Staying Grounded
People overestimate how harshly they are evaluated for disengaging from passion pursuit
Zachariah Berry, Brian Lucas & Jon Jachimowicz
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The call to pursue one’s passion is ubiquitous advice, and prior research highlights the many upsides to doing so. To pursue one’s passion sustainably, people need to try different pursuits -- and, critically, drop those that are not tenable for them. However, disengaging from a passion is seemingly antithetical to the stereotypical expectations people hold of how passion should be pursued, which is commonly depicted as persevering through challenges. These expectations, we suggest, lead people to perceive disengaging from a passion as a negative event that myopically focuses their attention on the decision to disengage rather than future opportunities to (re-)engage in a new passion. As a result, when people consider giving up on a passion, we hypothesize that they overestimate how harshly their character will be judged by others and that this occurs because others -- from their distant vantage point -- see disengaging from a passion as an opportunity to (re-)engage in other passions more than passion pursuers expect they will. These misperceptions, we argue, are consequential because they reduce passion pursuers’ willingness to speak out against challenging working conditions or pursue other opportunities. We find evidence for these predictions across seven main and three supplemental studies in the lab and field (N = 4,825), including samples of PhD students, nurses, and teachers. Our theory and results uncover a critical social impediment to the pursuit of passion: By overestimating how harshly they are judged for giving up, people may struggle to sustainably pursue their passion.
Perceived betrayal moderates the effects of battlefield experiences on suicidal ideation and help-seeking
James Cornwell et al.
Journal of Traumatic Stress, forthcoming
Abstract:
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among military personnel, and help-seeking is crucial to combating it. Research has not yet investigated the role that potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs), particularly betrayal, may play in moderating the effect of battlefield experiences on these variables. Data from 694 U.S. Army personnel, all of whom had at least one combat deployment, were analyzed to examine battlefield life-threatening experiences (LTEs), suicidal ideation, help-seeking behavior, PMIEs, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and aggression. Analyses revealed a significant interaction between LTEs and betrayal-type PMIEs predicting both a higher likelihood of suicidal thoughts and planning, relative risk ratio = 1.729, z = 2.13, p = .034, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.043, 2.863], and help-seeking from fewer sources, incident rate ratio = 0.927, z = −2.26, p = .024, 95% CI = [0.868, 0.990]. These effects held even when controlling for depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, PTSD symptoms, and aggression. The findings suggest that betrayal-type PMIEs have a significant moderating effect on the impact of LTEs on suicidal ideation and help-seeking behavior, and this effect cannot be explained by the experience of the other four measured symptoms of psychological distress.
The heritability of hope: Exploring genetics and the environment as sources of variation
Sereena Dargan & Julie Aitken Schermer
Personality and Individual Differences, October 2025
Abstract:
This study explored the heritability of cognitive trait hope and its agency and pathway components by estimating the effects of genetics and the environment on observed variation. Although hope is recognized as an important character strength positively associated with psychological health and well-being, little is understood about the contributions of genetics relative to the environment in shaping individual differences. Using a classic twin design, data was analyzed from 637 monozygotic (MZ) and 280 dizygotic (DZ) same-sex adult twin pairs. Structural equation modelling estimated a 41-43% heritability for trait hope, with the remaining variance (57-59%) being attributed to the unique environment. The findings align with broader patterns from behavioural genetics research in personality. Future investigations incorporating behaviour genetics approaches to explore hope's development and associations with other protective and risk factors for mental health are discussed.
Cumulative stress and epigenetic aging: Examining the role of psychological moderators
Seung Eun Cha et al.
Health Psychology, forthcoming
Method: Data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Genomics Project (N = 1,006) were used, which include deoxyribonucleic acid methylation data from a subset of participants in MIDUS Core Wave 2 and MIDUS Refresher Wave 1. Epigenetic aging values were calculated using the deoxyribonucleic acid methylation profiles at cytosine–phosphate–guanine sites. Cumulative stressors and psychological factors were assessed using the survey data at MIDUS Core Wave 2 and MIDUS Refresher Wave 1.
Results: The results revealed that cumulative stressors were not directly associated with EAA [epigenetic age acceleration] but were contingent on the levels of psychological well-being and neuroticism. Specifically, higher levels of cumulative stressors were significantly linked to EAA, measured by GrimAge2, among those who had lower levels of psychological well-being (β = −.23 to −.36, SE = .12 to .13, p = .04 to < .01) or higher neuroticism (β = .26, SE = .12, p = .03). Conversely, EAA in individuals who had higher levels of psychological well-being or lower neuroticism was not impacted by the levels of cumulative stressors.
Mapping the gender gradient in posttraumatic stress disorder prevalence: A machine learning approach
Rachel Kimerling et al.
Journal of Traumatic Stress, forthcoming
Abstract:
The prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among women is over twice that of men, but the underlying mechanisms for these differences remain poorly understood. This study introduces a novel approach to examining gender and PTSD, moving beyond the binary group labels of male and female to explore the summative impact of gender-linked sociocultural factors. Using supervised machine learning, we modeled gender from theoretical and empirically selected predictors reflecting the roles, relationships, and institutional facets of gender. This model produced continuous gender scores reflecting the social circumstances typical of male (lower scores) or female (higher scores) individuals. We then examined how well these scores were associated with past-year PTSD among trauma-exposed men and women (N = 23,936) and compared effects to those obtained using binary sex. The results revealed a clear dose–response relationship between the social circumstances typical of female gender and past-year PTSD. Main effects for gender scores, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 4.03, 95% CI [2.64, 6.15], were substantially larger than main effects for binary sex, aOR = 2.69, 95% CI [1.96, 3.68], z = 2.30, p = .021, even after accounting for trauma exposure and other risk factors. This study highlights the importance of quantitative approaches that move beyond binary comparisons of male and female to better elucidate sociocultural determinants of traumatic stress.
The impact of co-creation on life's meaningfulness
Federica Pinelli & Tory Higgins
Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite shared reality's ubiquity and importance in life, how the process of reaching it affects life’s meaning has not been explored yet. In three studies, we examine co-creation versus simple validation of opinions in enhancing life's meaning, controlling for the experience of inner states’ commonality. Study 1 shows that more co-creation correlates with greater life meaning beyond shared reality and personality traits. Study 2, a daily diary study, reveals that daily co-creation is positively associated with life's meaning via self-efficacy. Study 3 demonstrates that recalling co-creation events provides more meaning than mere agreement, an effect self-efficacy mediates.
Nature Adds Color to Life: Less Boredom in Natural Versus Artificial Environments
Muireann O’Dea et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
Boredom is a common and unpleasant experience associated with a range of problematic correlates and consequences. We examine a catalyst and its putative remedy all but neglected in the psychological science of emotion, and boredom in particular: the living environment. Specifically, we proposed and tested that “artificial” (e.g., urban) environments elicit boredom and that natural environments may counter it. Study 1, a field experiment, showed that people placed in natural versus artificial surroundings experienced less boredom. In Study 2, we found that the more prominently regions were characterized by natural (vs. artificial) geography, the less boredom was expressed on social media in the region. Study 3 showed experimentally that images of natural environments elicited less boredom than artificial ones, and Study 4 found that this effect is partly due to the vividness of colors in nature. Study 5 established that higher boredom in artificial versus natural environments can be attributed especially to the increase in boredom that artificial environments bring about. These findings provide the first systematic evidence of the importance of the environment on boredom and illustrate the cumulative effects that changes in one’s environment can have on emotion experiences.