Trust is vital for success in all kinds of social interactions. But how do people decide whether an individual can be trusted? One factor people may consider is that individual's social class. We hypothesize that people trust others from lower social class contexts more than others from higher class contexts; we also consider nuances between current and childhood class context and between trust as

Individual differences in social traits such as the affiliation motive are closely linked to the formation and maintenance of social relationships. Most previous research focused on long-term characteristics or momentary assessments of social relationships (e.g., social network size, relationship quality), whereas theoretical accounts have emphasized the temporal dynamics, that is, how social interactions

Is low self-esteem a risk factor for depression, and do experiences of depression deteriorate an individual's self-esteem? In this preregistered study, we used continuous time modeling to investigate how prospective effects between self-esteem and depression change as a function of the time interval over which the effects are observed. Analyses were based on data from six measurement waves of the Longitudinal

Stimuli selection in psychology experiments is typically unsystematic, undocumented, and irreproducible. This makes confounds likely to arise. The statistical analysis of psychology experiments with multiple stimuli, in turn, is typically reported at the aggregate level, averaging across stimuli. This makes confounds unlikely to be detected. Here, we propose changing both the design and analysis of

The present study addresses a fundamental yet largely neglected question about personality development: To what extent are changes in parent personality traits associated with changes in their child's personality traits? Numerous developmental processes suggest that parent and child personality might have transactional associations over time, contributing to their codevelopment. This codevelopment

Given growing political polarization in recent years, partisan dislike-defined as the negativity that individuals display at the prospect of having close social relations with supporters of the other party-has received increasing attention. While traditional work in social and political psychology has held that conservatives display greater outgroup hostility than liberals, the worldview conflict perspective

To effectively address support for intergroup violence, we must understand the psychology promoting it. Dehumanization-the explicit and blatant denial of an outgroup's humanity-is widely considered one such promoter, which has informed extensive research and practice on support for intergroup violence. Nonetheless, dehumanization is often intertwined with intense dislike, raising concerns that dehumanization's

Socializing, moving, working, and leisure form the foundation of human experience. We examined whether these foundational, ostensibly nonpolitical behaviors are nevertheless bifurcated along political fault lines, revealing "lifestyle polarization." Study 1 quantified the association between political identity and 61 social, movement, work, and leisure behaviors collected from smartphone sensors and

Dominant groups often resist possible changes to the hierarchical status quo. Might such tendencies be partly rooted in negative-yet potentially malleable-meta-beliefs about how disempowered groups would use power if they gained control? We investigate these questions across three studies and eight independent samples (Total N = 7,460 analyzed responses) in the context of Black-White relations in the

The desire to appear virtuous can motivate people to punish wrongdoers, a desirable outcome when punishment is clearly deserved. Yet claims that "virtue signaling" is fueling a culture of outrage suggest that reputation concerns may inspire even potentially unmerited punishment. Moreover, might reputation do more to drive punishment in ambiguous situations, where punishment is less clearly deserved

As generative artificial intelligence (gen-AI) becomes more prevalent, it becomes increasingly important to understand how people psychologically respond to the content it explicitly creates. In this research, we demonstrate that exposure to gen-AI produced content can affect people's self-confidence at the same task through a social comparison process. Anchoring this research in the domain of creativity

It is widely known that all languages have personality-trait concepts, but more controversial is how these concepts are organized (structured) based on application to actual human targets of description. Many assume that Big Five factors provide a universally applicable structural template, but evidence beyond European languages has particularly undermined this premise. The comparative reproducibility

Attachment insecurity is associated with important relationship outcomes, well-being, and mental health. Attachment has long been considered a stable trait, but recent findings indicate that attachment insecurity decreases over time among adults in romantic relationships. Although theoretical considerations suggest that positive experiences within these relationships should contribute to changes in

Decades of research indicate that growth versus fixed mindsets can influence important outcomes. Some, however, have recently questioned this conclusion, documenting small to nonexistent effects. Inspired by attitudes research, we propose that some growth mindsets may be stronger-more impactful-than others. Specifically, this work examines whether mindsets held with higher certainty are more likely

Although men's support is crucial to facilitating women's advancement within social and organizational hierarchies, research finds that men may perceive women's hierarchical advancement as harmful to their ingroup (i.e., in zero-sum terms). Given hierarchies are composed of two distinct bases-power (control over resources) and status (respect from others)-it is presently unknown whether power is perceived

