The Structure of Temperament and Personality Traits: A Developmental Perspective

In this chapter, we articulate a developmental perspective on personality traits from early childhood through adulthood. In the first section, we address two topics that are fundamental in defining the most important traits at each point in the life span: the relationship between temperament and personality and the methods used to ascertain the structure of traits in the temperament and personality research traditions. We argue in this section that temperament and personality are different ways of describing the same basic traits, with temperament research primarily focused on early-emerging individual differences and personality research focused on individual differences that appear later in childhood and continue into adulthood. In the second section, we describe the current status of the most prominent models of temperament, as well as the most widely-accepted personality trait model, the Big Five. In the third section, we articulate a structural model that integrates contemporary findings on temperament and personality traits from early childhood through adulthood. We use the Big Five trait structure, along with the trait of activity level, to organize this taxonomy. In the fourth section, we discuss the current research on the psychological and biological processes that underlie individual differences in the Big Five traits in childhood and adulthood. In the final sections, we offer concluding thoughts on the nature of personality trait development and suggestions for future research. This is an exciting time in the study of personality in part because of the marked progress in uncovering the basic structure of traits across the lifespan.

An fMRI investigation on empathy: physical and social pain, prosocial behavior and the role of the opioid system

The work presented in this thesis collects three fMRI studies mainly focusing on empathy, i.e. the capacity to understand and/or share the emotional state of others. Empathy is central to human sociality, as it allows us to resonate with others\u2019 positive and negative feeling, and consequently adjust our behavior. Despite recent research has shed light on many feature of empathic responses, we still ignore many other aspects: for instance, which kind of computational processes are executed by empathy \u301s neural substrates, how empathic responses vary according to the type of observed experience, which neurochemical mechanisms are at the core of empathic responses, or also what is the link between empathic responses and the tendency to behave altruistically (usually referred to as \u2018prosocial behavior\u2019). The purpose of the work presented in this thesis is providing answers to some of the open questions. In Study 1 we aimed at understanding what are the neural substrates of empathy for social pain, a kind of pain that is constantly grabbing increasingly attention among social neuroscientists, and to which extent they overlap with the ones coding for physical pain. In Study 2 we investigated brain correlates of prosocial behavior by exploring functional connectivity within brain networks of participants who exhibited either a self-benefit behavior or an altruistic one in a life-threatening situation simulated in a virtual environment. In Study 3 we used a placebo manipulation on a group of participants undergoing first- hand and vicarious painful stimulations in order to observe how the supposed enhancement of endogenous opioids release would affect their behavioral and neurophysiological responses to the painful experience. Overall, the work presented in this thesis advances the knowledge on both empathy and prosociality mechanisms and opens the way for new investigations aiming at clarifying key aspects of social behavior

The Moral Dimensions of Boredom: A call for research

Despite the impressive progress that has been made on both the empirical and conceptual fronts of boredom research, there is one facet of boredom that has received remarkably little attention. This is boredom's relationship to morality. The aim of this article is to explore the moral dimensions of boredom and to argue that boredom is a morally relevant personality trait. The presence of trait boredom hinders our capacity to flourish and in doing so hurts our prospects for a moral life

The Neurobiology and Psychology of Empathy

This work was supported by a grant from The Character Project (Psychology of Character), from Wake Forest University, via the John Templeton Foundation

The different behavioral intentions of collectivists and individualists in response to social exclusion

We investigated how participants with collectivistic and individualistic orientation cope with social exclusion on a behavioral level. In Studies 1 and 2, we found participants with more individualistic orientation to indicate more antisocial behavioral intentions in response to exclusion than in response to inclusion; however, participants with more collectivistic orientation did not differ in their behavioral intentions between exclusion and inclusion. In the third and fourth study, we replicated our findings across cultures: German and U.S. participants indicated more antisocial and avoiding behavioral intentions under exclusion than under inclusion, whereas Turkish and Indian participants did not differ in their behavioral intentions between exclusion and inclusion. In Studies 3 and 4, only German and U.S. participants were significantly affected by exclusion, showing more negative mood, which correlated with their behavioral intentions. In Study 4, the different behavioral intentions of collectivists and individualists were mediated by a different threat experience. The findings emphasize the role of self-construal and culture, as well as the self-threat inherent in exclusion. </jats:p

Middle-School Girls\u27 Behavioral Responses to Ostracism: How Much Does Inclusion Cost?

