PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 1

Adaptive and Dark Personality in the Covid-19 Pandemic:

Predicting Health-behavior Endorsement and the Appeal of Public-health Messages

Complete Version 1.6

May 31, 2020

A peer-reviewed version of this manuscript is available for free (open access)

from the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science at

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550620936439

Pavel S. Blagov, PhD

Whitman College

Reference as:

Blagov, P. S. (2020). Adaptive and dark personality in the COVID-19 pandemic: Predicting health-behavior endorsement and the appeal of public-health messages. Social Psychological and Personality Science. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1948550620936439

Notes: Contact: [email protected] Disclosure: No known conflicts of interest. Preregistration and data: https://osf.io/gwk5y Acknowledgments: Jean-Pierre Rolland, PhD; Alissa Cordner, PhD; Nina Barzachka, PhD; Kolby D. McKague. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 2

Abstract

Who embraces directions to socially distance, boost hygiene, and protect others during a pandemic of contagious respiratory disease? Do differently phrased public-health messages appeal to different people? I based predictions on the five-factor, triarchic psychopathy, and

Dark Triad models of normal-range and dark traits; the extended parallel process model (EPPM); and schema-congruence theory. In a survey of 502 online participants, normal-range traits (esp. agreeableness and conscientiousness) predicted endorsement of social distancing and hygiene, as well as the appeal of health messages in general. Consistent with the EPPM, conscientiousness and neuroticism had an interaction. Dark traits (esp. psychopathy, meanness, and disinhibition) predicted low endorsement of health behaviors and the intent to knowingly expose others to risk.

Most participants preferred a message appealing to compassion (“Help protect the vulnerable...”), but dark traits predicted lower appeal of that message. Personality appears relevant to epidemiology and public-health communication in a contagious-disease context.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 3

Adaptive and Dark Personality Traits in the Covid-19 Pandemic:

Predicting Health-behavior Endorsement and the Appeal of Public-health Messages

On March 11, 2020, the WHO announced a pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus disease (Covid-19). By March 20, all U.S. states had confirmed

Covid-19 cases and announced states of emergency, to which people reacted in diverse ways (So et al., 2020). Were individual differences at play?

Personality predicts health and health behaviors broadly (Strickhouser et al., 2011), and disease avoidance may be one reason why traits like cautiousness, conformity, and social withdrawal have evolved (Lukaszewski & von Rueden, 2015; Schaller & Murray, 2008). Yet little is known about personality’s links to protective vs. risk behavior germane to infectious disease, nor is there research on personality and responses to public-health messages (PHMs) in a pandemic. Who conforms to new hygiene and social distancing norms? What messages work for whom in helping contain a pandemic? I tested whether general, psychopathy-related, and dark personality dimensions correlated with people’s endorsement of key health behaviors. I also tested whether the congruence of PHMs with people’s traits predicted the messages’ appeal.

Health Behavior and Normal-range Personality

Early in the pandemic, authorities appealed to people’s responsibility (e.g., “wash your hands”), compassion and cooperation (e.g., “protect others, even if your risk is low”), and fear

(e.g., by emphasizing Covid-19’s lethality). Such appeals do not presume individual differences yet call for behaviors that map readily onto the normal-range personality domains from the five- factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990).

One such domain, conscientiousness, predicts health-promoting and risk-avoiding behavior outside pandemic contexts (Roberts et al., 2005). Agreeableness (which entails empathy PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 4 and cooperativeness) predicts compliance with social norms for specific health behaviors (e.g., in physical exercise, driving, sexual activity, alcohol use, and smoking; Malouff et al., 2006).

Neuroticism, usually a health and risk behavior liability (Lahey, 2009), nevertheless may make people susceptible to “fear appeals” (dire warnings) to change behavior (Awagu & Basil, 2016).

Extraversion likely makes social distancing aversive, and openness may boost health behaviors by improving perceptions of risk (Trobst et al., 2000). Overall, conscientiousness and agreeableness, the FFM’s prosocial domains, appear especially likely to predict health and risk behaviors.

More narrowly, personal hygiene’s links to personality have hardly been studied.

Personality-bound processes like disease worrying (Liao et al., 2011) seemed to predict hygiene during an influenza pandemic, implicating neuroticism. Extraversion and (low) neuroticism may predict oral hygiene (Kressin et al., 1999).

Research on non-respiratory communicable diseases and the FFM may inform predictions about responses to contagious SARS. Aspects of neuroticism, (low) conscientiousness, and (low) agreeableness may predict HIV risk behavior (Trobst et al., 2002) and sexually transmitted infection (Mõttus et al., 2012). Would this generalize to SARS?

Furthermore, conscientiousness and agreeableness may predict adaptive behavior in a pandemic synergistically, as they interact in academic and job performance (Witt et al., 2002).

Additionally, the extended parallel process model (EPPM) of persuasion in PHMs suggests a synergy between threat sensitivity (entailed in neuroticism) and self-efficacy (linked to conscientiousness) in predicting people’s fear-appeal susceptibility (Witte, 1992).

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 5

Health Behavior and Dark Personality

Apart from the FFM, clinical conceptualizations of maladaptive personality may explain people’s diverse reactions. Sensation seeking and neuroticism’s clinical manifestations predict many risk behaviors, including HIV-risk sexual behavior (Kalichman et al., 1998; Razei et al.,

2017); so do antisocial and borderline personality disorder features (Adams et al., 2016; Ladd &

Petry, 2003; Kelley & Petry, 2000). Because it relates to these disorders and sensation seeking, such findings implicate psychopathy.

Psychopathy is a cluster of characteristics revolving around unempathic callousness

(Verschuere et al., 2018) and including egocentricity, grandiosity, glibness, remorselessness, deceptiveness, manipulativeness, recklessness, unreliability, and antisociality (Hare, 1996). It partially overlaps with the other Dark Triad traits (Paulhus & Williams, 2002): narcissism

(which involves more exhibitionism and less disinhibition) and Machiavellianism (which entails more cynicism and calculated exploitativeness and less grandiosity and disinhibition). Not unitary, in Patrick et al.’s (2009) triarchic model, psychopathy is the confluence of boldness

(dominance, fearlessness, adventurousness, and stress immunity), disinhibition (lack of constraint, especially of one’s antisocial impulses), and meanness (callousness and instrumental exploitativeness).

