Why extraverts are happier than introverts: the role of mood regulation

Exploring Within-Person Variability in Qualitative Negative and Positive Emotional Granularity by Means of Latent Markov Factor Analysis

Emotional granularity (EG) is an individual's ability to describe their emotional experiences in a nuanced and specific way. In this paper, we propose that researchers adopt latent Markov factor analysis (LMFA) to investigate within-person variability in qualitative EG (i.e., variability in distinct granularity patterns between specific emotions across time). LMFA clusters measurement occasions into latent states according to state-specific measurement models. We argue that state-specific measurement models of repeatedly assessed emotion items can provide information about qualitative EG at a given point in time. Applying LMFA to the area of EG for negative and positive emotions separately by using data from an experience sampling study with 11,662 measurement occasions across 139 participants, we found three latent EG states for the negative emotions and three for the positive emotions. Momentary stress significantly predicted transitions between the EG states for both the negative and positive emotions. We further identified two and three latent classes of individuals who differed in state trajectories for negative and positive emotions, respectively. Neuroticism and dispositional mood regulation predicted latent class membership for negative (but not for positive) emotions. We conclude that LMFA may enrich EG research by enabling more fine-grained insights into variability in qualitative EG patterns.

The Within-Subject Association of Physical Behavior and Affective Well-Being in Everyday Life: A Systematic Literature Review

BACKGROUND

The interplay of physical activity (PA) with affective well-being (AWB) is highly critical to both health behaviors and health outcomes. Current prominent theories presume AWB to be crucial for PA maintenance, and PA is evidenced to foster mental health. However, thus far, PA-AWB associations have mainly been researched in laboratory settings and with interventional designs, but the everyday life perspective had not been focused on, mostly due to technological limitations. In the course of digitization, the number of studies using device-based methods to research the within-subject association of physical activity and affective well-being (PA-AWB) under ecological valid conditions increased rapidly, but a recent comprehensive systematic review of evidence across populations, age groups, and distinct AWB components remained inconclusive.

OBJECTIVES

Therefore, we aimed to firstly review daily-life studies that assessed intensive longitudinal device-based (e.g., electronic smartphone diaries and accelerometry) and real-time PA-AWB data, secondly to develop and apply a quality assessment tool applicable to those studies, and thirdly to discuss findings and draw implications for research and practice.

METHODS

To this end, the literature was searched in three databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus) up to November 2022. The systematic review followed the PRISMA guidelines and had been pre-registered (PROSPERO id: CRD42021277327). A modified quality assessment tool was developed to illustrate the risk of bias of included studies.

RESULTS

The review of findings showed that, in general, already short PA bouts in everyday life, which clearly differ from structured exercise sessions, are positively associated with AWB. In particular, feelings of energy relate to incidental (non-exercise and unstructured) activity, and PA-AWB associations depend on population characteristics. The quality assessment revealed overall moderate study quality; however, the methods applied were largely heterogeneous between investigations. Overall, the reviewed evidence on PA-AWB associations in everyday life is ambiguous; for example, no clear patterns of directions and strengths of PA-AWB relationships depending on PA and AWB components (such as intensity, emotions, affect, mood) emerged.

CONCLUSIONS

The reviewed evidence can fuel discussions on whether the World Health Organization's notion "every move counts" may be extended to everyday life AWB. Concurrently, the PA-AWB relationship findings endorse prominent theories highlighting the critical role of AWB in everyday PA engagement and maintenance. However, the review also clearly highlights the need to advance and harmonize methodological approaches for more fine-grained investigations on which specific PA/AWB characteristics, contextual factors, and biological determinants underly PA-AWB associations in everyday life. This will enable the field to tackle pressing challenges such as the issue of causality of PA-AWB associations, which will help to shape and refine existing theories to ultimately predict and improve health behavior, thereby feeding into precision medicine approaches.

