(www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/per.682 Neuroticism Predicts Reactions to Cues of Social Inclusion

In the current paper, we hypothesized that people who are high in neuroticism (N) share a motivational predisposition to react vigilantly to threatening cues, most of which tend to be social in humans. In three studies, support for this prediction was found: based on cross‐sectional and diary data, it was found that the self‐esteem (SE) of individuals high in N decreases more in response to perceptions of relationship conflict and low relationship quality than that of emotionally stable ones. In a study of people's reactions to imagined threats, neurotic individuals showed a heightened sensitivity to both nonsocial and social cues, though reactions to social cues were somewhat more pronounced. Results are consistent with principles from evolutionary and process‐oriented personality psychology. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  R. Larsen,et al.  EXTRAVERSION, NEUROTICISM AND SUSCEPTIBILITY TO POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MOOD INDUCTION PROCEDURES , 1989 .

[2]  Jaap J. A. Denissen,et al.  Evolution, genes, and inter‐disciplinary personality research , 2007 .

[3]  A. Fanous,et al.  Neuroticism, major depression and gender: a population-based twin study , 2002, Psychological Medicine.

[4]  Franz J. Neyer,et al.  Relationships matter in personality development: evidence from an 8-year longitudinal study across young adulthood. , 2007, Journal of personality.

[5]  F. Hesse,et al.  Relative effectiveness and validity of mood induction procedures : a meta-analysis , 1996 .

[6]  R. Chris Fraley,et al.  Adult Romantic Attachment: Theoretical Developments, Emerging Controversies, and Unanswered Questions , 2000 .

[7]  D. Nettle.  The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals. , 2006, The American psychologist.

[8]  A. T. Church,et al.  Relating the Tellegen and five-factor models of personality structure. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[9]  R. Bosker.  Boekbespreking van "A.S. Bryk & S.W. Raudenbusch - Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods" : Sage Publications, Newbury Parki, London/New Delhi 1992 , 1995 .

[10]  E. Maccoby,et al.  Gender and relationships. A developmental account. , 1990, The American psychologist.

[11]  Richard D. Alexander,et al.  How did humans evolve? Reflections on the uniquely unique species. , 1990 .

[12]  N. Bolger,et al.  A framework for studying personality in the stress process. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  J. Nezlek,et al.  Affect- and Self-Based Models of Relationships between Daily Events and Daily Well-Being , 2003, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[14]  Iu,et al.  Runaway Social Selection in Fh-rman Evolution , 2022 .

[15]  D. Griffin,et al.  Calibrating the sociometer: the relational contingencies of self-esteem. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  Alex Casillas,et al.  Neuroticism: Adaptive and maladaptive features , 2003 .

[17]  Michael D. Robinson,et al.  Neuroticism as mental noise: a relation between neuroticism and reaction time standard deviations. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[18]  G. Downey,et al.  Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[19]  S. Armeli,et al.  The role of neuroticism in daily stress and coping. , 1999, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[20]  Lisa Feldman Barrett,et al.  Accuracy of the Five-Factor Model in Predicting Perceptions of Daily Social Interactions , 1997 .

[21]  P. Costa,et al.  Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) , 1992 .

[22]  N. Allen,et al.  The social risk hypothesis of depressed mood: evolutionary, psychosocial, and neurobiological perspectives. , 2003, Psychological bulletin.

[23]  J. Suls,et al.  Emotional Reactivity to Everyday Problems, Affective Inertia, and Neuroticism , 1998 .

[24]  J. Asendorpf,et al.  Personality effects on social relationships. , 1998 .

[25]  V. Benet‐Martínez,et al.  Personality and the prediction of consequential outcomes. , 2006, Annual review of psychology.

[26]  G. Matthews.  Neuroticism from the Top Down: Psychophysiology and Negative Emotionality. , 2004 .

[27]  J. Twenge.  The age of anxiety? Birth cohort change in anxiety and neuroticism, 1952-1993. , 2000, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[28]  N. Bolger,et al.  Personality and the problems of everyday life: the role of neuroticism in exposure and reactivity to daily stressors. , 1991, Journal of personality.

[29]  J W Foppe van Mil,et al.  Our Genes , 2005, Pharmacy World and Science.

[30]  S. Srivastava,et al.  The Big Five Trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. , 1999 .

[31]  J. Gross,et al.  Relations between Affect and Personality: Support for the Affect-Level and Affective-Reactivity Views , 1998 .

[32]  H. Eysenck.  Biological dimensions of personality. , 1990 .