Psychopathy and, to some extent, narcissism and Machiavellianism, predict not only antisocial tendencies (including aggression and violence), but also various health behaviors and outcomes (Hudek-Knezevic et al., 2016; Jonason et al., 2015; Malesza & Kaczmarek, 2019), including HIV-risk sexual behavior (Hudek-Knezevic et al., 2007). Like the FFM’s normal-range traits, the Dark Triad has not been studied in relation to PHMs or health-related behaviors in a

SARS pandemic. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 6

Dark Personality and Harm to Others’ Health

If maladaptive personality partially explains reactions to the pandemic and to PHMs, it matters to public health. For example, it may explain who intentionally spreads, or threatens to spread, disease – which raises societal concern (Dryer, 2020). Sensation seeking’s link to HIV- risk behavior in infected persons has such implications (Kalichman et al., 2008; Shuper et al.,

2014). Findings link psychopathy to deliberately misleading sex partners about one’s HIV- positive status (Benotsch et al., 2012) and narcissism to knowingly putting others at risk of HIV

(Martin et al., 2013). More generally, psychopathy and the Dark Triad correlate with endorsement of unethical behavior (Pletti et al., 2017; Roeser et al., 2016). During a pandemic, dark personality may predispose people to dismiss or act contrary to PHMs and endanger others.

Personality and Health Communications

Above, I theorized links between personality and health-related behavior during the

Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, personality may have applied implications (Ferguson, 2013), particularly for communicating health advice (Dutta-Bergman, 2003). It may partly explain what

PHMs are persuasive to different people. According to schema-congruence theory (Brock et al.,

1990), people prefer and find more persuasive messages that align with their views of themselves. This has been suggested in commercial advertising (Chang, 2005; Matz et al., 2017), antismoking campaigns (Chang, 2009), diabetes education (Lawson et al., 2010), college drinking (York et al., 2012a), dental-hygiene promotion (Sherman et al., 2008), and condom use

(Noar et al., 2006). If personality is reflected in their self-concept, people may favor messages that match their self-reported traits.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 7

The Current Study

Given the paucity of research on personality in relation to SARS-protective and risk behaviors during a pandemic, I tested such relationships using a survey. Measuring actual behaviors would be preferable, yet self-reported current and intended behaviors provide a starting point to probe the boundaries of personality theory.

Among the constructs discussed above, conscientiousness, agreeableness, (low) extraversion, neuroticism, (low) boldness, and (low) disinhibition emerged as candidates to predict self-reported ongoing social distancing. Conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and low boldness, disinhibition, and psychopathy may predict endorsement of intent for future social distancing (presumably because of growing knowledge and PHMs about the pandemic).

Conscientiousness, agreeableness, (low) disinhibition, and (low) meanness are likely to predict intent for future hygiene (to protects not only the self but also others). Psychopathy, meanness, disinhibition, and Machiavellianism may predict endorsing the willingness to infect others.

Additionally, conscientiousness and agreeableness, and conscientiousness and neuroticism would interact in predicting current social distancing and future intent for social distancing (as per prior research cited above and the EPPM).

Per schema-congruence theory, as outlined above, differently phrased PHMs’ appeal would correlate with personality dimensions: (a) for a “self-centered” message, with narcissism, meanness, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy; (b) for a “responsible” message, with conscientiousness and (low) disinhibition; (c) for a “compassionate” message, with agreeableness, conscientiousness, (low) narcissism, (low) Machiavellianism, (low) psychopathy, and (low) meanness; (d) for an “avoidant” message, with neuroticism and (low) boldness; and (e) for a “sociable” message, with extraversion, boldness, and openness. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 8

Method

After pre-registering the study on March 20, I collected data from March 20-23, just after

California and New York (followed by other states) issued shelter-at-home orders. At that time,

Americans had varied and evolving opinions about the pandemic, whether it posed risk to them, and whether the public was overreacting (Rakich, 2020).

Participants

U.S. Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers with master status (N = 502), received $2.50 to complete a 15-min. survey. Expecting small effect sizes and limited by funding, I planned to obtain 500 cases for .85 power (Algina & Olejnik, 2003) to detect partial correlations of .15 at p

= .01 (one tailed) after data cleaning. I anticipated careless (possibly automated) responding on

MTurk and planned to screen the data for duplicate, automated, and invalid responding before testing hypotheses. Of 652 people who reached the survey’s end, 616 passed effort checks. Of them, 562 passed validity checks, 540 passed subsequent inconsistency checks, 503 passed a completion-time check, and 502 had fully completed all questionnaires (Supplementary

Materials, SMs, Tables S1-S4). No duplicates were evident. Thus, 23% of response sets were excluded as noncompliant or suspicious. Participants reported being 51% male, 77.5% White,

47.2% single, and 60.4% full-time employed. Age ranged from 21-76 years (M = 41, SD = 11), and 72.5% denied having health conditions that increase risk from Covid-19 (Table S8).

Measures

Based on WHO and CDC advice for preventing Covid-19’s spread, I listed 10 health behaviors coinciding with widely popularized advice (Nierenberg, 2020). Conceptually, they represent social distancing and hygiene. From that list, I wrote two measures to capture self- reported current and intended future health behaviors. A third questionnaire, with broader PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 9 content, was intended to measure covertly participants’ willingness to deliberately put others at risk (vs. following advice to protect others).

Current Health Behavior (CHB; 10 items) asked participants how much they currently did each behavior as a precaution against Covid-19 (e.g., “Limit contact with people as much as possible…”) on a 4-point scale from not at all or never to extremely or always. I expected the data to be reducible to CHB: Social Distancing and CHB: Hygiene. A principal components analysis (PCA) corroborated this (Table S5). Thus, although CHB’s internal consistency was high,  = .89, I reduced its data to two dimensions. Table S10 contains descriptives.

Future Health Behavior (FHB; 14 items) asked participants to rate on a 5-point scale from extremely likely to not likely at all their likelihood to do each behavior over the next two weeks. Scales were keyed opposite to CHB’s (and later reversed) for data control purposes. Ten items paralleled the CHB’s. Four captured more venturous interpersonal contact, from going to a large gathering to having sex with someone new. I expected the data to be reducible to FHB:

Social Distancing, FHB: Hygiene, and Venturous Behavior. Internal consistency was acceptable,

 = .76, and PCA supported the intended structure (Table S6).

Carrier Scenario (CS; 18 items) asked participants to rate on a 4-point scale (from not at all to definitely) the likelihood of specific behaviors if they had good reason to think they were carrying Covid-19. The behaviors ranged from calling ahead prior to seeing a physician, to wearing a mask, to shaking hands in different situations, to purposefully trying to infect others.

CS ( = 71) was readily reducible to two components (Table S7): Harmful Behavior and

Protecting Others.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 10

PHM Appeal

Participants viewed, in a randomized order, five PHMs written to appeal to different personalities: Self-centered, Responsible, Compassionate, Avoidant, and Sociable (Appendix

SA). They rated from 0-100 how much each message (a) was persuasive to them, (b) was likely for them to take seriously, and (c) was likely to affect their behavior. Each PHM’s composite score was internally consistent ( = .93 - .95). Participants also viewed distinctive lines from each message with instructions to rank-order the PHMs based on personal appeal.

Personality Dimensions

The Mini-IPIP (MIP; Donnellan et al., 2006) is 20-item form of the International

Personality Item Pool (Goldberg, 1993), developed to maximize short-form validity and factor separation. It captures the FFM’s general trait domains (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, etc.).

Participants responded on a 5-point scale from very false to very true. For exploratory purposes, I computed personality superfactors: Stability, Plasticity, and the General P Factor (Rushton &

Irwing, 2011; Tables S11, S15).

The Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy (AMP; Semel, 2018) operationalizes the triarchic psychopathy model with 33-items as a parsimonious alternative to Patrick’s (2010) longer instrument. It has a 4-point scale from true to false and yields scores on Boldness (e.g., “I have a very strong and dominating personality”), Meanness (e.g., “It sometimes gives me pleasure to see someone in pain”), and Disinhibition (e.g., “The saying ‘plan ahead’ is definitely not for me”). For exploratory purposes, I also employed the overall score.

The Short Dark Triad (SD3; Jones & Paulhus, 2014) is a 27-item measure yielding scores on Narcissism (e.g., “Many group activities tend to be dull without me”),

Machiavellianism (e.g., “I like to use clever manipulation to get my way”) and Psychopathy PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 11

(e.g., “Payback needs to be quick and nasty”). Participants responded on a 5-point scale from disagree strongly to agree strongly. I also utilized its overall score to estimate the Dark Factor,

D; Moshagen et al., 2020)

Additional Considerations

To minimize the effects of global response sets, I keyed the measures’ scales both ways.

Additionally, about half of the MIP and multiple AMP and SD3 items were reverse-keyed.

Personality questionnaire names were disguised.

I planned to control for gender, age, and presence of health conditions that increase risk from Covid-19. These could be expected to covary with both personality and pandemic-related behavior. Extreme responses are of interest when studying maladaptive behavior, so I did not plan deleting outliers. I adopted  = .01 (one-tailed) for 37 partial-correlation hypotheses (as noted earlier) and  = .05 for four interaction hypotheses.

Results

Current Health Behavior

-6 -5 As predicted, Agreeableness (rp = .21, p = 2.6 ), Conscientiousness (rp = .18, p = 6.3 ),

-3 and Neuroticism (rp = .12, p = 8.4 ) predicted CHB: Social Distancing (SD; Table 1 includes

-3 CIs). In exploratory analyses (EAs), so did Extraversion (rp = .12, p = 6.1 ) and the FFM

-8 superfactors, especially Stability (rp = .24, p = 4.3 ; Table S16).

-1 Contrary to prediction, Boldness did not predict CHB:SD (rp = -.03, p = 5.9 ; Table 2).

-5 - As hypothesized, Disinhibition (rp = -.17, p = 9.5 ) and SD3 Psychopathy did (rp = -.23, p = 1.2

7 -4 -4 ). In EAs, so did Meanness (rp = -.17, p = 1.2 ), Machiavellianism (rp = -.16, p = 3.1 ), overall

-4 -3 AMP Psychopathy (rp = -.15, p = 9.2 ), and SD3 Dark Factor (D; rp = -.14, p = 1.5 ) scores.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 12

Table 1 Partial Correlations between Health Behavior Endorsement and Normal Personality Domains (N = 502). Mini-IPIP Current Health Behavior Future Health Behavior Carrier Scenario factors and Social Hygiene Social Hygiene Venturous Harmful Protecting superfactors Distancing Distancing Behavior Behavior Others † † † † † † Agreeableness rp/p .21 2.6E-06 .32 3.1E-13 .16 2.4E-04 .32 2.5E-13 -.01 4.3E-01 -.17 1.1E-04 .15 2.7E-04 98% b.c. C.I. [.07 − .34] [.20 − .43] [.02 − .30] [.19 − .44] [-.14 − .10] [-.28 − -.03] [.05 − .26] † † † † * * Conscientiousness rp/p .18 6.3E-05 .25 1.2E-08 .15 2.6E-04 .24 4.0E-08 -.12 2.7E-03 -.07 7.2E-02 .12 3.0E-03 98% b.c. C.I. [.07 − .28] [.13 − .37] [.03 − .29] [.13 − .35] [-.27 − .02] [-.15 − .01] [.03 − .22] * † † † Neuroticism rp/p .12 8.4E-03 .22 6.3E-07 .07 5.7E-02 .18 1.9E-05 .01 3.9E-01 -.05 1.2E-01 .15 3.8E-04 98% b.c. C.I. [.01 − .23] [.11 − .32] [-.03 − .18] [.08 − .30] [-.08 − .11] [-.17 − .05] [.04 − .25] * † * † Extraversion rp/p -.12 6.1E-03 -.22 4.5E-07 -.12 3.1E-03 -.22 5.1E-07 .06 8.1E-02 .09 2.6E-02 -.10 1.1E-02 98% b.c. C.I. [-.23 − -.03] [-.31 − -.13] [-.25 − -.01] [-.33 − -.12] [-.05 − .17] [.00 − .22] [-.21 − .01] † Openness rp/p .10 2.8E-02 .15 5.4E-04 -.01 4.6E-01 .09 2.7E-02 .02 3.6E-01 -.08 4.4E-02 .09 2.5E-02 98% b.c. C.I. [.00 − .20] [.05 − .25] [-.10 − .09] [-.02 − .20] [-.11 − .12] [-.24 − .10] [-.02 − .20] Controlling for sex, age, and risk health condition. Shaded: tests with a priori hypotheses. Unshaded: exploratory analyses. Bootstrap estimation of bias-corrected C.I. with 1000 iterations. *p < .01 = 1.0E-2, †p < .001 = 1.0E-3.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 13

Table 2 Partial Correlations between Health Behavior Endorsement and Dark Personality Traits (N = 502). Dark personality Current Health Behavior Future Health Behavior Carrier Scenario dimensions Social Hygiene Social Hygiene Venturous Harmful Protecting Distancing Distancing Behavior Behavior Others * AMP Boldness rp/p -.03 5.0E-01 .04 3.3E-01 -.09 2.5E-02 .01 4.9E-01 .11 7.5E-03 .05 1.5E-01 -.04 1.7E-01 98% b.c. C.I. [-.13 − .07] [-.07 − .16] [ -.21 − .05] [-.13 − .13] [.00 − .22] [ -.08 − .16] [-.15 − .07] † † † † * † † AMP Meanness rp/p -.17 1.3E-04 -.24 5.5E-08 -.20 2.4E-06 -.28 1.6E-10 .13 2.5E-03 .21 2.0E-06 -.21 1.9E-06 98% b.c. C.I. [-.29 − -.05] [-.36 − -.11] [ -.35 − -.07] [-.41 − -.14] [-.02 − .29] [.07 − .31] [-.31 − -.11] † † † † † † † AMP Disinhibition rp/p -.17 9.5E-05 -.21 2.8E-06 -.23 1.2E-07 -.25 1.2E-08 .21 1.2E-06 .19 1.3E-05 -.19 6.8E-06 98% b.c. C.I. [-.28 − -.07] [-.32 − -.07] [ -.37 − -.08] [-.38 − -.12] [.05 − .36] [.03 − .31] [-.29 − -.09]

SD3 Narcissism rp/p .03 5.6E-01 .08 6.5E-02 .00 4.6E-01 .06 9.7E-02 .03 2.2E-01 .05 1.4E-01 .02 3.2E-01 98% b.c. C.I. [-.08 − .13] [-.03 − .20] [ -.11 − .12] [-.06 − .18] [-.07 − .16] [ -.06 − .14] [-.09 − .13] † † * † † SD3 Machiavellianism rp/p -.16 3.1E-04 -.19 1.9E-05 -.13 2.6E-03 -.17 5.1E-05 .08 4.6E-02 .10 1.1E-02 -.17 1.0E-04 98% b.c. C.I. [-.26 − -.06] [-.30 − -.08] [ -.26 − -.01] [-.29 − -.06] [-.06 − .23] [.03 − .21] [-.26 − -.07] † † † † † † SD3 Psychopathy rp/p -.23 1.2E-07 -.20 7.0E-06 -.20 2.3E-06 -.21 1.1E-06 .18 4.2E-05 .18 2.9E-05 -.10 1.1E-02 98% b.c. C.I. [-.34 − -.12] [-.31 − -.07] [ -.34 − -.07] [-.33 − -.08] [.01 − .33] [.05 − .28] [-.21 − .00] Controlling for sex, age, and risk health condition. Shaded: tests with a priori hypotheses. Unshaded: exploratory analyses. Bayesian estimation of bias-corrected C.I. with 1000 iterations. AMP: Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy; SD3: Short Dark Triad. *p < .01 = 1.0E-2, †p < .001 = 1.0E-3.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 14

Future Health Behavior

-4 As predicted, Conscientiousness correlated with FHB:SD (rp = .15, p = 2.6 ). Contrary to

-2 -4 predictions, Neuroticism did not (rp = .07, p = 5.7 ). In EAs, Agreeableness (rp = .16, p = 2.4 )

-3 and, negatively, Extraversion (rp = -.12, p = 3.1 ) were linked to FHB:SD. As with CHB:SD, the

-6 -4 superfactors Stability (rp = .21, p = 1.6 ) and P (rp = .16, p = 2.4 ) predicted FHB:SD.

-76 - As predicted, Disinhibition (rp = -.23, p = 1.2 ) and SD3 Psychopathy (rp = -.20, p = 2.3

6 ) correlated inversely with FHB:SD. Contrary to the hypothesis, Boldness did not (rp = -.09, p =

-2 -6 -3 2.5 ). In EAs, Meanness (rp = -.20, p = 2.4 ), Machiavellianism (rp = -.13, p = 2.6 ), AMP

-6 -3 Psychopathy (rp = -.21, p = 1.3 ), and SD3:D (rp = -.13, p = 2.5 ) predicted lower FHB:SD.

-13 Regarding FHB: Hygiene (H), the hypotheses for Agreeableness (rp = .32, p = 2.5 ) and

-8 -5 Conscientiousness (rp = .24, p = 4.0 ) received support. In EAs, Neuroticism (rp = .18, p = 1.9 )

-7 and, negatively, Extraversion (rp = -.22, p = 5.1 ) correlated with FHB:H, as did Stability (rp =

-18 -14 .37, p = 6.9 ) and P (rp = .33, p = 2.9 ).

-10 Also supported were the predictions that Meanness (rp = -.28, p = 1.6 ) and

-8 Disinhibition (rp = -.25, p = 2.6 ) would predict FHB:H negatively. In EAs, so did

-5 -6 Machiavellianism (rp = -.17, p = 5.1 ) and Psychopathy (rp = -.21, p = 1.1 ), as did overall AMP

-6 -3 Psychopathy (rp = -.20, p = 2.2 ) and SD3:D (rp = -.11, p = 2.8 ).

In EAs, FHB: Venturous Behavior correlated especially with Disinhibition (rp = .21, p =

-6 -5 1.2 ) and, more generally, overall AMP Psychopathy (rp = .18, p = 2.6 ).

Carrier Scenario: Harmful Behavior

-6 -5 As predicted, Meanness (rp = .21, p = 2.0 ) and Disinhibition (rp = .19, p = 1.3 ), and

-5 SD3 Psychopathy (rp = .18, p = 2.9 ), predicted CS: Harmful Behavior (HB). The result for

-2 Machiavellianism (rp = .10, p = 1.1 ) approached  = .01 (one-tailed) but was non-significant; PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 15 however, its 98% C.I. excluded 0, suggesting that it, too, predicted CS:HB. In EAs, so did

-5 -3 overall AMP Psychopathy (rp = .17, p = 4.4 ) and SD3:D (rp = .13, p = 1.5 ), as did

-4 Agreeableness (negatively; rp = -.17, p = 1.1 ).

EAs suggested that CS: Protecting Others (PO) was negatively linked especially to

-6 -6 Meanness (rp = -.21, p = 1.9 ), Disinhibition (rp = -.19, p = 6.8 ), and Machiavellianism (rp = -

.17, p = 1.0-4).

Interactions

As predicted, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism interacted ( = -0.11, p = 8.0-3; Table

3) in predicting CHB:SD (after controlling for age, gender, and health risk). Specifically,

CHB:SD (corrected for age, gender, and risk) was less correlated with Neuroticism ( = -0.01) at lower Conscientiousness levels than at higher ones (M = 3.6, SD = 0.78,  = -.20). The hypothesis that Conscientiousness and Neuroticism would interact in predicting FHB:SD ( = -

0.06, p = 2.0-1) was not supported.

