Sherman, Ryne A.

Behavior in everyday situations depends on the activation of an individual’s specific
goals and motives. Research suggests that basic goals such as protecting oneself, forming
coalitions, and avoiding disease have emerged as the result of evolutionary processes Kenrick,
Li, & Butner, 2003. However, no scale exists to measure the characteristics of situations that
might promote or prevent the achievement of these goals. Participants described a situation they
encountered the previous day and rated that situation using 64 items designed to tap seven
adaptive problems identified by Kenrick and colleagues 2003. Using both exploratory and
confirmatory factor analyses a 28-item measure of situational characteristics that promote or
prevent the achievement of evolutionarily important goals was created. The results suggest that
this 28-item measure has both adequate bandwidth and fidelity. Future research should
investigate the discriminant and convergent validity of this newly created measure.

Animal protein production systems are reaching production
capacity limits due to their associated ecological
detriments. Therefore, a global shift towards
an ecologically sustainable alternative is vital, and
hence exploring the scope of market for such alternatives.“
Cultured meat”, or ex vivo cultivated meat,
may indeed serve as a viable alternative. However,
although this method aims to lessen environmental
woes, one current drawback is the ambiguity of consumer
acceptance. This study addresses this concern
through calculus of potential markets. Indeed,
through surveying about 5,000 people worldwide,
with focused populations in the United States and
University undergraduates, statistically significant
results of positive consumer interest in cultured meat
were attained. After survey completion, over 75%
of participants expressed interest in eating cultured
meat (interested in “probably” or “definitely” eating
cultured meat). Ultimately, this novel study ought
to serve as a foundational framework for catalyzing
funding towards privatized and academic research
on cultured meat.

Just as people can be described by traits, situations can be described by the
“Situational Eight” DIAMONDS (Duty, Intellect, Adversity, Mating, pOsitivity,
Negativity, Deception, Sociality) (Rauthmann et al., 2014). Based upon the common
occurrence of situations in combinations unique to different occupations the current study
sets out to (1) map the DIAMONDS dimensions into the workplace and (2) examine the
relationships between the DIAMONDS dimensions and other measures of work contexts
(Skill, Abilities, Knowledge, etc.). Through the use of a modified version of the S8*
(Rauthmann & Sherman, 2014), the DIAMONDS dimensions were correlated with
scored responses of either individuals in the profession, or professional experts, on
important worker characteristics and occupational requirements for 954 individually
identified occupations (n = 954) compiled by O*NET (National Center for O*NET
Development, 2016).

To elucidate temporal sequences among and between person and situation
variables, this work examines cross-measurement spill-overs between situation
experiences S (on the Situational Eight DIAMONDS characteristics) and personality
states P (on the Big Six HEXACO) in experience sampling data in two studies. Multilevel
modeling of lagged data at tn-1 and non-lagged data at tn grants the opportunity to
examine (a) the stability (P --> P, S --> S), (b) cross-sectional associations (S <--> P), and
(c) cross-lagged associations among and between situation experiences and personality
states (S --> P, P --> S).

Psychologists have studied the relationship between personality and academic
performance for over a century, and more recently the relationship between personality
and situations, but no connection between academic performance and situation
characteristics has been researched. The current study examines this relationship using
the DIAMONDS dimensions and undergraduate GPA. Participants wore a life logging
camera to capture pictures of their surroundings for 24 hours and then self-sorted and
rated the photos into meaningful situations. Results found support for previous findings
of the relationships for personality with GPA and situations. Significant correlations
were found between GPA and Adversity, Deception, and Mating situations, though none
were significant unique predictors. There was also no correlation between GPA and
percentage of situations which took place in a classroom setting, though there was a significant correlation with time spent in a classroom. Limitations and future research
ideas are discussed.

