Prosocial Personality Traits Research Articles

The Influence of Personality Traits on Social Entrepreneurship Intentions in the Moroccan Context

The main aim of this study is to investigate the intention of undergraduate students in Morocco to engage in social entrepreneurship. To achieve this, the research will adopt the theory of planned behaviour as the theoretical framework. The study extends the model by including entrepreneurial and pro-social personality traits as additional constructs. For that purpose, a survey was conducted on a sample of 300 young adults using a questionnaire. We find positive relationships between attitudes, perceived control, subjective norms, moral obligation, and social entrepreneurial intentions. Conversely, empathy did not have any influence on social entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes, or subjective norms. Overall, we contribute to the upcoming domain of social entrepreneurship research by investigating the relationship between entrepreneurial and pro-social personality traits and social entrepreneurial intention.

Association of prosocial personality traits with symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in psychiatric nurses; Single-centre cross-sectional study in Croatia

IntroductionSymptoms of depression, anxiety and stress are more common in the population of nurses working in psychiatric hospitals than in many other segments of the health care system. These three elements of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, stress) may reduce the nurse’s ability to establish quality therapeutic relationships with patients, which are very important in the treatment of mental disorders. Some studies suggest that prosocial personality traits may have a protective role. Other research suggests that high levels of empathy, for example, may increase secondary traumatisation and lead to more pronounced symptoms of distress.ObjectivesThe main objective of the study was to examine the association of prosocial personality traits with symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in nurses employed in a psychiatric clinic. The hypothesis was that more pronounced prosocial personality traits are associated with a lower expression of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress.MethodsThe target population were nurses employed in a psychiatric hospital working directly with patients. No sample was selected, but the whole available population was invited to participate. The independent variable was prosocial personality traits measured by the Prosocial Personality Battery (PSB). The outcome was symptoms of distress (depression, anxiety and stress) measured using the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). The hypothesis was tested using three linear regression analyses.ResultsTotal of 63 MST were included with a median (interquartile range) age of 34 (24-42) years. Prosocial personality traits were statistically significantly associated with scores on the DASS-21 subscale measuring depression: personal distress (PD) (r = 0.32; P = 0.01) and self-reported altruism (r = 0.30; P = 0.02). Only the subscale measuring the specific personality trait of personal distress (PD) was statistically significantly correlated with the scores of the other two DASS-21 subscales, anxiety and stress (anxiety: r = 0.54; P < 0.001; stress: 0.46; P < 0.001). Helpfulness was negatively related to anxiety (b = -0.29; P = 0.03).ConclusionsThis research partially confirmed the hypothesis that stronger prosocial personality traits are associated with a lower prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in the MST of employees in a psychiatric clinic.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Screening for Light Personalities in Portugal: A Cross-Cultural Validation of the Light Triad Scale With an At-risk-of-delinquency Sample

The Light Triad of personality refers to three prosocial personality traits—Faith in Humanity, Humanism, and Kantianism—that promote the worth and dignity of other people, focus on ethical behavior and empathy, and confidence that other people are naturally good. The aim of the present study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Light Triad Scale (LTS)—Portuguese version. Our convenience sample consisted of 242 male and female participants ( M = 30.19 years, SD = 12.78, range = 16–77) from Portugal. The proposed latent structure models of the LTS obtained adequate fits. Internal consistency/reliability, as measured by the alpha and omega coefficients, was adequate to good. Construct validity with other psychometric measures (i.e., empathy, dark traits of personality, propensity to morally disengage, and antisociality/criminality measures) and criterion-related validity (with justice involvement variables such as problems with the law, arrested by the police, sentenced to prison and alcohol/drug abuse variables) were demonstrated. Cross-gender measurement invariance was established, with females scoring higher than males. The findings support the use of the LTS as a valid and reliable measure.

Individual differences in cooperative and competitive play strategies.