[33]  B. Bushman,et al.  Threatened egotism, narcissism, self-esteem, and direct and displaced aggression: does self-love or self-hate lead to violence? , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[34]  R. Baumeister,et al.  The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer theory , 2000 .

[35]  A. Tellegen.  Structures of Mood and Personality and Their Relevance to Assessing Anxiety, With an Emphasis on Self-Report , 2019, Anxiety and the Anxiety Disorders.

[36]  M. Rosenberg.  Society and the adolescent self-image , 1966 .

[37]  Jaap J. A. Denissen,et al.  The evolutionary genetics of personality , 2007 .

[38]  Frieder R Lang,et al.  Blood Is Thicker Than Water : Kinship Orientation Across Adulthood , 2003 .

[39]  A. Rissanen,et al.  Genetic and environmental factors affecting self-esteem from age 14 to 17: a longitudinal study of Finnish twins , 2007, Psychological Medicine.

[40]  M. Leary,et al.  Self-esteem as an interpersonal monitor: The sociometer hypothesis. , 1995 .

[41]  T. Judge,et al.  Are measures of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct? , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[42]  Howard Tennen,et al.  Dynamic approaches to emotions and stress in everyday life: Bolger and Zuckerman reloaded with positive as well as negative affects. , 2005, Journal of personality.

[43]  L Cosmides,et al.  On the universality of human nature and the uniqueness of the individual: the role of genetics and adaptation. , 1990, Journal of personality.

[44]  R. Baumeister,et al.  The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. , 1995, Psychological bulletin.

[45]  J. Kruse,et al.  Improving screening for mental disorders in the primary care setting by combining the GHQ-12 and SCL-90-R subscales. , 2001, Comprehensive psychiatry.

[46]  D. J. Lee.  Society and the Adolescent Self-Image , 1969 .

[47]  A. Feingold,et al.  Gender differences in personality: a meta-analysis. , 1994, Psychological bulletin.

[48]  J. Joireman,et al.  Where do motivational and emotional traits fit within three factor models of personality , 1999 .

[49]  Michael Geyer,et al.  Das NEO-Fünf-Faktoren Inventar (NEO-FFI) , 2002 .

[50]  W. Revelle.  Personality Processes , 2002 .

[51]  Jeff Simpson,et al.  The evolution of mind: Fundamental questions and controversies. , 2007 .

[52]  Avshalom Caspi,et al.  Personality development: stability and change. , 2005, Annual review of psychology.

[53]  David M Almeida,et al.  Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development. We wish to thank , 2022 .

[54]  L. Sanna,et al.  Virtue, vice, and personality : the complexity of behavior , 2003 .

[55]  J. Simpson,et al.  The evolution of human mating: Trade-offs and strategic pluralism , 2000, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[56]  Veena Kumari,et al.  On the psychobiology of personality: Essays in honor of Marvin Zuckerman , 2005 .

[57]  B. N. Buswell,et al.  Gender differences in self-esteem: a meta-analysis. , 1999, Psychological bulletin.

[58]  Charles S. Carver,et al.  Action, Emotion, and Personality: Emerging Conceptual Integration , 2000 .

[59]  J. Suls,et al.  Person-Environment Fit and its Limits: Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Emotional Reactivity to Interpersonal Conflict , 1998 .

[60]  James A. Russell,et al.  Structure of Self-Reported Current Affect : Integration and Beyond , 2004 .

[61]  Jeff T. Larsen,et al.  Neuroticism is associated with larger and more prolonged electrodermal responses to emotionally evocative pictures. , 2007, Psychophysiology.

[62]  K. Vohs,et al.  PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Interpersonal Evaluations Following Threats to Self : Role of Self-Esteem , 2004 .

[63]  Franz J. Neyer,et al.  Free Recall or Recognition in Collecting Egocentered Networks: The Role of Survey Techniques , 1997 .

[64]  Timothy D. Wilson,et al.  Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. , 1977 .

[65]  H. Eysenck.  Types of Personality: A Factorial Study of Seven Hundred Neurotics , 1944 .

[66]  Jennifer S. Beer,et al.  PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES How Self-Evaluations Relate to Being Liked by Others : Integrating Sociometer and Attachment Perspectives , 2005 .

[67]  A. Elliot,et al.  Approach-avoidance motivation in personality: approach and avoidance temperaments and goals. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[68]  W. Fleeson.  Toward a structure- and process-integrated view of personality: traits as density distribution of states. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[69]  J. Kugler,et al.  On the relation between neuroticism, self-esteem, and depression: results from the National Comorbidity Survey. , 2003, Comprehensive psychiatry.