Search

Population migration, as one of the most significant activities in human history and current societies, can shape a mobile social ecology entwined with personality traits. In this research, we tested whether the Dark Triad personality traits would adaptively emerge in and self-select into a residentially mobile ecology across eight studies (total N = 6147). Studies 1–2 demonstrated the relationship between residential mobility and the Dark Triad traits. Personal residential mobility was positively related to the Dark Triad traits (Study 1b), and this relationship was detected by lay persons (Study 1a). Residents living in a country (Study 2a) or a province (Study 2b) with a high net population outflow reported a high level of the Dark Triad traits. Studies 3–4 explored the interplay of residential mobility and the Dark Triad traits. Studies 3a–3b revealed the shaping effect of residential mobility, showing that individuals with the mindset of residential mobility (vs. stability) tended to resort to the Dark Triad traits. In contrast, individuals who possess a high level of Dark Triad traits prefer a mobile lifestyle (Study 4a) and a residence with high outflow (Study 4b). Together, this research empirically illuminated the associations and the interactions between residential mobility and personality traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How infectious diseases shape individual minds and behaviors has been of interest to researchers. We conducted four studies to examine whether the threat perception of the COVID-19 pandemic was positively related to pro-environmentalism. Study 1 (N = 1,508) showed that individuals' threat perception of the pandemic was correlated with their pro-environmental behaviors. Study 2 (N = 241) clarified the causality by manipulating threat perception and found that individuals with high (vs. low) threat perception reported higher pro-environmental willingness. Study 3 (N = 406) revealed that awe for nature mediated this relationship. Study 4 (N = 405) replicated Study 3 more than two years after the outbreak and demonstrated the findings were robust regardless of decreases in infection fear. These findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic provides individuals with an opportunity to reconsider the way they treat nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the important drivers of social change in China, residential mobility has caused a dramatic change in the interpersonal environment, but it remained little known how residential mobility would influence the basis of interpersonal interaction—trust. The present research aimed to explore the effect of residential mobility on two kinds of trust, relational trust and institutional trust, by two studies. Study 1 explored the correlational relationship between regional residential mobility and two kinds of trust using data from the China General Social Survey 2010 and the Sixth National Population Census of China, and analyzed the data using hierarchical linear modeling. Study 2 switched to the individual level and investigated the causal relationship between individual residential mobility and two kinds of trust in the laboratory using the writing task for priming residential mobility and the situational selection task for trust. Study 1 found that individuals exhibited lower relational trust when they lived in a region of higher residential mobility. For institutional trust, the indicator about the permission to register household in inflow cities could significantly positively predict this. Study 2 found that the primed mindset of high (vs. low) residential mobility reduces relational trust and enhances institutional trust. In conclusion, the present research revealed that residential mobility promotes the transformation of individuals' trust mode from relational to institutional trust in social life, thus expanding the research field of residential mobility as a socioecological factor and extended the understanding of psychological transformation under the background of social change in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential mobility is increasing worldwide, and it objectively boosts economic strength. However, frequent moves create a specific habitat in which environmental degradation is aggravated. This research explored the relationship between residential mobility and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) from the perspective of environmental adaptation. We conducted five studies to test the hypothesis that high residential mobility decreased private-sphere PEBs at both personal and regional levels. The results showed that high personal residential mobility (Study 1) and high regional residential mobility (Study 2) were negatively correlated with self-reported private-sphere PEBs. Study 3 suggested that individuals primed with a high (vs. low) residential mobility mindset showed less actual private-sphere PEBs. Studies 4 and 5 further demonstrated that the preference for collective benefits played a mediating role in this relationship. These findings extend the adverse impacts of residential mobility to natural environments and highlight the role of social habitat changes in understanding environmental degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of technology, smartphone use occupies an important position in our lives. The present research focused on the psychological consequence of frequent smartphone use and possible way to remedy it. We proposed that frequent smartphone use could damage people's sense of control and in turn trigger nostalgia. Moreover, nostalgia could directly compensate for the low sense of control induced by