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Introduction: The rapid development of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) into a pandemic required people to quickly acquire, evaluate, and apply novel complex health-related information about the virus and transmission risks. This study examined the potentially unique and synergistic roles of individual differences in neurocognition and health literacy in the early uptake and use of COVID-19 public health information. Method: Data were collected between April 23 and 21 May 2020, a period during which 42 out of 50 states were under a stay-at-home order. Participants were 217 healthy adults who completed a telephone-based battery that included standard tests of neurocognition, health literacy, verbal IQ, personality, and anxiety. Participants also completed measures of COVID-19 information-seeking skills, knowledge, prevention intentions, and prevention behaviors. Results: A series of hierarchical multiple regressions with data-driven covariates showed that neurocognition (viz, episodic verbal memory and executive functions) was independently related to COVID-19 knowledge (e.g. symptoms, risks) at a medium effect size, but not to information-seeking skills, prevention intentions, or prevention behaviors. Health literacy was independently related to all measured aspects of COVID-19 health information and did not interact with neurocognition in any COVID-19 health domain. Conclusions: Individual differences in neurocognition and health literacy played independent and meaningful roles in the initial acquisition of knowledge related to COVID-19, which is a novel human health condition. Future studies might examine whether neurocognitive supports (e.g. spaced retrieval practice, elaboration) can improve COVID-19-related knowledge and health behaviors in vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metaphors linking the heart to warm intuition and the head to cold rationality may capture important differences between people because some locate the self in the heart and others locate the self in the head. Five studies (total N = 2575) link these individual differences to religious beliefs. Study 1 found that religious beliefs were stronger among heart-locators than head-locators. Studies 2 and 3 replicated this relationship in more diverse samples. Studies 4 and 5 focused on questions of mediation. Heart-locators believed in God to a greater extent partly because of empathy-related processes (Study 4) and partly because they tended to think in less analytic terms (Study 5). These studies extend our knowledge of how metaphors interact with personality processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metaphors frequently link negative affect with darkness and associations of this type have been established in several experimental paradigms. Given the ubiquity and strength of these associations, people who prefer dark to light may be more prone to negative emotional experiences and symptoms. A five study investigation (total N = 605) couches these ideas in a new theoretical framework and then examines them. Across studies, 1 in 4 people preferred the perceptual concept of dark over the perceptual concept of light. These dark-preferring people scored higher in neuroticism (Studies 1 and 2) and experienced greater depressive feelings in daily life (Study 3). Moreover, dark preferences shared a robust relationship with depressive symptoms (Study 4) as well as generalised anxiety symptoms (Study 5). The results provide novel insights into negative affectivity and extend conceptual metaphor theory in a way that is capable of making individual difference predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post‐apocalyptic scenarios provide the basis for popular television shows, video games, and books. These scenarios may be popular because people have their own beliefs and visions about the apocalypse and the need to prepare. The prevalence of such beliefs might also hold societal relevance and serve as a type of projective test of personality. However, there are no quantitative accounts of post‐apocalyptic or prepping beliefs. As such, we conducted seven studies (Ntotal = 1034) to do so. In Studies 1 and 2, we developed a post‐apocalyptic and prepping beliefs scale, explored its correlates, and confirmed its structure and psychometric properties. In Study 3, we attempted to activate a 'prepper' mindset and further explore the correlates of the new scale. In Studies 4 and 5, we investigated covariations in daily feelings, thoughts, and events, and prepping beliefs. In Studies 6a and 6b, we compared scores from 'real' preppers and to a non‐prepping group. Overall, we found that post‐apocalyptic concerns and prepping beliefs are predictive of low agreeableness and humility, paranoia, cynicism, conspiracy mentality, conservatism, and social dominance orientation. We also found that increased belief in the need to prep is associated with God‐belief, negative daily experiences, and global political events. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Wrongness admission is the act of a person publicly acknowledging that they held an inaccurate belief or attitude. Some people seem more willing to engage in wrongness admission than others. These individual differences may be important in understanding the prevention of wrongness admission. The purpose of these studies was to develop and validate a measure of the willingness to admit wrongness. In three studies (N total = 579), we created a 7-item scenario-based measure ("WAW") and found that it was correlated with agreeableness, honesty/humility, and, to a lesser extent, openness to experience. Furthermore, those who scored higher on the WAW were more likely to indicate that they would publicly admit they are wrong on Facebook and were more likely to admit wrongness in daily life. This measure will be helpful as theories of wrongness admission develop, but also when considering interventions that may increase wrongness admission and intellectual humility in the general public. Highlights • Some people are more willing to admit that they are wrong than others. • We developed a willingness to admit wrongness measure: "WAW". • WAW scores are positively a correlated with agreeableness, humility, and openness. • WAW scores predict wrongness admission intentions and tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We applaud the goals and execution of the target article, but note that individual differences do not receive much attention. This is a shortcoming because individual differences can play a vital role in theory testing. In our commentary, we describe programs of research of this type and also apply similar thinking to the mechanisms proposed in the target