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Do people use different emotion regulation strategies in different social contexts? To answer this question, we compared typical emotion regulation use with emotion regulation use at a temporary annual art festival (Burning Man). We assessed two common emotion regulation strategies: expressive suppression (linked to generally negative outcomes) and cognitive reappraisal (linked to generally positive outcomes). Compared to typical emotion regulation use at home, at Burning Man participants reported decreased suppression use and increased reappraisal use. We consider implications for understanding contextual variation in emotion regulation and discuss the properties of the Burning Man context that may facilitate this more adaptive emotion regulation profile.

When interest in self-esteem exploded in the 1980s, many longitudinal studies were already under way and thus did not administer self-esteem measures. Consequently, not much is known about the developmental course of self-esteem during adulthood. In order to facilitate life-span research using existing longitudinal studies, a new self-esteem scale (CPI-SE) was derived from the California Psychological Inventory. Study 1 documented the internal consistency and test – retest reliability of the CPI-SE, as well as its convergent validity by comparing it to three commonly used measures of self-esteem. Study 2 examined the nomological network of the CPI-SE by relating it to interviewer ratings of self-esteem, affect, coping style, social skills, intelligence, and physical attractiveness, obtained with the California Adult Q-Set. Together, these two studies provide evidence for the construct validity of the CPI-SE.

Although theorists have proposed the existence of multiple distinct varieties of positive emotion, dispositional positive affect is typically treated as a unidimensional variable in personality research. We present data elaborating conceptual and empirical differences among seven positive emotion dispositions in their relationships with two core personality constructs, the “Big Five” and adult attachment style. We found that the positive emotion dispositions were differentially associated with self- and peer-rated Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Neuroticism. We also found that different adult attachment styles were associated with different kinds of emotional rewards. Findings support the theoretical utility of differentiating among several dispositional positive emotion constructs in personality research.

Using two samples, we developed and validated a hostility scale that can be scored from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and serves as an alternate for the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (Ho; CookMedley, 1954). The CPI Hostility (H) scale consists of 33 items that are either duplicates or close equivalents of specific Ho items, and the two scales correlate at least .90 in samples differing in sex. The H and Ho scales show a similar pattern of correlations with conceptually relevant MMPI scales and with observer-rated personality attributes tapping Barefoot, Peterson, et al.'s (1991) five hostility categories of Hostile Affect, Cynicism, Aggressive Responding, Social Avoidance, and Hostile Attributions. These findings provide evidence for the equivalence of the two hostility scales, as well as external validation for those personality characteristics that are purported to underlie the construct of hostility as tapped by both the original Ho scale and the new CPI H scale.

It is not uncommon for psychologists to grumble about the disarray in their field. Once in a while, we hear our colleagues muttering something like, "What we really need to do is clean up the field and systematize the findings-someone should do all the basic studies using a common design and put it all together to establish some clear facts about what's going on." Rarely does any one researcher devote that kind of sustained attention to a set of basic problems. Yet, this is exactly what David Kenny has done for the area of social perception. In his recent book, Interpersonal Perception: A Social Relations Analysis, he summarizes more than 40 studies that he and his collaborators have conducted over the past 15 years. Kenny's book is testimony to the excitement and vibrancy that once again pervade research on how people perceive themselves and others. Interpersonal Perception is a milestone in the field, and we believe it will have a lasting impact. The book is essentially a manifesto for research on interpersonal perception, simultaneously accomplishing three broad goals. First, it provides researchers with powerful new conceptual and methodological tools to explore both new and long-standing questions about interpersonal perception. Second, it establishes a set of basic findings, providing a knowledge base upon which the field can build. Third, it specifies a set of basic questions researchers should explore and thus defines an agenda for the future. In this review, we first describe the research tools Kenny offers the field and then discuss some of the major themes of the book, identifying possible directions for future research to expand the agenda set forth by Kenny.

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