Relations Between Dispositional Expressivity and Physiological Changes During Acute Positive and Negative Affect

The aim of the present study is to examine the relations between emotional expressivity measured by Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire and physiological response in situations where positive and negative affects were induced. On 65 participants four physiological parameters, including finger pulse amplitude, heart rate, skin conductance level and amplitude of skin conductance response were measured. In situations in which negative affect was induced, individuals higher in negative expressivity showed higher skin conductance level, higher amplitude of skin conductance response and higher heart rate compared to individuals low on negative expressivity, whereas finger pulse amplitude did not differ between these two groups. The same results were obtained even when controlling for five factor personality traits and recorded participants’ facial expression. In situation where a positive affect was induced, no differences in sympathetic responses between participants high and low in positive expressivity have been found. The results are explained in the context of Coactivation theory and possible consequences of the results on health outcomes are discussed

Five-factor Personality Dimensions and 3 Healthrelated Personality Constructs as Predictors of Health

Aim To examine how 5-factor personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness) and 3 higher-order health-related personality constructs (negative experience, optimistic control, and passivity) are related to self-reports of subjective health outcomes (positive and negative mood, physical symptoms, and general health concern) and objective health conditions (chronic illnesses, serious illnesses, and physical injuries). Methods The study was carried out on a sample of 822 healthy volunteers (438 women and 384 men, from 18 to 84 years). Data were analyzed by hierarchical regression analyses for measures of subjective health outcomes used as criterion variables and binary logistic regression analyses for objective health conditions used as criterion variables. Results Three health-related personality constructs significantly predicted all subjective health measures above and beyond 5-factor personality dimensions. Out of the 5-factor personality dimensions, neuroticism was most consistently related to worse subjective health outcomes, while out of 3 health-related personality constructs, negative experience was related to worse and optimistic control to better subjective health outcomes. When objective health conditions were taken into account as criterion variables, both sets of variables were relatively weak predictors. Only 5-factor personality traits as a group of variables significantly predicted chronic illnesses (χ2 5 = 15.06; P = 0.012; Nagelkerke R2 = 0.032). Only neuroticism significantly predicted the presence of chronic illnesses (odds ratio [OR], 1.091; 95.0% confidence interval [CI], 1.040-1.144), whereas only optimistic control was related to more frequent physical injuries caused by accidents (OR, 1.285; 95.0% CI, 1.002- 1.648). Conclusion Five-factor personality traits and 3 healthrelated personality constructs may be useful factors in a multidisciplinary approach to understanding personalityhealth relationship

GUEST EDITORS\u27 NOTE

The thematic issue of Psychological Topics is devoted to the relationship between personality and social behaviour, two broad and important areas of psychology that have been developed relatively independently of each other for decades. Within the last decade, this situation has changed, and it became clear that these two domains are intertwined in different ways. This issue covers contemporary empirical contributions that aim to understand various personality traits and processes and their effects on social outcomes. Specifically, the articles deal with the question of how a person\u27s characteristics drive and shape social behaviours, such as social dominance, social trust, mating preferences, jealousy, loneliness, habits surrounding alcohol consumption, functional altruism, and relationship satisfaction. The articles presented in this issue come from different methodological and theoretical perspectives and show the richness, complexity and diversity of this area of research. We hope that this issue will allow readers a valuable insight into the current research and give them new ideas for future research within the field. Although the process of editing a journal can be sometimes demanding, we enjoyed it because it was a stimulating, challenging and rewarding experience. In the end, we would like to express our gratitude to all the authors for their willingness to contribute and devote their knowledge, expertise and time as well as to the reviewers for their comments in improving the quality of the articles. Many thanks to the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board for their help in the technical preparations of the articles

GUEST EDITORS\u27 NOTE

The thematic issue of Psychological Topics is devoted to the relationship between personality and social behaviour, two broad and important areas of psychology that have been developed relatively independently of each other for decades. Within the last decade, this situation has changed, and it became clear that these two domains are intertwined in different ways. This issue covers contemporary empirical contributions that aim to understand various personality traits and processes and their effects on social outcomes. Specifically, the articles deal with the question of how a person\u27s characteristics drive and shape social behaviours, such as social dominance, social trust, mating preferences, jealousy, loneliness, habits surrounding alcohol consumption, functional altruism, and relationship satisfaction. The articles presented in this issue come from different methodological and theoretical perspectives and show the richness, complexity and diversity of this area of research. We hope that this issue will allow readers a valuable insight into the current research and give them new ideas for future research within the field. Although the process of editing a journal can be sometimes demanding, we enjoyed it because it was a stimulating, challenging and rewarding experience. In the end, we would like to express our gratitude to all the authors for their willingness to contribute and devote their knowledge, expertise and time as well as to the reviewers for their comments in improving the quality of the articles. Many thanks to the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board for their help in the technical preparations of the articles