Self-motivated and directed learning across the lifespan

Self-motivated and directed learning is integral to knowledge base expansion for learners of all ages. Both motivational and cognitive processes drive self-motivated and directed lifelong learning, yet how these different processes operate together from childhood through adulthood is largely unknown. In this review, we discuss the role of personal motivators, such as beliefs in self-efficacy and personality traits in self-motivated and directed learning across the lifespan. We then consider the role of cognitive processes that contribute to knowledge base expansion in learners of all ages, specifically executive functions. We focus on working memory, inhibitory control, and task switching as potential determinants of lifelong learning. Finally, we integrate the two literatures, to discuss ways in which personal motivators may influence deployment of executive functions under self-motivated and directed conditions as a learner advances along a developmental trajectory. We also suggest ways to move the study of self-motivated and directed learning beyond observation and self-report measures thus affording experimental control. We aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding and novel insight to the mechanisms and processes of self-motivated and directed learning across the lifespan.

The Stressful Personality: A Meta-Analytical Review of the Relation Between Personality and Stress

The current study presented the first meta-analytic review on the associations between the Big Five personality traits and stress measured under different conceptualizations (stressor exposure, psychological and physiological stress responses) using a total of 1,575 effect sizes drawn from 298 samples. Overall, neuroticism was found to be positively related to stress, whereas extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness were negatively linked to stress. When stress assessed under different conceptualizations was tested, only neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were related to stressor exposure. All of the Big Five personality traits were significantly associated with psychological stress perception, whereas the five personality traits showed weak to null associations with physiological stress response. Further moderation analyses suggested that the associations between personality traits and stress under different conceptualizations were also contingent upon different characteristics of stress, sample, study design, and measures. The results supported the important role of personality traits in individual differences in stress.

The Relationship between Emotionally Laden Landmarks, Spatial Abilities, and Personality Traits: An Exploratory Study

Separate research lines have shown that the way we process spatial information is influenced by individual factors, such as personality traits and basic spatial abilities. Alongside, recent studies suggest that environmental landmarks can be represented differently depending on their emotional content. However, to our knowledge, no study has addressed so far the issue of whether there is a relationship between individual factors and the way we represent and use spatial information that conveys emotional content. Therefore, this exploratory study aimed to (i) investigate the relationship between personality traits and the use of spatial strategies in relation to emotional stimuli; (ii) investigate if a different pattern emerges according to a body- or object-based spatial encodings. After watching movies of routes characterized by positive, negative, or neutral landmarks, participants performed a "route continuation" (RC, i.e., left/right decision) and a "distance comparison" task (DC, i.e., what was the landmark closest to X?). Furthermore, participants performed a mental rotation task (MR), the Corsi block tapping (CBT), and the Bergen right-left discrimination tests (B-RL). Personality traits were assessed through the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). Results showed that a better performance at the RC task was associated with higher scores at CBT tasks in the positive condition and at B-RL test and agreeableness scale from TIPI in both positive and neutral conditions. Instead, the MR task positively correlated with the DC task in all conditions. In sum, individuals' spatial abilities, personality traits, and task requests influenced the way emotionally laden landmarks were memorized.

Speed of Processing and Personality: The Influence of Personality and Extrinsic Feedback on the Performance of Cognitive Tasks

Background: Feedback is considered as an effective means of motivating, guiding, and reinforcing desired behaviours. However, the ways to interpret external feedback may be different among individuals with different personality traits; therefore, this would influence the effects of feedback on performance. Accordingly, the influencing effects of personality towards different styles of feedback on cognitive task performance were examined. Methods: Participants (N = 71) were given three Stroop tasks as a dependent variable, whereas the Trail Making Task was an independent variable; additionally, a personality test was used to record the personality traits of each participant. The relationship between personality and feedback-induced changes in Stroop performance was computed by means of Pearson correlation, followed by a mixed-effect model to demonstrate the effect of personality on the overall performance with feedback. Results: The statistical analysis indicated that performance from those with higher levels of extraversion generally profitted from feedback, irrespective of whether it was negative feedback (r = 0.201) or positive feedback (r = 0.205). Additionally, the moderating effect of personality on feedback and performance was demonstrated. Conclusions: The limitations of the sample size and other external influences may have reduced the representativeness of the research. Nonetheless, more potential influencing factors need to be included and explored in future research.