article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People often think, feel, and behave metaphorically according to conceptual metaphor theory. There are normative sources of support for this theory, but individual differences have received scant attention. This is surprising because people are likely to differ in the frequency with which they use metaphors and, therefore, the frequency with which they experience the costs and benefits of metaphoric thinking. To investigate these ideas, a 5-study program of research (total N = 532) was conducted. Study 1 developed and validated a Metaphor Usage Measure (MUM), finding that people were fairly consistent in their tendencies toward literal thought and language on the one hand versus metaphoric thought and language on the other. These differences were, in turn, consequential. Although metaphor usage predicted susceptibility to metaphor transfer effects (Studies 2 and 3), it was also linked to higher levels of emotional understanding (Studies 4 and 5). The findings provide support for several key premises of conceptual metaphor theory in the context of a new measure that can be used to track the consequences of metaphoric thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provocations and frustrating events can trigger an urge to act aggressively. Such behaviors can be controlled, but perhaps more so for people who can better distinguish effective from ineffective courses of action. The present three studies (total N = 285) introduce a scenario-based measure of this form of social competence (SC). In Study 1, higher levels of SC predicted lower levels of trait anger. Study 2 presented provocation scenarios and asked people whether they would engage in direct, indirect, and symbolic forms of aggression when provoked. SC was inversely predictive of all forms of aggressive responding. Study 3 focused on reactions to frustrating events in daily life. Such events were predictive of hostile behavior and cognitive failures particularly at low levels of SC. The research establishes that SC can be assessed in an objective manner and that variations in it are systematically predictive of reactive aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The head is thought to be rational and cold, whereas the heart is thought to be emotional and warm. In 8 studies (total N = 725), we pursued the idea that such body metaphors are widely consequential. Study I introduced a novel individual difference variable, one asking people to locate the self in the head or the heart. Irrespective of sex differences, head-locators characterized themselves as rational, logical, and interpersonally cold, whereas heart-locators characterized themselves as emotional, feminine, and interpersonally warm (Studies 1-3). Study 4 showed that head-locators were more accurate in answering general knowledge questions and had higher grade point averages, and Study 5 showed that heart-locators were more likely to favor emotional over rational considerations in moral decision making. Study 6 linked self-locations to reactivity phenomena in daily life-for example, heart-locators experienced greater negative emotion on high stressor days. In Study 7, we manipulated attention to the head versus the heart and found that head-pointing facilitated intellectual performance, whereas heart-pointing led to emotional decision making. Study 8 replicated Study 3's findings with a nearly year-long delay between the self-location and outcome measures. The findings converge on the importance of head-heart metaphors for understanding individual differences in cognition, emotion, and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Two studies (total N =145) examined the novel idea that individual differences in emotion repair may relate to the attention deployment stage of emotion regulation. More specifically, it was hypothesized that high repair individuals would be able to maintain focus on an attention-demanding task in an aversive context, but that low repair individuals would not, in both cases relative to a control condition. This sort of interactive hypothesis was supported in Study 1, which manipulated aversive events through the use of concurrent auditory stimulation and conceptual replication was found in Study 2. Together, the two studies offer suggestive evidence for the role of attention direction in emotion repair. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Responsiveness to negative feedback has been seen as functional by those who emphasize the value of reflecting on such feedback in self-regulating problematic behaviors. On the other hand, the very same responsiveness has been viewed as dysfunctional by its link to punishment sensitivity and reactivity. The present 4 studies, involving 203 undergraduate participants, sought to reconcile such discrepant views in the context of the trait of neuroticism. In cognitive tasks, individuals were given error feedback when they made mistakes. It was found that greater tendencies to slow down following error feedback were associated with higher levels of accuracy at low levels of neuroticism but lower levels of accuracy at high levels of neuroticism. Individual differences in neuroticism thus appear crucial in understanding whether behavioral alterations following negative feedback reflect proactive versus reactive mechanisms and processes. Implications for understanding the processing basis of neuroticism and adaptive self-regulation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2016 election of President Donald Trump left over half of the United States' electorate reeling. This contributed to nostalgia for the days of Barack Obama (and his administration), even among some conservatives and Republicans. We hypothesized that individual differences in nostalgia for Barack Obama would predict outcomes in the political arena. Consistent with the hypothesis, in three studies (N = 904), Obama nostalgia predicted negative attitudes toward the Trump presidency, stronger political engagement intentions and voting intentions, and actual political engagement, above and beyond competing predictors (i.e., political ideology, prior support for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, voting behavior in 2016). The findings reinforce the role of nostalgia for a politician or political administration as an influential predictor of political outcomes. We discuss implications and future research directions. • The election of Donald Trump contributed to feelings of nostalgia for Barack Obama • Obama nostalgia predicted negative attitudes toward the Trump presidency • Obama nostalgia predicted political engagement and voting intentions • Correlations with Obama nostalgia were significant when controlling for ideology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]