Ego-Boosting Hormone: Self-Reported and Blood-Based Testosterone Are Associated With Higher Narcissism.

Grandiose narcissism is defined as increased motivation for status and viewing oneself as entitled and superior to others. We hypothesized that these tendencies might be associated with basal levels of testosterone because testosterone is considered the most social hormone-driving dominance and the motivation to achieve social status. We distinguished between two facets of grandiose narcissism: agentic (i.e., the tendency to self-promotion in order to win others' admiration and social influence) and antagonistic (i.e., a reactive strategy used to restore threatened status). In 283 adult men, we examined the association between these facets of narcissism and blood-tested and self-reported testosterone levels. Agentic narcissism-the default narcissistic strategy-was positively associated with both testosterone indicators. Moreover, self-reported and objectively measured testosterone were positively correlated. These findings extend previous work by showing that the facets of narcissism have distinct hormonal underpinnings.

Predictors of depressive symptoms among hospitalized COVID-19 patients with respiratory problems.

COVID-19 patients and survivors quite often experience depressive symptoms, which can increase risk for lower immune system response and poorer recovery. Vulnerability to depressive symptoms may be elevated in those patients who have the most severe COVID-19 course of illness, that is, patients who require supplementary oxygen therapy or even intubation. The current study involved a unique sample of patients who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 and who required respiratory support (N = 34, 10 women) in which we investigated depressive symptoms as well as psychopathological personality traits (PID5) as predictors. The majority of patients (76.5%) presented some degree of depressive symptoms. Although we expected severe levels of depressive symptoms to be most prevalent, more patients showed rather moderate levels. At the same time, Negative Affectivity was most predictive of depressive symptoms. We suggest that medical care for patients with greater emotional sensitivity and vulnerability to stress be supplemented with psychological support in order to address depressive symptoms and foster recovery.

What do highly narcissistic people think and feel about (their) intelligence?

OBJECTIVE: The current research comprehensively examined how grandiose and vulnerable narcissism are linked to intelligence and intelligence-related beliefs and emotions. METHOD: In four studies (total N = 1,141), we tested the associations between both forms of narcissism, subjectively and objectively assessed intelligence, basic personality traits, test-related stress, beliefs about intelligence, and well-being. RESULTS: Both forms of narcissism (grandiose and vulnerable) were unrelated to objective intelligence. Grandiose narcissism was associated with high self-perceived intelligence (Studies 1-3) and explained more variance in self-perceived intelligence than objective intelligence and the Big Five personality traits. It was correlated with reduced distress in the context of IQ testing and low engagement in cognitive performance (Study 2). Individuals with high grandiose narcissism based their well-being (Study 3) partly on intelligence and considered intelligence important for success in different life domains, especially for social relations (Study 4). Vulnerable narcissism was unrelated to self-perceived intelligence (Studies 1-3) and went along with increased distress in the context of IQ testing (Study 2). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the topic of intelligence is of key importance for people with high grandiose narcissism psychological functioning and it also has some relevance for individuals with high vulnerable narcissism.

Who complies with the restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19?: Personality and perceptions of the COVID-19 situation.

In 2020, many countries around the world created and enforced heavy restrictions geared towards reducing the spread of the coronavirus (i.e., COVID-19). In this study (N = 263), we examined the role of personality traits (i.e., Big Five and Dark Triad) and individual differences in perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic situation (the situational eight: Duty, Intellect, Adversity, Mating, Positivity, Negativity, Deception, and Sociality) in accounting for individual differences in compliance with the governmental restrictions in Poland. We found that the way people perceived the situation explained more variance in compliance than personality traits which is in accordance with the hypothesis that strong situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, leave less room for dispositional tendencies in predicting behaviors than situational cues. Moreover, people scoring low on agreeableness and high on aspects of the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy Factor 1, and narcissistic rivalry) were less likely to comply with the restrictions. Additionally, we replicated and extended what is known about the associations between personality and individual differences in the perception of situations when the latter were assessed in relation to a strong situation and the former were assessed with long and multidimensional measures.

The Interplay Between Cognitive Intelligence, Ability Emotional Intelligence, and Religiosity.

The negative association between cognitive intelligence (CI) and religiosity has been widely studied and is now well documented. In contrast, the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in this context has been poorly investigated thus far. Some available data indicate that EI, unlike CI, correlates positively with religiosity. To date, however, no study has explored the relationship between religiosity and both intelligences simultaneously. In current studies (Ns = 301 and 200), we examined the interplay between all three constructs. The results showed that CI was positively correlated with ability EI and negatively with some measures of religiosity. EI, on the other hand, revealed no direct, significant relationship with religiosity. However, when combined into a single regression model with CI, EI became a significant positive predictor of religiosity. Moreover, Study 2 revealed that the link between EI and religiosity was mediated by empathy. Interestingly, we also found a reciprocal suppression between CI and EI, since both predictors increased their influence on religiosity when analyzed together. Although the suppression was present in both studies, it was observed for different religiosity measures in each case, indicating that this effect is probably dependent on various factors, such as sample structure or type of religiosity.

Divine Emotions: On the Link Between Emotional Intelligence and Religious Belief.

There have been only few attempts to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and religiosity. However, none of them included measures of ability EI. In two studies, we investigated the potential associations between various aspects of religious belief and ability and trait EI. In Study 1 (N = 240), we found that ability EI was positively associated with general level of religious belief. Study 2, conducted among Polish Christians (N = 159), replicated the previous result on the connection between ability EI and religion. Moreover, both trait and ability EI were negatively correlated with extrinsic religious orientation and negative religious coping. Additional analysis showed that extrinsic orientation mediated the relationship between ability EI and religiosity.

[Task related stress and cognitive control in patients with schizophrenia]. / Stres zwiazany z wykonywaniem zadania a kontrola poznawcza u osób chorujacych na schizofrenie.

OBJECTIVES: Working memory deficits might be one of the major cognitive impairments in schizophrenia. Some researchers argue, that cognitive control is especially disturbed among schizophrenia patients. It was found, that low working memory capacity in schizophrenia may be explained by the fact that irrelevant stimuli occupy patients' storage space that could otherwise be used to hold relevant information. AIM: We examined, whether increased distress as well as the tendency to focus on irrelevant information (worry) are related to cognitive control in schizophrenia. METHODS: The participants were 28 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and a control group (n=28). The cognitive control was measured with the short version of Attention Networks Test (ANT), and the state of worry and distress was assessed by the short version of the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (DSSQ) in a Polish adaptation. RESULTS: The stress states of worry and distress were higher among patients in comparison to controls. Moreover, worry mediated the relationship between group and cognitive control task. CONCLUSIONS: The mediation model suggested that patient's poorer performance on cognitive control task might partially explained by their increased state of worry (focus on task unrelated thoughts) measured just before the task.

Working memory mechanism in proportional quantifier verification.

The paper explores the cognitive mechanisms involved in the verification of sentences with proportional quantifiers (e.g., "More than half of the dots are blue"). The first study shows that the verification of proportional sentences is more demanding than the verification of sentences such as: "There are seven blue and eight yellow dots". The second study reveals that both types of sentences are correlated with memory storage, however, only proportional sentences are associated with the cognitive control. This result suggests that the cognitive mechanism underlying the verification of proportional quantifiers is crucially related to the integration process, in which an individual has to compare in memory the cardinalities of two sets. In the third study we find that the numerical distance between two cardinalities that must be compared significantly influences the verification time and accuracy. The results of our studies are discussed in the broader context of processing complex sentences.

Chronotype in relation to free and total testosterone in men.

In the current study, we examined the association between eveningness and testosterone levels in men. Specifically, we differentiated between free and total testosterone fractions, with free testosterone being recognized as the most bioavailable form of this hormone. We collected blood samples from 298 men aged 18-44 to assess total and free testosterone. Additionally, we measured sleep timing variables using the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire. The main result of the current study indicated that evening chronotype was associated with higher levels of free testosterone, but was unrelated to total testosterone. Sleep loss was unrelated to the both testosterone fractions. We expanded prior findings by utilizing a more comprehensive testosterone assay what indicated that evening chronotype is primarily associated with the most bioavailable form of testosterone (i.e. free testosterone) in adult men.

Kindness or Intelligence? Angry Men are Perceived as Less Intelligent by Their Female Romantic Partners.

We were interested in how people in a romantic relationship would perceive the intelligence of their partners who have high or low trait anger. Specifically, we referred to the tension between compassion (low anger) and competence (high intelligence) in mate choice. Some evolutionary theories suggest that mating might be considered a bargaining process between these two higher-order attributes. Our study involved 148 heterosexual couples in romantic relationships. We measured the relationship between relationship satisfaction, trait anger, objective intelligence, self-assessed intelligence, and subjectively assessed partners' intelligence. We found that angrier men were less satisfied in their romantic relationship than those men who were less angry, and their partners were also less satisfied in the relationship. Additionally, women perceived angrier men as less intelligent, an effect that remained after controlling for men's objective intelligence. Lastly, we found that women's perception of their partner's intelligence mediated the link between men's anger and relationship satisfaction for both sexes. Our findings suggest that both anger and intelligence play important roles in romantic relationship functioning, consistent with evolutionary theories that emphasize the value of competence (i.e., intelligence) and compassion (i.e., low anger) in romantic partners. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of women's perception of their partner's intelligence in determining the quality of the relationship.