Designing a Learning Space for Unified Collaboration and Communication between Universities, Industry and the Public Sector

The goal of this paper is to present theoretical and technical approaches, which acts as guidelines for the design of multifunctional rooms (MFR) enabling communication and collaboration. Furthermore, to define a method to mix key trends in education technology, pedagogy and room design together to facilitate various types of scenarios and users. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is financing a program in Higher Education, Research and Development in the Western Balkans 2010-2016 (HERD). A sub program within HERD focus on the energy sector. This paper refers to a project within the energy sector called: Quality Improvements of Master Programs in Sustainable Energy and Environment (QIMSEE). The projects members in QIMSEE are eight universities (Trondheim, Belgrade, East Sarajevo, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Podgorica, and Skopje). The main goal of the project is to improve the quality of education at Master\u27s programs. A milestone in this project process is to enhance interconnections between universities, industry and the public. The need for a common technological platform and standards for cooperation and communication is fundamental. A multifunctional room (MFR) or “learning space” will be set up at each location to support activities defined in the project synopsis. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

Antecedents and Consequences of Agentic and Communal Stressful Life Events in Adolescence

The relationships among frequency and intensity measures of agentic and communal stressful life events was examined on the sample of 265 subjects ranging in age from 11 to 14 years. Also, the relations of the two measures of agentic and communal stressful life events (intensity and frequency) with several antecedents (age, sex, personality traits) and consequences (coping styles and school grades) were examined. The results obtained show that intensity and frequency measures represent different aspects of stressful experience. The relationships among variables are different in boys and girls, especially with regard to the types of stressful life events (agentic and communal). The participants\u27 age is significantly positively related to the frequency of agentic stressful events and overall frequency. Boys have significantly higher scores on the frequency of agentic and the frequency of overall stressful life events than girls. Eysenck\u27s personality traits better predict agentic stressful events and frequency measures on the subsample of boys, whereas they better predict communal stressful events and intensity measures on the subsample of girls. Furthermore, the intensity and frequency measures of agentic and communal stressful life events are related to different coping styles. Girls demonstrate greater differentiation in utilizing certain coping styles under the influences of various stressful events. In both subsamples, the frequency of agentic stressors is prospectively negatively related to school grades

Burnout in dispositional context: the role of personality traits, social support and coping styles

Big five personality traits, social support and coping styles were examined as predictors of three dimensions of burnout on the sample of 214 nurses using hierarchical regression analyses. Personality traits were included into the first step of the analyses, three sources of social support (co-workers, family and friends support) in the second, and in the third step three coping styles (problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping and avoidance coping). The results show that out of five personality traits neuroticism positively predicted exhaustion, while agreeableness negatively predicted reduced professional efficacy. Regarding three sources of social support, only co-worker support negatively predicted exhaustion as well as reduced professional efficacy. Regarding coping styles examined, only avoidance coping positively predicted depersonalization. The results obtained were explained by several mechanisms through which personality variables may exert their effects on burnout

Sociosexuality and Mate Retention in Romantic Couples

On a sample of 191 romantic couples the relations between mate retention strategies of one partner in the pair and sociosexuality of the other was examined. Mate retention strategies were measured by using self-reports, while sociosexuality was measured by self-report, as well as partner’s report. The results show that mate retention tactics, categories and domains are mainly positively related to both measures of partners’ sociosexuality in men and women, and particularly perceived sociosexuality of one’s partner. The results also show that relations between the overall frequency in the use of mate retention acts and partners’ sociosexuality do not differ between men and women. However, consistent differences in the relations between sociosexuality and mate retention strategies in men and women were obtained. When their partners are higher on sociosexuality women are more inclined to use intersexual manipulations, while men are more prone to intrasexual manipulations

Evolutionary Explanations of Eating Disorders

This article reviews several most important evolutionary mechanisms that underlie eating disorders. The first part clarifies evolutionary foundations of mental disorders and various mechanisms leading to their development. In the second part selective pressures and evolved adaptations causing contemporary epidemic of obesity as well as differences in dietary regimes and life-style between modern humans and their ancestors are described. Concerning eating disorders, a number of current evolutionary explanations of anorexia nervosa are presented together with their main weaknesses. Evolutionary explanations of eating disorders based on the reproductive suppression hypothesis and its variants derived from kin selection theory and the model of parental manipulation were elaborated. The sexual competition hypothesis of eating disorder, adapted to flee famine hypothesis as well as explanation based on the concept of social attention holding power and the need to belonging were also explained. The importance of evolutionary theory in modern conceptualization and research of eating disorders is emphasized