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OBJECTIVE: What do people see as distinguishing the morally exceptional from others? To handle the problem that people may disagree about who qualifies as morally exceptional, we asked subjects to select and rate their own examples of morally exceptional, morally average, and immoral people. METHOD: Subjects rated each selected exemplar on several enablers of moral action and several directions of moral action. By applying the logic underlying stimulus sampling in experimental design, we evaluated perceivers' level of agreement about the characteristics of the morally exceptional, even though perceivers rated different targets. RESULTS: Across three studies, there was strong subjective consensus on who is morally exceptional: those who are empathetic and prone to guilt, those who reflect on moral issues and identify with morality, those who have self-control and actually enact moral behaviors, and those who care about harm, compassion, fairness, and honesty. Deep controversies also existed about the moral directions pursued by those seen as morally exceptional: People evaluated those who pursued similar values and made similar decisions more favorably. CONCLUSION: Strong consensus suggests characteristics that may push a person to go beyond normal expectations, that the study of moral exceptionality is not overly hindered by disagreement over who is morally exceptional, and that there is some common ground between disagreeing camps.
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OBJECTIVE: We integrate the study of post-traumatic growth with personality science by examining the reciprocal effects of adversity and core personality traits. We implemented conceptual (i.e., incorporating personality traits into the study of adversity-related growth, examining trait-specific and configural personality change, and adopting a cumulative approach to adversity) and methodological (i.e., three-wave prospective design, assessing many life events, sampling from populations likely to experience adversity) innovations to advance the study of personality development and of the generality of adversity-related growth. METHOD: A diverse sample (41% nonwhite, 48% low-income, 68% female, Mage = 44, 30% diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder) participated in a three-wave prospective longitudinal study (N = 258-128 across waves). Participants completed a personality inventory and a battery of life-event surveys (including 105 events) at each wave. RESULTS: Personality was generally stable from trait-specific and configural perspectives, and all traits were correlated with adversity. All traits, particularly Extraversion and Conscientiousness, predicted adversity. Adversity predicted increases in Emotionality and decreases in Agreeableness. CONCLUSIONS: Although personality growth is not the typical response to adversity within a 3-year period, findings underscore the real-world impact of personality, and they provide some support for developmental theories emphasizing the effects of life events.
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Extroversão Psicológica , Transtornos da Personalidade , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Personalidade , Estudos ProspectivosRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Post-traumatic growth typically refers to enduring positive psychological change experienced as a result of adversity, trauma, or highly challenging life circumstances. Critics have challenged insights from much of the prior research on this topic, pinpointing its significant methodological limitations. In response to these critiques, we propose that post-traumatic growth can be more accurately captured in terms of personality change-an approach that affords a more rigorous examination of the phenomenon. METHOD: We outline a set of conceptual and methodological questions and considerations for future work on the topic of post-traumatic growth. RESULTS: We provide a series of recommendations for researchers from across the disciplines of clinical/counseling, developmental, health, personality, and social psychology and beyond, who are interested in improving the quality of research examining resilience and growth in the context of adversity. CONCLUSION: We are hopeful that these recommendations will pave the way for a more accurate understanding of the ubiquity, durability, and causal processes underlying post-traumatic growth.
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Crescimento Psicológico Pós-Traumático , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos , Humanos , Personalidade , Transtornos da PersonalidadeRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: This work disentangles moral tolerance from moral relativism and reveals their distinct personological meanings. Both constructs have long been of interest to moral philosophers, moral psychologists, and everyday people, and they may play prominent roles in the feasibility of modern diverse societies. However, they have been criticized as devaluing morality and as producing overly permissive societies. Moreover, although they lack necessary conceptual implications for each other, they are easily (and often) conflated. METHOD: Three studies included nine samples (total N > 3,200, 40%-50% female, Mage = 38-40, 83% white). Participants completed (online) new measures of moral tolerance and moral relativism, along with measures of 40 additional constructs. RESULTS: Results reveal robust psychometric quality of the new measures (the Moral Relativism Scale and the Moral Tolerance Scale), demonstrate that the constructs are empirically overlapping but separable, and highlight their distinct personological networks. Moral relativism was associated with liberal political views and a lowered valuing/enacting of moral values. Moral tolerance was weakly associated with liberal political views but was strongly related to a broad range of both liberal and conservative moral values. CONCLUSION: This work yields new tools for investigating moral character, and it reveals the differential meaning of two important moral constructs.