The hypothesis that Conscientiousness and Agreeableness interact to predict FHB:SD received support at  = .05 ( = 0.09, p = 2.9-2), but the 95% C.I. for b included 0, rendering this inconclusive. It raises the possibility that Conscientiousness and Agreeableness may predict

FHB:SD synergistically, Conscientiousness predicting FHB:SD slightly less well at higher ( =

0.12, p = 7.4-2) than lower ( = 0.17, p = 4.3-3) Agreeableness levels. The hypothesis that

Conscientiousness and Agreeableness would interact in predicting CHB:SD did not receive support ( = -0.05, p = 2.9-1). PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 16

Table 3 Tests of Interactions between Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and Neuroticism, in Predicting Social Distancing Endorsement (N = 502)

Model Step 21 Predictors R Adj. R p  p b 95% b.c. C.I. VIF DW

1 Current Social Conscientiousness (C) .35† .111† 5.8E-12 0.14† 1.2E-3 0.08 0.03 – 0.04 1.04 2.03

† Distancing Agreeableness (A) 0.18 6.1E-5 0.10 0.04 – 0.16 1.11 Interaction: C x A -0.05 2.9E-1 -0.02 -0.09 – 0.03 1.02

2 Current Social Conscientiousness (C) .33† .096† 2.7E-10 0.16† 5.1E-4 0.09 0.03 – 0.15 1.11 2.08

Distancing Neuroticism (N) -0.08 6.6E-2 -0.05 -0.11 – 0.01 1.17 Interaction: C x N -0.11† 8.0E-3 -0.06 -0.11 - -0.01 1.01

3 Future Social Conscientiousness (C) .31† .085† 4.2E-9 0.12† 4.5E-3 0.10 0.01 – 0.18 1.04 1.99

† Distancing Agreeableness (A) 0.13 5.5E-3 0.10 0.02 – 0.20 1.11 Interaction: C x A -0.09* 2.9E-2 -0.07 -0.15 – 0.04 1.02

4 Future Social Conscientiousness (C) .28† .070† 2.1E-7 0.13† 4.3E-3 0.11 0.01 – 0.21 1.11 2.08 Distancing Neuroticism (N) -0.09 5.7E-2 -0.07 -0.16 – 0.01 1.17

Interaction: C x N -0.06 2.0E-1 -0.04 -0.16 – 0.07 1.01

1Each model controls for age, gender identity, and health risk status in the previous step omitted for brevity. All predictors were centered. Bootstrap estimation of bias-corrected C.I. based on 1000 iterations. Shaded are tests of hypothesized interactions. VIF: Variance inflation factors; DF: Durbin-Watson statistic. *p < .05 = 5.0E-2, †p < .01 = 1.0E-2. Running head: PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 17

Public-health Messages

All PHMs received high mean ratings (Table S10). The mean appeal of the

Compassionate (highest, M = 84, SD = 19.4) and Sociable (lowest, M = 66, SD = 28.7) messages

-79 2 differed from the rest (Figure S1), FRM(1, 501) = 102, p < 2.73 , partial  = .17 (large effect).

The hypotheses that PMH1: Self-centered’s appeal would correlate positively with

-3 -2 Meanness (rp = -.14 , p = 1.2 ), Narcissism (rp = .08 , p = 3.6 ), Machiavellianism (rp = -.11 , p

-3 -3 = 5.5 ), and SD3 Psychopathy (rp = -.14 , p = 1.1 ) did not receive support. These associations

-10 were mostly negative. Adaptive traits, e.g., the superfactors Stability (rp = .27 , p = 7.1 ),

-5 -9 Plasticity (rp = .17 , p = 9.7 ), and P (rp = .26 , p = 2.2 ) predicted this and all other PMHs’ appeal (Tables 4, S17).

The hypotheses that PMH2: Responsible’s appeal would correlate with

-4 -3 Conscientiousness (rp = .15 , p = 4.6 ) and Disinhibition (rp = -.11, p = 7.1 ) received support.

However, as was generally the case for MPHs, its appeal also correlated with other traits: positively with adaptive and negatively with maladaptive ones.

The hypotheses that PMH3: Compassionate’s appeal would be predicted by

-18 -5 Agreeableness (rp = .37, p = 5.6 ) and Conscientiousness (rp = .17, p = 8.0 ) and, negatively, by

-13 -7 Meanness (rp = -.31, p = 3.3 ), Machiavellianism (rp = -.23, p = 1.6 ), and SD3 Psychopathy (rp

= -.26, p = 2.5-9) received support; the hypothesis that it would correlate negatively with

-1 Narcissism (rp = -.04, p = 2.0 ) did not. In EAs, PMH3 appeal correlated also with Openness (rp

-4 -8 = .15, p = 3.3 ), Disinhibition (rp = -.24, p = 1.7 ), and all superfactors.

-3 As predicted, Neuroticism correlated with PMH4: Avoidant’s appeal (rp = .13, p = 2.2 ) but also with all other PMHs, and PMH4 had a stronger correlation with Agreeableness (rp = .24,

-8 -1 p = 2.7 ). Contrary to expectations, Boldness did not predict PMH4 ratings (rp = .01, p = 4.6 ). PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 18

Table 4 Partial Correlations between Public-health Message Appeal and Personality Traits (N = 502). Personality Public-health Message Appeal dimensions Self-centered Responsible Compassionate Avoidant Sociable † † † † † MIP A rp/p 0.26 2.7E-09 .29 3.6E-11 .37 5.6E-18 .24 2.7E-08 .21 6.5E-07 98% b.c. C.I. [0.13 − .38] [.16 − .41] [.26 − .48] [.11 − .37] [.09 − .35] † † † † MIP C rp/p 0.18 3.1E-05 .15 4.6E-04 .17 8.0E-05 .14 6.2E-04 .09 2.5E-02 98% b.c. C.I. [0.08 − .28] [.04 − .25] [.06 − .27] [.02 − .25] [-.03 − .20] † † * * † MIP N rp/p 0.16 1.7E-04 .16 1.3E-04 .11 9.5E-03 .13 2.2E-03 .18 2.1E-05 98% b.c. C.I. [0.05 − .26] [.06 − .26] [.00 − .21] [.02 − .23] [.07 − .28] * * * MIP E rp/p -0.13 2.6E-03 -.11 6.4E-03 -.11 6.0E-03 -.09 2.2E-02 -.10 1.4E-02 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.23 − -.02] [-.22 − -.01] [-.23 − .01] [-.20 − .02] [-.22 − .01] * † MIP O rp/p 0.10 1.1E-02 .11 6.1E-03 .15 3.3E-04 .09 2.1E-02 .06 8.2E-02 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.01 − .20] [.00 − .22] [.05 − .25] [-.02 − .20] [-.05 − .17]

AMP B rp/p 0.02 3.1E-01 .02 3.4E-01 -.07 5.6E-02 .01 4.6E-01 .03 2.6E-01 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.08 − .13] [-.09 − .14] [-.18 − .04] [-.10 − .09] [-.08 − .14] * † † * * AMP M rp/p -0.14 1.2E-03 -.19 1.3E-05 -.31 3.3E-13 -.11 8.3E-03 -.13 2.3E-03 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.25 − -.02] [-.31 − -.06] [-.42 − -.19] [-.22 − .00] [-.23 − -.03] * * † AMP D rp/p -0.10 1.0E-02 -.11 7.1E-03 -.24 1.7E-08 -.10 1.6E-02 -.06 1.1E-01 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.20 − .00] [-.21 − -.01] [-.35 − -.13] [-.20 − .00] [-.15 − .03]

* SD3 N rp/p 0.08 3.6E-02 .08 3.4E-02 -.04 2.0E-01 .09 2.7E-02 .12 4.8E-03 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.03 − .18] [-.03 − .18] [-.14 − .06] [-.01 − .18] [.00 − .22] * † † SD3 Mch rp/p -0.11 5.5E-03 -.17 8.9E-05 -.23 1.6E-07 -.03 2.7E-01 -.05 1.4E-01 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.22 − .00] [-.26 − -.06] [-.32 − -.13] [-.13 − .07] [-.15 − .06] * † † * SD3 P rp/p -0.14 1.1E-03 -.14 7.3E-04 -.26 2.5E-09 -.12 4.8E-03 -.08 3.5E-02 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.25 − -.03] [-.26 − -.04] [-.36 − -.15] [-.22 − -.02] [-.18 − .02] Note: Controlling for sex, age, and risk health condition. Shaded: tests with a priori hypotheses. Unshaded: exploratory. Bootstrapping of bias-corrected C.I. with 1000 iterations. MIP: Mini- IPIP (A: Agreeableness, C: Conscientiousness, N: Neuroticism, E: Extraversion, O: Openness); AMP: Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy (B: Boldness, M: Machiavellianism; D: Disinhibition); SD3: Short Dark Triad (N: Narcissism, Mch: Machiavellianism, P: Psychopathy). Note: *p < .01 = 1.0E-2, †p < .001 = 1.0E-3. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 19

No support emerged for the hypotheses that PHM5: Sociable’s appeal would correlate

-2 -2 with Extraversion (rp = -.10, p = 1.4 ), Openness (rp = .06, p = 8.2 ), and Boldness (rp = .03, p =

-1 -7 2.6 ). Instead, like the other PHM’s, PHM5 correlated with Agreeableness (rp = .21, p = .6 5 )

-5 -3 and Neuroticism (rp = .18 , p = 2.1 ) and, negatively, Meanness (rp = -.13 , p = 2.3 ).

Post Hoc Analyses

Unplanned regression analyses clarified the relative unique contributions of normal-range and dark traits to key health-related variables (Tables S19-21).

PHM: Compassionate was participants’ top choice by far (n = 208; more than twice as often as other PHMs). In EAs, participants’ highest-ranked PHM predicted no MIP variables. It predicted AMP and SD3 scores except Boldness and Psychopathy. For example, Meanness, F(4,

493) = 5.5, p = 2.4-4, partial 2 = .043 (small effect), was lower than average in participants who ranked PHM: Compassionate the highest, t = -.114, p = 8.5-4, 95% C.I. = [-.18 - -.05].

Disinhibition, Narcissism, and Machiavellianism showed similar patterns.

Discussion

This research extends personality theory to differences in people’s reactions to a pandemic of communicable SARS. The five-factor, triarchic psychopathy, and Dark Triad models informed such questions as: What traits predict intent for social distancing and hygiene, endorsement of behavior that risks others’ health, and the appeal of differently phrased PHMs?

Such knowledge may aid individual risk prediction (Chapman et al., 2019). It may have applied implications when a minority of people dismisses conventional PHMs (de Bruin et al., 2020).

Twenty-four of 40 hypotheses received support. This was true particularly for hypotheses using trait theory to predict people’s self-reported current and intended future health behavior, as well as risks they may create for others. Although most correlations were small (a few were PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 20 medium), they may reflect meaningful patterns in behavior over time. Self-reported traits predict trait-relevant behavior (Fleeson & Gallagher, 2009), including health behaviors sampled in real time (Kroencke et al., 2019). Furthermore, behavioral intentions likely predict actual behavior

(Webb & Sheeran, 2006). The results probably reflect true trait-behavior connections.

Normal-range Personality

Regarding the FFM, eight of 11 hypotheses received support. In planned and exploratory analyses, agreeableness and conscientiousness predicted endorsement of social distancing and hygiene. This agrees with prior literature on health (Strickhouser et al., 2011), health behaviors

(Roberts et al., 2005), and non-respiratory contagions (Mõttus et al., 2012). Neuroticism may play a small role in hygiene intent, whereas extraversion’s negative links to social distancing and hygiene vanished after controlling for other traits. Consistent with the EPPM (Witte, 1992), conscientiousness and neuroticism interacted in predicting adaptive responses to the pandemic

(perhaps by increasing susceptibility to PHMs). Somewhat consistent with prior research on work and school behavior, conscientiousness and agreeableness showed a trend toward a synergistic interaction.

If such findings replicate, future research should address mechanisms behind them. Such mechanisms may include the empathic concern for others and flexibility in interpersonal behavior entailed in agreeableness (Graziano & Tobin, 2017) and the industrious self-efficacy and self-regulation involved in conscientiousness (Jackson & Roberts, 2017).

Dark Personality

Regarding triarchic psychopathy and the Dark Triad, nine of 12 hypotheses received support. In planned and exploratory analyses, meanness and disinhibition (and overall psychopathy) as well as Machiavellianism (to a lesser extent) predicted lower intent for social PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 21 distancing and hygiene. Together with boldness, the psychopathy traits predicted endorsement of risky, venturesome behavior (when participants were asked to imagine being disease carriers).

This agrees with research on dark personality in relation to health risk (including non-respiratory communicable disease; Malesza & Kaczmarek, 2019).

As predicted, meanness and disinhibition (and overall psychopathy, but not boldness) predicted endorsement of behavior that puts others at risk of infection (knowingly, and perhaps deliberately). This corroborates the link between psychopathy and unethical everyday behavior

(Benotsch et al., 2012; Pletti et al., 2017). In exploratory analyses, disinhibition related to all undesirable behaviors, meanness was particularly implicated in putting others at risk, and boldness may be linked to (adaptive) intent for hygiene. This parallels research (in non-forensic samples), whereby boldness either does not predict maladaptive or predicts adaptive outcomes

(Berg et al., 2017; Sörman et al., 2016).

Future research may ask whether similar mechanisms explain the links between the two sets of traits (maladaptive vs. adaptive) and health outcomes. Beyond this project’s scope (see

Limitations), the ability of dark traits to predict health risk behavior incrementally (over and above normal traits) merits investigation.

Appeal of Public-health Messages (PHMs)

Knowledge of the kind presented above becomes useful if it can inform public-health interventions, e.g., to limit a pandemic. As noted earlier, researchers are testing personality theory’s ability to inform the tailoring of effective communication in applied contexts. I tested whether personality predicted participant’s ratings of differently phrased PHMs.

This was, indeed, the case, but not always in the predicted manner. Only eight of 17 predictions received support. This may reflect methodological limitations. For example, the PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 22

PHMs may not have been congruent with the self-schemas they were meant to match, or schema- congruence theory cannot encompass self-reported traits and trait-congruent PHMs (York et al.,

2012b).

Agreeableness and conscientiousness predicted the appeal of the Compassionate PHM

(“Help protect the vulnerable!”), conscientiousness of the Responsible message (“Take personal responsibility!”), and neuroticism of the Avoidant message (“Avoid the disease!”). Psychopathy, meanness, and Machiavellianism negatively predicted the Compassionate message’s appeal.

However, such findings were message-nonspecific: Overall, adaptive traits predicted PHM’s appeal, and maladaptive traits predicted their non-appeal.

Participants typically chose the Compassionate message over others (including the Self- centered one: “Keep yourself healthy!”). This parallels finding that appeals to altruism improve hygiene in analog (Betsch et al., 2013) and real-life (Grant & Hofmann, 2011) experiments. Yet, ranking the Compassionate message as most effective was linked to lower meanness, disinhibition, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. Thus, appeals to altruism may work for most people but might backfire in antagonistic individuals.

Limitations

The influential personality models that informed this study are not free of potentially controversial assumptions (e.g., Watts et al., 2017). For example, Machiavellianism and psychopathy may not be truly separable (Miller et al., 2016). Indeed, their scores were highly intercorrelated and had similar associations with health-behavior endorsement. The models imply separation between normal-range vs. maladaptive traits. However, much of the personality variation they encompass may be due to a smaller set of underlying traits with wide ranges of intensity (Hyatt et al., 2020; Lynam & Miller, 2019). PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 23

The nonprobability sample and potentially unusual characteristics of MTurk participants may raise concerns. Reviews of studies on MTurk in personality research (e.g., Chandler &

Shapiro, 2016; Miller et al., 2017) have been favorable regarding the measurement, factor structures, and construct validity of normal-range and maladaptive traits (including from five- factor, Dark Triad, and psychopathy-related models).

The sample included participants from across the U.S. However, most represented were

California (13%) and New York (6%), already heavily affected by the pandemic. In conjunction with the study’s timing, self-selection into research on Covid-19, and the participants’ relatively high education, the sample’s composition may have affected the results. The most likely impact is range restriction of the health and risk behavior scores. Indeed, consistent with polls, most participants highly endorsed health-protective behaviors. Thus, I may have underestimated the magnitude of trait-behavior correlations, perhaps promoting false negative results. This was countered by a respectably large sample. Future research, if using similar methods, may benefit from more sensitive rating scales to mitigate range restriction.

Screening out noncompliant and suspicious responses likely increased measurement reliability, thus promoting power to obtain true positive results. Conversely, screening may have limited the range of irresponsible, disinhibited, antagonistic, and deceptive (i.e., psychopathic) traits, making it harder to detect their links to other variables.

The self-report, cross-sectional, survey method using convenience sampling enabled rapid data collection at a unique historic moment. It also poses limitations, some of which (e.g., measuring intent instead of observing behavior; potential noncompliant responding) have been noted. I used brief personality measures for practicality; however, by limiting content validity and measurement reliability (Crede et al., 2012), this may have caused inaccurate estimation PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 24

(most likely underestimation) of some correlations. Also by necessity, the health-behavior and

PHM-appeal measures had not been pilot tested or previously validated. Besides age, gender, and health status, the study did not include potentially relevant predictors or suppressors, such as

Covid-19 knowledge accuracy, misinformation susceptibility, political affiliation (Allyn &

Sprunt, 2020), and regional policies. Furthermore, the measures were acontextual vis-à-vis interpersonal factors like kinship, in-group/out-group membership, and situational factors that may interact with personality.

Conclusion

In summary, early in the pandemic, prosocial traits likely facilitated social distancing and hygiene, and antagonistic traits likely detracted from adaptive behavior and promoted harm to people’s health. Distinctly antagonistic persons may have disregarded or acted contrary to public-health appeals for altruistic behavior.

This is an early demonstration that personality may matter in understanding communicable respiratory disease. More generally, personality has implications for contagious diseases and public-health communication. The findings, if replicated, may find applications in public-health messaging, individual risk prediction, and doctor-patient communication.

The results do not mean that it is mostly irresponsible and inconsiderate people who spread viruses. The correlations were often small, and the traits’ scientific conceptualizations are not quotidian judgments about character. The results do not mean that people who contract a disease like Covid-19 have maladaptive traits. The findings do invite further research on personality in public health. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 25

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Running head: PERSONALITY AND COVID-10 Supplementary 1

Supplementary Materials

for

Adaptive and Dark Personality in the Covid-19 Pandemic:

Predicting Health-behavior Endorsement and the Appeal of Public-health Messages

The manuscript these Supplementary Materials accompany

has been peer reviewed and is now available for free (open access)

from the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science at

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550620936439

Complete Version 1.6

May 31, 2020

Pavel S. Blagov, PhD

Whitman College

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 2

Table of Contents Table S1: Distribution of Effort Check Data ...... 3 Table S2: Distribution of Invalid Responding Data ...... 4 Table S3: Distribution of the Inconsistency Check Data ...... 5 Table S4: Distribution of Completion Times Below the Median ...... 6 Table S5: Principal Components Analysis of Current Health Behavior (CHB) ...... 7 Table S6: Principal Components Analysis of Future Health Behavior (FHB) ...... 8 Table S7: Principal Components Analysis of Carrier Pretend Scenario Ratings (CPS)...... 9 Table S8: Participant Characteristics ...... 10 Table S9: Self-reported Location by U.S. State ...... 11 Table S10: Descriptives for Health Behavior Endorsement and Message Appeal Variables12 Table S11: Descriptives for Personality Variables ...... 13 Figure S1: The Compassionate and Sociable Messages Were the Most and Least Favored 14 Table S12: Bivariate Correlations among Health Behavior Endorsement and Public-health Message Appeal Variables ...... 15 Table S13: Bivariate Correlations among Personality Variables ...... 16 Table S14: Bivariate Correlations among Main Study Variables and Covariates ...... 17 Table S15: Descriptive Statistics for Personality Superfactors ...... 18 Table S16: Exploratory Analyses with Personality Superfactors and Health Behavior ...... 19 Table S17: Exploratory Analyses with Personality Superfactors and Message Appeal ...... 20 Table S18: Exploratory Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Message Appeal ...... 21 Figure S2: Conscientiousness and Neuroticism Interact in Predicting Current Social Distancing22 Figure S3: Conscientiousness and Agreeableness as Related to Future Social Distancing ...... 23 Table S19: Unplanned Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Key Health-related Variables from Normal-range Personality Dimensions ...... 24 Table S20: Unplanned Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Health-related and Harmful Behavior Endorsement from the Triarchic Model of Psychopathy Dimensions ...... 25 Table S21: Unplanned Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Health- related and Harmful Behavior Endorsement from the Dark Triad of Personality Dimensions ...... 26 Appendix SA: Text of the Public-health Messages ...... 27

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 3

Table S1 Distribution of Effort Check Data (N = 652)

Bootstrap (1000) Bias SE 95% C.I. M 0.055 0.000 0.009 0.038 0.075 Md 0 0 0 0 0 SD 0.229 -0.001 0.018 0.192 0.264 Skewness 3.904 0.054 0.402 3.230 4.819 SE Skewness 0.096 Kurtosis 13.280 0.589 3.263 8.461 21.292 SE Kurtosis 0.191 Min. 0 Max. 1

Frequencies n % 0 616 94.5 1 36 5.5 N 652 100 Note: 1 = failure of any of four effort checks. Effort checks were simple analogies, like: “Sheep is to lamb as ___ is to a calf.”

