Danielle E. Wahlers’s research while affiliated with University of Alabama and other places

To enhance understanding of how impulsivity relates to self-presentation behavior, we proposed how emotion-based (i.e., Urgency) and cognitive-based (i.e., Lack of Perseverance [LPV] and Lack of Premeditation [LP]) impulsivity relate to various self-presentation tactics. Essentially, we proposed that Urgency (vs. LPV or LP) would have stronger positive relations to egotistical/opportunistic self-presentation tactics and that relations between Urgency and these tactics will be accentuated at higher levels of LP. A sample of US adults (N = 446; Mage = 46.10; 51% female; 78.0% White) completed the Self-Presentation Tactics Scale (Lee et al., Personality and Individual Differences, 26(4), 701–722, 1999) to measure use of various self-presentation tactics and the UPPS-P (Lynam et al., 2006) to measure LPV, LP, and Urgency. Overall, Urgency, LPV, and LP generally related to enhanced use of egotistical/opportunistic self-presentation tactics and reduced use of virtuous self-presentation tactics. These effects varied between small to large. As anticipated, Urgency (vs. LPV or LP) generally had stronger relations to the egotistical/opportunistic self-presentation tactics; and, as expected, relations between Urgency and several of these tactics were enhanced at higher levels of LP. Such interactive effects tended to be small. The data provide a more precise understanding of how impulsivity influences self-presentation, highlight the importance of considering impulsivity as a multi-faceted construct, and contribute to understanding how impulsivity may influence maladaptive behavior.

In addition to sources (e.g. scripture) that directly disseminate religious agents' minds (e.g. attitudes), an egocentric model suggests one's own mind may serve as a basis for estimating religious agents' minds. However, the egocentric model is rarely directly tested for inferences of religious agents' minds, and such tests have largely been limited to correlational methodologies, morally charged topics, and to a focus on God or Jesus rather than evil religious agents (e.g. Satan). To expand testing, we conducted two studies with Christians that addressed these limiting factors. In Study 1, correlational evidence supported the egocentric model in how participants estimated both God's and Satan's attitudes on moral topics. In Study 2, experimental evidence supported this conclusion and extended it to both moral and amoral topics: People estimated God's and Satan's attitudes differently as a function of a persuasion manipulation that changed their own knowledge on issues. These findings extend support for an egocentric account of how Christians can infer religious agents' minds.

Neuroticism predicts behaviors symptomatic of behavior dysregulation. One idea is that Neuroticism encompasses deficits in executive functioning; despite this link being empirically substantiated, it remains poorly understood. If Neuroticism is associated with executive functioning deficits due to it activating impulsivity in response to negative emotion, and if Negative Urgency (NU) is the specific aspect of emotional impulsivity that amplifies impulsivity in response to negative emotion, then Neuroticism’s link to executive functioning deficits should be enhanced in individuals higher in NU. A large representative sample of US adults ( N = 446; M age = 46.10; 51.1% female; 78.0% White) completed validated measures of Neuroticism, NU and Positive Urgency (PU), and executive functioning deficits. As predicted, we found that Neuroticism’s link to executive functioning deficits was moderated by NU (after controlling for PU) but not PU (after controlling for NU); specifically, Neuroticism’s relation to executive functioning deficits was over twice as large for people with elevated (+1 SD) versus de-elevated (−1 SD) levels of NU. Furthermore, NU moderated relations between each Neuroticism facet (e.g., Anxiety, Anger) and executive functioning deficits. The findings extend understanding of how Neuroticism relates to executive functioning, suggesting utility in distinguishing between PU and NU and potentially studying Neuroticism and NU as interacting.

Sexual sadism has long been of interest to scholars and clinicians in psychology, and most research on sexual sadism has focused on forensic samples. However, recently, research has uncovered the existence of sexual sadism in general populations. Measures designed to assess sexual sadism in the general population are lacking. To address this gap, we created the Index of Consensual Sexual Sadism (ICSS) and performed some initial psychometric testing of its structure, measurement invariance, validity (e.g., distinguishment from everyday sadism), and reliability. In this preregistered study, separate samples of community adults and undergraduates (N = 1,391; Mage = 24.21, SDage = 10.92, rangeage = 18–85; 68.40% female; 76.10% White) completed the ICSS and measures of sadistic pleasure in sexual and nonsexual contexts, normal personality traits (HEXACO), personality disorder traits, antagonistic personality features (e.g., psychopathy), frequency of sadistic sexual fantasies, romantic relationship satisfaction, and social desirability. The ICSS demonstrated a unidimensional structure that was invariant across the tested groupings of sample type, sex, and age; in addition, the scale had only a trivial relation to social desirability bias, and it related to the other outcomes in a way that highlighted its construct validity and distinguished it from everyday sadism. The ICSS seems a viable candidate for assessing consensual sexual sadism so that clinicians and researchers can begin evaluating the full spectrum of sexual sadism.

Authoritarianism has been of interest to multiple fields in the social sciences (e.g., psychology, political science). Though traditionally conceptualized as a right-wing phenomenon, burgeoning research suggests it is also a left-wing phenomenon. The Left-Wing Authoritarianism Index-13 (LWAI-13) was recently developed as a brief measure of left-wing authoritarianism and its three factors: anti-hierarchical aggression, top-down censorship, and anti-conventionalism. Though prior work provided evidence for the LWAI-13’s factor structure and construct validity, its measurement invariance (MI) remains untested. We evaluated the LWAI-13’s MI regarding sex, age, and education; scalar MI was evidenced for all groupings. Thus, the structural properties of the LWAI-13 appeared robust to the three group distinctions.

Liberals tend to indicate being less happy than conservatives; although one perspective suggests this happiness gap reflects liberals’ enhanced concern over the systemic maltreatment of others, the “maladjustment perspective” suggests it reflects, in part, liberals’ tendencies to reject aspects of conservatism that support agency and produce some life benefits. Some evidence seems to favor the maladjustment perspective; but, here, we sought to build on this perspective by examining its predictions in the context of Left-wing Authoritarianism (LWA). LWA is positively associated with liberalism, but, relative to liberalism, it encompasses aspects more rejecting of conservatism. US adults (N = 446) completed measures of LWA, happiness, agency, life impairment, and antagonistic personality constructs (e.g., sadism). The data supported the maladjustment perspective in the context of LWA: After accounting for liberalism (and demographics inclusive of age and sex), LWA was negatively related to happiness and positively related to agency deficiencies and life impairments; the latter two characteristics (reflective of maladjustment) completely accounted for LWA’s negative relation to happiness. These findings were generally consistent across LWA’s three facets. LWA also had a positive relationship to antagonistic personality constructs; hence, LWA is probably not conducive to enhanced concern over the systemic maltreatment of others. Additional analyses revealed that the anti-conventional facet of LWA completely accounted for relationships between liberalism and happiness, agency deficiencies, and life impairments. The results offer some novel insight into the ideological happiness gap.