ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has had immense impact on people's lives, potentially leading individuals to reevaluate what they prioritize in life (i.e., their values). We report longitudinal data from Australians 3 years prior to the pandemic, at pandemic onset (April 2020, N = 2,321), and in November-December 2020 (n = 1,442). While all higher order values were stable prior to the pandemic, conservation values, emphasizing order and stability, became more important during the pandemic. In contrast, openness to change values, emphasizing self-direction and stimulation, showed a decrease during the pandemic, which was reversed in late 2020. Self-transcendence values, emphasizing care for close others, society, and nature, decreased by late 2020. These changes were amplified among individuals worrying about the pandemic. The results support psychological theory of values as usually stable, but also an adaptive system that responds to significant changes in environmental conditions. They also test a new mechanism for value change, worry. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
As COVID-19 continues to incur enormous personal and societal costs, widespread vaccination against the virus remains the most effective strategy to end the pandemic. However, vaccine hesitancy is rampant and has been steadily rising for decades. Seeking to remedy this, personality psychologists have begun to explore psychological drivers of vaccine hesitancy, including the Big Five. Openness to Experience presents itself as a vexing case as previous attempts to study its association with vaccine hesitancy have yielded mixed findings. In this preregistered study, we hypothesise that the impact of Openness to Experience on Vaccine Hesitancy depends on its interplay with other factors, namely conspiracy beliefs. To test this, we apply logistic regressions, simple slopes analyses, and propensity score matching to a nationally representative sample of 2500 Italian citizens, collected in May 2021. Contrary to our original hypothesis (i.e., Openness will have a positive association with Vaccine Hesitancy at high - and a negative at low - levels of Conspiracy Beliefs) we find that high Openness diminishes the impact of Belief in Conspiracy Theories on Vaccine Hesitancy. Consistent with previous research, we propose that Openness serves as a buffer against extreme positions by allowing individuals to be exposed to a greater diversity of information.
ABSTRACT
In the context of COVID-19 virus containment, there is a lack of acceptance of preventive measures in the population. The present work investigated which factors influence the belief in scientific propositions compared with belief in conspiracy theories. The focus here was on the determinants of conspiracy beliefs in the context of COVID-19 related media content. Using an online questionnaire (N = 175), results indicate that scientific compared to conspiracy-theoretical media content led to higher acceptance. Furthermore, need for cognition (NFC-K), a conspiracy-theoretical worldview (CMQ), and openness to experience (NEO-FFI) were positively associated with conspiracy beliefs derived from Facebook postings. In addition, a conspiracy-theoretical worldview was negatively associated with belief in scientific media content. Furthermore, agreeableness was unrelated to conspiracy beliefs, although it was positively associated with conspiracy-theoretical worldview. The results imply promising persuasion strategies for reducing conspiracy-theoretical beliefs and to increase the acceptance of preventive measures.
ABSTRACT
Purpose - This longitudinal study aims at assessing the impact of openness to experience and neuroticism on affective states experienced by the academics from the Malaysian public universities during the first strict COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Design/methodology/approach - The author collected data for openness to experience and neuroticism at the beginning of the lockdown, and for positive and negative affect, when the lockdown ended. The author used the efficient partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLSe2-SEM) methodology to fit the model to the screened data (N = 291). Findings - The results showed that openness to experience had a negative effect on negative affect and a positive effect on positive affect. The author also observed that neuroticism had a positive effect on negative affect and a negative effect on positive affect. These findings provided support for the proposition of the impact of personality traits on affective states amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in academic settings. Practical implications - The study shows that careful assessment of lecturers' personality traits should be considered during the process of selection and recruitment since these factors, theoretically and empirically, trigger affective states which, in turn, lead to behaviors and attitudes. Originality/value - This is the first study on examining the impact of academics' personality traits on their affective states. Also, it is amongst the few longitudinal studies on evaluating personality traits during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a methodological novelty, the author used the PLSe2 methodology to test the model and compared the results with maximum likelihood (ML) results.
