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An investigation into: 1) Whether laypeople have consistent expectations about how the Covid pandemic has lead to observable changes in personality traits (nuances operationalized as 257 personality items); 2) How these expectations are correlated with self-reports-based changes in the personality nuances (the same 257 items; that is, whether the stereotypic expectations are accurate); 3) Whether the nuances that primarily reflect behavioural, affective, cognitive or motivational content have changed the most in self-reports (that is, in which of these domains has personality changed the most in relation to the pandemic).

Certain psychological predispositions of men and women could explain the large sex segregation of the labor market. This study explores whether personality sex differences are mirrored by personality differences across occupational fields (e.g.- STEM vs. Non-STEM). Hence, this study aims to answers the research question: Do personality differences across occupational fields mirror personality sex differences?

This is my PhD project. It's composed of three Experience Sampling Methodology studies looking into the relationships between depressive symptoms and various variables including demographics, circadian rhythm, personality, activity level, heart rate variability, and the symptoms themselves. Due to the large file size, the activity level and heart rate variability data were not uploaded here.

Background: This study aimed to examine the relationship between the timing of physical activity and within-individual differences in depressive symptoms, positive affect, and negative affect in individuals with different baseline levels of depressive symptoms.Methods: Experience sampling methodology (ESM) was used to measure real-time depressive symptoms, positive affect, and negative affect in a convenience sample of 78 healthy adults (aged M = 25.46 years, SD = 6.18; 57 females) five times per day for 14 days. We measured physical activity throughout the 14 days by using activity sensors. Baseline levels of depressive symptoms were assessed with the PHQ-9 to build subgroups with low vs. mild-moderate depressive symptoms.Results: Physical activity predicted decreased depressive symptom levels, negative affect, and increased positive affect. Associations were stronger for individuals with higher baseline levels of depressive symptoms and for physical activity between 0 and 30 min compared to physical activity between 30 and 180 min before the mood rating. Conversely, levels of depressive symptoms, positive and negative affect did not predict physical activity.Limitations: The convenience sample may not have been representative of the general population or people with depression. Accelerometers may not have detected some types of physical activities such as bicycling. Causality could not be inferred because of the observational study design.Conclusion: Individuals with higher levels of depressive symptoms may benefit from physical activity. While the effects were strongest for physical activity immediately before the mood ratings, the effects were in the same direction for up to 3 h before the mood ratings.

For the past 30 years, researchers have come to an agreement on personality traits developing throughout the lifespan, especially in early adulthood between 20 and 60 but even into old age (Roberts & Mroczeak, 2007). While there are individual differences, mean level changes of personality traits show a positive trend. This means people become more dominant, confident, warm, responsible, and calm, on average. They often become more planful, productive and involved contributors to society, something that some have described as social maturation (Roberts & Woods, 2006, Caspi et al. 2005). However, firstly, most of the research has looked at mean level change in personality traits on a domain level the Five-Factor Model/ Big Five, which bundles traits into Agreeableness, Consciousness, Neurotism/ Negative Emotion, Openness to Experience and Extraversion. However, age differences are better predicted by more specific traits such as facets and nuances (Mõttus et al, 2020), showing that not all facets and items of one domain develop in the same direction, sometimes even towards opposite ends (Schwaba et al.2022, Bleidorn et al., 2009; Costello et al., 2017; Klimstra et al., 2018; Soto & John, 2012; Terracciano et al., 2005). However, there has been very little research looking at these more specific changes in personality traits. Secondly, the maturation principle of average trait changes is widely accepted but rarely formally tested (Schwaba et al 2022). Therefore, this study will use a list of 198 items which have been selected from the IPIP item pool by Mõttus & Henry. These items have been tested for reliability and consensual validity, and have been argued to be a useful inventory for nuances. After a definition of personality maturity has been derived based on the opinions of the experts in the field of personality development, these 198 items will be rated by a lay audience according to the definition in terms of how much they reflect personality maturity. In the next step, items' average maturity ratings will be compared to their correlations with age obtained in different data, expecting a positive correlation so that items rated as reflecting higher maturity show a positive correlation with age, items rated low on maturity show a negative correlation with age, and items rated neither low nor high in maturity show no age differences. Lastly, Ausmees et al. (2022) found that social desirability plays a significant role in self-ratings. Traits that seem socially desirable and age differences in them were often amplified in self-ratings when comparing them to informants' ratings. As maturity may be argued to be confounded with social desirability, we will test if the correlation between traits' age differences and maturation ratings remains significant, controlling for items' social desirability as rated by a separate sample. This is arguably even more interesting as this study will only use self-reported data. As we have got social desirability ratings of the items available already available, this will data will be compared to the data collected in terms of maturity.

We replicated a meta-analysis showing that individual NEO-PI-R items – and their residuals after controlling for higher-order facets and domains – demonstrate sine qua non empirical properties of personality traits, hence representing personality nuances. Using the HEXACO-PI-R, we meta-analysed single-item cross-rater agreement, heritability, rank-order stability, and associations with age and sex in six countries (N = 9, 226), also correcting the estimates for short-term test-retest reliability. Median cross-rater agreement, heritability, and stability were, respectively, 0.30, 0.30, and 0.57 for raw item scores and 0.10 and 0.16, and 0.43 for their residuals ; these estimates increased to levels similar to domains after correction for measurement error. Moreover, 63% and 72% of raw items and 39% and 50% of their residuals, respectively, were significantly associated with age and sex. These findings were strikingly similar to those found in the previous meta-analysis, and provide further evidence that items index a unique level of the personality hierarchy.

Using a very large population sample, we aim to explore the relations between self- and informant-reported Big Five personality domains, their facets and nuances on the one hand and vaccination status in objective medical records on the other hand. We believe that identifying the specific personality traits linked with non-vaccination can reveal common person-level obstacles to vaccination and inform efforts to address these in the current and future vaccination efforts (e.g., how vaccination is made available and communicated to the public). Beyond describing the links between personality traits and vaccination status, we aim to assess whether or how strongly vaccination can be predicted from past measurements of personality traits.

Supporting info item, per2189-sup-0001-Supplementary materials for Unravelling the Interplay between Genetic and Environmental Contributions in the Unfolding of Personality Differences from Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood by Kandler Christian, Waaktaar Trine, Mõttus René, Riemann Rainer, Torgersen Svenn and Wrzus Cornelia in European Journal of Personality

Data S3 Supporting Information, per2248-sup-0003 for Traits and Adaptations: A Theoretical Examination and New Empirical Evidence by Henry Samuel and Mõttus René in European Journal of Personality

Supporting Information, PER2248_Open_Practices_Disclosure_Form for Traits and Adaptations: A Theoretical Examination and New Empirical Evidence by Henry Samuel and Mõttus René in European Journal of Personality

Supporting info item, per2189-sup-0002-SI for Unravelling the Interplay between Genetic and Environmental Contributions in the Unfolding of Personality Differences from Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood by Kandler Christian, Waaktaar Trine, Mõttus René, Riemann Rainer, Torgersen Svenn and Wrzus Cornelia in European Journal of Personality