The self-identified positive attributes and favourite activities of children on the autism spectrum Megan Clark & Dawn Adams Background: When autism is viewed through a deficit lens the strengths, positive attributes and interests of individuals on the spectrum can be overshadowed. A strengths-based focus counteracts the deficit view that is traditionally associated with developmental disabilites. More […]
Study Alerts
The Policy Relevance of Personality Traits
The Policy Relevance of Personality Traits Wiebke Bleidorn et al., in press at American Psychologist Personality traits are powerful predictors of outcomes in the domains of education, work, relationships, health, and well-being. The recognized importance of personality traits has raised questions about their policy relevance – that is, their potential to inform policy actions designed […]
STUDY ALERT: Are Sex Differences in Preferences for Physical Attractiveness and Good Earning Capacity in Potential Mates Smaller in Countries With Greater Gender Equality?
Lingshan Zhang, Anthony J. Lee, Lisa M. DeBruine, and Benedict C. Jones Abstract On average, women show stronger preferences for mates with good earning capacity than men do, while men show stronger preferences for physically attractive mates than women do. Studies reporting that sex differences in mate preferences are smaller in countries with greater gender […]
STUDY ALERT: Does Left-Wing Authoritarianism Exist in the United States?
Finding the Loch Ness Monster: Left-Wing Authoritarianism in the United States Lucian Gideon Conway, III, Shannon C. Houck, Luara Janelle Gornick, & Meredith A. Repke Although past research suggests authoritarianism may be a uniquely right-wing phenomenon, the present two studies tested the hypothesis that authoritarianism exists in both right-wing and left-wing contexts in essentially equal degrees. Across […]
STUDY ALERT: Clinical Correlates of Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism: A Personality Perspective
Clinical Correlates of Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism: A Personality Perspective Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD, Brandon Weiss, MA, Joshua D. Miller, PhD, and W. Keith Campbell, PhD There is broad consensus that there are at least two different dimensions of narcissism: vulnerable and grandiose. In this study, the authors use a new trifurcated, three-factor model of […]
STUDY ALERT: Are bigger brains smarter? Evidence from a large-scale pre-registered study
A positive relationship between brain volume and intelligence has been suspected since the 19th century and empirical studies seem to support this hypothesis. However, this claim is not uncontroversial because of concerns about publication bias and the lack of systematic control for critical confounding factors (e.g., height, population structure). We performed a pre-registered study of […]
STUDY ALERT: The development of the Awe Experience Scale (AWE-S)
The development of the Awe Experience Scale (AWE-S): A multifactorial measure for a complex emotion David B. Yaden, Scott Barry Kaufman, Elizabeth Hyde, Alice Chirico, Andrea Gaggioli, Jia Wei Zhang, Dacher Keltner Abstract Awe is a complex emotion composed of an appraisal of vastness and a need for accommodation. The purpose of this study was […]
STUDY ALERT: Cognitive Aging and Long-Term Maintenance of Attentional Improvements Following Meditation Training
Cognitive Aging and Long-Term Maintenance of Attentional Improvements Following Meditation Training Anthony P. Zanesco1 & Brandon G. King2,3 & Katherine A. MacLean3 & Clifford D. Saron3,4 Abstract Sustained attention is effortful, demanding, and subject to limitations associated with age-related cognitive decline. Researchers have sought to examine whether attentional capacities can be enhanced through directed mental […]
An Existential-Humanistic View of Personality Change: Co-Occurring Changes with Psychological Well-Being in a 10 Year Cohort Study
An Existential-Humanistic View of Personality Change: Co-Occurring Changes with Psychological Well-Being in a 10 Year Cohort Study Hilda Osafo Hounkpatin • Alex M. Wood • Christopher J. Boyce • Graham Dunn Abstract Increasingly, psychological research has indicated that an individual’s per- sonality changes across the lifespan. We aim to better understand personality change by examining […]
The time has come for dimensional personality disorder diagnosis
“We are concerned about the implications of retaining a categorical system that has been so thoroughly shown to be empirically and clinically problematic. It is very difficult to justify allocating resources toward continued research on an approach that has proven to be fundamentally flawed, as opposed to a dimensional model that points to exciting new […]
The Paradox of Intelligence: Heritability and Malleability Coexist in Hidden Gene-Environment Interplay
This integrative review advances the idea that gene–environment interplay underlies differences in human intelligence, and that the high heritability of IQ is not merely a product of genetic variation. Gene-environment correlations and interactions are obscured by typical research approaches, but their contribution to the development of intelligence explains a paradoxical body of evidence from recent […]
The Mindful Personality II: Exploring the Metatraits from a Cybernetic Perspective
The Mindful Personality II: Exploring the Metatraits from a Cybernetic Perspective Adam W. Hanley & Anne K. Baker & Eric L. Garland Abstract Relationships between dispositional mindfulness and the personality metatraits, stability and plasticity, remain unexplored despite continued efforts to more accurately characterize associations between dispositional mindfulness and personality. The metatraits are theorized to constitute […]