Psychological and Neurological Correlates of Perceived Person-Environment Relational & Rational Fit

Abstract

Current theorizing of person–environment fit rests predominantly on investigations performed according to psychological methods. The current study advances fit research by exploring the meaning and antecedents of perceived fit via the neuroscientific method of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Using brain images of trait-like and state-like activities of 62 participants in Taiwan, we found that the participants’ engagement in relational-fit and rational-fit contexts corresponded to four brain regions: the posterior cingulate cortex, the precuneus, the medial prefrontal cortex, and the bilateral temporoparietal junction. These regions involve social constructs (e.g., mentalizing, perspective-taking, empathy) and drive cognitive, emotional, and social processing. In our study, the regions exhibited greater activation when participants engaged in relational-fit contexts than in rational-fit contexts. We also found that participants’ emotional intelligence predicted their person–group fit (PG fit) and that their cognitive intelligence predicted their person–job fit (PJ fit), the latter relationship being further mediated by cognition-related brain connectivities in the frontoparietal network (FPN). Our research advances the debate over the affective vs. cognitive roots of perceived fit, provides possible construct validation for perceived fit, identifies a potential neurological antecedent for PJ fit, and presents promising directions for future neuroscientific investigations into fit.