Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Next article
Original Article

Variation in Personality States as Predicted by Interpersonal Context

Published Online:August 31, 2018https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000271

Abstract

Abstract. Diary studies of personality have shown that personality is variable, and can help the person deal appropriately with the different interpersonal demands they encounter. This study aims to demonstrate how interpersonal context predicts personality states. Thirty-six participants (9 male, 27 female, Mage = 24.72, SD = 7.11) kept an online diary for one month. The diary recorded measurements of HEXACO personality states, momentary interpersonal factors including current interpersonal role (with friend, family member, partner, as employee/student, alone), and social goal orientation (socializing with others, avoidance of others, asserting yourself, personal/work achievement), and dispositional anxiety and depression. Individuals’ personality states were found to vary considerably across measurements in a normal distribution. Multilevel modelling analyses showed that interpersonal factors did predict within subject personality variation. Social goal orientations had a greater relative impact than interpersonal roles. Depression had a significant effect on between subject variance in state emotionality. These findings highlight the importance of interpersonal context in predicting stable personality variation.

References

  • Andersen, S. M. & Chen, S. (2002). The relational self: An interpersonal social-cognitive theory. Psychological Review, 109, 619–645. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.109.4.619 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Ashton, M. C., Lee, K. & Son, C. (2000). Honesty as the sixth factor of personality: Correlations with machiavellianism, primary psychopathy, and social adroitness. European Journal of Personality, 14, 359–368. https://doi.org/10.1002/1099-0984(200007/08)14:4<359::AID-PER382>3.0.CO;2-Y First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Baird, B. M., Le, K. & Lucas, R. E. (2006). On the nature of intra-individual personality variability: Reliability, validity, and associations with well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 512–527. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.3.512 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Beckmann, N., Wood, R. E. & Minbashian, A. (2010). It depends how you look at it: On the relationship between neuroticism and conscientiousness at the within- and between-person levels of analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 593–601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2010.07.004 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bleidorn, W. (2009). Linking personality states, current social roles and major life goals. European Journal of Personality, 23, 509–530. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.731 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Churchyard, J. S., Pine, K. J., Sharma, S. & Fletcher, B. (C) (2013). Construction by interpersonal context, and relationship to psychological outcomes. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 26, 306–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2013.792301 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Engeser, S. & Langens, T. (2010). Mapping explicit social motives of achievement, power and affiliation onto the five-factor model of personality. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 309–318. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00773.x First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Fleeson, W. (2007). Situation-based contingencies underlying trait-content manifestation in behavior. Journal of Personality, 75, 825–861. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00458.x First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Fleeson, W. & Gallagher, P. (2009). The implications of big five standing for the distribution of trait manifestation in behavior: Fifteen experience-sampling studies and a meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 1097–1114. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016786 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Fletcher, B. (C)., Hanson, J., Page, N. & Pine, K. J. (2011). FIT – do something different: A new psychological intervention tool for facilitating weight loss. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 70, 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1024/1421-0185/a000035 First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Fletcher, B. (C). & Stead, B. (2000). (Inner) FITness & the FIT Corporation. International Thomson Press: London, UK. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Heller, D., Komar, J. & Lee, W. B. (2007). The dynamics of personality states, goals, and well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 898–910. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207301010 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Heller, D., Perunovic, W. Q. E. & Reichman, D. (2009). The future of person-situation integration in the interface between traits and goals: A bottom-up framework. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2008.12.011 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. Jr. (1996). Toward a new generation of personality theories: Theoretical contexts for the five-factor model. In J. S. WigginsEd., The five-factor model of personality: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 51–87). New York, NY: Guilford Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Mischel, W. & Shoda, Y. (1995). A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychological Review, 102, 246–268. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.2.246 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Rasbash, J., Charlton, C., Browne, W.J., Healy, M. & Cameron, B. (2009). MLwiN (Version 2.1). Bristol, UK: Centre for Multilevel Modelling, University of Bristol. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Robinson, O. C. (2009). On the Social malleability of traits variability and consistency in Big 5 Trait expression across three interpersonal contexts. Journal of Individual Differences, 30, 201–208. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001.30.4.201 First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Sharma, S. (2010). FIT science for improving family functioning and parenting stress (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Snijders, T. A. B. & Bosker, R. J. (1999). Multi-level analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multi-level modelling. London, UK: Sage. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar