The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between personality and pain perception in healthy adults. Thirty participants completed the study. All participants were asked to scan a QR code and fill out a survey on their phones that included demographic questions and the Eysenck personality inventory (EPI). The demographics section included questions on age, sex, job activity level, and physical activity level. The researcher then evaluated their pressure pain threshold (PPT) using a handheld pressure algometer. The algometer was applied to the regions of the right paravertebral (PVM), quadratus lumborum (QL), and piriformis (PF) muscles perpendicular to the skin based on standardized palpation procedures. The participants were instructed to report when the sensation changed from “comfortable” to “mildly unpleasant pressure.” Results suggest that there was a positive correlation between PPT applied to the different muscles but there was no strong correlation found between the participants extraversion score and neuroticism score and their PPT at different muscles. This study aids in the understanding of the relationship between personality and pain sensitivity by providing a better view on which tools are the most beneficial in assessing personality and how it relates to pain in a clinical setting.

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This study employed an experimental design intended to be an analog to the workplace to simultaneously examine the affect orientation and equity theory explanations of OCBs, which were evaluated as prosocial behaviors. Participants were 188 undergraduates. Participants' dispositional variables were measured at time 1, and at time 2, participants experienced an equity manipulation and were given the opportunity to perform prosocial behaviors. Results indicated a distinction between the decision to help and helping effort, which has not been thoroughly examined in literature on OCBs. Results revealed that the threshold for the decision to help was raised by inequity, yet once the decision had been made, affect and personality variables affected effort of helping. Implications for research and practice are discussed. / Master of Science

Previous research has focused limited attention on how personality affects job search for university educated people in work and no studies have focused on the difference between active and passive job seekers. This survey-based study that examined university educated economists and engineers with 5-25 years of experience, showed that career ambition mediated active job search for the personality dimensions of openness, agreeableness and extraversion and also gave clear evidence that active job seekers have lower levels of job satisfaction, and higher levels of career ambition, agreeableness and extraversion, compared with passive job seekers. These findings provide a more nuanced picture of the impact of different recruitment strategies and provide a starting point for in-depth studies on passive job seekers / Tidigare forskning har riktat begränsad uppmärksamhet mot hur personlighet påverkar jobbsökande för akademiker i arbete och inga studier har fokuserat på skillnaden mellan aktivt och passivt jobbsökande. Denna enkätbaserade studie som undersökt universitetsutbildade ekonomer och ingenjörer med 5-25 års erfarenhet, visade att karriärambition medierade aktivt jobbsökande för personlighetsdimensionerna öppenhet, samstämmighet och extraversion och gav också tydliga belägg för att aktivt jobbsökande har lägre grad av arbetstillfredställelse, och högre grad av karriärambition, samstämmighet och extraversion, jämfört med passivt jobbsökande. Dessa rön ger en mera nyanserad bild av konsekvenser av olika rekryteringsstrategier och utgör en utgångspunkt för fördjupade studier beträffande passivt jobbsökande.

Postpartum depression is a psychiatric disorder affecting a substantial proportion of newly delivered women, and remains a significant cause of childbirth-related morbidity. The aim of the present thesis was to examine psychological, endocrine and genetic aspects of postpartum depression in a large, population-based sample of women in Uppsala, Sweden. All included studies were undertaken as parts of the BASIC-project, a longitudinal study on psychological wellbeing during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Study participants were screened for depressive symptoms in pregnancy week 17 and 32 as well as at six weeks and six months postpartum, mainly by use of the Swedish version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Furthermore, personality was assessed with the Swedish universities Scale of Personality (SSP) in pregnancy week 32. Evening cortisol levels in saliva were measured in pregnancy week 36 and at six weeks postpartum. Blood samples were obtained to measure corticotropin-releasing hormone levels (CRH) and to perform genetic analyses. The results of this thesis demonstrate that neuroticism is a strong and independent predictive factor of depressive symptoms at six weeks and six months postpartum, and has a significant mediatory role in the association between a single nucleotide polymorphism in the hydroxysteroid (11-beta) dehydrogenase 1 gene (HSD11B1) and postpartum depression. Furthermore, women with postpartum depressive symptoms present with a dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in terms of elevated cortisol levels postpartum, as well as elevated CRH levels in mid-gestation. In conclusion, this thesis develops current knowledge on several attributes of postpartum depression. Further studies are required to replicate and expand on these results, which would further contribute to early identification of women at risk of postpartum depression and adoption of proper interventions that may moderate the short- and long-term consequences of the disorder.

