Do children think DNA predictors of learning and behaviour differences would be helpful or harmful?

Diana Fields (University of York) Twitter: @Deedef68

Primary school children in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, age 4), Year 2 (age 7) and Year 5 (age 10) (n = 165), based in northern England, were asked for their perspectives on whether DNA predictors of learning and behaviour differences (if they ever became available) would be helpful or harmful. This research represents an attempt to foresee possible psychological, practical and social consequences of using DNA data in education and of children subsequently being identified as ‘at risk of’ ‘disorders’ or ‘special needs’ – from the points of view of children themselves. Children answered four open-ended questions in response to a vignette in which they considered a scenario in which two grown up characters - ungendered shape-based puppets called Zig (learning differences) or Zag (behaviour differences) had a baby shape called Zeggy. The children were asked whether Zig or Zag should have baby Zeggy’s DNA screened to find out if they were likely to struggle with learning or behaviour when they were older. A content analysis of children’s qualitative responses to four questions about intergenerational transmission of learning and behaviour difficulties derived six categories in answer to the question: Do children think it is important to predict learning and behaviour problems and do they think genetic screening has a role to play in this? The six categories were: 1. ‘Worried about being – and being seen as – different’; 2. ‘Beliefs about the origins of learning and behaviour’; 3.‘Testing is harmful’; 4. ‘Testing could help’; 5. ‘How soon is too soon for testing?’; and 6. ‘What’s the point?’. This research makes the case that it is important to listen to children’s views when planning the future use of DNA data. These findings show that even very young children (the youngest participants were just four years old) are capable of contributing to public debate in this area. Listening to and acting upon children’s perspectives could lead to research ‘with’ children as opposed to ‘on’ them (Dockett & Perry, 2011, p. 231). Both of these problems can be addressed by high quality education that is accessible from the first days of primary school.

Age Differences in the Big Five Personality Domains, Facets and Nuances: A Replication across the life span

Yuzhan Hang (The University of Edinburgh).

This replication and extension of Mõttus and Rozgonjuk’s (2019) study

tested the extent of age-related information captured by different levels of

the personality trait hierarchy (the Big Five domains, 30 facets, and

nuances) in several samples with different age ranges and cultural

backgrounds, and tested with different instruments. Participants were

drawn from five different samples (n= 51,524, age 14-50) across different

cultural contexts (e.g. the United States, Germany and Estonia) with both

self-reports and informant-reports. Different frameworks used for

operationalizing personality traits included Revised NEO Personality

Inventory (NEO-PI-R), Estonian Personality Item Pool (EE.PIP-NEO), Big

Five Inventory–2 (BFI-2), HEXACO and the common-language California

Child Q-Set (CCQ). Key results were: (a) lower levels of the personality

hierarchy (facets and especially nuances) contained substantially more

age-sensitive information than higher levels, and (b) residualizing items for

all facets had little impact on how much age-sensitive information they

contained, suggesting that the information was captured better by items’

unique variance (nuances) than by their shared variance that represents

broader traits. Lower-level traits contain “free” information that is often

discarded when specific personality nuances and facets are aggregated

into broad traits. This information allows testing novel hypotheses that rely

on systematic between-trait variance in age differences. The findings also

suggest that mechanisms of personality development may be highly

heterogeneous

What Does it Mean to be an Adult? Five Psychological Domains of Being Grown-Up

Megan Wright (University of York) Twitter: @meganwright027

A great proportion of psychological insights stem from studies that tested young

adults as participants, yet we currently have no comprehensive conceptualisation of

what it means to be an adult. Previous theories of the psychology of adulthood

centre around sociodemographic circumstances and do not adequately describe

the rich and multifaceted nature of the psychology of adulthood. First, psychological

adulthood includes more than sociodemographic characteristics: while adults are

influenced by their social roles, they maintain distinct independent identities.

Accordingly, psychological characteristics are often considered more important

than sociodemographic factors when defining adulthood. Second,

sociodemographic norms have shifted: the frequency of, desire for, and age at

which people enter into what are traditionally thought of as the functional domains

of adulthood – a stable career, marriage, and parenthood – have become greatly

diversified over the past century. It follows that theories based on outdated and

narrow sociodemographic norms fail to fully conceptualise the psychology of

adulthood today.

We propose a new conceptualisation of adulthood that focuses the ages 30-45

years, following emerging adulthood and preceding midlife, and evolves from the

psychological domains that take on distinct meaning during this life phase.

