Your personality on a good day: How trait and state personality predict daily well-being

Howell, Ryan T.; Ksendzova, Masha; Nestingen, Eric; Yerahian, Claudio; Iyer, Ravi

doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2016.08.001

Cited by 46 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…However, by focusing on states, we examined the complementary question of why the affective and behavioral components of extraversion cohere. This approach is in line with the emerging focus in personality research on the dynamic links among various affective, behavioral, and cognitive states (e.g., Howell et al, 2016;Smillie, Wilt, et al, 2015;Wilt et al, 2016). From this perspective, our results suggest that social cognitions-specifically, perceptions of social contribution-may help to bind the affective and behavioral components of extraversion.…”

Section: Strengths Limitations and Implicationssupporting

confidence: 85%

The pleasure of making a difference: Perceived social contribution explains the relation between extraverted behavior and positive affect.

Sun¹,

Stevenson²,

Kabbani³

et al. 2017

Emotion

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In all three studies, multiple-mediator models showed that social contribution, but not power, independently mediated the relations that trait and state extraversion had with positive affect. This suggests that perceptions of positive influence-more so than a general sense of power-help to explain why extraverts and extraverted moments are happier. We link these findings to emerging trends in the study of personality dynamics and the potential benefits of acting "out of character". Extraversion is one of five basic trait domains that describe the structure of personality (John, Naumann, & Soto, 2008), and can be defined as the tendency to be talkative, assertive, and sociable at the high end of the continuum, and quiet, passive, and reserved at the opposite ("introverted") end. The tendency for extraverts to experience higher levels of positive affect (PA) is often described as one of the most robust findings in personality psychology (Lucas & Fujita, 2000;Smillie, DeYoung, & Hall, 2015;Steel, Schmidt, & Shultz, 2008), and holds across several cultures (Lucas, Diener, Grob, Suh, & Shao, 2000). This relation is strongest when PA is defined, in line with Watson and Tellegen's (1985) factor model of affect, as the combination of pleasant valence and high activation (e.g., lively, excited; see Smillie, DeYoung, & Hall, 2015). Therefore, extraverts tend to be "happier"-a term we use as short-hand-in the sense that they experience higher levels of PA.The extraversion-PA relation also holds at the state level: individuals feel happier in the moments in which they behave in a more talkative and sociable way. Several experimental studies have provided causal evidence that participants who are instructed to act extraverted (e.g., talkative, bold, assertive) report higher levels of PA than those instructed to act introverted (e.g., quiet, passive, reserved) during interactive activities in the lab (Gallagher, Fleeson, & Hoyle, 2011;McNiel & Fleeson, 2006;McNiel, Lowman, & Fleeson, 2010;Smillie, Wilt, Kabbani, Garratt, & Revelle, 2015;Zelenski et al., 2013;Zelenski, Santoro, & Whelan, 2012) (Keyes, 1998) explained 32% of the relation between trait extraversion and PA. Of the five subscales, social contribution (believing that one has something valuable to give, and does give, to society) was the strongest mediator, independently explaining 29% of the trait extraversion-PA relation. To bolster this correlational study with experimental evidence, Smillie, Wilt, and colleagues (Study 2) then investigated whether state measures of social well-being and social contribution mediated the relation between enacted extraversion and increased PA. As a state measure of social contribution, participants reported the percentage to which they "contributed to the discussion tasks", relative to the other two participants. Mirroring the trait-level findings, single-mediator models showed that social well-being and social contribution both helped to explain the effect of acting extraverted on PA. However, social contribution again emerged as ...

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Section: Strengths Limitations and Implicationssupporting

confidence: 85%

The pleasure of making a difference: Perceived social contribution explains the relation between extraverted behavior and positive affect.

Sun¹,

Stevenson²,

Kabbani³

et al. 2017

Emotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The main purpose of this study was to test an integrative theoretical model of the association between personality traits and trait affect that combined the dynamic mediation hypothesis (Wilt et al, 2012) and the social participation hypothesis (e.g., Srivastava et al, 2008). The dynamic mediation hypothesis has so far been compellingly supported for extraversion (Wilt et al, 2012) and partly supported for agreeableness, openness and emotional stability (Ching et al, 2014;Howell et al, 2017). Our data corroborate these findings and add evidence for a dynamic mediation regarding conscientiousness.…”

Section: The Extended Dynamic Mediation Modelsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…We propose that these models should apply not only to extraversion but also to other personality traits. Indeed, the dynamic mediation hypothesis has recently been shown to at least partially apply to agreeableness, openness and neuroticism (Ching et al, 2014;Howell, Ksendzova, Nestingen, Yerahian, & Iyer, 2017). We also propose that these modelsparticularly when including other personality traits -should not only apply to social situations but also to other types or aspects of situations.…”

Section: Existing Models Of the Personality-affect Relationmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…The density distributions approach proposes that personality traits can be thought of as density distributions of personality states and are, for example, related to the mean of these distribution (Fleeson, 2001). Indeed, a meta-analysis of 15 experience sampling studies (Fleeson & Gallagher, 2009) as well as tests of the dynamic mediation hypothesis (Ching et al, 2014;Howell et al, 2017;Wilt et al, 2012) found personality traits to be strongly associated with mean levels of their respective personality states.…”

Section: The Extended Dynamic Mediation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are several proposed mechanisms linking personality states to affective experiences: Personality states may serve to reach a goal (Wilt, Bleidorn, & Revelle, 2017), fulfill psychological needs (Howell et al, 2017), or decrease effort (Gallagher, Fleeson, & Hoyle, 2011), each of which would in turn be related to affect. Indeed, a compelling body of evidence has linked all Big Five personality states to more positive or less negative affective experiences (e.g., Ching et al, 2014;Fleeson et al, 2002;Howell et al, 2017;McNiel & Fleeson, 2006;Wilt et al, 2012), although research exploring mechanisms of this relation is rare. However, our model also does not distinguish among these mechanisms but is merely concerned with the relation between personality states and state affect.…”

Section: The Extended Dynamic Mediation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Inside the happy personality: Personality states, situation experience, and state affect mediate the relation between personality and affect

Kritzler

Krasko

Luhmann

2020

Journal of Research in Personality

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Personality traits are strongly related to affect, but the mechanisms accounting for this association remain mostly unclear. We test a new theoretical model that proposes that personality states, situation characteristics, and affective states mediate the relation between personality traits and trait affect. Data from an experience sampling study (N=206; 4,381 observations) indicate that personality traits are associated with personality states and experienced situation characteristics, personality states and experienced situation characteristics are associated with state affect, state affect is associated with trait affect, and that these variables indeed mediate the relation between personality traits and trait affect. These results emphasize the importance of daily experiences for trait-level variables and call for further research on the interplay between personality, behavior, situations, and affect.

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The Use of Intensive Longitudinal Methods in Explanatory Personality Research

et al. 2018

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Intensive longitudinal methods (ILMs), in which data are gathered from participants multiple times with short intervals (typically 24 hours or less apart), have gained considerable ground in personality research and may be useful in exploring causality in both classic personality trait models and more novel contextualized personality state models. We briefly review the various terms and uses of ILMs in various fields of psychology and present five main strategies that can help researchers infer causality in ILM studies. We discuss the use of temporal precedence to establish causality, through both lagged analyses and natural experiments; the use of external measures and peer reports to go beyond self‐report data; delving deeper into repeated measures to derive new indices; the use of contextual factors occurring during the measurement period; and combining experimental methods and ILMs. These strategies are illustrated by examples from existing research and by new empirical findings from two dyadic daily diary studies (N = 80 and N = 108 couples) and an experience sampling method study of personality states (N = 52). We conclude by offering a short checklist for designing ILM studies with causality in mind and look at the applicability of these strategies in the intersection of personality psychology and other psychological research domains. Copyright © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology

show abstract

Your personality on a good day: How trait and state personality predict daily well-being

Cited by 46 publications

References 70 publications

The pleasure of making a difference: Perceived social contribution explains the relation between extraverted behavior and positive affect.

The pleasure of making a difference: Perceived social contribution explains the relation between extraverted behavior and positive affect.

Inside the happy personality: Personality states, situation experience, and state affect mediate the relation between personality and affect

The Use of Intensive Longitudinal Methods in Explanatory Personality Research

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