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Relativismo Ético , Princípios Morais , Determinação da Personalidade/normas , Personalidade , Política , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Psicometria/normasRESUMO
Although individual differences in the application of moral principles, such as utilitarianism, have been documented, so too have powerful context effects-effects that raise doubts about the durability of people's moral principles. In this article, we examine the robustness of individual differences in moral judgment by examining them across time and across different decision contexts. In Study 1, consistency in utilitarian judgment of 122 adult participants was examined over two different survey sessions. In Studies 2A and 2B, large samples (Ns = 130 and 327, respectively) of adult participants made a series of 32 moral judgments across eight different contexts that are known to affect utilitarian endorsement. Contrary to some contemporary theorizing, our results reveal a strong degree of consistency in moral judgment. Across time and experimental manipulations of context, individuals maintained their relative standing on utilitarianism, and aggregated moral decisions reached levels of near-perfect consistency. Results support the view that on at least one dimension (utilitarianism), people's moral judgments are robustly consistent, with context effects tailoring the application of principles to the particulars of any given moral judgment.
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Teoria Ética , Individualidade , Princípios Morais , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Julgamento/fisiologia , MasculinoRESUMO
We present a novel profile-based framework for understanding factorial similarity in the context of exploratory factor analysis in general, and for understanding the congruence coefficient (a commonly used index of factor similarity) specifically. First, we introduce the profile-based framework articulating factorial similarity in terms of 3 intuitive components: general saturation similarity, differential saturation similarity, and configural similarity. We then articulate the congruence coefficient in terms of these components, along with 2 additional profile-based components, and we explain how these components resolve ambiguities that can be-and are-found when using the congruence coefficient. Finally, we present secondary analyses revealing that profile-based components of factorial are indeed linked to experts' actual evaluations of factorial similarity. Overall, the profile-based approach we present offers new insights into the ways in which researchers can examine factor similarity and holds the potential to enhance researchers' ability to understand the congruence coefficient.
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Análise Fatorial , Modelos Estatísticos , Humanos , Psicometria/normasRESUMO
Research on similarity constructs (e.g., dyadic similarity, personality stability, judgment agreement and accuracy) frequently find them to be associated with positive outcomes. However, a methodological pitfall associated with common "overall similarity" indices, which we term the normative-desirability confound(NDC), will regularly result in similarity constructs apparently having more positive effects than they do in reality. In essence, when an individual is estimated to be similar to another person by common indices, this will strongly indicate that the individual has desirable characteristics. Consequently, the correlates of overall similarity indices can often be interpreted as indicating the beneficial effects of having desirable characteristics, without needing to attribute any additional salutary effect to similarity. We show that this confound is present in overall similarity estimates for a wide range of constructs (e.g., personality traits, attitudes, emotions, behaviors, values), how it can be accounted for, and discuss larger implications for our understanding of similarity constructs.
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Determinação da Personalidade , Humanos , Individualidade , Julgamento , Modelos Psicológicos , Personalidade , Determinação da Personalidade/estatística & dados numéricos , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Percepção SocialRESUMO
Theories of suicidal behavior suggest that the desire to die can arise from disruption of interpersonal relationships. Suicide research has typically studied this from the individual's perspective of the quality/frequency of their social interactions; however, the field of attachment may offer another perspective on understanding an individual's social patterns and suicide risk. This study examined attachment along with broader family functioning (family adaptability and cohesion) among 236 adolescent psychiatric inpatients with (n = 111) and without (n = 125) histories of suicide attempts. On average, adolescents were 14 years of age and Hispanic (69%). Compared to those without suicide attempts, adolescent attempters had lower self-reported maternal and paternal attachment and lower familial adaptability and cohesion. When comparing all three types of attachment simultaneously in the logistic regression model predicting suicide attempt status, paternal attachment was the only significant predictor. Suicide attempt group was also significantly predicted by self-rated Cohesion and Adaptability; neither of the parent ratings of family functioning were significant predictors. These findings are consistent with the predictions of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide about social functioning and support the efforts to develop attachment-based interventions as a novel route towards suicide prevention.