Cooperation and competition are common in social interactions. It is not clear how individual differences in personality may predict performance strategies under these two contexts. We evaluated whether instructions to play cooperatively and competitively would differentially affect dyads playing a Pong video game. We hypothesized that instructions to play cooperatively would result in lower overall points scored and differences in paddle control kinematics relative to when participants were instructed to play competitively. We also predicted that higher scores in prosociality and Sportspersonship would be related to better performance during cooperative than competitive conditions. Pairs of participants played a Pong video game under cooperative and competitive instructions. During competitive trials, participants were instructed to score more points against one another to win the game. During the cooperative trials, participants were instructed to work together to score as few points against one another as possible. After game play, each participant completed surveys so we could measure their trait prosociality and Sportspersonship. Condition was a significant predictor of where along the paddle participants hit the ball, which controlled ball exit angles. Specifically, during cooperation participants concentrated ball contacts on the paddle towards the center to produce more consistent rebound angles. We found a significant correlation of Sex and the average points scored by participants during cooperative games, competitive games, and across all trials. Sex was also significantly correlated with paddle kinematics during cooperative games. The overall scores on the prosociality and Sportspersonship surveys were not significantly correlated with the performance outcomes in cooperative and competitive games. The dimension of prosociality assessing empathic concern was significantly correlated with performance outcomes during cooperative video game play. No Sportspersonship survey score was able to predict cooperative or competitive game performance, suggesting that Sportspersonship personality assessments are not reliable predictors of cooperative or competitive behaviors translated to a virtual game setting. Survey items and dimensions probing broader empathic concern may be more effective predictors of cooperative and competitive performance during interactive video game play. Further testing is encouraged to assess the efficacy of prosocial personality traits as predictors of cooperative and competitive video game behavior.

AVERSIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS AND INDIVIDUALISTIC SOCIAL RANK STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION

The prognostic and mediational influences of basic and aversive personality traits, and social rank styles on individuals’ attitudes towards conspicuous consumption (ATCC, an indirect measure of the actual behaviour) were examined via path analysis[1]. The model (n=400, mean age=22.3) emphasised the direct and indirect effects of Extraversion, and the indirect effects of Neuroticism and Agreeableness which were sequentially mediated by all Dark Triad traits, and by two individualistic social rank styles: Dominant Leadership and Ruthless Self‑advancement. Dark Triad traits occupied the central position in the model connecting basic personality traits with social rank styles, and ultimately with ATCC. Machiavellianism was the only Dark Triad trait directly linked with ATCC, Dominant Leadership, and Ruthless Self-advancement. Narcissism exerted the main mediating effect on Dominant Leadership, while Machiavellianism and Psychopathy mediated the negative influence of Extraversion and Agreeableness on Ruthless Self-advancement. Both Dominant Leadership and Ruthless Self-advancement were directly predictive of ATCC. As two basic prosocial personality traits (Conscientiousness and Openness) and one prosocial rank strategy (Coalition Building) did not enter the model, we conclude that, from the present perspective, positive ATCC is linked to uncooperative and self-centred mindsets striving for superior positions in the social hierarchy. [1] The path analysis model upholds the dark side of affinity for conspicuous consumption. The model connects the personal traits domain with the personal strategies domain. Social rank styles are differentiated by basic and aversive personality traits. Each social rank style has a specific trajectory predictive of ATCC.[1] The path analysis model upholds the dark side of affinity for conspicuous consumption. The model connects the personal traits domain with the personal strategies domain. Social rank styles are differentiated by basic and aversive personality traits. Each social rank style has a specific trajectory predictive of ATCC.

LIGHT TRIAD PERSONALITY TRAITS AND COPING STRATEGIES IN TEACHERS

Studies show that work-related stress among teachers is high. Job satisfaction and interactions with students are influenced by teachers’ coping skills with stressful situations and differences in response to stressful events can be explained by personality traits. The present study uses the Light Triad model of personality to examine whether prosocial traits such as empathy, compassion and altruism are associated with cognitive-emotional coping strategies in teachers. The prosocial orientation was measured using the Light Triad Scale (Johnson, 2018) and The Cognitive-Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski et al., 2007) was used to identify teachers’ cognitive-emotional coping strategies, in relation to negative events or situations. The participants in this study included 120 Romanian teachers from different levels of preuniversitary education. The results revealed that empathy and altruism have small negative correlations with catastrophizing; all three prosocial traits are associated with the positive reappraisal, empathy positively correlates with accepting negative events and refocusing on planning and altruism positively correlates with accepting negative events and putting into perspective. We also found a positive correlation between empathy and rumination. Our findings extend the current understanding of the relationship between teachers’ prosocial personality traits and the coping strategies they use following negative life events.

