Tactics of hierarchy negotiation

Status-impact assessment: is accuracy linked with status motivations?

Status hierarchies are ubiquitous across cultures and have been over deep time. Position in hierarchies shows important links with fitness outcomes. Consequently, humans should possess psychological adaptations for navigating the adaptive challenges posed by living in hierarchically organised groups. One hypothesised adaptation functions to assess, track, and store the status impacts of different acts, characteristics and events in order to guide hierarchy navigation. Although this status-impact assessment system is expected to be universal, there are several ways in which differences in assessment accuracy could arise. This variation may link to broader individual difference constructs. In a preregistered study with samples from India (N = 815) and the USA (N = 822), we sought to examine how individual differences in the accuracy of status-impact assessments covary with status motivations and personality. In both countries, greater overall status-impact assessment accuracy was associated with higher status motivations, as well as higher standing on two broad personality constructs: Honesty-Humility and Conscientiousness. These findings help map broad personality constructs onto variation in the functioning of specific cognitive mechanisms and contribute to an evolutionary understanding of individual differences.

Evolutionary Perspective on Self-Concept: The Effects of Interpersonal Motivations and Inclusionary Status on Spontaneous Self-Descriptions of Communion and Agency

Evolutionary models suggest that self-concept is a dynamic structure shaped jointly by interpersonal motivations and social challenges. Yet, empirical data assessing this claim are sparse. We examined this question in two studies. In study 1, participants (N = 386) generated spontaneous self-descriptions and filled out questionnaires assessing dominance and affiliation motivations. We found that self-descriptions categorized as communion or agency were associated with affiliation and dominance motivations, respectively. In study 2, participants (N = 360) underwent an inclusionary manipulation (exclusion, inclusion, popularity) and completed self-description and motivation measures. We found that exclusion (compared to inclusion/popularity) enhanced the salience of communion self-descriptions such that participants described themselves using more communion traits. Finally, in the popularity condition (compared to exclusion/inclusion), an enhanced positive association between salience of agency self-descriptions and dominance motivation was found. Our results support evolutionary models suggesting that self-concept organization shapes and is being shaped by social motivations to enhance interpersonal functioning.

Curvilinear Effects of Extraversion on Socialization Outcomes Among Chinese College Students

The authors examine the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect (TMGT effect) in a model showing that extraversion has a curvilinear relationship with social acceptance and depression. A study of 371 freshmen in a Chinese university showed that extraversion had a curvilinear relationship with social acceptance, such that the relationship was significantly positive from lower to moderate levels of extraversion, but the positive relationship leveled off at higher levels of extraversion. Extraversion also had a curvilinear relationship with depression, such that the relationship was significantly negative from lower to moderate levels of extraversion, but the negative relationship leveled off at higher levels of extraversion. The study indicates that beyond a certain point, the beneficial effects of extraversion on socialization outcomes were diminished. That is, higher levels of extraversion were not associated with more positive socialization outcomes (though they were not associated with worse outcomes either) when extraversion exceeded a certain point. Implications of theory and practice, and limitations and directions for future research, are discussed.

Contract Negotiation for Neurosurgeons: A Practical Guide

Contract negotiation is a reality in the career of any neurosurgeon. However, little formal training exists for physicians - including neurosurgeons - on potential techniques and strategies for conducting meaningful contract negotiation. Increasing numbers of neurosurgeons seek hospital employment for which an employment contract will be provided. During contract negotiation, it is likely that a young neurosurgeon will be in discussion with an experienced negotiator acting on behalf of a hospital, practice, or department. Understanding and adapting to this imbalance in experience and using basic negotiating techniques as a means of approaching and resolving key contract issues is critical for the neurosurgeon to maximize his or her value in the course of contract negotiation. Even without formal training in negotiation in residency, negotiation skills can be taught, practiced, and improved. In affiliation with the Medical Director's Ad-Hoc Representational Section of Council of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS) this article is intended to serve as a practical guide for contract negotiation. Contract basics, negotiation terms, strategies, unique neurosurgical issues, and value creation are explored.

Measuring Preference for Supernormal Over Natural Rewards : A Two-Dimensional Anticipatory Pleasure Scale

Supernormal (SN) stimuli are artificial products that activate reward pathways and approach behavior more so than naturally occurring stimuli for which these systems were intended. Many modern consumer products (e.g., snack foods, alcohol, and pornography) appear to incorporate SN features, leading to excessive consumption, in preference to naturally occurring alternatives. No measure currently exists for the self-report assessment of individual differences or changes in susceptibility to such stimuli. Therefore, an anticipatory pleasure scale was modified to include items that represented both SN and natural (N) classes of rewarding stimuli. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution, and as predicted, N and SN items reliably loaded on separate dimensions. Internal reliability for the two scales was high, ρ =.93 and ρ =.90, respectively. The two-dimensional measure was evaluated via regression using the N and SN scale means as predictors and self-reports of daily consumption of 21 products with SN features as outcomes. As expected, SN pleasure ratings were related to higher SN product consumption, while N pleasure ratings had either negative or neutral associations to consumption of these products. We conclude that the resulting two-dimensional measure is a potentially reliable and valid self-report measure of differential preference for SN stimuli. While further evaluation is needed (e.g., using experimental measures), the proposed scale may play a useful role in the study of both trait- and state-based variation in human susceptibility to SN stimuli.