frequent smartphone use. Five studies (N = 918) were conducted. Study 1 found through a field study that frequent smartphone use increases nostalgia. Studies 2 and 3 found through 14-day tracking and a laboratory experiment that frequent smartphone use decreased people's sense of control and then triggered nostalgia. Furthermore, nostalgia could enhance the low sense of control, and it worked by increasing self-esteem (Studies 4 and 5). The findings show the negative impact of frequent smartphone use, and nostalgia is an effective way to remedy it without preventing people from using smartphones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rooted in self-determination theory and guided by its organismic theorizing on personality integration, the present research examined the association between autonomy and everyday creativity at the levels of individual differences in personality and daily fluctuations in motivation, and whether vitality explains this association. In Studies 1a (N = 203) and 1b (N = 68), participants completed measures of trait autonomy, trait vitality, and everyday creativity via self-ratings and responses to a behavior checklist, respectively. In Study 2 (N = 152), undergraduates completed daily measures of autonomous motivation, state vitality, 'little-c' creativity (self-reported and independently rated), and 'mini-c' creativity. Results of Studies 1a and 1b revealed indirect effects (between-persons) of autonomy on everyday creativity through vitality. Results of Study 2 revealed indirect effects (within-persons) of autonomous motivation on 'little-c' creativity and 'mini-c' creativity through state vitality. This complementary set of findings offers a more refined perspective on personality integration and the development of creativity in daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the current environmental situation and social change in China, we explored the relationships between the Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) and environmental attitudes (beliefs regarding environmentally related issues), and the mediating roles of future orientation (the tendency to plan for meeting long‐term objectives) and place attachment (the emotional connection with the place of residence) in these relationships. Using a national sample from all 31 provinces of mainland China (N = 998), we found that the psychometric structure of the Dark Triad was well confirmed under Chinese culture. The Dark Triad as a whole was negatively related to environmental attitudes, but narcissism was not significantly associated with environmental attitudes when the three Dark Triad traits were considered as the predictors simultaneously. Future orientation and place attachment mediated the association between the Dark Triad and environmental attitudes. These findings enrich our understanding of the relevant variables of environmental attitudes and provide references for China's government and other developing countries to improve environmental issues. The uniqueness of narcissism could expand the understanding of the commonality and diversity among the Dark Triad traits, and an efficient tool of the Dark Triad was provided under Chinese culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to answer a single question: What is the role of picture-posting activities on social networking sites in emotion regulation? Across three studies, we find evidence suggesting that posting "psychologically distant" pictures is related to online negative emotional disclosure and could be a strategy for reducing negative affect by promoting cognitive reappraisal. We discuss important theoretical and practical implications of our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implicit theories drastically affect an individual's processing of social information, decision making, and action. The present research focuses on whether individuals who hold the implicit belief that people's moral character is fixed (entity theorists) and individuals who hold the implicit belief that people's moral character is malleable (incremental theorists) make different choices when facing a moral decision. Incremental theorists are less likely to make the fundamental attribution error (FAE), rarely make moral judgment based on traits and show more tolerance to immorality, relative to entity theorists, which might decrease the possibility of undermining the self-image when they engage in immoral behaviors, and thus we posit that incremental beliefs facilitate immorality. Four studies were conducted to explore the effect of these two types of implicit theories on immoral intention or practice. The association between implicit theories and immoral behavior was preliminarily examined from the observer perspective in Study 1, and the results showed that people tended to associate immoral behaviors (including everyday immoral intention and environmental destruction) with an incremental theorist rather than an entity theorist. Then, the relationship was further replicated from the actor perspective in Studies 2-4. In Study 2, implicit theories, which were measured, positively predicted the degree of discrimination against carriers of the hepatitis B virus. In Study 3, implicit theories were primed through reading articles, and the participants in the incremental condition showed more cheating than those in the entity condition. In Study 4, implicit theories were primed through a new manipulation, and the participants in the unstable condition (primed incremental theory) showed more discrimination than those in the other three conditions. Taken together, the results of our four studies were consistent with our hypotheses.