Smart City Development and Residents’ Well-Being

The development of smart cities has greatly improved the living and working environment of urban residents, but whether it can enhance the happiness of urban residents is a controversial topic. In this study, we investigate residents’ experiences of obtaining information, services and networks in smart cities from the aspects of safety, usefulness and convenience, and empirically explore their relationship with residents’ subjective well-being (SWB). The results show that residents’ safety, usefulness and convenience experiences of obtaining information, services and networks in smart cities all have positive impacts on their SWB, and the relationship between residents’ safety experience and SWB is, to a certain extent, mediated by their usefulness and convenience experiences.

Modeling bivariate change in individual differences: Prospective associations between personality and life satisfaction

A number of structural equation models have been developed to examine change in 1 variable or the longitudinal association between 2 variables. The most common of these are the latent growth model, the autoregressive cross-lagged model, the autoregressive latent trajectory model, and the latent change score model. The authors first overview each of these models through evaluating their different assumptions surrounding the nature of change and how these assumptions may result in different data interpretations. They then, to elucidate these issues in an empirical example, examine the longitudinal association between personality traits and life satisfaction. In a representative Dutch sample (N = 8,320), with participants providing data on both personality and life satisfaction measures every 2 years over an 8-year period, the authors reproduce findings from previous research. However, some of the structural equation models overviewed have not previously been applied to the personality-life satisfaction relation. The extended empirical examination suggests intraindividual changes in life satisfaction predict subsequent intraindividual changes in personality traits. The availability of data sets with 3 or more assessment waves allows the application of more advanced structural equation models such as the autoregressive latent trajectory or the extended latent change score model, which accounts for the complex dynamic nature of change processes and allows stronger inferences on the nature of the association between variables. However, the choice of model should be determined by theories of change processes in the variables being studied.

The Sex Differences in Regulating Unpleasant Emotion by Expressive Suppression: Extraversion Matters

Males are known for more suppression of emotional displays than females. However, when the emotion regulation effect of expressive suppression is greater in males, and how this sex difference varies with emotion display-related personality (e.g., extraversion), are undetermined. Event-related potentials were recorded while male and female participants different in extraversion were required to attend to or suppress emotional expression to negative pictures. Sex and extraversion did not modulate self-reported emotional experience. However, late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes showed an extraversion-moderated sex difference in the 2000-3000 ms and the 3000-4000 ms time epochs. LPP amplitudes were decreased during suppression versus viewing conditions in ambivert males, while this effect was absent in ambivert females. However, the LPP amplitudes of extraverts were similar for suppression and viewing conditions, irrespective of sex and timing. Regardless of early, middle, or late time windows, LPP amplitudes were positively related to self-reported emotion. These results suggest a male advantage for using expressive suppression for emotion regulation in non-extraverted, ambivert individuals.

Is Valuing Happiness Associated With Lower Well-Being? A Factor-Level Analysis using the Valuing Happiness Scale

Recent studies suggest that valuing happiness is negatively associated with well-being. Most of these studies used the Valuing Happiness Scale (Mauss, Tamir, et al., 2011). In the present paper, we examined the factor structure of this scale using data pooled from six independent samples (Ntotal = 938). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Valuing Happiness Scale is not unidimensional and that only one of its three factors correlates negatively with various indicators of well-being, whereas non-significant or positive correlations were found for the other factors. These findings indicate that valuing happiness may not necessarily be bad for one's well-being, and call for a better definition, theoretical foundation, and operationalization of this construct.