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Relações Familiares , Apego ao Objeto , Tentativa de Suicídio , Adaptação Psicológica , Adolescente , Psiquiatria do Adolescente , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Tentativa de Suicídio/psicologia , Inquéritos e Questionários , TexasRESUMO
The purpose of the present research was to test the level of agreement between targets and observers both at any given moment and as the targets' current behavior (assessed as personality states) change across moments. Ninety-seven target participants participated in 22 different activities across 20 1-hour long sessions in a laboratory setting while reporting their current behavior, and their behavior was evaluated by 183 observers (total of 3,493 target self-reports, 2,973 of which had a corresponding observer report from at least one observer). Target-observer and observer-observer agreement was significant for all personality states (and was substantial for extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience), and was observed in different situations, across all situations, and after accounting for normative agreement. The findings from this study-the first to examine within-person agreement on in-person behavioral states-provide evidence that people can accurately report their current behavior, that people agree on changes in behaviors across situations, and by extension that intensive assessment methodologies (such as experience-sampling methodology) have validity as assessments of momentary behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Extroversão Psicológica , Personalidade , Humanos , Comportamento Social , Autorrelato , Avaliação Momentânea EcológicaRESUMO
Honesty is a near universally valued trait. However, the term honesty captures a litany of traits and behaviors, obscuring research on social perceptions and trait measurement of honesty and creating philosophical difficulties in accounting for what (if anything) unifies this diversity. We applied a prototype analysis approach to identify the most central elements of lay honesty conceptualizations, identifying elements that come to mind and are explicitly acknowledged as important to honesty. In five studies (N = 1,442), U.S. American participants generated 6,000+ free responses characterizing honesty and indicated which subtraits and behaviors best represent honesty. Truthfulness was most central to lay honesty conceptualizations across all studies and several centrality indices (frequency among responses and participants, agreement across participants, priority in lists, explicit ratings), though several other features were prominent. Findings illuminate social perceptions of honesty, critique popular measurement of trait honesty, and offer empirical foundations for philosophical analysis of honesty.
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BACKGROUND: Intracranial neoplasms can cause pain similar to trigeminal neuralgia. Literature regarding radiosurgery for this is limited. We present a retrospective review of patients with tumor-related facial pain from benign lesions treated with gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) at Wake Forest University. OBJECTIVES: The primary objectives were to determine long-term pain relief and predictive factors for pain alleviation. METHODS: We reviewed 515 patients treated with GKRS for benign meningioma, vestibular schwannoma or trigeminal schwannoma between August 1999 and August 2010. Twenty-one eligible patients had tumor-related facial pain prior to GKRS. The median marginal tumor dose was 12 Gy. Long-term pain relief data were obtained by chart review and telephone interview. RESULTS: The median follow-up for symptom evaluation was 3.8 years. Seventeen of 21 patients (81%) experienced a Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) score of I-III at 6 months following GKRS. Kaplan-Meier estimates of freedom from BNI IV-V relapse were 66% at 1 year and 53% at 2 years. No pain relapses occurred after 2 years. CONCLUSION: GKRS of benign lesions is a noninvasive option for patients with tumor-related facial pain. Pain relief is modest, with the majority of pain relapses occurring within 2 years and approximately one half of patients maintaining relief beyond 2 years.
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Neoplasias Encefálicas/cirurgia , Dor Facial/cirurgia , Meningioma/cirurgia , Neurilemoma/cirurgia , Radiocirurgia/instrumentação , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Neoplasias Encefálicas/complicações , Dor Facial/etiologia , Feminino , Seguimentos , Humanos , Masculino , Meningioma/complicações , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Neurilemoma/complicações , Medição da Dor , Estudos Retrospectivos , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
We are grateful that insightful experts took the time to comment on our article, and we find their comments both elucidating and advancing. In response to the commentaries, we consider 3 possible locations for the active ingredients producing borderline personality disorder symptoms. First, we offer a more optimistic case that the active ingredients may be in Personality Inventory for DSM-5 traits because of the important role of heightened trigger frequency in accounting for elevated symptoms (with some caveats). Second, we support the commenters' arguments that active ingredients may be in dysfunction in the self and in relationships, as in Criterion A. Third, we offer an argument that the active ingredients may be in normal traits, but that the conception and measurement of normal traits need to be updated in light of the connection between normal traits and personality disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Transtorno da Personalidade Borderline , Transtorno da Personalidade Borderline/diagnóstico , Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais , Humanos , Personalidade , Transtornos da Personalidade/diagnóstico , Inventário de Personalidade , FenótipoRESUMO
The purpose of this paper is to review recent research about the possibility that some people are more honest than others and about the causes of them being so. We tackle four big questions about the consistency of honest behavior, the content and breadth of trait honesty, the mechanisms underlying trait honesty, and the measurement of trait honesty. Recent research reveals we are only at the beginning states of answering these questions about honesty. Invigorated research is needed to firmly resolve whether individuals differ in honesty and if so, integrate the determining mechanisms and develop strong measurements.
