Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Despite extensive research on upward mobility, the psychological consequences of perceived downward mobility remain understudied. Across two cross-sectional and two experimental studies (N = 2,819), conducted in high-income, post-industrial economies, we investigated the effects of perceived upward and downward mobility on status anxiety and well-being. Across designs, downward mobility beliefs consistently increased status anxiety, which in turn mediated harmful effects on life satisfaction and related well-being outcomes. Upward mobility beliefs reduced status anxiety and produced a positive indirect effect on life satisfaction only in an experimental study with U.S. participants, but it yielded inconsistent effects across the remaining three studies. Our findings suggest that both upward and downward beliefs influence well-being through status anxiety, but the effects of downward mobility beliefs are stronger and more consistent.

Although research has examined partnered individuals’ expectations about romantic relationships, little is known about singles’ expectations for relationships. Using six waves of longitudinal panel data (N = 5,113), we explored how singles’ expectations relate to experiences in singlehood and future partnerships. Women expected more intimate and more negative outcomes from relationships than men, whereas men were more likely to expect relationships to enhance their status. At both within- and between-person levels, higher intimacy expectations were associated with lower singlehood satisfaction and higher partner desire; within-person increases in negative expectations were associated with lower satisfaction and partner desire. Individuals with higher intimacy expectations were less likely to remain single and felt more satisfied in future relationships; negative expectations were associated with a greater likelihood of remaining single and lower future relationship satisfaction. Together, our data suggest that singles’ image of partnership is related to satisfaction in singlehood and future romantic relationships.

Segregation of social networks has been studied primarily at the macro level in disciplines such as sociology. The present research introduces the concept of relational compartmentalization to examine this phenomenon at the level of individual behavior through a cultural–psychological lens. Across two studies, we investigated relational compartmentalization using a mixed-methods approach and complementary measures: a novel behavioral paradigm and egocentric social network analysis. We found evidence that, compared to Euro-Americans, Chinese and Asian American participants exhibited a greater tendency to compartmentalize their social networks, mediated by self-consistency and relational mobility, but not by contextualism. In cultural contexts characterized by greater self-concept variability and lower relational fluidity, individuals are more likely to organize their social networks into discrete, self-contained, non-overlapping groups. These findings advance the understanding of cultural models of social networks, highlighting the roles of culturally salient psychological and socioecological characteristics in shaping networking behavior.

The relationship between beliefs about the causes of a policy-relevant issue (causal beliefs) and attitudes towards that policy (policy support) is complicated, with contradictory empirical results. The current research offers an explanation for this: causal beliefs only predict policy support when they are specific and correspond with the policy. We test this across six studies (N = 10,728; quota-representative samples of U.K. and US populations) within two policy domains (obesity and alcohol). In study 1, we test whether specific-corresponding beliefs are stronger correlates of policy support than other causal beliefs. In studies 2 and 4, we test whether communicating specific-corresponding causal evidence can increase policy support. In studies 3 and 4, we identify and confirm the psychological mechanism: perceived policy effectiveness. Study 5 involves a meta-analysis of the experimental studies. This provides support for our theory: specific-corresponding causal beliefs affect policy support, but general and non-corresponding causal beliefs do not.

As efforts to improve the credibility of psychological and other social sciences continue, researchers aim to conduct multi-study or multi-sample research and synthesize findings using different parameterizations of individual participant meta-analysis. No overarching organizational framework exists, and only a few simulation-based or empirical examples comparing these parameterizations. This article has two goals. First, we provide an overview of six common parameterizations of individual participant meta-analysis, organized into a taxonomy based on different features (e.g., sample-specific parameters, meta-analytic parameters, and number of models). Second, using empirical data from 26,205 participants across 11 longitudinal studies, we provide comparisons of each parameterization testing prospective associations between the personality traits and crystallized abilities. We found that openness was a robust predictor of crystallized abilities across samples. Across methods, we observed consistency in model estimates, with some exceptions. We conclude with recommendations for choosing an approach given a team’s goals, questions, data availability, and model features.

The spread of disinformation is widely regarded as one of the most serious global risks. In one laboratory and three online experiments (N_total = 3,066), we measured trust in true, false, and disinformation statements related to the Russo–Ukrainian war (Experiments 1–3) and to politics, climate, and health (Experiment 4). We examined longer-term effectiveness of a fact-based corrective message delivered either before (prebunking) or after (debunking) participants’ initial evaluation of disinformation statements. Across all four experiments, debunking intervention consistently and substantially reduced trust in disinformation, with effects persisting for at least two weeks. Prebunking intervention produced similarly durable benefits only when it was immediately followed by evaluation of the just-corrected disinformation. When evaluation was delayed, prebunking had no reliable impact. We found no significant backfire effects on trust in disinformation across any ideological groups. However, debunking induced a more conservative response pattern overall, reducing trust in true statements as well.

