Joshua Wilt

Generativity, the Big Five, and Psychosocial Adaptation in Midlife Adults

The study examines the extent to which 2 sets of personality variables-(1) dispositional traits (and their facets) within the Big Five taxonomy and (2) the adult developmental construct of generativity-are associated with psychosocial adaptation in midlife adults (N=128), conceived as the combination of individual well-being and positive societal involvements. Generativity is conceived as an adults concern for and commitment to promoting the well-being of future generations. Multiple regression analyses showed that dispositional traits were more strongly associated with individual well-being than was generativity, but generativity was much more strongly associated with positive societal engagement than were the traits. Correlations between dispositional traits and generativity revealed that highly generative adults were elevated on most of the facets of Extraversion and Openness. For the other 3 traits, generativity was positively related to facets of competence, achievement striving, dutifulness, altruism, and trust and negatively related to vulnerability, anxiety, depressiveness, and modesty.

The Dynamic Role of Personality States in Mediating the Relationship Between Extraversion and Positive Affect

One of the most noteworthy and robust findings in personality psychology is the relationship between extraversion and positive affect. Existing theories have debated the origins and nature of this relationship, offering both structural/fixed and environmental/dynamic explanations. We tested the novel and straightforward dynamic hypothesis that part of the reason trait extraversion predicts trait positive affect is through an increased propensity to enact extraverted states, which in turn leads to experiencing more positive affect states. We report 5 experience sampling studies (and a meta-analysis of primary studies) conducted in natural environments and laboratory settings in which undergraduate participants (N = 241) provided ratings of trait extraversion, trait positive affect, extraversion states, and positive affect states. Results of primary studies and the meta-analysis showed that relationships between trait extraversion and trait positive affect were partially mediated by aggregated extraversion states and aggregated positive affect states. The results supported our dynamic hypothesis and suggested that dynamic explanations of the relationship between trait extraversion and trait positive affect are compatible with structural explanations. An important implication of these findings is that individuals might be able to increase their happiness by self-regulating their extraverted states.

Individual Differences in Cognition: New Methods for Examining the Personality-Cognition Link

Understanding how all people are the same, some are the same, and yet none are the same is a fundamental challenge to personality and individual differences theorists in particular and psychologists in general (Kluckhohn & Murray, 1953; Revelle, 1995). Unfortunately, there is little work that actually addresses the challenge of Kluckhohn and Murray. As is true for the rest of psychology, there is a strong trend toward fragmentation of the field of individual differences. Particularly in the United States, there is a tendency in personality and individual differences toward the lack of integration of theories of (non-cognitive) personality dimensions with individual differences in cognition. The chapters of this book are partly meant to rectify this shortcoming. We will do our part by reviewing some of the prior research on the effects of non-cognitive variables upon cognition and then introduce a new procedure, “Synthetic Aperture Personality Assessment” (SAPA) as a tool for exploring cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of personality.

Affect, Behaviour, Cognition and Desire in the Big Five: An Analysis of Item Content and Structure

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

Associations of Perceived Addiction to Internet Pornography with Religious/Spiritual and Psychological Functioning

ABSTRACT Prior work has shown that religious individuals tend to be critical of Internet pornography (IP). Additionally, people who harbor negative views about their own IP use are more likely to experience psychological distress and religious/spiritual (r/s) struggles. The present research attempted to bring these bodies of research together by examining the relations between engaging with IP (perceived addiction to IP, actual IP use, and moral evaluations of IP), indicators of psychosocial adaptation (self-esteem and state anger), and r/s functioning (religiousness, anger toward God). A study was conducted using a large sample of undergraduate students (N = 1,070) who reported using IP and at least some belief in God. Correlational and network analyses revealed that religiousness was associated with moral disapproval of IP and perceived addiction to IP. Perceived addiction to IP (rather than actual IP use) was related to lower self-esteem, more anger, and more anger directed toward God. This study provides a partial psychological and r/s profile of college students varying in the degree to which they perceive themselves as addicted to IP. Potential clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Quality of social experience explains the relation between extraversion and positive affect

