Abstract
This study explored the relationship between the Big Five personality traits (BFPTs) and the self-regulation strategy of spontaneous mental contrasting (S.MC) among Chinese university students. Study 1 employed a cross-sectional correlational design. We hypothesized that positive relationships exist for conscientiousness, extraversion, and low neuroticism with spontaneous mental contrasting, whereas agreeableness and openness are unrelated to spontaneous mental contrasting regarding the Chinese context. The results did not support the hypotheses. However, Study 1 indicated that two sub-traits (compassion and responsibility) correlated positively with spontaneous mental contrasting. An experimental study (Study 2) was conducted to confirm these results. The results revealed that the two prosocial traits (compassion and responsibility) significantly predict spontaneous mental contrasting compared to neutral condition. These findings support the results of a prior study, which found that those who experienced more social responsibility toward others typically used spontaneous mental contrasting to achieve their social responsibility goals. These findings extended these results, as the participants in this study exhibited increased spontaneous mental contrasting with their academic goals when induced by responsibility and compassion. The results of this study imply that the prosocial traits increased the use of spontaneous mental contrasting and future interventional designs should integrate these traits.
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All dataset may be found via:
Study 1: https://osf.io/pv5xk/?view_only=9b8930a1927d4e20b745059ed0081206.
Study 2: https://osf.io/6pqgw/?view_only=02d7eea3af34445ca4868da94aaef96f.
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Acknowledgements
The help of Ying Wang with collecting data, and Dannuo Lv and Lin Wang with coding the data is gratefully acknowledged.
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The study was supported by a grant from the Research Program Funds of the Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University (2021-03-002-BZPK01) and Teacher Education Research Program Funds of Northeast Normal University (JSJY20180302).
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MT developed the study concept, and design. Data analyses and interpretation were performed by MT under the mentorship of XG and GW. Data collection was performed under the mentorship of YM, and all of them approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
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Tamim, M., Wang, G., Gai, X. et al. Big five personality traits and spontaneous mental contrasting among Chinese students. Curr Psychol 43, 15459–15470 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05487-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05487-z