Sointu Leikas

Conformism Moderates the Relations Between Values, Anticipated Regret, and Behavior

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the moderating effect of Conformism values on the relations between other values and behavior. The authors expected people low, but not high, in Conformism to behave in a manner that is consistent with their personal values related to self-transcendence versus self-enhancement. In Study 1 (N = 199), such values predicted actual altruistic behavior, as estimated by other-reports, but only if Conformism values were low. In Study 2 (N = 189), only people who considered Conformism values to be relatively unimportant showed expected connections between self-transcendence values and anticipated regret in hypothetical scenarios having negative consequences. The data are interpreted as supporting the view that (a) anticipated regret motivates value-consistent behavior, (b) self-transcendence values in particular are connected to altruistic behavior and to anticipated regret, but (c) conformity to social norms moderates these connections.

Food risk perceptions, gender, and individual differences in avoidance and approach motivation, intuitive and analytic thinking styles, and anxiety.

Risks appear to be perceived in two different ways, affectively and rationally. Finnish adult internet users were contacted via e-mail and asked to fill an internet questionnaire consisting of questions of food risks and measures of avoidance and approach motivation, analytic and intuitive information processing style, trait anxiety, and gender in order to find out (1) whether food risks are perceived two-dimensionally, (2) how individual differences in motivation, information processing, and anxiety are associated with the different dimensions of food risk perceptions, and (3) whether gender moderates these associations. The data were analyzed by factor, correlation and regression analyses. Three factors emerged: risk scariness, risk likelihood, and risks of cardiovascular disease. Personality and gender x personality interactions predicted food risk perceptions. Results showed that food risk perceptions generally form two dimensions; scariness and likelihood, but that this may depend on the nature of the risk. In addition, results imply that individuals with high avoidance motivation perceive food risks as scarier and more likely than others, and that individuals with an analytic information processing style perceive food risks as less likely than others. Trait anxiety seems to be associated with higher food risk perceptions only among men.

Personality characteristics of research volunteers

We evaluated Big Five personality factor differences between research volunteers and nonvolunteers. In the first study, 158 military officers were asked to participate in a mail survey. The personality scores of the officers were available from an archival data set. In our second study, adult siblings from large families were invited to participate in extensive clinical epidemiological evaluations. The personality scores of volunteers (N = 55) and nonvolunteers from the same families (N = 29) were estimated from sibling ratings made by those who participated in the study. In both studies, respondents, compared to nonrespondents, were found to be significantly lower in Neuroticism and higher in Conscientiousness. The second study further indicated respondents as being higher in Extraversion and Agreeableness. Copyright

Does Self-Enhancement Have Implications for Adjustment?

Self-enhancement and its implications for psychological adjustment were studied in a replication and extension of a study by Kwan et al. (2004). A sample of 199 Finnish military cadets rated themselves and other members of their platoons in a round-robin design. Corroborating that earlier study, our measure of performance adjustment (leadership grade in an officer training program) was negatively associated with the Social Relations Model self-enhancement index. A unique contribution of this study was our analysis of the differential contributions of self-ratings and peer ratings to that association. Those results suggested that the negative relation between adjustment and self-enhancement found in this study was due more to peers downgrading maladjusted targets than to those targets embellishing their self-descriptions.

Personality, threat identification and emotional processing

Individual differences in threat identification moderate the associations of personality with emotional experience and behaviour. The present two studies examined whether adeptness at threat identification also moderates the associations between personality and emotional processing. Participants completed personality scales, different emotional processing measures and a threat versus non‐threat categorization task. Adeptness at threat identification moderated the relations between agreeableness and negative interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, negative reactivity and positive likelihood judgments, and the relation between neuroticism and negative recall. The results supported the view that agreeableness and adeptness at threat identification together form a self‐regulation system. The results may have important implications for trait and health psychology. Copyright

Happy Now, Tired Later? Extraverted and Conscientious Behavior Are Related to Immediate Mood Gains, but to Later Fatigue.