People differ in how positively they perceive others at first glance. The present research examined whether such positivity differences are already evident during early stages of impression formation, under conditions that do not require explicit evaluative judgment. We developed a recognition-based paradigm in which participants read vignettes describing unfamiliar targets and later completed an unexpected recognition task. In Study 1 (n = 312), participants differed in the valence of traits they recognized; those who recognized more positive traits reported greater liking for the targets and scored higher in agreeableness, conscientiousness, and age. Study 2 (n = 837) replicated these findings, introduced a “don’t know” response option to reduce guessing, and demonstrated moderate overlap with rating-based measures of perceiver positivity. Together, the results indicate that perceiver positivity differences can emerge during early impression formation and reflect stable individual differences.

Romantic partners can play a key role in buffering one another’s attachment insecurities, but how they perceive one another’s attachment and whether perceptions predict behavior remains unclear. This research examined how accurately individuals perceive their partner’s global and relationship-specific attachment anxiety and avoidance, what biases shape these perceptions, and whether perceptions predict reassurance provision, a recommended buffering strategy for anxiously attached partners. Using the Truth and Bias Model, two studies (Study 1: N = 108 couples; Study 2: N = 147 couples) showed that individuals perceive their partner’s attachment with moderate accuracy, though they also overestimate insecurity and are biased to assume both similarity and complementarity in attachment. Moreover, people who perceived their partners to be higher in attachment anxiety provided greater reassurance during personal stressor discussions and in daily life (10-day ecological momentary assessment), suggesting that attachment perceptions may play a key role in initiating and calibrating buffering strategies.

Romantic relationships are critically important for a range of psychosocial outcomes across the lifespan, but few studies have examined relationship happiness in midlife. We investigate the trajectories of relationship happiness of romantic couples in midlife and examine whether children in the household, work status, and gender predict these trajectories. Dyadic latent growth curve models were applied to six waves of longitudinal data from N = 2,363 mixed-gender romantic couples (M_age = 48.28, SD = 7.27) in the Swiss Household Panel. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model was run to investigate interconnections within couples. Relationship happiness decreased slightly, with steeper declines among younger participants. Female gender, having children and continuously not working were associated with less happiness. At some waves, fluctuations in men’s happiness predicted fluctuations in women’s happiness and vice versa. We discuss the need for further research on interindividual differences as well as implications for improving relationship happiness during midlife.

Although historical negation—the ideologically-based denial of the contemporary relevance of colonial injustices—sustains inequities between settler colonisers and Indigenous peoples, few studies explore the psychological processes underlying historical negation among settler colonisers. In this pre-registered study, we examine whether perceived group-based relative deprivation (GRD) fosters historical negation among New Zealand Europeans. To do so, we use seven annual waves of data from a nationwide panel sample of New Zealand European adults (N = 26,759) and random intercept cross-lagged panel modelling to predict within-person changes in historical negation over time. Contrary to our hypotheses, no significant within-person associations emerged between GRD and historical negation. GRD did, however, have a positive between-person association with historical negation among sole-identifying New Zealand Europeans. These results indicate that GRD among settler colonisers correlates with—but does not drive—the minimisation of the present-day relevance of colonial injustices.

The United States is characterized as having relatively weak social norms compared to other countries. However, this characterization may be an oversimplification due to the cultural diversity that exists within the country. Four studies (N = 1,537) examined whether and why U.S. racial minorities (East Asian, Latinx, and African Americans) perceive their racial community’s norms to be significantly stronger than European Americans and White immigrants to the United States (Studies 1–4). This difference was not due to increased perceived discrimination (Study 3) or concerns about out-group member punishment (Study 4). Instead, racial minorities’ stronger perceptions of community norms were motivated primarily by interdependence (Studies 1–4) and concerns about being punished by in-group members for not following norms (Study 4). These findings illustrate differences in norm strength between racial groups in a single country, deepening our understanding of how social norm perceptions may vary in a multicultural society.

The experiential advantage refers to the well-being people derive from experiences over material goods. This research took a psychological needs approach and tested whether well-being predicts seeing purchases and products as being able to offer experiences. Five studies, using trait and state measures of well-being and sampling people in Asia and North America, supported this hypothesis. Controlled studies found that people higher in trait well-being viewed purchases as more experiential (Studies 1 and 5). Momentary well-being, whether measured or manipulated, showed a similarly positive impact of higher well-being on experiential perceptions (Studies 2–4). The effect was specific to perceptions of the experiential nature of products, not their materiality, and was most consistent for the positive affect component of well-being. Combined with prior findings, results suggest a self-reinforcing, benevolent cycle: experiences improve well-being, and well-being orients people to the experiential, need-satisfying aspects of products, which may then further support well-being.