We identified five psychological domains of adulthood through scoping reviews of

the literature on adult development, stage models, personality development, and

lifespan research: (1) eudaimonia – adults know and accept themselves to a

greater extent compared to previous life phases; (2) sociality – quality outweighs

quantity of social connections; (3) good judgement – adults tend to demonstrate

problem finding over problem solving; (4) self-regulation – adults tend to have

greater independence, autonomy, and control compared to previous life phases;

and (5) sense of aging – adults develop a subjective sense of time and physical

decline. All domains have substantive foundations in the existing literature but have

not been previously brought together to conceptualise the psychology of adulthood.

Our taxonomy forms an auspicious starting point for conducting empirical research

that elucidates our understanding of the psychology of adulthood.

Predicting Educational and Social-Emotional Outcomes in Emerging Adulthood from Adolescent Intelligence, Personality and Socio- Economic Status

Zainab Haider (University of York) Twitter: @HungryMindLab

Background: Emerging adulthood describes the extended transition from adolescence to young adulthood in Western populations (Arnett, 2000), with the educational and social-emotional outcomes being the cornerstones that mark a successful transition. Using data from the longitudinal and UK-representative Twins Early Development Study (N= 2,285 unrelated individuals), we tested here a) the relative influence of adolescent intelligence, personality and family SES on a comprehensive range of educational and social-emotional outcomes in emerging adulthood, and b) if personality and intelligence mediated the influence of family SES. Measures: Intelligence (Ravens & Mill Hill Vocabulary) and personality (Big Five; Curiosity; Ambition; Grit) were assessed at age 16. Three assessments of educational attainment (i.e., highest qualification; university ranking; degree classification) and sixteen social-emotional outcomes (including wellbeing, self- control and behavioural problems) were assessed at age 22. Family SES (i.e., parents’ education and occupation) was assessed at age 18 months. Key Findings: Together, intelligence, personality and SES explained between 1.4% - 20.3% of the variance in each emerging adulthood outcome. Intelligence (9.1%) and SES (12%) were significant predictors of educational attainment (highest qualification) but had weaker or negligible effects for other outcomes (IQ - 0% - 2.7%; SES – 0% - 1.7%). Personality traits, especially neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and grit, were the strongest predictor of social-emotional outcomes, explaining between 0.9% - 17.7% of the variance. Intelligence but not personality traits partially mediated the influence of family SES on educational attainment, accounting for 20% of this association. Intelligence also partially mediated the influence of SES on 3 social-emotional outcomes: aggression (33.61%), behaviour problems (28.57%) and volunteering (33.5%) although the overall effect sizes were very small. We found no mediation of the SES effects for the other educational and social-emotional outcomes by intelligence or personality.

Conclusions: Our results show that (a) adolescent intelligence and personality traits are significant predictors of educational attainment and social-emotional outcomes, (b) these effects are domain-specific, (c) family SES has little influence on social-emotional adjustment in emerging adulthood, but (d) it plays a key role in educational attainment, with effects partly mediated by intelligence.

Perfectionism, mattering, depressive symptoms, and suicide ideation: A test of the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model.

Marianne Etherson (York St John University) Twitter: @MazEtherson

The Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM) is a theory-driven model purporting to explain relationships between perfectionism, depressive symptoms, and suicide ideation.

While suicide ideation is a key part of the PSDM, it has largely been excluded in existing research. In addition, though theory and research suggest anti-mattering may be an important marker of social disconnection in the PSDM, to date, no research has examined anti-mattering as a mediator within the PSDM. Furthermore, most research on the PSDM is cross-sectional and of the longitudinal research which does exist, most studies typically employ only two-waves of data. The present study addresses all of these limitations by conducting a three-wave longitudinal study examining suicide ideation as an outcome alongside depressive symptoms and anti-mattering as a mediator alongside anti-mattering in the PSDM. A sample of university students and community adults completed measures of perfectionism, mattering, anti-mattering, depressive symptoms, and suicidality on three occasions separated by three weeks. Findings revealed that socially prescribed perfectionism confers vulnerability to depressive symptoms via feelings of anti-mattering in the university sample only. Given this comprehensive test of the PSDM, we advocate for the inclusion of feelings of not mattering in the PSDM. We also advocate for the use of longitudinal designs in future tests of the PSDM.