Decision-Making during the Pandemic: Compassion, Trust, and the Altruistic Paradox

The occurrence of breakthrough infections with SARS-CoV-2 in vaccinated individuals argues against abandoning mitigation efforts such as social distancing. Some public health messages, however, promote vaccination by increasing psychological distress, which interferes with social distancing. Prosocial messages present an alternative approach that may avoid this problem. Accordingly, the present study examined the relation of pandemic mitigation with scores on prosocial personality traits (i.e., altruism, sympathy, and trust) and vaccination intentions. Regression analyses indicated that while vaccination intentions increased significantly with an increase in trust, distancing increased significantly with increases in altruism and sympathy. Because older adults are much more vulnerable to COVID-19 than younger adults, these findings reveal an altruistic paradox, in which older adults, perhaps the most altruistic portion of the population, may be dependent on the altruistic behavior of younger adults, who may be the least altruistic portion. The challenge for public health messaging will be to motivate younger adults to take the consequences of their mitigation decisions for others into account.

The Chameleons of Dating: Psychopathic Traits Are Associated with Mimicking Prosocial Personality Traits in Dating Contexts

The Chameleons of Dating: Psychopathic Traits Are Associated with Mimicking Prosocial Personality Traits in Dating Contexts

Посттравматичне зростання з перспективи наративного підходу до вивчення особистості

Background. Today's challenges require a person to be able to cope with crises and integrate this experience for personal growth, which is reflected in such psychological phenomena as post-traumatic growth (PTG). Given the methodological limitations of previous quantitative studies of this problem, there was a need to expand the understanding of post-traumatic growth using new methodological approaches, in particular narrative methods. In this literature review, we set out to explore the sources in which the post-traumatic growth studied within the framework of the narrative theory of personality, and sought answers to the following questions: a) how can post-traumatic growth be reflected in the narratives of people who have experienced traumatic experiences?; b) how effective is psychotherapy using narrative techniques in facilitating PTG of post-traumatic growth? Results. An analysis of the existing literature showed that the study of post-traumatic growth within the framework of the theory of narrative identity remains a promising and understudied direction. The most adaptive themes through which post-traumatic growth can manifest itself in people's life stories are the themes of agency and redemption, which have been linked in a number of studies to deeper cognitive processing of memories, psychological maturity, prosocial personality traits, and improved mental health. The central process that determines the subjective interpretation of one's life history and the development of a narrative identity is the process of meaning-making. So far, there has been little research on the effectiveness of narrative techniques in facilitating post-traumatic growth. Conclusions. The limitations of this review and the prospects for further research are discussed, emphasizing the importance of studying the dynamics of post-traumatic growth at the level of narrative identity using longitudinal designs and mixed methodology. It also discusses the prospects for integrating existing and future research on this issue into the practice of psychotherapy.

A paradox of pride: Hubristic pride predicts strategic dishonesty in response to status threats.

Numerous studies have shown that pride comprises two distinct facets: authentic pride, which is associated with achievement, high self-esteem, and prosocial personality traits; and hubristic pride, associated with arrogance, low self-esteem, and antisocial personality traits. Functionalist accounts suggest that both pride facets facilitate the attainment of social rank, raising the question of how the more antisocial and dysfunctional hubristic facet could increase one's social status. We propose that hubristically proud individuals use the antisocial behavior of dishonesty in a strategic and ultimately adaptive way, to gain status in response to experienced status threats. We tested this account in eight studies (seven of which were preregistered) by placing participants in a situation in which they encountered an opportunity to lie as a means of obtaining various social rewards (e.g., status, power). Findings show that hubristically proud participants engaged in dishonest behavior when faced with a status threat, but not when faced with the threat of a loss of power or generalized inferiority; these individuals also did not behave dishonestly in a nonsocial situation. We further found that the observed effects of hubristic pride on dishonesty were largely independent of shared variance with narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. These findings suggest that hubristic pride may engender a willingness to lie to get ahead, but only in situations where one's status has been threatened. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Individuals with Psychopathic Traits and Poor Attitudes towards Animals Can Recognise Infant Features But Give Them Reduced Attentional Priority.

