{"title":"Linking person-specific network parameters to between-person trait change.","authors":"Adam T Nissen, Emorie D Beck","doi":"10.1037/pspp0000546","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pspp0000546","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Typical nomothetic, dimensional conceptualizations of personality traits have demonstrated that traits show robust patterns of change across the lifespan. Yet, questions linger about both the mechanisms underlying trait change and the extent to which we can understand any individual using only dimensional approaches. Alternatively, a person-specific conceptualization of personality that emphasizes processes specific to one person may offer more insight into changes at the expense of generalizability. We argue that taking an idiographic, person-specific dynamic network approach to understanding a person provides an opportunity to bridge the nomothetic-idiographic gap and understand processes underlying trait change that may point to how personality changes across the lifespan. In this study, we examined whether the properties of idiographic personality networks were related to between-person personality trait changes in a sample of college students (<i>N</i> = 418). We used dynamic exploratory graph analysis to construct <i>N</i> = 1 personality networks and then included network parameters in multilevel growth models over a 2-year period using self- and informant-report data. We found that network parameters were largely unrelated to between-person change for self-reports but were related to some informant-reports. Discussion revolves around continuing to bridge the two approaches together to create a holistic picture of personality change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":"933-953"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143365182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"He sees the forest, I see the trees: Narrative perspective shifts how abstractly people construe a text.","authors":"Zachary Adolph Niese","doi":"10.1037/pspa0000462","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pspa0000462","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans tell stories to share information, evoke emotions, and change opinions. An inherent dimension of these stories is the narrative perspective from which they are told: Sometimes stories are told from a person's first-person narrative perspective (e.g., using I/me pronouns), whereas other times, they are told about the person using a third-person narrative perspective (e.g., using he/him, she/her, etc., pronouns). The current work tests the hypothesis that the first-person (vs. third-person) narrative perspective causes people to construe information more concretely (vs. abstractly), with downstream effects on how readers interpret and are influenced by a text. Experiments 1a/1b support this claim by showing that participants construe others' actions more concretely (vs. abstractly) when those actions are written from the first-person (vs. third-person) narrative perspective. Experiments 2a/2b build on this finding to show that people prefer concrete (vs. abstract) summary descriptions of short narrative stories that are written from the first-person (vs. third-person) narrative perspective. Experiment 3 tests the implications of this effect for persuasion, showing people were more motivated to donate blood when first-person (vs. third-person) donation testimonials were paired with concrete (vs. abstract) arguments for donating. Finally, Experiment 4 shows that narrative perspective influences identification with a character depending on the relatability of the character's experience. First-person (vs. third-person) narratives increase identification with characters, unless their experiences are too difficult to relate to. These findings provide insight into how narrative perspective influences people's understanding of a written text, as well as its subsequent influence on attitudes and behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":"773-787"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144855598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael D Krämer, Christopher J Hopwood, Travis J Miller, Wiebke Bleidorn
{"title":"What explains personality change intervention effects?","authors":"Michael D Krämer, Christopher J Hopwood, Travis J Miller, Wiebke Bleidorn","doi":"10.1037/pspp0000565","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pspp0000565","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Volitional personality change interventions have been shown to help people change their current personality toward their ideal personality. Here, we address three limitations of this literature. First, we contrast the dominant theoretical perspective of self-improvement with self-acceptance as pathways to reduce the discrepancy between current and ideal personality. Second, we test how well-being aspects change as a by-product of targeting personality. Third, we use a waitlist control group to account for expectancy and demand effects. Across three studies (combined <i>N</i> = 2,094; 1,044 women, 1,050 men; <i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 30.74, <i>SD</i><sub>age</sub> = 9.57, range<sub>age</sub> = 18-75), we implemented randomized online interventions of self-improvement or self-acceptance over a 3-month period, with another follow-up 6 months after baseline and a waitlist control group added in Study 2. Across Studies 1 and 2, participants in both intervention groups reduced discrepancies between current and ideal personality and increased in well-being. In both intervention groups, current personality increased, whereas ideal personality remained stable. Critically, however, control group participants changed similarly, with no significant differences in change compared to participants who received the interventions. Study 3 compared different control group specifications and highlighted that the intervention recruitment framing might have induced selection effects and expectancy and demand effects leading to positive changes in neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion as well as life satisfaction and self-esteem. Thus, we demonstrate both shortcomings of previous intervention designs and imprecisions in theoretical frameworks of personality change mechanisms. We discuss future directions including multimethod studies, measurement advances, and microrandomization of intervention components. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":"972-1005"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144284948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christiane M Büttner, Dongning Ren, Olga Stavrova, Selma C Rudert, Kipling D Williams, Rainer Greifeneder