The peaks and valleys of narcissism: The factor structure of narcissistic states and their relations to trait measures.

Although interindividual differences in narcissism are well studied, little is known about assessing narcissism at the within-person level. To fill this research gap, we investigated whether the narcissism construct is represented in the same way at the between- and within-person levels. We analyzed four established narcissism measures across multiple studies. In each of the studies, participants completed narcissism measures in ecological momentary assessment or daily diary studies. Equivalent construct representation across between- and within-person narcissism (i.e., cross-level measurement invariance) was found. State narcissism measures showed convergent validities for the trait narcissism scales. Moreover, we also found that antagonistic narcissism was most strongly related to within-person variability in narcissism. Our investigation sheds new light on the structure and assessment of narcissism on the within-person level by providing a comprehensive examination of its measurement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Religious Fundamentalism, Delusions, and Conspiracy Beliefs Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The widespread COVID-19 conspiracy theories are a problem in dealing with the pandemic, as their proponents tend not to adhere to public health regulations. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationships between religious fundamentalism, delusions, compliance with public health regulations, and religion-related conspiracy beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were 570 internet users aged 18-60. They responded to questions regarding sociodemographic variables, compliance with public health regulations, conspiracy beliefs concerning COVID-19, as well as the Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale, and the Delusions Scale. The results indicated that people exhibiting more conspiracy beliefs were less likely to comply with public health regulations concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and showed more religious fundamentalism. Additionally, there was an indirect effect of religious fundamentalism on conspiracy beliefs through delusions. The results suggest that when formulating epidemiological messages, it is worth paying attention to the importance of rational thinking.

Why Narcissism Reduces Distress: The Consequences of Narcissistic Intellectual Self-Confidence.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between grandiose narcissism and the feeling of distress. We referred to the narcissistic admiration and rivalry model. We hypothesized that people with high narcissistic admiration would experience less distress and fear and that intellectual self-confidence would account for this relationship. We examined two dimensions of grandiose narcissism using Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, self-assessed intelligence, and various aspects of distress in two studies. In Study 1 (N = 170), we assessed distress (with the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire), related to performance in an intelligence test (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices), and in Study 2 (N = 258) we measured fear related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In both studies, narcissistic admiration was inversely related to distress/fear, and this relationship was fully mediated by self-assessed intelligence. Narcissistic rivalry was unrelated to both distress and self-assessed intelligence. These findings emphasize the importance of self-views related to intelligence for those with high narcissistic admiration. In particular, intellectual self- confidence plays an important role in reducing distress among narcissists.

What Are the Optimal Levels of Time Perspectives? Deviation from the Balanced Time Perspective-Revisited (DBTP-r).

Balanced time perspective (BTP) describes a tendency to focus on past, present and future time horizons that fosters well-being and positive life outcomes. Deviation from the balanced time perspective is a widespread method to measure the balance, but it makes assumptions regarding levels of time perspectives constituting BTP. In the present research we aimed to test the assumptions regarding levels of time perspectives constituting BTP by testing associations between time perspectives and domains of well-being in four independent samples (N = 1150). The results showed that higher well-being was fostered by greater past positive (PP) and future (F) and lower past negative (PN) and present fatalistic (PF) time perspectives in a linear manner. As for the present hedonistic (PH) perspective, the results were inconsistent indicating that this time orientation can be unrelated to well-being or related in an inverse U-shape manner. In the light of our results the optimal values for the deviation from the balanced time perspective, as measured with the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, should be revisited and changed into PN 1, PP 5, PF 1, PH 3.4, F 5, with careful consideration whether or not to incorporate PH into the formula for the deviation from the balanced time perspective at all. We also showed that the deviation from the balanced time perspective using the above values better predicts well-being than the one using previously assumed levels.

Why do evening people consider themselves more intelligent than morning individuals? The role of big five, narcissism, and objective cognitive ability.