Staying Home is Not Safe: An investigation of the Attachment - Moderated Links between Stress and Intimate Partner Violence in the Time of COVID-19

Limor Gottlieb (Brunel University London). Twitter: @thatgirlevolved

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health concern, with increasing rates of IPV being seen around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous research has linked the perpetration of IPV and other forms of sexual violence to aspects of romantic attachment, with anxious/preoccupied attachment styles most often linked to higher rates of IPV. In the present study, we investigated whether event-related anxiety and depression during times of COVID-related stress predict increased IPV perpetration and whether this relationship was moderated by attachment style. Given that anxiety should function to increase activity preceding a stressful event, whereas depression should function to decrease activity following a stressful event, it was expected that higher COVID-related PTSD would activate IPV perpetration and that higher COVID-related depression would deactivate IPV and that these relationships would be moderated by insecure attachment. Our findings indicated that higher COVID-related PTSD was significantly associated with increased IPV perpetration only in securely attached individuals, whereas depression was significantly linked with decreased IPV perpetration only in securely attached individuals. Insecurely attached individuals displayed different patterns. Our findings are discussed within evolutionary frameworks of attachment and the adaptive functions of anxiety and depression.

The latent structure of negative symptoms in the general population in adolescence and early adulthood and associations with genome- wide polygenic scores for major depressive disorder and schizophrenia

Laura Havers (Birkbeck, University of London), Alastair Cardno (University of Leeds), Daniel Freeman (University of Oxford), Angelica Ronald (Birkbeck, University of London) Twitter: @HaversLaura

Negative symptoms predict adverse outcomes within psychotic disorders, in individuals at high-risk for psychosis, and in young people in the community. This group of symptoms includes deficits in emotional expressivity (flat affect), speech production (alogia), goal-oriented motivation (avolition), derivation of pleasure (anhedonia) and social engagement (asociality). There is considerable interest in the dimensional structure of negative symptoms in clinical samples, and accumulating evidence suggests a 5-factor structure. Despite their presence in attenuated form in the general population, little is known about their underlying structure outside of clinical and high-risk samples. We used confirmatory factor analysis to test the latent structure of parent-reported negative symptoms at 3 ages in adolescence and emerging adulthood (mean ages 16.32, SD 0.68; 17.06, SD 0.88; 22.30, SD 0.93) in the Twins Early Development Study (N = 1468-5177). As an additional approach, we assessed associations between negative symptom subdomains and genome-wide polygenic scores (GPS) for major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia. A 5-factor model of flat affect, alogia, avolition, anhedonia and asociality provided the best fit at each age and was invariant over time. Associations were observed between MDD GPS with avolition, flat affect, anhedonia and asociality, and between schizophrenia GPS with avolition and flat affect. We showed that a 5-factor structure of negative symptoms, previously identified in clinical and high-risk samples, is present from ages 16 to 22 years in the community. Avolition was most consistently associated with known common genetic architecture underlying MDD and schizophrenia, and alogia was least associated. These findings highlight the value of dissecting negative symptoms into psychometrically derived subdomains and may offer insights into early manifestation of genetic risk for MDD and schizophrenia.

Results from an Exploratory Study on the Psychometric Properties of a Self-Report Measure of Individual Differences in Interpersonal Security

Dr Emanuele Fino (Nottingham Trent University) Twitter: @fino_emanuele

Individual differences in attachment are often described in terms of internal working models, developing through early interactions and functioning as stable representations of self and others in adulthood. Self / other representations provide individuals with models of interpersonal relationships as well as internal guides for appraising, interpreting, and using one's own and others' emotions. Recent research has investigated the relationship between internal working models of attachment and emotional intelligence. In particular, some hypothesised that internal working models of attachment and trait emotional intelligence may underly a higher-order latent dimension of Interpersonal Security (Iliceto et al., 2020). Interpersonal Security can be defined as the perception of stability and security in interpersonal relationships, derived from a positive and stable representation of oneself and the others, allowing adult individuals to appraise one's own and others' emotions and to use them towards positive outcomes in several realms (e.g., mental health, work, interpersonal and romantic relationships). In this intervention, we will present results from an exploratory study, aiming to progress the study of individual differences in interpersonal security. Specifically, we will explore the psychometric properties of a model obtained by the combination of two extant measures: The 9 Attachment Profile (Candilera, 2007), measuring Self and Other representations, and the Wong & Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (Wong & Law, 2004). We hypothesised that the two measures could be successfully combined into a higher-order, reliable psychometric model of Interpersonal Security. We will present results from the analysis of the reliability and gender invariance of the model. Finally, implications for research, prevention, and intervention in the community will be outlined.