Bullying among school-aged children is problematic in the U.S., with 22% of students aged 12-18 years reporting experiences with bullying at school (Zhang, Musu-Gillette, & Oudekerk, 2016). Whereas early bullying research focused heavily on the physical bullying common among boys, more recent studies have included examinations of bullying using relational aggression. Defined as removing or threatening to remove relationships to cause harm to another, relational aggression includes behaviors such as spreading lies, gossiping, or ignoring a peer and has been found to be more common among girls (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Cullerton-Sen & Crick, 2005; Murray-Close et al., 2007). A specialized form of relational aggression that has been relatively under investigated among adolescents involves ostracism, the excluding or ignoring of others by individuals or groups (Williams, 2009). The paucity of research on ostracism in childhood and adolescence is surprising, given that research with adults has linked ostracism to a variety of negative outcomes, including suicidal ideation or attempts, depression, and other breakdowns in psychological functioning (Saylor, Williams, Nida, McKenna, Twomey, & Macias, 2013). Further, given the importance of healthy peer relations on child and adolescent psychological functioning, studying teen responses to ostracism is of great importance. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine how adolescent girls respond to ostracism experiences in the lab. Girls’ willingness to ingratiate with those who had ostracized them was of primary interest, as previous research has failed to examine teen behavior following ostracism and how it affects teens’ potential for future relationships. While research with adults suggests that individuals may be prosocial to gain inclusion, it is unknown whether ostracized youth will attempt to ingratiate with ostracizers as a means to gain the inclusion that is crucial to teen development. As such, this was the first known study to examine how individual differences among middle school-aged girls’ social-cognitive functioning moderated their affective and behavioral responses to being ostracized. Fifth through 8th grade girls (N= 110) completed several surveys assessing individual differences, including those related to involvement as perpetrator or victim of relational and overt aggression. At least one week after completion of these surveys, girls participated in a game of Cyberball in which they were randomly assigned to be either fully or partially ostracized. Following the game, participants completed the Primary Needs Questionnaire-Children (PNQ-C; Zadro et al., 2013) to assess need threat, as well as a resource allocation task in which they had the opportunity to “buy” inclusion in a second game of Cyberball by giving cookies to the original game players or an uninvolved player. After these tasks, participants played a final game of Cyberball in which they were fully included. Results indicated that girls who were fully ostracized in the game experienced significantly more need threat than those who were partially ostracized. In addition, girls who were partially ostracized made a greater effort to ingratiate with original players compared to girls who were fully ostracized. Hypotheses regarding the moderating role of relational aggression were not supported. However, a history of involvement in overt aggression did moderate resource allocation of cookies, with more frequent engagement in these behaviors associated with greater ingratiation towards original players. In addition, girls’ feelings of threat to belonging following ostracism mediated the relationship between level of ostracism and their ingratiating behaviors. Results suggest that ostracism is harmful regardless of one’s history of involvement with aggression, indicating that school-based professionals working with teens have an obligation to identify and intervene when ostracism is occurring. Further, girls who were partially ostracized and believed they could gain inclusion in the second Cyberball game chose to ingratiate with ostracizing players to “buy” their inclusion. This finding suggests a need for adults to assist in teaching social skills and structuring healthy interactions so that youth are not exploited by more socially skilled peers. In addition, study results make an important theoretical contribution to the ostracism literature. Specifically, girls’ threat to belonging was the process through which ostracism influenced ingratiation behaviors. This mediation was previously unstudied in teens and adds support to Williams’ (2009) theory that threatened needs influence individuals’ behavior following the ostracism experience

The Use of Virtual Reality in the Science of Psychology

With the evolution of technology, digital gaming became a more holistic and realistic experience that engages all senses. This novel capacity was seized by Psychological Science. The aim of this literature review was to describe some of the usages of Virtual Reality (VR), specifically in the domains of Developmental, Clinical, Social, Organizational, Athletic Psychology and Neuropsychology. Some of the findings were that VR can promote children’s socialization and self-control in the case of Developmental Psychology. Research on Clinical Psychology has shown that VRT contributes to phobia treatment and can help analyze negative self-image in individuals with eating disorders. In the area of Social Psychology, it can reduce prejudice and enhance prosocial behavior, by providing the ability to manipulate variables and achieving high experimental control and ecological validity. Furthermore, it can enhance employees’ productivity and help them cope with stress in Organizational Psychology and boost athletes’ motivation and decision making in Athletic Psychology. In Neuropsychology, VR gives the potential of early diagnosis and rehabilitation of neuropsychological complications of Traumatic Brain Injury, Brain Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease and facilitates the reduction of Autism Index. Overall, psychological research, diagnosis and treatment via VR seems so far to be a rich and promising field for further investigation that will possibly improve different people’s quality of life

Bridging the empathy gap: Effects of brief mindfulness training on helping outgroup members in need

Witnessing others in need can be felt similarly to experiencing it oneself (empathy) and motivates assistance of those in need (prosocial action). It is well-documented that empathy can occur automatically, but when those in need are not members of a social ingroup, empathy and prosocial action are undermined. One major ingroup—outgroup division in American and in other countries is based on race. Although most condemn racial discrimination, empathy and prosocial action are often lower, however unintentionally, in interracial contexts. In light of this empathy gap, it is important to identify psychological factors that could bolster empathy and prosocial action toward racial outgroup members in need. This dissertation asked whether mindfulness training – cultivating present-centered, receptive attention to one’s ongoing experiences –increases social sensitivity toward racial outgroup members, and is based on pilot research indicating that a brief mindfulness induction increased empathy and prosocial action in such contexts. Healthy, self-identifying White women were randomized to either a brief (4-day) mindfulness training or a structurally-equivalent sham mindfulness training. Pre-post electroencephalographic measures of empathy toward video stimuli of outgroup members expressing sadness was assessed via prefrontal alpha frequency oscillations (i.e., frontal alpha asymmetry). Pre-post scenario-based spontaneous prosocial action toward Black individuals in need, and pre-post 14-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of empathy and prosocial action toward Black individuals (and other races) were conducted. Mindfulness training was expected to increase EEG- and EMA-based empathy toward Black individuals in need, as well as increase prosocial action toward such individuals in scenario and daily life (EMA) contexts. Opposite of what was hypothesized, MT reduced post-intervention empathic simulation, relative to ST, as measured by frontal alpha asymmetry. Consistent with hypotheses, however, MT increased empathic concern for outgroup members expressing sadness during video stimuli observation, and increased post-intervention scenario-based prosocial action. However, the hypothesis that MT would predict increases in pre- to post-intervention daily EMA-based prosocial action was not supported. Providing somewhat convergent evidence, trait mindfulness predicted more frequent pre-intervention scenario-based and daily prosocial action toward outgroup members; trait mindfulness was not related to pre-intervention video-based EEG and self-reported empathy outcomes. Together these results suggest that mindfulness can enhance some indicators or empathy and prosocial behavior in interracial contexts. Mechanisms and implications of the findings are discussed