Simple SummaryCertain facial characteristics in companion animals are perceived by humans as being ‘cute’. This includes having large eyes, a round head and a small nose and mouth. These characteristics, which are shared with human infants, trigger care-giving responses in humans. Despite this, however, companion animal abuse occurs. The aim of this research was to better understand cognitive processes of people with pro-social personality traits and positive attitudes towards animals compared to those with anti-social personality traits and negative attitudes towards animals. This was done by assessing participants’ ability to detect cues of cuteness in animal and human infant faces (study 1) and by assessing attention to cuteness cues via an eye-tracking task (study 2). Findings indicate that the ability to detect cuteness cues is widespread, regardless of personality or attitudes. However, individuals with anti-social personality traits and negative attitudes towards animals chose to pay less attention to ‘cute’ stimuli in the eye-tracking task. This proof of concept study is an initial step in determining how individuals ‘at risk’ of committing animal abuse process information on infant features in animals. Infant features are physical traits that are characteristic of human infants and include facial features such as large and low-lying eyes, and a small nose and mouth. Animals possessing high levels of infant features elicit care-giving responses in humans. Despite this, animal cruelty is a common occurrence. The aim of this research was to determine whether the ability to recognise and/or attend to infant features is linked to subclinical psychopathic traits and attitudes towards animals. Using a community sample, participants (n = 387) completed a cuteness forced-choice task. Self-reported psychopathy and attitude towards animals were not related to the participants’ ability to detect cues of cuteness in human infants and animals. In a second study, participants (n = 142) were screened for low versus high primary psychopathy and low versus high animal attitude scores. A Psychopathy-Attitude Composite score was created and a subset of participants (n = 50) from the upper and lower quartiles completed a free-viewing eye-tracking task where ‘Cute’, ‘Neutral, ‘Monetary’ and ‘Control’ images were presented in pairs. Higher levels of psychopathic traits and an anti-animal welfare attitude were associated with decreased attention to ‘Cute’ images in terms of decreased dwell time, mean fixation duration and mean fixation count, measures of voluntary attention. There were a number of interactions between Psychopathy-Attitude Composite classification and attention to each image category in terms of dwell time, first fixation duration, mean fixation duration and fixation count. These findings support the theory that individuals with psychopathic traits recognise facial cues of vulnerability but choose to give them reduced attentional priority. This may have implications for animal welfare.

The relationship between video game character preferences and aggressive and prosocial personality traits.

The relationship between video game character preferences and aggressive and prosocial personality traits.

Does leader-member similarity in prosocial personality affect informal learning transfer?

PurposeThis study aims to examine a structural relationship among agreeableness, similarity in agreeableness, positive affect and transfer of informal learning. Also, it investigates the mediating role of motivation.Design/methodology/approachData were collected by a survey via snowball sampling. In total, 742 respondents at 72 companies from multiple industries in South Korea participated. The authors performed exploratory confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling to test the research model and hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that agreeableness made a dual impact as a personal and a relational trait enhancing the employee’s positive affect, and motivation to learn fully mediated the relationship between agreeableness and transfer of informal learning. This supports that prosocial personality traits enhance the employee’s motivation, learning and learning application. The full mediation of motivation to learn between positive affect and informal learning transfer emphasizes the importance of intentionality on the part of employees in informal learning contexts.Originality/valueOrganizational research pays little attention to social perspectives of informal learning (Varela et al., 2011). The results highlight that workplace informal learning is a socio-psychological process; thus, examining social and psychological factors together would be beneficial.

