longitudinal stability of inhibition toward strangers and a medium stability of inhibition in class, (b) a decreasing consistency between inhibition in class and inhibition toward strangers, (c) an increasing consistency between inhibition in class and being ignored or rejected by classmates, and (d) no detrimental effect of childrens inhibition toward strangers on their dyadic play with familiar peers. These results are discussed in terms of a 2-factor model of inhibition that is linked to Grays concept of the behavioral inhibition system. It is assumed that both unfamiliarity and social-evaluative concerns contribute to individual differences in inhibition in childhood.