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The purpose of this article is to reveal whether traits can predict the core processes constituting borderline personality disorder (BPD). A large sample, including many with BPD, completed personality questionnaires and reported trigger and symptom experiences 5 times per day for 2 weeks. Multilevel modeling revealed first that symptoms were strongly contingent upon concurrent triggers and that BPD's association to symptoms was largely due to this contingency. Second, personality traits predicted all components of this process: trigger experiences, symptom intensity, and the contingency of the symptoms on triggers. However, normal personality traits only partially accounted for the heightened experience of triggers, elevated symptoms, and magnified reactivity to triggers among those with BPD. Thus, normal personality traits are capable of explaining the dynamic processes characteristic of clinical disorders, meaning that normal traits can elucidate even complex dynamic clinical processes. However, traits appear to only partially contain the active ingredients responsible for the core process in BPD. Aspects of the disorder other than traits may account for the heightened trigger experience, elevated symptom intensity, and magnified reactivity to triggers in those with BPD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Transtorno da Personalidade Borderline , Humanos , Personalidade , PsicopatologiaRESUMO
Though research on assessing posttraumatic growth has been severely critiqued, some evidence suggests close others can observe and report changes in individuals following traumatic life events and are sensitive to idiosyncratic ways in which changes manifest. We extended these findings by investigating corroboration of self-perceived posttraumatic growth (PTG) and depreciation (PTD) as measured by the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-42 (PTGI-42) among Sri Lankan Tamil war survivors (n = 200). Informants slightly corroborated overall levels of PTG and PTD, while a more nuanced profile analysis procedure revealed overall-but not distinctive-profile agreement. This suggests self-other agreement is modest and may partly reflect shared narratives and collective cultural understandings about how people change after trauma. Results demonstrate further that informants were not sensitive to idiosyncratic ways in which target individuals had changed. Together, the lack of validity evidence suggests that the PTGI-42 may be inadequate in some cross-cultural contexts as a measure of nuanced posttraumatic change (i.e., as a measure of specific changes in the five theorized domains of growth and depreciation). Future work should emphasize culture- and context-sensitive measurement of posttraumatic change, particularly focusing on methods other than retrospective self-reports, such as prospective longitudinal designs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Crescimento Psicológico Pós-Traumático , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos , Humanos , Índia , Estudos Retrospectivos , Estudos Prospectivos , Sri Lanka , Sobreviventes , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/diagnóstico , Adaptação PsicológicaRESUMO
Despite the clinical emphasis on processes happening within individuals, investigations into the psychological, structural connections between mental health symptoms have almost exclusively analyzed differences between people. These investigations have revealed important findings; however, they do not reveal the close connections among symptoms in an individuals' psychology. This study thus examined the psychological connections between symptoms directly, using borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms as an example. Participants (252; 74 with BPD) reported their momentary BPD symptoms five times daily, and 165 did so again 18 months later. In support of personalized medicine (Wright & Woods, 2020), individuals' BPD symptom structures differed considerably from each other and from the between-person structure. A novel technique revealed that differences were greater than expected by chance. Within-person structures tended to exhibit more symptom granularity (more factors and lower variance explained) and differing symptom meanings (patterns of loadings). For example, some individuals exhibited close connections between relationship turmoil and identity uncertainty, whereas other individuals exhibited close connections between relationship turmoil and impulsivity. Thus, conceptions of any given person's psychopathological processes using between-person structural findings will most likely be inaccurate. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Transtorno da Personalidade Borderline/psicologia , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
This study investigated the degree of correspondence of retrospective reports of personality disorder symptoms, triggers, and emotions with reports closer in time to the actual experiences. Retrospective reports of symptoms, triggers, and emotions are heavily used in both clinical and research settings, yet no study has investigated the correspondence for symptoms or triggers of personality disorders. A total of 257 participants, including 75 with BPD, completed overlapping daily, weekly, monthly, and semi-annual questionnaires. Retrospective reports showed: (1) systematic biases, reporting fewer symptom and situational trigger occurrences, and greater emotion intensities; but (2) little unsystematic error, largely reproducing bias-adjusted individual levels of symptoms, situational triggers, and emotions (rs generally .70-.80). People with BPD did not retrospectively misremember their symptoms, triggers, or emotions much more than others. Thus, retrospective reports of symptoms, triggers, and emotions should be adjusted for systematic bias, but after such adjustment can be taken as relatively faithful accounts of individuals' experiences.