Morningness-eveningness, or chronotype, reflects the timing of sleep-wake patterns across a 24-hour day. Extant research has revealed that chronotype correlates with numerous psychological constructs including cognitive ability. In the current research, we examined how people with different chronotypes perceive their intelligence. We expected eveningness to be positively associated with subjectively assessed intelligence (SAI) because evening chronotypes demonstrate slightly higher intelligence than morning individuals. Furthermore, we considered personality traits (Big Five and narcissism) and objective intelligence (measured with standardized tests of fluid and verbal IQ) as potential variables that could account for this relationship. Across two studies (N = 504 and 232), we found that eveningness was associated with higher SAI. This relationship remained significant even after controlling for objective intelligence. In Study 1, we also found that when conscientiousness and neuroticism were analyzed together with chronotype, the magnitude of positive association between eveningness and SAI increased. Furthermore, Study 2 revealed that evening individuals exhibited higher narcissism, which fully accounted for their intelligence self-views. In the discussion, we speculate that daily struggles of evening chronotypes to function in morning-oriented society give them a basis to think positively about their intelligence to the extent of positive bias.

Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism Are Differentially Associated With Ability and Trait Emotional Intelligence.

We examined the association between two types of narcissism, grandiose and vulnerable, and self-reported as well as ability emotional intelligence (EI). Grandiose narcissism is characterized by high self-esteem, interpersonal dominance and a tendency to overestimate one's capabilities, whereas vulnerable narcissism presents defensive, avoidant and hypersensitive attitude in interpersonal relations. In the current study (n = 249) we found that vulnerable narcissism was significantly and negatively associated with trait (self-reported) EI; however, it did not correlate with ability (performance) EI. Grandiose narcissism was significantly positively connected with trait EI. Moreover, when the two EI scores were analyzed together in a single model, they were associated with grandiose narcissism in opposite directions. Specifically, trait EI showed a positive relation with grandiose narcissism, while ability EI negatively predicted this type of narcissism. The latter results are consistent with previous findings showing that individuals with high level of grandiose narcissism tend to overestimate their abilities. Vulnerable narcissism is probably connected with more realistic self-perception of emotional abilities.

Corrigendum: Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism Are Differentially Associated With Ability and Trait Emotional Intelligence.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01606.].

Hostile and energetic: Anger is predicted by low agreeableness and high energetic arousal.

A hypothesis that anger is related to high energetic arousal (EA), but only at a low level of agreeableness was tested. In the first two studies, the association between trait anger, agreeableness, and EA was explored. In the next two studies, the interactions of agreeableness with constructs conceptually and empirically close to EA, in predicting anger were tested. Study 3 revealed that anger was predicted by a low level of agreeableness and a high level of positive affect. In study 4 task engagement (construct containing an energetic component) was included in the context of cognitive performance. At a high level of agreeableness the association between anger and task engagement was negative, whereas among individuals with low agreeableness this relation was not significant.

Fluid Intelligence as a Mediator of the Relationship between Executive Control and Balanced Time Perspective.

This study examined the cognitive foundations of the balanced time perspective (BTP) proposed by Zimbardo and Boyd (1999). Although BTP is defined as the mental ability to switch effectively between different temporal perspectives, its connection with cognitive functioning has not yet been established. We addressed this by exploring the relationships between time perspectives and both fluid intelligence (measured with Raven's and Cattell's tests) and executive control (Go/No-go and anti-saccade tasks). An investigation conducted among Polish adults (N = 233) revealed that more balanced TP profile was associated with higher fluid intelligence, and higher executive control. Moreover, we found that the relationship between executive control and BTP was completely mediated by fluid intelligence with the effect size (the ratio of the indirect effect to the total effect) of 0.75, which suggests that cognitive abilities play an important role in adoption of temporal balance. The findings have relevance to time perspective theory as they provide valuable insight into the mechanisms involved in assigning human experience to certain time frames.

Polish Version of the Managing the Emotions of Others Scale (MEOS): Psychometric Properties and Validation.

The present study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the managing the emotions of others scale (MEOS). MEOS consists of six dimensions: mood enhancing (Enhance), mood worsening (Worsen), concealing emotions from others (Conceal), use of inauthentic displays for self-serving purposes (Inauthentic), poor emotion skills (Poor skills), and use of diversion to enhance another's mood (Divert). The results showed that among MEOS dimensions, Enhance was the most strongly related to performance-based emotional intelligence. Among the Dark Triad, Narcissism was related to the greatest number of MEOS subscales-all except Poor skills. The results indicated that the MEOS has a similar factor structure, reliability, and pattern of correlations with personality and emotional intelligence in Poland as in previous studies.