From Windfall Sharing to Property Ownership: Prosocial Personality Traits in Giving and Taking Dictator Games

The dictator game is a well-known task measuring prosocial preferences, in which one person divides a fixed amount of windfall money with a recipient. A key factor in real-world transfers of wealth is the concept of property ownership and consequently the related acts of giving and taking. Using a variation of the traditional dictator game (N = 256), we examined whether individual differences under different game frames corresponded with prosocial personality traits from the Big Five (politeness, compassion) and HEXACO (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience) (honesty-humility, agreeableness) models. In the Big Five model, the effects of prosocial personality traits were generally stronger and more consistent for taking than for giving, in line with a “do-no-harm” explanation, whereby prosocial individuals felt less entitled to and less willing to infringe on the endowments of others. In contrast, HEXACO honesty-humility predicted allocations across both frames, consistent with its broad association with fair-mindedness, and providing further evidence of its role in allocations of wealth more generally. These findings highlight the utility of integrating personality psychology with behavioral economics, in which the discriminant validity across prosocial traits can shed light on the distinct motivations underpinning social decisions.

The role of the Oxytocin-Neurophysin I gene in contributing to human personality traits promoting sociality.

Oxytocin (OT) plays a salient role in contributing to the high levels of human sociality that characterize our species. Across the lifespan this nonapeptide promotes prosocial behaviors and modulates stress responses. Curiously, the OXT-Neurophysin I gene has been little studied despite the fact this is the structural gene for the OT nonapeptide. In a large group of Han Chinese undergraduate students (n = 1593) we examined associations of two single nucleotide polymorphisms of the OXT- Neurophysin I gene with personality traits. Results indicated that the OXT-Neurophysin I rs2770378 was related to extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. AA homozygous individuals reported more prosocial personality traits, compared to participants carrying the G allele. These results indicate that variants of the OXT-Neurophysin-I gene resonate with phenotypes that foster positive social interactions, which may in turn facilitate the social regulation of stress responses.

Digital Life and Youth Well-being, Social Connectedness, Empathy, and Narcissism.

Youth well-being, social connectedness, and personality traits, such as empathy and narcissism, are at the crux of concerns often raised about the impacts of digital life. Understanding known impacts, and research gaps, in these areas is an important first step toward supporting media use that contributes positively to youth's happiness, life satisfaction, and prosocial attitudes and behaviors. By examining existing work addressing these issues across domains, we found that a complex interplay of individual factors, type of digital media engagement, and experiences in media contexts informs outcomes related to well-being, social connectedness, empathy, and narcissism. We argue that further research is needed to uncover how, where, when, and for whom digital media practices support positive well-being and social connectedness outcomes. Specifically, research needs to move beyond correlational studies to uncover causal connections between traits like narcissism and media use. Longitudinal studies are also needed to explore patterns of media use over time and related impacts. Further research is needed to explore how specific technologies can be designed to support positive well-being, social outcomes, and prosocial personality traits. Finally, research is needed regarding parenting, educational practices, and policies that support positive digital media use and related outcomes. Although existing research suggests that digital life has mixed potentials and effects for well-being, social connectedness, empathy, and narcissism, we provide recommendations for clinicians, policy makers, and educators in partnering with caregivers and youth to support media use that promotes positive outcomes in these areas.

Pro-social personality traits, helping behavior, and ego-depletion: Is helping really easier for the dispositionally pro-social?

The goal of the present study was to examine the motivational underpinnings of helping behavior by looking at self-regulatory demands in relation to pro-social personality traits. Across two experiments, we explored the idea that helping behavior is easier or more intrinsically motivated for those high in pro-social traits, and requires more effortful regulation for those low in pro-social traits. We reasoned that helping behavior may be less sensitive to fatigue, and less fatiguing, for pro-social people in an ego-depletion paradigm. Specifically, in Study 1 (n=79), we hypothesized that people high in pro-social traits would show better Stroop task performance, following an initial helping task. In Study 2 (n=91), we expected to find higher helping rates for those high on pro-social traits following a difficult Stroop task manipulation. Contrary to our predictions, Study 1 suggested that those high in pro-social traits were more cognitively depleted following helping, compared to those low in pro-social traits; in Study 2 high pro-social trait scores were associated with less persistence on a helping task following depletion. Overall, our findings suggest that helping behavior is more difficult or effortful for the dispositionally pro-social. Discussion focuses on possible explanations of and degree of confidence in this suggestion.