Narcissism is a multidimensional construct consisting of many components and a
variety of conceptualizations. One such example is the NARC conceptualization of
grandiose narcissism and its two subcomponents admiration and rivalry. This research
aims to answer three questions about the NARC conceptualization: (1) what is the
relationship between narcissism and Big Six Personality dimensions?; (2) what is the
relationship between narcissism and observable behavior?; and (3) how does narcissism
relate to situational experiences in daily life? Results showed that, consistent with
previous research, narcissism was related to Big Six personality. Additionally, narcissism
was related to observable behavior. Finally, the results also showed a relationship
between narcissism and every day experience (i.e., situation experiences and state
expressions of personality). Most critically, the pattern of results suggests that although
admiration and rivalry are related subcomponents of narcissism, they are quite distinct in
terms of their personality and behavioral correlates.

Throughout the course of a day, individuals experience a number of different situations that affect how they think, feel, and behave. However, until recently, there was little research aimed at describing what factors may be related to the psychological properties of situations in individuals' everyday lives. Recent theoretical (e.g., the Situational Eight DIAMONDS) and methodological (e.g., experience sampling, Day Reconstruction Method) advances make the present research tractable. Based on the extant literature, three studies, employing different methodologies, were designed to explore whether three specific factors are related to the experience of situations: time of day, gender, and employment status. Study 1 employs data from 835 participants recruited on Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT). Participants reported a recent situation (single time-point method) and completed a 290-item measure of situations, the Comprehensive Situations Item Pool (CSIP). The results demonstrated consistent daily patterns in the experience of situations. For example, the situational characteristic Duty tends to increase throughout the day, peak at noon, decreasing thereafter. Study 2 uses an experience sampling method to further investigate the daily and weekly temporal patterns in the situational characteristics from a within-person perspective. University participants (N = 210) were contacted via smartphone and rated their situation up to 8 times per day for 7 days. The results showed that there are some similarities and differences in the temporal pattern of situations at the within-person level. Duty, for instance, exhibits a different pattern depending on the day of the week (e.g., negative and linear on weekends, but quadratic on weekdays). Overall, Study 2 demonstrates that there are clear within- and between-day patterns in situation characteristics. Lastly, Study 3 employs a full-day method using archival data from the 2013 American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Participants drawn from a representative sample of Americans (N = 11,384) reported all of their situations for a recent day using the Day Reconstruction Method. The results found that, in addition to consistent daily and weekly trends, patterns for situation characteristics are related to individual differences such as gender and employment status.

Social media posts are used to examine what people experience in their everyday
lives. A new method is developed for assessing the situational characteristics of social
media posts based on the words used in these posts. To accomplish this, machine learning
models are built that accurately approximate the judgments of human raters. This new
method of situational assessment is applied on two of the most popular social media sites:
Twitter and Facebook. Millions of Tweets and Facebook statuses are analyzed. Temporal
patterns of situational experiences are found. Geographic and gender differences in
experience are examined. Relationships between personality and situation experience
were also assessed. Implications of these finding and future applications of this new
method of situational assessment are discussed.

Mindfulness – nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment - has recently garnered significant attention in psychological literature for decreasing clinical symptoms. Certain personality traits such as emotionality, however, can predict higher levels of anxiety and depression. The present study examines whether mindfulness mediates the relationship between personality traits and perceived stress and depression in nonclinical populations. A total of 321 participants from two samples—American and Japanese undergraduates —self-reported scores on measures of mindfulness, personality, perceived stress and depression. Cross-cultural comparisons following measurement invariance tests also allow for insight into the definition of mindfulness, especially given the Eastern religion origin of mindfulness. Results demonstrate that mindfulness partially mediates the relationships between personality clinical symptoms, particularly for extraversion and conscientiousness. These results can play an important role for developing mindfulness-based treatment and prevention programs and bridge an important gap between Western conceived and Eastern religion mindfulness.

The practice of evaluating situations with the Riverside Situational Q-Sort (RSQ:Wagerman & Funder, 2009) is relatively new. The present study aimed to investigate the theoretical framework supporting the RSQ with regards to the potential confounds of emotional state and the use of Likert-type ratings. Data were collected from a sample of Florida Atlantic University students (N = 206). Participants were primed for either a positive or negative mood state and asked to evaluate a situation with the RSQ in either the Q-Sort or Likert-type response format. Results suggested that response format has a significant influence on RSQ evaluations, but mood and the interaction between mood
and response format do not. Exploratory analyses were conducted to determine the underlying mechanisms responsible.