Humans define themselves through memberships in groups organized around common values. But how are group boundaries and membership criteria determined? Specifically, how do individuals evaluate those who exclude (vs. include) outsiders from group membership (i.e., gatekeeping), and what explains variation in these evaluations? Six preregistered primary studies (and seven preregistered supporting studies)

Volunteering and charitable giving are core examples of traditional philanthropy that contribute to the health of democratic societies and individual well-being. Differences in people's willingness to engage in these behaviors hint at a role of psychological factors that foster or hinder these types of philanthropic engagement. Theory and empirical research suggest that broad personality traits may

Life is full of mundane tasks such as commuting, attending meetings, and filing paperwork. Despite their ubiquity, experience with mundane tasks remains understudied in the literature. Across a series of lab and field studies, we show that the negative feelings about a mundane experience are impacted by people's perception of how much of the task has been completed, which we term relative task completion

Objectification-the psychological phenomenon of relegating people to the status of objects, denying their humanness-is associated with a host of negative consequences for those targeted, from diminished cognitive performance to heightened risk of danger. Girls and women constitute the primary targets of objectification; thus, these harms fall disproportionately on them. Despite the persistence of such

Ethnicity critically impacts perceivers' ability to individuate and recognize faces. Valentine (1991) proposed a face space model in part to account for these effects, and although it has received significant attention, basic questions derived from that model have yet to be satisfactorily tested. Across three large-scale studies, over 10,000 human participants provided similarity judgments of pairs

Implicit motives, nonconscious needs that influence individuals' behaviors and shape their emotions, have been part of personality research for nearly a century but differ from personality traits. The implicit motive assessment is very resource-intensive, involving expert coding of individuals' written stories about ambiguous pictures, and has hampered implicit motive research. Using large language

We assessed the evidential value of the large literature (k = 643-825 studies) investigating the mortality salience (MS) hypothesis from terror management theory, employing a multitool assessment approach. First, we reviewed and evaluated recent efforts to replicate past experiments testing the MS hypothesis, summarizing the conflicting evidence and arguments to the evidential value of the MS literature

Protestantism, as opposed to Catholicism, is widely seen as having contributed to the rise of Western individualism. However, little is known about potential value differences between these two branches of Christianity in contemporary Europe. In the current work, we examined patterns of value endorsement among current and former Protestants and Catholics within and between 20 European countries using

Random procedures, such as coin flips, are used to settle disputes and allocate resources in a fair manner. Even though the outcome is random, we hypothesized that people would be sensitive to features of the process that make it seem unfair, that is, who gets to call heads or tails and flip the coin. In 11 studies (N = 5,925) participants competed against another participant for a positive or negative

Informed by the needs-based model of reconciliation, we hypothesized that members of perceived perpetrator groups would prefer more abstract representations of historical or present transgressions than members of perceived victim groups. Six lab experiments (total N = 2,363; preregistered) and one study that examined the language used in Twitter posts (1,496 tweets; preregistered) supported this hypothesis

Seven studies examine the association between time-saving purchases (e.g., housecleaning and meal delivery services) and relationship satisfaction. Study 1 uses an 11-year longitudinal panel survey to show that increases in time-saving purchases predict long-term increases in relationship satisfaction. Study 2 replicates these findings with a 6-week daily diary study, demonstrating that time-saving

Self-related core beliefs, reflecting what individuals think about themselves, constitute an important individual difference variable. To date, the literature on the structure of self-related core beliefs is scattered and disconnected, with many approaches developed outside personality psychology. In three studies, the present research presents an integration of existing approaches and an investigation

Personality trait similarity among ordinary relatives is surprisingly low, with parent-offspring and sibling-sibling correlations usually r ≤ .15. We explain why these correlations are biased in typical single-method studies and argue that this problem can only be addressed with multimethod designs. We also explain why ordinary relative comparisons can provide a more generalizable way of estimating

Overconfidence is prevalent despite being linked to various negative outcomes for individuals, organizations, and even societies. To explain this puzzling phenomenon, C. Anderson, Brion, et al. (2012) proposed a status-enhancement theory of overconfidence: Expressing overconfidence helps individuals attain social status. In this registered report, we conducted a direct replication of Study 5 by C.