Object recognition and its association with Reading Skills Yazmin RashidManesh (Brunel University London)

Our ability to perceive and classify objects and our ability to read rely on visual input. The importance of magnocellular input into both of these processes has been highlighted in the magnocellular theory of dyslexia, and the top-down facilitation model of object recognition. In the current study we hence investigated the relationship between reading and object recognition, hypothesising a relation existing between them as both rely on a shared input. Accuracy and reaction times were measured in an object classification task and two lexical decision tasks (LDT) assessing orthographic and phonological performance, an indicator of reading ability. The data indicate object performance correlates significantly with performance on all LDT conditions (words vs non-words and pseudohomophones vs non- pseudohomophones). Further analysis revealed that while no differences in accuracy was present large effects were found between the fastest and slowest object recognisers in terms of all LDT classification times. These data are consistent with the magnocellular theory of dyslexia and suggest that difficulties with reading, such as those present in dyslexia, might be a salient manifestation of a more general high-level cognitive deficit.

Low relationship satisfaction mediates the relationship between vulnerable Dark Triad traits and postnatal depression

Eniko Wagner and Dr Alyson Blanchard (Bishop Grosseteste University) Twitter: @alysoneb

Postnatal depression (PND) is a mental health condition that affects both men and women and can manifest from 2 weeks until 3 years postpartum. Symptoms include depressed mood, severe mood swings, attachment problems and anxiety attacks. Whilst extensive research has been dedicated to highlighting those individuals who might be more likely to develop PND, the contribution of the vulnerable Dark Triad traits of secondary psychopathy, vulnerable narcissism and borderline personality disorder remains unknown. Traits of the vulnerable DT are ideal contenders for increased risk of PND, as they are characterised by high anxiety, neuroticism and psychological distress, as well as low agreeableness. A further implicated factor is relationship satisfaction with the partner, as support, effective communication and stable relationships are shown to reduce the likelihood of developing PND. Considering that those high in vulnerable DT traits may struggle to form optimal relationships with significant others, this could explain why they might be at increased risk of PND. In the current study, data were collected through an online survey from mothers and fathers (N = 80) who had a child or children within the last 12 months. Analyses revealed that relationship satisfaction mediated the relationship between secondary psychopathy and PND, and vulnerable narcissism and PND, thereby indicating that individuals higher in these traits are unable to form and therefore benefit from a supportive relationship which could otherwise mitigate PND symptoms. In contrast, relationship satisfaction did not explain the relationship between borderline personality disorder traits and PND, suggesting that those high in these traits are at risk of and suffer from PND above and beyond the quality of relationship with their significant other. Overall, this study highlights the importance of considering vulnerable DT traits and intimate relationship satisfaction in the development of PND.

The Dark Empath: characterising dark traits in the presence of empathy

Dr Nadja Heyma, Fraenze Kibowskia, Claire A.J. Bloxsoma, Alyson Blanchardb, Alexandra Harpera, Louise Wallacea, Jennifer Firtha and Alexander Sumicha,c
a Nottingham Trent University,

b Bishop Grosseteste University,

c Auckland University of Technology

A novel psychological construct characterised by high empathy and dark traits: the Dark Empath (DE) is identified and described relative to personality, aggression, dark triad (DT) facets and wellbeing. Participants (n=991) were assessed for narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, cognitive empathy and affective empathy. Sub-cohorts also completed measures of (i) personality (FFM), indirect interpersonal aggression (n=301); (ii) DT facets of vulnerable and grandiose Narcissism, primary and secondary psychopathy and Machiavellianism (n=285); and (iii) wellbeing (depression, anxiety, stress, anhedonia, self-compassion; n=240). Latent profile analysis identified a four-class solution comprising the traditional DT (n=128; high DT, low empathy), DE (n=175; high DT, high empathy), Empaths (n=357; low DT, high empathy) and Typicals (n=331; low DT, average empathy). DT and DE were higher in aggression and DT facets, and lower in agreeableness than Typicals and Empaths. DE had higher extraversion and agreeableness, and lower aggression than DT. DE and DT did not differ in grandiose and vulnerable DT facets, but DT showed lower wellbeing. The DE is less aggressive and shows better wellbeing than DT, but partially maintains an antagonistic core, despite having high extraversion. The presence of empathy did not increase risk of vulnerability in the DE.