{"title":"Ostracism in everyday life: A framework of threat and behavioral responses in real life.","authors":"Christiane M Büttner, Dongning Ren, Olga Stavrova, Selma C Rudert, Kipling D Williams, Rainer Greifeneder","doi":"10.1037/pspi0000471","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pspi0000471","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ostracism-being ignored and excluded-is part of many individuals' daily lives. Yet, ostracism is often studied in laboratory settings and rarely in natural settings. Here, we report one of the first investigations into ostracism in everyday life by documenting how often and where ostracism occurs; who the sources of ostracism are; and how ostracism affects targets' feelings and behaviors. Two experience sampling studies using event-contingent (<i>N</i> = 323, <i>k</i> = 1,107 ostracism experiences in 14 days) and time-signaling sampling approaches (<i>N</i> = 272, <i>k</i> = 7,943 assessments including 767 ostracism experiences in 7 days) show that ostracism is an aversive experience that takes place in a range of contexts and relationships, as often as two to three times per week on average. Reconciling previously mixed findings regarding ostracism's effects on behavior and extending existing theory, we propose a novel framework of behavioral reactions based on need-threat levels: When psychological needs are severely threatened, individuals react to everyday ostracism with avoidance (i.e., withdrawal) and antisocial inclinations (i.e., they exhibit significantly stronger antisocial intentions, although they do not engage in antisocial behavior more frequently). Conversely, when psychological needs are threatened to a lesser extent, individuals are more likely to adopt approach behaviors (i.e., prosocial behavior, talking to others, or connecting with them on social media). Our findings considerably extend present theorizing in ostracism research as they allow to understand when and how individuals experience everyday ostracism and how behavioral reactions after ostracism form in real life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":"870-887"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142017846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"I love you but I hate your politics: The role of political dissimilarity in romantic relationships.","authors":"Amie M Gordon, Maria Luciani, Annika From","doi":"10.1037/pspi0000467","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pspi0000467","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Amid heightened political polarization in the United States, have politics worked their way into the bedroom? An increase in political similarity between romantic partners has consequences not just for romantic relationships but for society as a whole; political homophily increases our political echo chambers and affects future generations. We drew upon 11 data sets with over 4,000 individuals (including more than 500 couples) to test four preregistered research questions about the prevalence, correlates, consequences, and potential buffers of political dissimilarity in modern-day relationships. Across measures of similarity (overall perceptions, partisanship matching, shared political ideology), couples in our sample showed high levels of political similarity (e.g., 23% were cross-partisan, with fewer than 8% composed of one Democrat and one Republican). Examining 18 potential correlates of political dissimilarity, we found little evidence that certain factors predispose people to end up in a politically dissimilar relationship. When considering the potential consequences of political dissimilarity, we found a small association between political dissimilarity and relationship quality in general and in daily life. The effect was evident when examining perceived political dissimilarity (over and above perceptions of overall similarity) and, to a lesser extent, dissimilarity in terms of partisanship and political ideology. Prosocial processes such as appreciation and perspective-taking may moderate these effects. Taken together, these findings speak to the need to further consider the ways in which the sociopolitical context is shaping the formation and maintenance of close relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":"692-713"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141759318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Retraction of \"Here one time, gone the next: Fluctuations in support received and provided predict changes in relationship satisfaction across the transition to parenthood,\" by Eller et al. (2022).","authors":"","doi":"10.1037/pspi0000505","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000505","url":null,"abstract":"Reports the notice of retraction of \"Here one time, gone the next: Fluctuations in support received and provided predict changes in relationship satisfaction across the transition to parenthood\" by Jami Eller, Yuthika U. Girme, Brian P. Don, W. Steven Rholes, Kristin D. Mickelson and Jeffry A. Simpson (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2023[May], Vol 124[5], 971-1000; see record 2023-15847-001). The first author, Jami Eller, was unable to be reached. In the process of replicating analyses, these authors found that while the descriptive statistics for both studies reported in this paper replicated, overtime dyadic analyses testing focal hypotheses were not statistically significant at p < .05. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2023-15847-001.) Extant research has demonstrated that higher mean (average) levels of social support often produce robust relational benefits. However, partners may not maintain the same level of support across time, resulting in potential fluctuations (i.e., within-person variations across time) in support. Despite the theorizing and initial research on fluctuations in relationship-relevant thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, little is known about (a) who is most likely to fluctuate in support and (b) the degree to which fluctuations, in combination with and beyond mean levels, impact relationships across time. The current preregistered research examined two dyadic longitudinal samples of first-time parents undergoing the transition to parenthood, a chronically stressful time that often entails the provision and receipt of support involving one's partner. Across both studies, we found that individuals who reported greater mental health problems, more situational stress, and more destructive dispositional attributes tended to report lower mean levels and higher fluctuations in provided and received support at subsequent assessments. Moreover, we found that greater fluctuations in perceptions and observations of support predicted decreases in relationship satisfaction over time, above and beyond the effect of mean levels. Implications for theory and studying nonlinear effects in relationships are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":"44 1","pages":"758"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145032139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Value endorsement among Protestants and Catholics within and between countries in Europe: Implications for individualism.","authors":"Allon Vishkin, Dov Cohen, Shinobu Kitayama","doi":"10.1037/pspp0000554","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pspp0000554","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Protestantism, as opposed to Catholicism, is widely seen as having contributed to the rise of Western individualism. However, little is known about potential value differences between these two branches of Christianity in contemporary Europe. In the current work, we examined patterns