Under which conditions can introverts achieve happiness? Mediation and moderation effects of the quality of social relationships and emotion regulation ability on happiness

Personality traits have been directly associated with happiness. One consistent finding is a strong link between extraversion and happiness: extraverts are happier than introverts. Although happy introverts exist, it is currently unclear under what conditions they can achieve happiness. The present study analyzes, generally, how the quality of social relationships and emotion regulation ability influence happiness and, specifically, how these factors can lead introverts to be happy. In the present study, 1,006 participants aged 18-80 (42% males) completed measures of extraversion, neuroticism, quality of social relationships, emotion regulation ability, and happiness. We found that extraverts had significantly higher happiness, quality of social relationships and emotion regulation ability scores than introverts. In addition, people with high quality social relationships or high emotion regulation ability were happier. Serial mediation analyses indicated that greater levels of extraversion were associated with greater happiness, with small effect size, via two indirect mechanisms: (a) higher quality of social relationships, and (b) higher quality of social relationships followed serially by higher emotion regulation ability. We also found a moderating effect due to the three-way interaction of extraversion, quality of social relationships, and emotion regulation ability: introverts were happier when they had high scores for these two variables, though the effect size was small. These results suggest that the quality of social relationships and emotion regulation ability are relevant to our understanding of complex associations between extraversion and happiness.

Personality Traits and Relationship Satisfaction in Intimate Couples: Three Perspectives on Personality

Personality traits are important predictors of relationship satisfaction. However, the majority of previous study findings are based on self–perceptions of personality. Thus, by means of the self–, partner–, and meta–perceptions of personality, the present study focused on three different perspectives on the Big Five personality traits to examine dyadic associations with relationship satisfaction of intimate couples. The study was based on the first measurement occasion of the Swiss longitudinal study ‘Co–Development in Personality: Longitudinal Approaches to Personality Development in Dyads across the Life Span’ and included data of 216 couples. The main analyses were based on Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. Three general findings emerged. First, the three personality perspectives represented related, albeit distinct, constructs, and showed incremental validity with respect to relationship satisfaction. Second, neuroticism was negatively related to relationship satisfaction, whereas agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related to relationship satisfaction across all perspectives. Third, substantial associations between extraversion and relationship satisfaction were exclusively evident in terms of the partner– and meta–perception. The present results contribute to the literature by showing that each perspective is essential for the understanding of the role of personality for relationship satisfaction. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology

The dynamic role of personality states in mediating the relationship between extraversion and positive affect

One of the most noteworthy and robust findings in personality psychology is the relationship between extraversion and positive affect. Existing theories have debated the origins and nature of this relationship, offering both structural/fixed and environmental/dynamic explanations. We tested the novel and straightforward dynamic hypothesis that part of the reason trait extraversion predicts trait positive affect is through an increased propensity to enact extraverted states, which in turn leads to experiencing more positive affect states. We report 5 experience sampling studies (and a meta-analysis of primary studies) conducted in natural environments and laboratory settings in which undergraduate participants (N = 241) provided ratings of trait extraversion, trait positive affect, extraversion states, and positive affect states. Results of primary studies and the meta-analysis showed that relationships between trait extraversion and trait positive affect were partially mediated by aggregated extraversion states and aggregated positive affect states. The results supported our dynamic hypothesis and suggested that dynamic explanations of the relationship between trait extraversion and trait positive affect are compatible with structural explanations. An important implication of these findings is that individuals might be able to increase their happiness by self-regulating their extraverted states.

Exploring dynamics in mood regulation--mixture latent Markov modeling of ambulatory assessment data

OBJECTIVE

To illustrate how fluctuation patterns in ambulatory assessment data with features such as few categorical items, measurement error, and heterogeneity in the change pattern can adequately be analyzed with mixture latent Markov models. The identification of fluctuation patterns can be of great value to psychosomatic research concerned with dysfunctional behavior or cognitions, such as addictive behavior or noncompliance. In our application, unobserved subgroups of individuals who differ with regard to their mood regulation processes, such as mood maintenance and mood repair, are identified.

METHODS

In an ambulatory assessment study, mood ratings were collected 56 times during 1 week from 164 students. The pleasant-unpleasant mood dimension was assessed by the two ordered categorical items unwell-well and bad-good. Mixture latent Markov models with different number of states, classes, and degrees of invariance were tested, and the best model according to information criteria was interpreted.