Social Reward Processing and Psychopathic Traits
Luke Alridge-Waddon (Brunel University London) Twitter: @alysoneb

Psychopathy is a personality dimension characterised by atypical interpersonal behaviour. Individuals with higher levels of psychopathic traits often demonstrate a reduced desire for warm, affiliative, interpersonal relationships alongside an increased preference for antisocial or manipulative social interactions. There is increasing evidence to suggest that these problematic interpersonal behaviours are associated with atypical social reward processing. 145 participants recruited from the general population completed the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale - Short Form (SRP-4-SF) and self-report and experimental measures of social reward processing – namely the Social Reward Questionnaire, the Monetary and Social Incentive Delay Task, and the Social Reward Subtype Incentive Delay Task. All facets of psychopathy as assessed by the SRP-4- SF were associated with increased self-reported enjoyment of social rewards involving cruelty to others, in addition to reduced enjoyment of social rewards involving prosocial interactions. The Lifestyle facet was also associated with increased self-reported enjoyment of social rewards involving sociability – meaning enjoyment of busy social interactions, such as parties or gatherings. This atypical processing of social rewards at the subjective level also translated experimentally, with SRP-4-SF Lifestyle facet scores correlating with increased behavioural anticipation of video rewards denoting sociability. Taken together, these results provide further evidence of atypical processing of social rewards in psychopathy and highlight that the reward value of social interaction in psychopathy may depend on the type of social interaction available.

Clarifying the roles of dimensional psychopathy and schizotypal traits in lexical decision performance

Martina Vanova

Brunel University London

Some studies suggest that lexical recognition, one of the core processes in reading, is impaired in people with schizophrenia, psychopathy and/or antisocial personality disorders, but not affective disorders. This study examined the extent to which various psychopathology traits dimensionally linked to one or more of these disorders are associated with lexical recognition performance in the general population. Seventy-eight English- speaking healthy participants completed self-report measures of schizotypy, psychopathy, impulsivity, and affective traits; and were assessed on a one-choice variant of a lexical decision task (LDT) requiring recognition of high- and low-frequency words from pseudohomophones and real nonwords. Meanness (callousness, cruelty, and predatory aggression) and boldness (high dominance, low anxiousness, and risk- taking) traits of psychopathy (Triarchic Psychopathy Measure; no association with Disinhibition), and positive schizotypy (Unusual Experiences, Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences; no association with other subscales) predicted a significant amount of unique variance (Meanness, 12%; Boldness, 4.8%; Positive Schizotypy, 4.4%; in total 21%) in correct word-nonword accuracy. Furthermore, native English speakers showed higher accuracy for nonword recognition than non-native English speakers. In non-native speakers, higher motor impulsivity trait predicted 30% of the variance of lower accuracy of low-frequency words recognition. Affective traits were not associated with LDT performance. The findings indicate that certain traits of psychopathy and schizotypy show small-to-moderate negative associations with lexical recognition. Further research should clarify the influence of corresponding symptom dimensions in lexical recognition abilities, taking language familiarity and migration status into account, in people with schizophrenia, psychopathy and/or antisocial personality disorders.

Do pirates have psychopathic traits? Illegal consumption of media and its relations to disinhibition

Dr Liam Satchell, Dr Robert Latzman, Prof, Philip Corr

University of Winchester

Media piracy is a widespread issue. For example, in 2019 the counter- digital piracy group Muso observed 66 million illegal downloads of ‘Game of Thrones’. With more media content moving online due to the lockdown pandemic, it has been suggested that we are entering a ‘platinum age of piracy’ (De Kosnik, 2020) with more illegal consumption of media than before. Despite the widespread engagement with media piracy, the research in this topic is relatively sparse or quickly out of date. Moreover, while media piracy is illegal, it is widespread and actively prosocial (used to bond with friends about a cultural zeitgeist), perhaps making it difficult to predict using classical models of antisocial behaviour. There is a large body of research investigating how psychopathic traits predict illegal activities and here we explore how well these predict media piracy and wider ‘microcrimes’. Presented here are the results of an accepted Stage One Registered Report (Satchell, Corr, & Latzman, JRiP) where two samples of international (N= 351) and US (N= 321) participants completed measures of psychopathic personality (TriPM), engagement with media piracy and normative deviance, and provided short answer rationales for their behaviour. Our results from both samples highlight the role of disinhibition (impulsivity) but not meanness (antisocial) traits for predicting engagement with media piracy. Meanness was important for other ‘microcrimes’ and normative deviance behaviours. Overall, the results highlight the importance of disinhibition more than meanness for predicting low-level illegal behaviour

Using latent class analyses to investigate heterogeneous attitudinal profiles towards gene editing