This study aimed to determine if Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory (JEPI) scores would differentiate between youth with and without PTSD. More specifically, the study compared JEPI Neuroticism and Extraversion scores across youth with PTSD, trauma exposed youth without PTSD, and non-traumatized youth using a three group case control design. The Children’s PTSD Inventory and unstructured DSM-IV based diagnostic interviews were utilized to determine diagnostic status. Given that prior research has indicated a relationship between neuroticism and internalizing disorders, and as PTSD is primarily an internalizing disorder, it was expected that youth with PTSD would have higher JEPI Neuroticism scores relative to trauma exposed youth without PTSD or case controls. It was further expected that JEPI Neuroticism scores of trauma exposed youth without PTSD and control subjects would not significantly differ. Finally, it was expected that JEPI Extraversion scores would not significantly differ between groups. As expected, youth with PTSD had significantly higher Neuroticism scores relative to traumatized youth without PTSD and controls. The Neuroticism scores of trauma exposed youth without PTSD and controls did not significantly differ. There were no significant differences between groups in regard to Extraversion scores. Implications for research and practice were considered.

Individuals with problem solving deficits, and higher levels of neuroticism and hopelessness, are at increased risk for suicide, yet little is known about the interrelationships between these vulnerability characteristics. In a sample of 223 low-income, primary care patients, we examined the potential mediating role of hopelessness on the relation between neuroticism and suicidal behavior, and the potential moderating role of social problem solving ability. Participants completed self-report questionnaires: Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised, Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised, Beck Hopelessness Scale, and NEO Five Factor Inventory. Models were tested using bootstrapped moderated mediation techniques. There was a significant indirect effect of neuroticism on suicidal behavior through hopelessness, and this indirect effect was moderated by social problem solving ability. Patients with greater neuroticism also manifest greater levels of hopelessness and, in turn, more suicidal behavior, and these relations are strengthened at lower levels of social problem solving. Interventions that increase social problem solving ability and reduce hopelessness may reduce suicide risk.

<p>Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka hur olika typer av känslomässig</p><p>priming påverkar bedömningen av neutrala ansikten. I studien undersöks också hur</p><p>personlighetsegenskapen neuroticism påverkar denna bedömning, både enskilt och i</p><p>kombination med känslomässig priming. 82 försökspersoner deltog i undersökningen.</p><p>Primingen sker i form av emotionella ord som är positiva, negativ eller neutrala.</p><p>Tidigare studier har visat att neuroticism favoriserar negativa affekter, och hypotesen</p><p>i studien var att den negativa primingen ska ha större effekt på individer som ligger</p><p>högt på skalan som mäter neuroticism än på de som ligger lågt på skalan. Resultaten</p><p>av denna studie visade inga signifikanta huvudeffekter av vare sig priming eller</p><p>neuroticism, även signifikanta interaktionseffekt mellan dessa faktorer uteblev. En</p><p>förklaring till uteblivna resultat kan vara att neuroticism grupperna inte skilde sig</p><p>markant från varandra på just denna variabel och därför inte heller uppvisade några</p><p>skillnader i bedömningen av ansikten. En möjlig orsak till uteblivna primingeffekter</p><p>kan vara att bedömningsstimulit (ansiktena) visades under så lång tid att</p><p>försökspersonerna hann göra en medveten bearbetning av dessa.</p>

Heart rate variability (HRV), a physiological marker of autonomic nervous system (ANS) engagement, has been associated with a wide variety of clinical and psychological processes. High frequency (HF) HRV power, specifically, has been linked with the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and self-regulation. The current inquiry used a random effects growth model to study the HF HRV response to an emotional task and to predict individual differences in HF HRV as a function of trait hostility, neuroticism, and emotion regulation strategies (e.g., positive reappraisal, positive refocusing). Results indicated that the task engaged both branches of the ANS. HF HRV was not related to either hostility or neuroticism. However, positive reappraisal was associated with both high baseline values of HF HRV (i.e., greater initial parasympathetic activation) and lower rates of reactivity (i.e., less parasympathetic withdrawal). Overall, these results add to the evidence that positive reappraisal is a powerful component of emotion regulation and may be an important intervention target.

Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka hur olika typer av känslomässig priming påverkar bedömningen av neutrala ansikten. I studien undersöks också hur personlighetsegenskapen neuroticism påverkar denna bedömning, både enskilt och i kombination med känslomässig priming. 82 försökspersoner deltog i undersökningen. Primingen sker i form av emotionella ord som är positiva, negativ eller neutrala. Tidigare studier har visat att neuroticism favoriserar negativa affekter, och hypotesen i studien var att den negativa primingen ska ha större effekt på individer som ligger högt på skalan som mäter neuroticism än på de som ligger lågt på skalan. Resultaten av denna studie visade inga signifikanta huvudeffekter av vare sig priming eller neuroticism, även signifikanta interaktionseffekt mellan dessa faktorer uteblev. En förklaring till uteblivna resultat kan vara att neuroticism grupperna inte skilde sig markant från varandra på just denna variabel och därför inte heller uppvisade några skillnader i bedömningen av ansikten. En möjlig orsak till uteblivna primingeffekter kan vara att bedömningsstimulit (ansiktena) visades under så lång tid att försökspersonerna hann göra en medveten bearbetning av dessa.