ABSTRACT
A disruptive digitalization recently occurred that led to the fast adoption of virtual teams. However, membership diversity and team virtuality threaten members’ well-being, especially if faultlines appear (i.e., subgroups). Considering the job demands–resources model and the role of group affect in shaping members’ perceptions of well-being, we test the effectiveness of a short-term affect management training for increasing members’ eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, based on the trait activation theory and the contingent configuration approach, we draw on the personality composition literature to test how different openness to experience configurations of team level and diversity together moderate the effect of the training. Hypotheses were tested using a pre–post design in an online randomized controlled trial in an educational context in Spain, with a sample of 52 virtual teams with faultlines. Results show that affect management training increased eudaimonic well-being. Furthermore, there was a moderation effect (three-way interaction) of openness to experience configurations, so that the training was more effective in teams with high levels and low diversity in openness to experience. We discuss implications for training, well-being, and personality composition literature. This study helps organizations develop sustainable virtual teams with engaged members through affect management training and selection processes based on the openness to experience trait.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our lives with individuals experiencing a wide range of emotions. While much attention has been placed on promoting physical health to control the coronavirus, far less attention has been placed on promoting mental health and well-being. There are well-known reports of individuals gravitating toward the arts during times of extreme stress: art is made in prisons;novels are written secretly in police states. In this study we examined whether individuals turned to the arts to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, how everyday artistic activities helped them regulate their emotions, and whether certain personality traits predicted the use of these strategies. We administered a survey to 486 participants (M-age = 35.7;SDage = 12.3;Range(age) = 18 to 79), asking them about the frequency of artistic activities they engaged in, the artistic activity they felt was the most helpful for coping with the pandemic, and how they used that activity to regulate their emotions. Four findings emerged: (a) participants reported engaging in artistic activities more often during than before the pandemic;(b) listening to music was the most helpful activity, followed by reading, and then the visual arts;(c) artistic activities regulated emotions most commonly by providing a means of escape;and (d) the personality trait of openness to experience predicted use of the approach and self-development emotion regulation strategies. These findings demonstrate that we gravitated toward the arts during the COVID-19 pandemic and that we did so because these activities provided a form of escape.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant influence on the lives of people around the world and could be a risk factor for mental health diseases. This study aimed to explore the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by identifying patterns related to post-traumatic symptoms by considering personality and defensive styles. Specifically, it was hypothesized that neuroticism was negatively associated with impact of event, as opposed to extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness traits. The mediation role of mature, neurotic, and immature defenses in these relationships was also investigated. This study involved 557 Italian individuals (71.3% women, 28.7% men;Mage = 34.65, SD = 12.05), who completed an online survey including the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Forty Item Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40) and Ten Item Personality Inventory. Results showed a nonsignificant effect for extraversion and openness on impact of event. The negative influence of neuroticism was instead confirmed in a partial parallel mediation involving significant effects from immature and neurotic defenses in the indirect path. Finally, agreeableness and conscientiousness delineated two protective pathways regarding impact of event, determining two total parallel mediation models in which both these personality traits were negatively associated with immature defensive styles, and conscientiousness was also positively related to mature defenses. These findings provide an exploration post-traumatic symptom patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, involving the big five personality traits and defense mechanisms. These results may be useful for developing interventions, treatments, and prevention activities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Recent studies have examined the association between personality and job performance; however, this relationship remains to be elucidated within the context of COVID-19 fear and intention to quit. Therefore, we aimed to develop a structural equation model (SEM) by exploring the effects of personality on job performance through COVID-19 fear and intention to quit. Accordingly, 447 employees participated in the study and completed the Job Performance Scale, the Scale of Intention to Quit, the COVID-19 Fear scale, and the Big Five Inventory. It was revealed that extroversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism predicted job performance via COVID-19 fear, as well as intention to quit.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Work Performance , Fear , Humans , Intention , Personality , SARS-CoV-2 , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
COVID-19 has caused a devastating impact on public health and made the development of the COVID-19 vaccination a top priority. Herd immunity through vaccination requires a sufficient number of the population to be vaccinated. Research on factors that promote intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination is warranted. Based on Diffusion of Innovations Theory, this study examines the association between the perceived efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccination, use of social media for COVID-19 vaccine-related information, openness to experience and descriptive norm with the intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, and the moderating role of openness to experience among 6922 university students in mainland China. The intention to receive the free and self-paid COVID-19 vaccination is 78.9% and 60.2%, respectively. Results from path analyses show that perceived efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccination, use of social media for COVID-19 vaccine-related information, and openness to experience and descriptive norm are all positively associated with the intention to receive COVID-19 free and self-paid vaccination. The association between the perceived efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccination and descriptive norm with the intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination is stronger among those with a lower level of openness to experience. Our findings support the usefulness of Diffusion of Innovations Theory and the moderating role of openness of experience in explaining intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.