OBJECTIVE Experience sampling studies on Big Five-related behavior show that people display the whole spectrum of each trait in their daily behavior, and that desirable Big Five states-especially state Extraversion-are related to positive mood. However, other research lines suggest that extraverted and conscientious behavior may be mentally depleting. The present research examined this possibility by extending the time frame of the measured personality processes. METHOD A 12-day experience sampling study (N = 48; observations = 2,328) measured Big Five states, mood, stress, and fatigue five times a day. RESULTS Extraverted and conscientious behavior were concurrently related to positive mood and lower fatigue, but to higher fatigue after a 3-hour delay. These relations were not moderated by personality traits. The relation between extraverted behavior and delayed fatigue was mediated by the number of people the person had encountered. Whether the person had a goal mediated the relation between conscientious behavior and delayed fatigue. CONCLUSION Extraverted and conscientious behavior predict mental depletion after a 3-hour delay. The results help reconcile previous findings regarding the consequences of state Extraversion and provide novel information about the consequences of state Conscientiousness.

Power and Personality Perception in Real‐Life Hierarchical Relationships

The present study examined how Big Five personality ratings of the same target individuals differ as a function of the power relation between the target and the judge. Our targets were 37 employees with leadership duties from two large organizations. The targets‘ subordinates (N = 352), peers (N = 186), and superiors (N = 62) constituted our groups of judges. The targets and judges also provided self–reports of personality. Subordinate judges showed higher consensus but not higher self–other agreement than peer or superior judges. Furthermore, the targets were judged as more extraverted, more emotionally stable, less agreeable, and less open to experience by their subordinates than by their superiors. The results suggest that (i) observer consensus, but not self–other agreement or assumed similarity varies as a function of real–life power; (ii) the effects of power on mean trait scores are mostly congruent with the previously observed effects of power on behaviour and on stereotypes. Copyright

Avoidance motivation, risk perception and emotional processing.

The present studies examined the moderating role of state motivation on the associations between trait avoidance motivation, risk perception and emotional processing. In Studies 1 and 2, avoidance or approach states were evoked in participants who then completed a risk perception task and a trait avoidance motivation measure. Both studies showed that trait avoidance only correlated with risk perceptions among individuals in approach state. In Study 3, emotional interpretation was measured. State and trait avoidance motivation did not interact in predicting emotional interpretation. The results showed that the effect of state motivation can explain the low correlations found between trait avoidance and risk perceptions, and suggested that the avoidance system may operate on an on–off principle rather than synergistically. Copyright

Cognitive ability × emotional stability interactions on adjustment

Cognitive ability has been shown to moderate the relations between emotional stability and self‐reports of well being. The present study examined whether this interaction effect generalizes to non‐self‐report measures of well being. Male conscripts (N = 152) completed an emotional stability scale and a cognitive ability test. Several indicators of their general adjustment and competence were derived from self‐ and superior‐ratings, a psychiatric interview and from military archives. Cognitive ability moderated the association of emotional stability with both self‐report and non‐self‐report indicators of adjustment and competence. Low emotional stability was related to adverse outcomes only among low cognitive ability individuals. The results support the idea that cognitive ability buffers the influence of emotional stability on well being. Copyright

Identity status among young adults: Validation of the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS) in a Finnish sample

Abstract Theory and empirical findings suggest that sociohistorical changes have made identity formation a precarious developmental process in contemporary Western societies. Firm commitments may be delayed until the late twenties or discarded altogether. We tested the reliability and factorial validity of a recently developed five-dimensional process model of identity development – Dimensions of Identity Development Scale – in order to evaluate identity formation among Finnish young adults (N = 751, Mage = 24.6, 60.3% women) in a cross-cultural perspective. Results showed that the hypothesized five-factor model could not be confirmed as such. Instead a six-factor model, encountered only recently in two other studies, suited the sample data better. All six identity dimensions were internally and externally correlated as hypothesized and the identity status cluster solution that emerged matched previous results with one exception. Further, the surprisingly high prevalence of diffused and uncertain individuals in our sample may indicate effects of sociohistorical factors specific to a Finnish cultural context.