Past research has uncovered that people prefer to deliver positive news and flattering feedback to others. However, less is known about the generalizability and motives underlying the general selection of information to enhance others' self-views. Over a series of seven experiments (six preregistered), participants (total N = 3,117) informed others that a test the others had taken was either valid

We examined differences and similarities between groups sampled from the Mediterranean region in social orientation, cognitive style, self-construal, and honor, face, dignity values, and concerns using a large battery of tasks and measures. We did this by conducting secondary data set analyses focusing on comparisons between nine pairs of samples recruited from the Mediterranean region (Spain, Italy

In this preregistered research, we tested whether there is a systematic, terminal decline in relationship satisfaction when people approach the end of their romantic relationship. Data came from four longitudinal studies with national samples. In the analyses, we used (piecewise) multilevel models with propensity score-matched event and control groups. Across studies, sample sizes ranged from 987 to

Effort is commonly characterized as a negative, unpleasant experience. This research explores the extent to which individuals vary in whether they believe effort to be enjoyable or aversive and how this relates to a range of behavioral and physiological indicators of effort exertion. In five studies (N = 2,338), participants either completed an Effort Enjoyment Belief Scale or were experimentally led

Reports an error in "It doesn't hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking" by Karen Huang, Michael Yeomans, Alison Wood Brooks, Julia Minson and Francesca Gino (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2017[Sep], Vol 113[3], 430-452). In the article, several minor errors in how some results were reported have been discovered, based on a recently conducted independent audit of the work and

What is published in personality psychology, and which trends emerge over time? We examined in six major personality-psychological journals (European Journal of Personality, Journal of Individual Differences, Journal of Personality, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Personality Processes and Individual Differences, Journal of Research in Personality, and Personality and Individual Differences)

Women's bodies have long been the subject of restrictive policies and practices, and the discourse on whether or not these are justified often focuses on a universal moral concern: harm. But are those arguing for or against restrictions on women's bodily autonomy truly as concerned about harm as they claim or is harm also used strategically? In seven studies (total N = 3,431), we find that concerns

As governments and institutions embrace subjective well-being as a policy outcome, aggregating well-being in a population has become commonplace. The default method used to aggregate population well-being is taking the arithmetic mean (average). However, using average well-being as a key performance indicator, while useful, can omit morally relevant information, like the extent of suffering and inequality

Our beliefs about how much we are liked tend to be less positive than liking judgments of others, a finding termed the "liking gap." Because much of the past work has studied liking gaps at the sample level, it has overlooked important nuances in how these gaps can be measured and experienced. We introduce a distinction between the actual liking gap (i.e., a between-person discrepancy between how much

The present research identifies a psychological phenomenon that helps to explain how people who prefer the same option to the same degree (e.g., two people equally prefer Politician A over Politician B) can differ in their negativity toward the same undesired outcome (e.g., one person reacts more negatively toward Politician A's defeat). Across multiple domains and a variety of methodologies (e.g.

When interacting with others in unfamiliar sociocultural settings, people need to learn the norms guiding appropriate behavior. The present research investigates an individual difference that helps this kind of learning: stress reactivity. Interactions in an unfamiliar sociocultural setting are stressful, particularly when the actor fails to follow its rules. Although stress is typically considered

Prior work shows that people are often more sensitive to moral transgressions that target ingroup members than outgroup members. But does that depend on which groups are involved? We investigate how lifelong U.S. citizen participants make judgments about moral transgressions that target fellow lifelong citizens, compared with refugees or undocumented immigrants. Across five studies (N = 1,953), we

Are subjective or objective indicators of money more strongly associated with well-being in the short- and long term? We revisit this practically important question using a multidata, multioutcome, longitudinal approach to comprehensively examine whether income and financial satisfaction would be associated with short-term and long-term well-being. Specifically, using latent growth modeling, we analyzed

Structural racism has become a household term used in the media and in everyday conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Despite increased discussion of structural racism, people often struggle to understand how structural racism is perpetuated by individuals. We integrate research on moral psychology, social cognition, and intergroup relations to investigate whether structural

Typical nomothetic, dimensional conceptualizations of personality traits have demonstrated that traits show robust patterns of change across the lifespan. Yet, questions linger about both the mechanisms underlying trait change and the extent to which we can understand any individual using only dimensional approaches. Alternatively, a person-specific conceptualization of personality that emphasizes

Widespread narratives about leadership often emphasize the importance of exhibiting agentic traits like assertiveness, ambition, and confidence. Counter to this perspective, the present research suggests that when evaluating leaders, followers especially value communal traits, such as honesty, open-mindedness, and compassion-even at the expense of agentic traits. Eight preregistered studies (N = 3