How Can Evolutionary Psychology Successfully Explain Personality and Individual Differences?

Although evolutionary psychology has been successful in explaining some species-typical and sex-differentiated adaptations, a large question that has largely eluded the field is this: How can the field successfully explain personality and individual differences? This article highlights some promising theoretical directions for tackling this question. These include life-history theory, costly signaling theory, environmental variability in fitness optima, frequency-dependent selection, mutation load, and flexibly contingent shifts in strategy according to environmental conditions. Tackling the explanatory question also requires progress on three fronts: (a) reframing some personality traits as forms of strategic individual differences; (b) providing a nonarbitrary, evolutionary-based formulation of environments as distributions and salience profiles of adaptive problems; and (c) identifying which strategies thrive and which falter in these differing problem-defined environments.

Caring across boundaries versus keeping boundaries intact: links between moral values and interpersonal orientations

Prior work has established robust diversity in the extent to which different moral values are endorsed. Some people focus on values related to caring and fairness, whereas others assign additional moral weight to ingroup loyalty, respect for authority and established hierarchies, and purity concerns. Five studies explore associations between endorsement of distinct moral values and a suite of interpersonal orientations: Machiavellianism, prosocial resource distribution, Social Dominance Orientation, and reported likelihood of helping and not helping kin and close friends versus acquaintances and neighbors. We found that Machiavellianism (Studies 1, 3, 4, 5) (e.g., amorality, controlling and status-seeking behaviors) and Social Dominance Orientation (Study 4) were negatively associated with caring values, and positively associated with valuation of authority. Those higher in caring values were more likely to choose prosocial resource distributions (Studies 2, 3, 4) and to report reduced likelihood of failing to help kin/close friends or acquaintances (Study 4). Finally, greater likelihood of helping acquaintances was positively associated with all moral values tested except authority values (Study 4). The current work offers a novel approach to characterizing moral values and reveals a striking divergence between two kinds of moral values in particular: caring values and authority values. Caring values were positively linked with prosociality and negatively associated with Machiavellianism, whereas authority values were positively associated with Machiavellianism and Social Dominance Orientation.

On the role of personality, cognitive ability, and emotional intelligence in predicting negotiation outcomes

According to a longstanding consensus among researchers, individual differences play a limited role in predicting negotiation outcomes. This consensus stemmed from an early narrative review based on limited data. Testing the validity of this consensus, a meta-analysis of negotiation studies revealed a significant role for a wide range of individual difference variables. Cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, and numerous personality traits demonstrated predictive validity over multiple outcome measures. Relevant criteria included individual economic value, joint economic value, and psychological subjective value for both the negotiator and counterpart. Each of the Big 5 personality traits predicted at least one outcome measure, with the exception of conscientiousness. Characteristics of research design moderated some associations. Field data showed stronger effects than did laboratory studies. The authors conclude that the irrelevance consensus was misguided, and consider implications for theory, education, and practice.

The relationships between behavioral addictions and the five-factor model of personality

Aims Although relationships between addiction and personality have previously been explored, no study has ever simultaneously investigated the interrelationships between several behavioral addictions, and related these to the main dimensions of the five-factor model of personality. Methods In this study, 218 university students completed questionnaires assessing seven different behavioral addictions (i.e., Facebook addiction, video game addiction, Internet addiction, exercise addiction, mobile phone addiction, compulsive buying, and study addiction) as well as an instrument assessing the main dimensions of the five-factor model of personality. Results Of the 21 bivariate intercorrelations between the seven behavioral addictions, all were positive (and nine significantly). The results also showed that (i) Neuroticism was positively associated with Internet addiction, exercise addiction, compulsive buying, and study addiction, (ii) Extroversion was positively associated with Facebook addiction, exercise addiction, mobile phone addiction, and compulsive buying, (iii) Openness to experience was negatively associated with Facebook addiction and mobile phone addiction, (iv) Agreeableness was negatively associated with Internet addiction, exercise addiction, mobile phone addiction, and compulsive buying, and (v) Conscientiousness was negatively associated with Facebook addiction, video game addiction, Internet addiction, and compulsive buying and positively associated with exercise addiction and study addiction. Conclusions The positive associations between the seven behavioral addictions suggest one or several underlying pathological factors. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that personality traits explained between 6% and 17% of the variance in the seven behavioral addictions, suggesting that personality to a varying degree explains scores on measures of addictive behaviors.

The Origins of Extraversion: Joint Effects of Facultative Calibration and Genetic Polymorphism

The origins of variation in extraversion are largely mysterious. Recent theories and some findings suggest that personality variation can be orchestrated by specific genetic polymorphisms. Few studies, however, have examined an alternative hypothesis that personality traits are facultatively calibrated to variations in other phenotypic features, and none have considered how these distinct processes may interact in personality determination. Since physical strength and physical attractiveness likely predicted the reproductive payoffs of extraverted behavioral strategies over most of human history, it was theorized that extraversion is calibrated to variation in these characteristics. Confirming these predicted patterns, strength and attractiveness together explained a surprisingly large fraction of variance in extraversion across two studies— effects that were independent of variance explained by an androgen receptor gene polymorphism. These novel findings initially support an integrative model wherein facultative calibration and specific genetic polymorphisms operate in concert to determine personality variation.