The personality trait extraversion is associated with higher positive affect, and individuals who behave in an extraverted way experience increased positive affect. Across 2 studies, we examine whether the positive affectivity of extraverts can be explained in terms of qualitative aspects of social experience resulting from extraverted (i.e., bold, assertive) behavior. In our first study (N = 225, 58% female), we found that social well-being, a broad measure of quality of social life (Keyes, 1998) was a significant mediator of the relation between trait extraversion and trait positive affect. This effect was specific to 1 aspect of social well-being-social contribution, ones sense of making an impact on ones social world. In our second study (N = 81, 75% female), we found that a momentary assessment of social well-being mediated the effect of experimentally manipulated extraverted behavior (in the context of 2 brief discussion tasks) on state positive affect. Furthermore, perceived contribution to the discussion tasks accounted for up to 70% of the effect of enacted extraversion on positive affect. This is the first identified mediator of the effect of enacted extraversion on positive affect. Implications and suggestions for extensions of this research are discussed.

Pornography Problems Due to Moral Incongruence: An Integrative Model with a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The notion of problematic pornography use remains contentious in both academic and popular literature. Although the mental health community at large is divided as to the addictive versus non-addictive nature of Internet pornography, substantial numbers of individuals report “feeling” as if their use of Internet pornography is problematic. The present work seeks to construct a model related to problematic pornography use that is clearly derived from empirical literature and that provides directions to be tested in future research. The focus of the present work is on those perceptions as they relate to the overarching experience of moral incongruence in pornography use, which is generally thought of as the experience of having one’s behaviors be inconsistent with one’s beliefs. To this end, we put forth a model of pornography problems due to moral incongruence. Within this model, we describe how pornography-related problems—particularly feelings of addiction to pornography—may be, in many cases, better construed as functions of discrepancies—moral incongruence—between pornography-related beliefs and pornography-related behaviors. A systematic review of literature and meta-analysis is conducted in order to evaluate support for this model, and the implications of this model for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Religious and Spiritual Struggles, Past and Present: Relations to the Big Five and Well-Being

ABSTRACT The present research examined the relations between the Big Five factors of personality, religious/spiritual (r/s) struggles (tensions, conflicts, and strains pertaining to r/s life), and well-being. Participants comprised U.S. adults from an online sample (N = 1,047) and an undergraduate sample (N = 3,083). Regressions showed that people who reported higher Neuroticism and Openness, as well as lower Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, reported higher lifetime frequency of r/s struggles and a higher degree of current r/s struggles. In turn, both lifetime history of r/s struggles and current r/s struggles explained a modest amount of variance in different domains of well-being (psychological, hedonic, and social) above and beyond the Big Five. These results held when controlling for religiousness. Thus, lifetime history of r/s struggles and current r/s struggles may represent unique aspects of psychological experience with implications for well-being.

Theological beliefs about suffering and interactions with the divine.

This study situated theologically based beliefs about suffering as “mid-level” variables within a multilevel framework of ways in which people relate to the Divine. We examined whether beliefs about suffering associated with global ways of relating to the Divine (e.g., religiousness, general views of God) and context-specific ways of relating to the Divine (e.g., perceptions, feelings, and behaviors related to God in the context of a specific religious/spiritual struggle). In a large sample of undergraduates (N = 2,920), across the global and context-specific levels, beliefs that suffering is part of God’s benevolent plan were related to more favorable perceived interactions with God, whereas beliefs ascribing a nonbenevolent role to God were related to less favorable interactions with God. Longitudinal analyses revealed that beliefs about suffering predicted changes in global variables over 1 year. We discuss how our proposed multilevel framework helps to integrate findings concerning perceived interaction with the Divine.

Velocity explains the links between personality states and affect

The present research examined whether perceived rate of progress toward a goal (velocity) mediated the relationships between personality states and affective states. Drawing from control theories of self-regulation, we hypothesized (i) that increased velocity would mediate the association between state extraversion and state positive affect, and (ii) that decreased velocity would mediate the association between state neuroticism and state negative affect. We tested these hypotheses in 2 experience sampling methodology studies that each spanned 2 weeks. Multilevel modeling analyses showed support for each of the bivariate links in our model, and multilevel path analyses supported our mediation hypotheses. We discuss implications for understanding the relations between personality states and affective states, control theories of self-regulation, and goal striving.