RESULTS

Two latent classes that differed in their mood regulation pattern during the day were identified. Mean classification probabilities were high (>0.88) for this model. The larger class showed a tendency to stay in and return to a moderately pleasant mood state, whereas the smaller class was more likely to move to a very pleasant mood state and to stay there with a higher probability.

CONCLUSIONS

Mixture latent Markov models are suitable to obtain information about interindividual differences in stability and change in ambulatory assessment data. Identified mood regulation patterns can serve as reference for typical mood fluctuation in healthy young adults.

Impaired selection of relevant positive information in depression

BACKGROUND

A hallmark characteristic of depression is the inability to regulate the effect of emotional material on cognition. Previous research has demonstrated that depressed individuals are less able than are nondepressed persons to expel irrelevant negative information from working memory (WM), thereby exacerbating the effects of negative content on cognition. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether depressed individuals are also impaired at selecting relevant positive content in the context of representations competing for resources in WM; such an impairment would limit depressed persons' ability to use positive material to ameliorate the cognitive effects of negative information.

METHODS

We administered a Recency-probes task with neutral, positive, and negative words to 20 currently depressed and 22 never-depressed participants. This task assesses the selection of relevant content in WM by inducing interference between current and prior representations of a stimulus in WM. Reaction times to interference and noninterference trials were compared across valence and group to assess how effectively depressed individuals select task-relevant emotional content to resolve interference.

RESULTS

Compared to never-depressed controls, depressed individuals were impaired in selecting task-relevant positive stimuli; the performance of the two groups was comparable for selecting task-relevant neutral and negative stimuli.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that a valence-specific deficit in WM may contribute to the inability of depressed individuals to regulate emotion, and provide empirical support for formulations that implicate positive insensitivity in the maintenance of depression.

Attention and emotion influence the relationship between extraversion and neural response

Extraversion has been shown to positively correlate with activation within the ventral striatum, amygdala and other dopaminergically innervated, reward-sensitive regions. These regions are implicated in emotional responding, in a manner sensitive to attentional focus. However, no study has investigated the interaction among extraversion, emotion and attention. We used fMRI and dynamic, evocative film clips to elicit amusement and sadness in a sample of 28 women. Participants were instructed either to respond naturally (n = 14) or to attend to and continuously rate their emotions (n = 14) while watching the films. Contrary to expectations, striatal response was negatively associated with extraversion during amusement, regardless of attention. A negative association was also observed during sad films, but only when attending to emotion. These findings suggest that attentional focus does not influence the relationship between extraversion and neural response to positive (amusing) stimuli but does impact the response to negative (sad) stimuli.

Job stress in young physicians with an emphasis on the work-home interface: a nine-year, nationwide and longitudinal study of its course and predictors

Although physicians are known to experience more stress than other workers, knowledge is lacking on the course of stress from a longitudinal perspective. This study explored the course of and contributors to, different dimensions of early career job-stress among physicians by means of a nationwide mail survey, with a particular emphasis on stress relating to the work-home interference. All physicians graduating from all four Norwegian universities in 1993 / 94 (N=631), responded during their final year of medical school (N=522), during their internship (N=402), in their 4th postgraduate year (N=422), and in their 10th postgraduate year (N=390). The mean observation period was 9.2 yr (SD=0.5). The main outcomes were job stress dimensions derived from an established job stress questionnaire (Cooper / Tyssen), with emphasis placed on dimensions of the work-home interference. Stress relating to the work-home interference increased during the observation period for both genders (repeated measures: beta=0.06, p<0.05), whereas stress relating to emotional pressure, time pressure, and fear of complaints and criticism, decreased. Stress relating to the work-home interference increased during their early career, mainly due to a lack of adaptive reduction in work hours and an increased number of children. Neuroticism, conscientiousness, and lack of support from one's partner and colleagues, appeared to be predictive of this stress.