Conspiracy theorists often prompt others to “Do your own research.” Could a general desire for such epistemic autonomy—to make up one’s own mind rather than deferring to others’ testimony—explain why some people are attracted to conspiracy theories? In four pre-registered studies (United States and United Kingdom, N = 1196), we test whether participants more likely to believe in conspiracy theories have a stronger preference for forming their own beliefs independently. Participants chose between doing a difficult perceptual task themselves or relying on an expert’s answer. Internal fixed-effect meta-analyses revealed a weak but statistically significant relationship between belief in conspiracy theories and preference for first-hand evidence. By contrast, the relationship between epistemic individualism and this preference was stronger and more robust. This suggests that, although individuals endorsing conspiracy theories express a stronger preference for “doing their own research,” their behavior mostly does not match this preference in non-conspiratorial contexts.

People who perceive they lack power inhibit their needs and goals, sometimes aggress to restore power, and experience poorer well-being. However, people may underestimate how much power they have to meet their needs. Guided by error management principles, we tested whether people systematically underestimate their power in relationships. Across four samples of friendships, same-gender couples, and woman–man couples (N = 1,304 dyads), we used Truth and Bias models to assess discrepancies between people’s own perceived power and the power they had as reported by their friends/partners. We found robust evidence that people underestimated their power. Moreover, higher self-protection motives (e.g., attachment anxiety) and specific power motives (e.g., desire for power) predicted greater underestimation bias whereas higher pro-relationship motives (commitment) predicted lower underestimation bias. These results illustrate that self-protection, pro-relationship, and power motives bias perceptions of power, advancing our understanding of why and how these predictors shape power-related behaviors and relationship outcomes.

Past research on collective action focuses on how identification with a marginalized group or with a politicized identity motivates collective action. We propose that egalitarian ideology—a preference for group-based equality and opposition to hierarchy—can help explain why both marginalized and dominant group members can be motivated to engage in system-challenging collective action. In Studies 1A–1C, among Black, Asian, and White Americans, egalitarianism was related to supporting collective action to advocate for racial equality. In Study 2, the egalitarianism–collective action relationship persisted among White participants when it was salient that their group would lose advantages from reducing racial inequality, and even among those relatively higher in White identification. Thus, egalitarianism helps explain why individuals engage in system-challenging collective action, regardless of whether their racial group benefits, and even when their racial group stands to lose.

Across three experimental studies using hypothetical scenarios, we investigated under what circumstances, and to what effect, women and men devalue women’s orgasm. In Studies 1 and 2, women reported their orgasm value in response to a hypothetical scenario that varied their imagined orgasm history and current orgasm frequency with a new partner (low vs. high). In Study 2, orgasm value was compared to a baseline, pre-manipulation measure of orgasm value. In both studies, we found that women devalued orgasm only when they imagined they had a history of infrequent orgasms and were not orgasming with their current partner. When current orgasm frequency was low, women who valued orgasm less (or devalued orgasm) imagined better sexual and relationship outcomes than women who valued orgasm more. Men (Study 3) valued a hypothetical female partner’s orgasm less under the same circumstances and reported similar impacts of women’s orgasm absence on their own and perceived partner’s imagined sexual and relationship outcomes.

Prior research established positive ties between intimate partners’ self-esteem (SE) and support interactions, but evidence on whether intraindividual changes in SE and supportive dyadic coping are associated over time remains scarce. The present study tested prominent theories suggesting a reciprocal prospective relationship between SE, one’s own and partner’s supportive dyadic coping using 14 waves of nationally representative data totaling 13,683 young adults from Germany. We used random intercept cross-lagged panel models for data analysis. Our findings revealed significant reciprocal within-person transactions between SE, one’s own and partner’s dyadic coping over time. We conclude that high SE may boost positive support interactions in intimate relationships. At the same time, giving and receiving positive support in times of stress may strengthen intimate partners’ SE on the long run. Overall, our findings provide robust evidence that people’s support interactions and SE development go hand in hand within the context of intimate partner relationships.

In the past two decades, research on the motivational underpinnings of the Dark Triad has burgeoned. However, it is unclear how each Dark Triad trait may map onto the values circumplex, and whether the research conducted thus far indicates consistent effects. In this multi-level meta-analysis, we examined the relationship between Dark Triad personality traits and personal values. Across 34 studies conducted between 2000 and 2020, Dark Triad traits were positively associated with self-enhancement and openness-to-change value dimensions, and negatively associated with self-transcendence and conservation value dimensions. Shape consistency for the Dark Triad associations was stronger for the self-enhancement versus self-transcendence values tension than for the openness-to-change versus conservation values tension. We concluded that Dark Triad traits showed meaningful patterns of associations with personal values with some differences between the traits. Materials, data, and code are available on: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/4Z27F