of value endorsement among current and former Protestants and Catholics within and between 20 European countries using data from the European Social Survey (<i>N</i> = 163,586). Results reveal that within a given country, Protestants are more likely to endorse self-transcendence values than Catholics are, and these findings held when controlling for religiosity, differences in socioeconomic status, and differences in religious de-identification. Surprisingly, differences between Protestants and Catholics in value endorsement were sometimes larger among less (vs. more) religious respondents and were detectable even among former Protestants and Catholics, with former Protestants resembling religious respondents more than former Catholics did. Results also reveal that some Protestant-Catholic differences are consistent across cultures, whereas others-principally on the dimension of openness to change versus conservation-are moderated by which group is the majority heritage. We discuss the possible contribution of Protestantism to Western individualism's universalistic orientation, considering the association between Protestantism and self-transcendence values. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":"759-771"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143803479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vincenzo J Olivett, Madeleine Stults, David S March
{"title":"Downward spiral: Police-threat associations and perceptions of aggression during arrests are mutually reinforcing.","authors":"Vincenzo J Olivett, Madeleine Stults, David S March","doi":"10.1037/pspa0000461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000461","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the United States, encounters among police officers and civilians are laden with the potential for dangerous outcomes. At the same time, the ubiquity of digital and social media has made observing violent police-civilian encounters easier than ever. Perhaps consequently, recent evidence suggests that Americans automatically associate the police with and behaviorally respond to officers as a source of physical threat. However, little is known about the interplay between observations of violent police encounters and automatic police-threat associations. Four studies (<i>N</i> = 857) reveal a mutually reinforcing dynamic in which (a) automatic police-threat associations shape perceptions of aggression during arrests, (b) perceptions of aggression during arrests influence automatic police-threat associations, and (c) changes in automatic police-threat associations influence downstream perceptions of aggression. That is, people perceive aggression during arrest encounters through the lens of their existing police-threat associations, and these perceptions in turn reinforce those associations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145192023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brittany C Solomon, Hannah B Waldfogel, Matthew E K Hall
{"title":"Political plausible deniability: Political difference can divert attributions of socially unacceptable bias.","authors":"Brittany C Solomon, Hannah B Waldfogel, Matthew E K Hall","doi":"10.1037/pspa0000470","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pspa0000470","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While many social biases are considered taboo, bias against political outgroups is increasingly explicit, ubiquitous, and tolerated. We contend that expressing political bias can reduce third-party perceptions of socially unacceptable biases-a phenomenon we call <i>political plausible deniability</i>. By diverting attributions away from biases based on race, gender, or sexual orientation, individuals can express bias yet ostensibly align with social norms. Pretests indicate people intuitively understand the concept of a socially <i>acceptable</i> bias, with political bias rated most acceptable among 15 biases. Across 13 preregistered survey experiments, we find that third parties are less likely to perceive racism, sexism, and (sometimes) heterosexism when an actor expresses an antiliberal statement toward a Black, female, or gay target. These effects emerge across open-ended (Studies 1a-c) and Likert-type (Studies 2a-c, 3a-c, 4a-c) responses, which we replicate in a conjoint experiment (Study 5). Participants' political leanings did not moderate effects. Finally, in 12 exploratory studies, we further illuminate political plausible deniability, for example, by examining anticonservative biases, comparing political with other (nonpolitical) biases, and exploring the role of intersecting target identities. Our research exposes an inconspicuous way that political bias may shape social perception, with implications for understanding how prejudice operates in everyday life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145191460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Knowing yourself and your partner: Accuracy of personality judgment in recently cohabiting couples.","authors":"Janina Larissa Bühler, Louisa Scheling, Cornelia Wrzus","doi":"10.1037/pspp0000579","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000579","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Big Five personality traits and states are positively associated with each other. However, most of this knowledge is based on intrapersonal perception (i.e., either self- or partner reports), and little is known about the associations based on interpersonal perception (i.e., combining self- and partner reports). Such knowledge, however, would be crucial in understanding how accurately close others (e.g., romantic partners) perceive each other's personality in general and daily life. Therefore, the goal of this study was to comprehensively test the trait-state associations, using self- and partner reports, to better understand accuracy of personality judgment among couples. Moreover, to learn about the conditions of better or worse accuracy in personality judgment, we examined the moderating roles of relationship satisfaction and situational factors. Data came from 292 recently cohabiting couple members (<i>M</i> = 25.41 years) who participated in a preregistered experience-sampling study, providing up to 50 personality-state assessments over 10 days. The findings from multilevel models supported previous knowledge on intrapersonal perception and significantly expanded the knowledge on interpersonal perception. Specifically, the findings suggested the most robust pattern for conscientiousness and neuroticism, ascribing these Big Five domains a significant role among recently cohabiting couples. Interestingly, accuracy was not enhanced among more satisfied couple members, but it was largely facilitated when partners were exclusively together as a couple (vs. with other people). Overall, this research shows that the use of multiple sources allows for a more comprehensive understanding of personality, especially when the aim is to understand the accuracy of personality judgment in couples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":16691,"journal":{"name":"Journal of personality and social psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145191157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}