Distinguishing communal narcissism from agentic narcissism: A behavior genetics analysis on the agency-communion model of narcissism

This article examined the genetic and environmental bases of the newly proposed agency communion model of narcissism. The model distinguishes between agentic narcissism and communal narcissism. The sample comprised 304 pairs of twins. Genes explained 47% and 25% of the variance in agentic and communal narcissism, respectively; shared environments contributed 0% and 15%, respectively, to agentic and communal narcissism, with non-shared environments accounting for the remaining portions. Although some common genes and environments influenced agentic and communal narcissism simultaneously, most genetic (68%) and environmental (94%) influences on agentic and communal narcissism were unique. These findings provide novel evidence for the theoretical plausibility of communal narcissism as well as its relatedness to and distinctiveness from agentic narcissism, supporting the agency communion narcissism model. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Modeling and optimization of environment in agricultural greenhouses for improving cleaner and sustainable crop production

Resource-use efficiency and crop yield are significant factors in the management of agricultural greenhouse. Appropriate modeling methods effectively improve the control performance and efficiency of the greenhouse system and are conducive to the design of water and energy-saving strategies. Meanwhile, the extreme environment could be forecasted in advance, which reduces pests and diseases as well as provides high-quality food. Accordingly, the interest of the scientific community in greenhouse modeling and optimizing has grown considerably. The objective of this work is to provide guidance and insight into the topic by reviewing 73 representative articles and to further support cleaner and sustainable crop production. Compared to the existing literature review, this work details the approaches to improve the greenhouse model in the aspects of parameter identification, structure and process optimization, and multi-model integration to better model complex greenhouse system. Furthermore, a statistical study has been carried out to summarize popular technology and future trends. It was found that dynamic and neural network techniques are most commonly used to establish the greenhouse model and the heuristic algorithm is popular to improve the accuracy and generalization ability of the model. Notably, deep learning, the combination of “knowledge” and “data”, and coupling between the greenhouse system elements have been considered as future valuable development

The heritability of implicit self-esteem: A twin study

In a twin sample (117 monozygotic and 115 dizygotic twin pairs), we assessed implicit self-esteem by using the implicit association test (IAT). Results showed that implicit self-esteem was heritable with substantial environmental influences. The heritability of implicit self-esteem suggests that it is a fundamental individual difference. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.</p

On the Etiology of Self-Enhancement and Its Association With Psychological Well-Being

Self-enhancement, the motive to view oneself in positive light, and its manifestations have received wide attention in behavioral sciences. The self-enhancement manifestations vary on a continuum from a subjective level (agentic narcissism, communal narcissism, narcissistic grandiosity) through an intermediate level (better-than-average judgments) to an objective level (overclaiming one's knowledge). Prior research has established the heritability of self-enhancement manifestations at the subjective and intermediate levels. The present twin study demonstrated that (1) the objective level of self-enhancement manifestation is also heritable; (2) a common core, which is moderately heritable, underlies the three levels of self-enhancement manifestations; (3) the relation between self-enhancement (manifested at all three levels) and psychological well-being is partly heritable; and (4) environmental influences, either shared by or unique to family members, are evident through (1), (2), and (3). The findings deepen understanding of the etiology of individual differences in self-enhancement and their links to psychological well-being

A behavioral genetic study of intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of narcissism.

Narcissism, characterized by grandiose self-image and entitled feelings to others, has been increasingly prevalent in the past decades. This study examined genetic and environmental bases of two dimensions of narcissism: intrapersonal grandiosity and interpersonal entitlement. A total of 304 pairs of twins from Beijing, China completed the Narcissistic Grandiosity Scale and the Psychological Entitlement Scale. Both grandiosity (23%) and entitlement (35%) were found to be moderately heritable, while simultaneously showing considerable non-shared environmental influences. Moreover, the genetic and environmental influences on the two dimensions were mostly unique (92-93%), with few genetic and environmental effects in common (7-8%). The two dimensions of narcissism, intrapersonal grandiosity and interpersonal entitlement, are heritable and largely independent of each other in terms of their genetic and environmental sources. These findings extend our understanding of the heritability of narcissism on the one hand. On the other hand, the study demonstrates the rationale for distinguishing between intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of narcissism, and possibly personality in general as well

Experimental Evaluation of Multiple Frost Heaving Parameters for Preflawed Granite in Beizhan Iron Mining, Xinjiang, China

