A Social Identity Perspective of Personality Differences between Fan and Non-Fan Identities

In three studies of fan communities we examined differences in the Big Five personality traits between fans’ personal and fan identities. In all three studies, self-identified furries completed a measure of the Big Five personality traits for both their personal and furry identity. In Study 1, furries were found to rate all five dimensions higher when referring to their furry (vs. personal) identity. In Study 2 we replicated these results and further found that the effect was not limited to furries: sport fans also reported different personality ratings when referring to their fan or personal identity. In Study 3, we again replicated the results while testing predictors of personality differences between salient identities. A path model showed that felt connection to one’s fandom identity predicted greater frequency of fandom identity salience, which, in turn, predicted greater personality disparity between identities. Taken together, the results suggest the role of the social identity perspective in explaining inconsistencies in personality

Maturity and Well-Being: Consistent Associations Across Samples and Measures

Introduction: Researchers have noted an association between maturity and well-being. However, this body of research uses different measures and conceptualizations of maturity (e.g., ego development, psychosocial maturity) and often only a few indicators of well-being. In the present research, we examined associations between a single self-rated measure of maturity and a variety of different indicators of well-being. Furthermore, we examined this association across a variety of samples. We hypothesized that maturity will show a positive relationship with measures related to well-being. Methods: Samples of college students (Studies 1, 3, 4), Star Wars fans (Study 2), and individuals in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Vietnam, and India (Study 5) completed a short measure of maturity and measures related to well-being. Results: Across the studies, self-rated maturity was consistently positively correlated with various indicators of well-being (e.g., psychological, physical) and related constructs (e.g., self-compassion, empathy). Conclusion: The results highlight the association between maturity and well-being. Furthermore, the results address the fragmented nature of this association in the literature by showing consistent relationships with a variety of well-being indicators with a single measure of maturity. Assessments of maturity may be beneficial in hiring decisions and student evaluation in the healthcare profession

"Coming Out" as an Anime Fan: Cosplayers in the Anime Fandom, Fan Disclosure, and Well-Being

In the present study we tested the hypothesis that cosplayers experience greater well-being than non-cosplayers within the anime fandom in part because they are more likely to disclose their fan identity to non-fans. Anime fans indicated whether they engaged in cosplaying or not, and rated the degree to which they disclose their anime fan identity to non-fans, satisfaction with life, self-esteem, and depression. Compared to non-cosplayers, cosplayers reported greater self-disclosure and better well-being across a number of indicators. Mediation analyses revealed that the relationship between cosplaying and well-being was consistently mediated by disclosure, a finding in-line with existing research. These are discussed within the context of existing research, providing both a conceptual replication of past findings from related fandoms (i.e., the furry fandom) while also suggesting a myriad of possible directions for future research on the subject

Motivations of Cosplayers to Participate in the Anime Fandom

We examined differences between cosplaying and non-cosplaying anime fans with regard to their motivation to participate in the anime fandom. Participants, all anime fans, completed scales assessing a myriad of possible motivations for anime fandom participation. Cosplayers rated all of the assessed motivations higher than non-cosplayers. The highest-rated motivations for cosplayers included entertainment, escape from everyday life, belongingness, eustress, and aesthetic beauty. Modest sex differences were also found, as women were more likely than men to cosplay and, even among cosplayers, women reported higher belongingness, family, self-esteem, and escape motivations. With the exception of sexual attraction, however, where men were considerably more motivated by sexual attraction than women, the effect sizes for sex differences were fairly small, suggesting little true difference between male and female cosplayers. The results are discussed in relation to past research examining anime cosplayers

Coronal Heating as Determined by the Solar Flare Frequency Distribution Obtained by Aggregating Case Studies

Flare frequency distributions represent a key approach to addressing one of the largest problems in solar and stellar physics: determining the mechanism that counter-intuitively heats coronae to temperatures that are orders of magnitude hotter than the corresponding photospheres. It is widely accepted that the magnetic field is responsible for the heating, but there are two competing mechanisms that could explain it: nanoflares or Alfv\'en waves. To date, neither can be directly observed. Nanoflares are, by definition, extremely small, but their aggregate energy release could represent a substantial heating mechanism, presuming they are sufficiently abundant. One way to test this presumption is via the flare frequency distribution, which describes how often flares of various energies occur. If the slope of the power law fitting the flare frequency distribution is above a critical threshold, $\alpha=2$ as established in prior literature, then there should be a sufficient abundance of nanoflares to explain coronal heating. We performed $>$600 case studies of solar flares, made possible by an unprecedented number of data analysts via three semesters of an undergraduate physics laboratory course. This allowed us to include two crucial, but nontrivial, analysis methods: pre-flare baseline subtraction and computation of the flare energy, which requires determining flare start and stop times. We aggregated the results of these analyses into a statistical study to determine that $\alpha = 1.63 \pm 0.03$. This is below the critical threshold, suggesting that Alfv\'en waves are an important driver of coronal heating.Comment: 1,002 authors, 14 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, published by The Astrophysical Journal on 2023-05-09, volume 948, page 7