When Fair Is Not Equal

Growing evidence has highlighted the importance of social norms in promoting prosocial behaviors in economic games. Specifically, individual differences in norm adherence—captured by the politeness aspect of Big Five agreeableness—have been found to predict fair allocations of wealth to one’s partner in the dictator game. Yet, most studies have used neutrally framed paradigms, where players may default to norms of equality in the absence of contextual cues. In this study (N = 707), we examined prosocial personality traits and dictator allocations under salient real-world norms of equity and need. Extending on the previous research, we found that—in addition to politeness—the compassion aspect of agreeableness predicted greater allocations of wealth when they were embedded in real-world norms. These results represent an important step in understanding the real-world implications of laboratory-based research, demonstrating the importance of both normative context and prosocial traits.

Psychological Effects of a 1-Month Meditation Retreat on Experienced Meditators: The Role of Non-attachment.

Background: There are few studies devoted to assessing the impact of meditation-intensive retreats on the well-being, positive psychology, and personality of experienced meditators. We aimed to assess whether a 1-month Vipassana retreat: (a) would increase mindfulness and well-being; (b) would increase prosocial personality traits; and (c) whether psychological changes would be mediated and/or moderated by non-attachment.Method: A controlled, non-randomized, pre-post-intervention trial was used. The intervention group was a convenience sample (n = 19) of experienced meditators who participated in a 1-month Vipassana meditation retreat. The control group (n = 19) comprised matched experienced meditators who did not take part in the retreat. During the retreat, the mean duration of daily practice was 8–9 h, the diet was vegetarian and silence was compulsory. The Experiences Questionnaire (EQ), Non-attachment Scale (NAS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), Temperament Character Inventory Revised (TCI-R-67), Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Self-Other Four Immeasurables (SOFI) and the MINDSENS Composite Index were administered. ANCOVAs and linear regression models were used to assess pre-post changes and mediation/moderation effects.Results: Compared to controls, retreatants showed increases in non-attachment, observing, MINDSENS, positive-affect, balance-affect, and cooperativeness; and decreases in describing, negative-others, reward-dependence and self-directedness. Non-attachment had a mediating role in decentring, acting aware, non-reactivity, negative-affect, balance-affect and self-directedness; and a moderating role in describing and positive others, with both mediating and moderating effects on satisfaction with life.Conclusions: A 1-month Vipassana meditation retreat seems to yield improvements in mindfulness, well-being, and personality, even in experienced meditators. Non-attachment might facilitate psychological improvements of meditation, making it possible to overcome possible ceiling effects ascribed to non-intensive practices.

More than Social–Cultural Influences: A Research Agenda for Evolutionary Perspectives on Prosocial Media Effects

Prosocial media effects, short- and long-term intrapersonal changes in prosocial personality traits, values, emotions, and behavior caused by media use, have attracted much less attention than media violence research. Empirical examinations of current theories of prosocial media effects have focused on the indirect effects of prosocial media that explain why exposure to it results in prosocial behavior. However, they have neglected other types of media effects. Further, because of philosophical biases in the field of communication, only the social-cultural perspective has been used to explain the psychological antecedents and consequences of prosocial media effects. The origins and ultimate functions of prosociality in the processes of media effects are unknown. The intersection of evolutionary theories and media effects theories provides a more comprehensive explanation of prosocial media effects. Using various evolutionary perspectives on altruism, reciprocity, and cooperation, this article synthesizes 4 types of prosocial media effects: selective, indirect, conditional, and transactional, suggesting that the dramatic prosocial media learning process should be considered from a comprehensive nature-nurture interactive view. The research agenda, implications, and recent methodological advances are highlighted.