Coming to suspect that someone has engaged in wrongdoing based on their unexpected behavior is a common phenomenon-yet, little is known about what triggers initial suspicion. We investigated how violating expectations for high emotionality during a traumatic event can trigger suspicion that one has engaged in immoral-or even criminal-activity through moral typecasting. Five studies demonstrate this

People appreciate members of their in-group, and they cooperate with them-tendencies we refer to as in-group love. Being a member of a minority (vs. majority) is a common experience that varies both between groups in a context and within a group between contexts, but how does it affect in-group love? Across six studies, we examined when and why being in the minority boosts in-group love. In Study 1

A fundamental assumption about human behavior forming the backbone of trait theories is that, to some extent, individuals behave consistently across structurally comparable situations. However, especially for unethical behavior, the consistency assumption has been severely questioned, at least from the early 19th century onward. We provide a strict test of the consistency assumption for a prominent

People who are higher in conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness and lower in neuroticism tend to live longer. The present research tested the hypothesis that personality trait change in middle and older adulthood would also be associated with mortality risk, above and beyond personality trait level. Personality trait change may causally influence mortality risk through corresponding changes

Affective, behavioral, and cognitive (i.e., personality) states fluctuate across situations and context, yet the biological mechanisms regulating them remain unclear. Here, we report two large, longitudinal studies that investigate patterns of change in personality states and affect as a function of the menstrual cycle, ovarian hormones, and hormonal contraceptive use. Study 1 (N = 757) is an online

The role of childhood activity level in personality development is still poorly understood. Using data from a prospective study following 939 children from age 1.5 to 16.5 years, this study examined whether prospective associations of childhood activity with subsequent personality ratings in adolescence differ across two conceptualizations of childhood activity: energetic activity (defined by energy

Women are widely assumed to be more talkative than men. Challenging this assumption, Mehl et al. (2007) provided empirical evidence that men and women do not differ significantly in their daily word use, speaking about 16,000 words per day (WPD) each. However, concerns were raised that their sample was too small to yield generalizable estimates and too age and context homogeneous to permit inferences

Perceptions of socioeconomic status (SES) can perpetuate inequality by influencing interpersonal interactions in ways that disadvantage people with low SES. Indeed, lab studies have provided evidence that people can detect others' SES and that they may use this information to apply stereotypes that influence interpersonal decisions. Here, we examine how SES and SES-based stereotypes affect real-world

Seven preregistered studies (total N = 2,443) demonstrate that feedback receptivity of people in power, or their openness to feedback, reduces bias concerns among members of marginalized groups (marginalized group meta-analytic dz = 0.53; nonmarginalized group meta-analytic dz = 0.10). Study 1 finds that the extent to which engineering students and staff perceive their faculty advisors as receptive

Self-esteem and depressive symptoms are important predictors of a range of societally relevant outcomes and are theorized to influence each other reciprocally over time. However, existing research offers only a limited understanding of how their dynamics unfold across different timescales. Using three data sets with different temporal resolutions, we aimed to advance our understanding of the temporal

Human likes and dislikes can be established or changed in numerous ways. Three of the most well-studied procedures involve exposing people to regularities in the environment (evaluative conditioning, approach-avoidance, mere exposure), to verbal information about upcoming regularities (evaluative conditioning, approach-avoidance, or mere exposure information), or to verbal information about the evaluative

What drives some people to save more effectively for their future than others? This multistudy investigation (N = 143,461) explores how dispositional optimism-the generalized tendency to hold positive expectations about the future-shapes individuals' financial decisions and outcomes. Leveraging both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs across several countries, our findings reveal that optimism

Face stereotypes are prevalent, consequential, yet oftentimes inaccurate. How do false first impressions arise and persist despite counter-evidence? Building on the overgeneralization hypothesis, we propose a domain-general cognitive mechanism: insufficient statistical learning, or Insta-learn. This mechanism posits that humans are quick statistical learners but insufficient samplers. Humans extract

Studies have shown that anomie, that is, the perception that a society's leadership and social fabric are breaking down, is a central predictor of individuals' support for authoritarianism. However, causal evidence for this relationship is missing. Moreover, previous studies are ambiguous regarding the mediating mechanism and lack empirical tests for the same. Against this background, we derive a set

Why do people not perceive their close others accurately, although they have ample information about them? We propose that one reason for such errors may be bias based on personal values. Personal values may serve as schemas defining what people see as positive, and thus affect perceptions of others' behavior, values, and traits. We propose that, in close relationships, people see others as sharing