Isaac N. Halstead (Royal Holloway, UK), Dr Jan R. Boehnke (University of Dundee, UK), Gary J. Lewis (Royal Holloway, UK)

Background: Advances in gene editing technology have important implications for the treatment and prevention of disease. Accordingly, understanding the public's attitudes towards gene editing is important as they determine discourse and the potential for uptake and implementation of this new technology. Previous research has almost exclusively examined attitudes towards gene editing on specific issues, but hasn’t addressed how attitudes towards gene editing across a range of issues coalesce in individuals: It is at the moment unclear to which degree heterogeneous attitudinal profiles exist vs a simple support/oppose continuum. Methods: We used latent class analysis to examine data collected in the US by The Pew Research Center as part of the American Trends Panel (Wave 15; March 2016; N = 4,726). The survey contained a section covering a wide range of geneediting to pics from which ten questions were selected that addressed different aspects of attitude formation: beliefs about gene editing (such as natural boundaries and its moral acceptability), affect associated with the entity (e.g., excitement and worry about prospects), and evaluations of potential interactions and consequences if gene class editing was more widely available. Results: Based on information criteria and qualitative review of additional we found that attitudes towards gene editing were separated into 10 distinct latent classes. Qualitative analysis of the response patterns supports a support/oppose continuum, with about 40% being broadly positive and 32% broadly opposed respondents. But we also find clear qualitative differences even with support or opposees. Investigation of correlations with demographic variables showed that the most opposed classes significantly differed from the supporter classes in age, sex, political ideology and self-rated knowledge. Discussion: These findings provide evidence that attitudes towards gene editing are heterogeneous and suggest that attitude formation towards a complex technology is not unitary, but issue/ context specific. Public discourse as well as policy making likely need to consider a range of arguments when discussing this and that viewing attitudes as monolithic is not representative of the majority of the public.

COVID and Influenza Vaccine Hesitancy Reflect Distinct Profiles of Personality and Cognitive Traits

Isaac Halstead*, Ryan T. McKay*, & Gary J. Lewis (Royal Holloway, University of London)

The current COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the lives and livelihoods of many. Vaccines are leading the response to the pandemic, by protecting individuals and preventing the spread of the virus. Despite the benefits of the vaccine, there is a sizeable minority that are opposed to vaccination, which presents a significant public health threat. Therefore, it is essential to identify what psychological constructs underlie vaccination opposition. This study sought to understand whether cognitive ability and Big Five personality traits are associated with opposition to vaccination. We also examined whether these associations generalise to opposition to seasonal flu vaccination. We did this using secondary data from Understanding society, which is a longitudinal British household survey (N = 9667). We carried out a series of correlational and logistic regression analyses to examine the associations between our cognitive, and personality variables and likelihood to vaccinate for both COVID-19 and seasonal flu. We also examined whether there were significant differences between the reasons that people oppose vaccination and those that support vaccination. We found neuroticism, intelligence, mental health, self-rated COVID risk and a number of demographic variables independently predicted opposition to vaccination. However, these associations changed when examining seasonal flu vaccination. This provides evidence for the role of individual differences in vaccination attitudes, as well as asymmetries existing between types of vaccination.

The Role of Big 5 Personality Traits and Cultural Differences in Mediating Learned Predictiveness

Sue Lynn Mah (University of Nottingham)

Despite being a prominent component in the literature of personality, the Big 5 personality traits (Costa & McCrae, 1992) have been underused in the context of the study of associative learning. Furthermore, previous studies have also overlooked the potential role of cultural differences in learning about relationships between stimuli. Two learned predictiveness tasks (Le Pelley & McLaren, 2003) were conducted (lab-based and online) which required participants to learn about the associative consequences of stimuli that had a history being either relevant or irrelevant to the solution of a previous, unrelated, task. We found that a bias towards learning about a previously relevant stimulus was present in individuals from individualistic but not collectivistic cultures. Furthermore, there was also an effect of openness and conscientiousness on learning about previously relevant stimuli, and extraversion about previously irrelevant stimuli. Importantly, there were also cultural differences in how the Big 5 mediates learning. Participants low in openness and high in conscientiousness in the individualistic group showed greater learning about the previously relevant stimulus but those in the collectivistic group showed the opposite pattern of results. Past studies (Nisbett et al., 2001) have shown that individuals from an individualistic culture tend to think analytically, which could help in distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant stimuli. A predisposition by the collectivistic culture to think holistically may then impact on processing the stimuli as a whole rather than separating them by relevance.