Volitional Change in Pathological Traits: Can People Change Their Maladaptive Traits?

Research suggests people want to change their normative personality traits-and they can volitionally do so. However, studies have not yet addressed volitional change in pathological personality. Consequently, the current study examined (a) people's desires to change pathological traits, (b) whether these change goals predict subsequent trait change, (c) whether this withstands controlling normative traits, and (d) the extent to which pathological trait change predicts relevant outcomes.

Integrating Models of Self-Regulation.

Self-regulation is a core aspect of human functioning that helps facilitate the successful pursuit of personal goals. There has been a proliferation of theories and models describing different aspects of self-regulation both within and outside of psychology. All of these models provide insights about self-regulation, but sometimes they talk past each other, make only shallow contributions, or make contributions that are underappreciated by scholars working in adjacent areas.

Smartphones and Close Relationships: The Case for an Evolutionary Mismatch.

This article introduces and outlines the case for an evolutionary mismatch between smartphones and the social behaviors that help form and maintain close social relationships. As psychological adaptations that enhance human survival and inclusive fitness, self-disclosure and responsiveness evolved in the context of small kin networks to facilitate social bonds, promote trust, and enhance cooperation. These adaptations are central to the development of attachment bonds, and attachment theory is a middle-level evolutionary theory that provides a robust account of the ways human bonding provides for reproductive and inclusive fitness.

Lower Trait Stability, Stronger Normative Beliefs, Habitual Phone Use, and Unimpeded Phone Access Predict Distracted College Student Messaging in Social, Academic, and Driving Contexts.

The goal of the present study was to test two models of phone messaging behaviors among college students-a sociocognitive connection model and a cybernetic personality system model-across three contexts, where messaging behaviors represented disengagement from the primary context: a meal time with friends, attending class, and driving. Using a sample of university students ( = 634), path analyses with boot-strapping procedures were used to model direct and indirect effects of behavioral, social cognition, and personality trait predictors of primary context disengagement via message checking, message reading, and message sending behaviors. Internal and comparative model fit information showed the cybernetic personality system model represented the data well across all three contexts.

Another look at impulsivity: Could impulsive behavior be strategic?

In the present article, we propose that impulsive behavior may be a response to certain needs or goals that people have in the moment and could therefore be strategic. We review briefly the dominant approaches and findings in the impulsivity literature. We then examine different behaviors that are typically considered impulsive such as delay discounting, risky sexual behavior, risk taking in the context of emotion dysregulation, and adolescent risk behavior and present evidence suggesting that they follow the general principles of goal pursuit.

Mothers' Attachment is Linked to their Children's Anti-Inflammatory Gene Expression via Maternal Warmth.

Research has demonstrated links between adult romantic attachment and one's own physical health; little is known about links between adult attachment orientations and offspring health. Prior work has shown that parents' greater attachment anxiety and avoidance predicts less warmth toward their children. Extensive work has also shown that lower maternal warmth has negative downstream effects on offspring health.