Ice-driven mechanical weathering in cold regions is considered a main factor impacting the stability of rock mass. In this work, the response surface method (RSM) was employed to evaluate and optimize the multiple frost heaving parameters to seek the maximum frost heaving force (FHF), in combination with experimental modeling based on a specially designed frost heaving force measurement system. Three kinds of rocks were prepared with parallel flaws in it having different flaw width, length, and cementation type, and these factors were used to fit an optimal response of the maximum FHF. The experimental results reveal five distinguished stages from the frost heaving force curve, and they are inoculation stage, explosive stage, decline to steady stage, recovery stage, and sudden drop stage. The sensitivity analysis reveals the influential order of the considered factors to peak FHF, which is the rock lithology, flaw width, flaw cement type, and flaw length. For low-porosity hard rock, increasing flaw width, flaw length, and flaw cement strength can improve the probability of frost heaving failure. It is suggested that rock lithology determines the water migration ability and influences the water-ice phase transformation a lot

Non-contact actuated snap-through buckling of a pre-buckled bistable hard-magnetic elastica

Snap-through buckling of bistable structures is a classic topic in mechanics which has been widely studied and applied in various fields such as mechanical meta-materials and soft robotics. Obstacles that hinder broader applications of conventional bistable structures include the requirement of contact actuation to trigger instability and difficulty to control post-buckling configurations. In contrast, hard magnetic elastica (HME), a composite made of hard ferromagnetic particles and soft elastomer that deforms in response to an externally applied magnetic field, exhibits great potential to bring major advances in this field by allowing non-contact actuation and programmable control of snap-through buckling via magnetization distribution (M−distribution). Here, we develop a theoretical framework to trace the instability and post-buckling evolution process of snap-through buckling of a bistable HME. In contrast to the conventional snapping through end-end shortening, the design space for bistable HME includes two key parameters: the remanent magnetization density after pre-magnetization and the external magnetic field. We focus on two simple yet practical cases: a fixed amplitude of magnetization density along the HME with direction reversed at the magnetization interface (M−interface), and a uniform magnetic field with varied direction. We identify an optimal position for the single M−interface and direction for the uniform actuation field for pre-buckled beams with two-ends fixed, which can reduce the required actuation field for snapping to nearly half in comparison with the symmetric cases. Experiments and finite element analysis are performed to validate the model predictions. Our work may stimulate further studies on utilizing snap-through buckling in applications where fast and large shape transitions from one stable state to another can be actuated in a low-energy, non-contact mode through a remotely applied stimulus field.Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)Nanyang Technological UniversityNational Research Foundation (NRF)This work is supported by the Cyber Physiochemical Interfaces (CPI) project #A18A1b0045 and the Singapore National Research Fellowship (NRF-NRFF11-2019-0004). H. Gao acknowledges a start-up grant (002479-00001) from Nanyang Technological University and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

Nostalgia and satisfaction with life: A behavioral genetic analysis

Nostalgia, a bittersweet but predominantly positive emotion, arises from self-relevant and social memories. Evidence suggests that nostalgia is a potential source of happiness. Indeed, at the phenotypic level, this relation appears to be positive albeit tenuous. At the etiologic level, the relation is unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated the phenotypic and genetic association between nostalgia and satisfaction with life (SWL). We assessed nostalgia and SWL in 464 twin siblings, including 117 monozygotic twin pairs and 115 dizygotic twin pairs. By comparing monozygotic twins to dizygotic twins, we analyzed the genetic and environmental effects on nostalgia and SWL simultaneously. We observed a small positive association between nostalgia and SWL (r phenotypic = 0.12), with this association being strengthened after neuroticism was partialled out (r phenotypic = 0.17). More importantly, nostalgia and SWL shared some environmental (but not genetic) sources (r non-shared environment = 0.21), which accounted for the majority (88%) of their phenotypic association. Taken together, the findings support a positive relation between nostalgia and SWL, and further uncover the bases underlying this relation. The study adds to the burgeoning literature on nostalgia and well-being. </p

On the etiology of self-enhancement and its association with wellbeing

Self-enhancement, the motive to view oneself in positive light, and its manifestations have received wide attention in behavioral sciences. The self-enhancement manifestations vary on a continuum from a subjective level (agentic narcissism, communal narcissism, narcissistic grandiosity) through an intermediate level (better-than-average judgments) to an objective level (overclaiming one’s knowledge). Prior research has established the heritability of self-enhancement manifestations at the subjective and intermediate levels. The present twin study demonstrated that (1) the objective level of self-enhancement manifestation is also heritable, (2) a common core, which is moderately heritable, underlies the three levels of self-enhancement manifestations, (3) the relation between self-enhancement (manifested at all three levels) and psychological wellbeing is partly heritable, and (4) environmental influences, either shared by or unique to family members, are evident through (1), (2), and (3). The findings deepen understanding of the etiology of individual differences in self-enhancement and their links to psychological wellbeing.<br/