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 4

Table S2 Distribution of Invalid Responding Data (N = 616)

Bootstrap (1000) Bias SE 95% C.I. M 0.395 0.001 0.032 0.335 0.466 Md 0 0 0 0 0 SD 0.837 0.000 0.051 0.746 0.939 Skewness 2.637 -0.014 0.179 2.293 2.994 SE Skewness 0.098 Kurtosis 7.543 -0.096 1.294 5.159 10.358 SE Kurtosis 0.197 PR = 95 2 0.147 0.345 2.000 3.000 PR = 98 3 0.275 0.424 3.000 4.000 PR = 99 4 -0.057 0.267 3.000 4.000 Min. 0 Max. 5 Possible range 0-6 PR = Percentile rank. Validity checks were responses with scores beyond the midpoint in the undesirable direction on such question as “I am answering these questions thoughtfully.”

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 5

Table S3 Distribution of the Inconsistency Check Data (N = 562)

Bootstrap (1000) Bias SE 95% C.I. M 1.867 -0.001 0.051 1.767 1.970 Md 2.000 -0.022 0.143 2.000 2.000 Mode 1.000 SD 1.226 -0.005 0.060 1.105 1.340 Skewness 1.509 -0.016 0.131 1.220 1.731 SE Skewness 0.103 Kurtosis 3.224 -0.057 0.553 2.131 4.284 SE Kurtosis 0.206 Min. 0 Max 7 PR = 95 4 0.100 0.293 4.000 5.000 PR = 98 6 -0.282 0.445 5.000 6.000 PR = 99 6.370 0.066 0.465 6.000 7.000 PR = Percentile rank.

Inconsistency n % Cum. % 0 28 5 5 1 228 40.6 45.6 2 186 33.1 78.6 3 71 12.6 91.3 4 27 4.8 96.1 5 9 1.6 97.7 6 8 1.4 99.1 7 5 0.9 100 N 562 100 Note: Inconsistency scores are based on the sum of the absolute values of the differences between the items from three pairs of nearly identical items after any necessary reverse-coding.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 6

Table S4 Distribution of Completion Time Below the Median (N = 540)

Completion time (min.) Stem-and-Leaf Plot

Frequency Stem & Leaf

1.00 Extremes (=<2.5) 1.00 5 . 4 3.00 5 . 779 4.00 6 . 2344 6.00 6 . 678999 11.00 7 . 12222334444 11.00 7 . 56667788889 13.00 8 . 0000222222334 16.00 8 . 5666677888888999 20.00 9 . 01111111122222233444 21.00 9 . 555666667777888999999 26.00 10 . 00000001111222222333333344 29.00 10 . 55555555566667777788888899999 15.00 11 . 011112223333344 17.00 11 . 55566777778889999 18.00 12 . 000011111222333334 20.00 12 . 56666777777777789999 22.00 13 . 0000001111122222444444 16.00 13 . 5566666777788889

Stem width: 1.00 Each leaf: 1 case(s)

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 7

Table S5 Principal Components Analysis with Varimax Rotation of Current Health Behavior (N = 502)

Abbreviated item Component Variance Explained Commu- 1 2 # Eigenvalue % nality 1. Limit contact .83 1 5.26 52.57 .75 3. Stay at home .83 2 1.22 12.16 .71 4. Avoid social activities .77 3 0.73 7.30 .62 5. Avoid visiting relatives .74 4 0.57 5.72 .66 2. Keep a 6-foot distance .71 .36 5 0.51 5.08 .64 6. Protect older people .70 .33 6 0.42 4.23 .60 7. Wash hands frequently .81 7 0.39 3.88 .72 9. Disinfect surfaces .81 8 0.33 3.29 .69 8. Avoid touching face .80 9 0.31 3.08 .71 10. Cover one’s cough .30 .54 10 0.27 2.69 .39 Note: Loadings > .3 were omitted.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 8

Table S6 Principal Components Analysis of Future Health Behavior (N = 502)

Abbreviated item Component Variance Explained Commu- 1 2 3 # Eigenvalue % nality 1. Limit contact .83 -.30 1 8.54 60.97 .87 3. Stay at home .82 -.33 2 1.82 13.00 .83 4. Avoid visiting relatives .78 3 .97 6.91 .72 2. Keep a 6-foot distance .75 .43 4 .47 3.37 .81 6. Protect older people .75 .42 5 .39 2.81 .80 5. Avoid social activities .74 -.45 6 .36 2.55 .81 13. Go on a new date .90 7 .32 2.29 .91 14. Sex with someone new .89 8 .30 2.17 .88 11. Go to large social event .88 9 .23 1.66 .85 12 .Go to small social event -.36 .84 10 .18 1.29 .85 9. Disinfect surfaces .82 11 .17 1.18 .76 8. Avoid touching face .82 12 .14 1.00 .80 7. Wash hands frequently .34 .79 13 .08 0.57 .80 10. Cover one’s cough .42 -.40 .56 14 .03 0.24 .80 Note: Loadings > .3 were omitted.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 9

Table S7 Principal Components Analysis of Carrier Pretend Scenario Ratings (N = 502)

Item Component Variance Explained Commu- 1 2 # Eigenvalue % nality Purposefully touch, spit on, or sneeze on high-use 18. .91 1 5.91 32.85 .88 surfaces in public Purposefully touch, spit on, or sneeze on high-use 17. .91 2 2.40 13.31 .88 surfaces at work Purposefully shake hands with, hug, or kiss 15. .73 3 1.61 8.93 .80 someone you hate 7. Go to a social event or a party .73 4 1.15 6.38 .69 If you get the chance, go on an in-person date with 12. .70 (.39) 5 1.03 5.72 .77 someone new 8. Shake hands with strangers .62 (.50) 6 0.94 5.22 .70 Sneeze or spit on the personal belongings of some 16. .61 7 0.91 5.06 .87 you hate 9. Shake hands with people you know well .75 8 0.78 4.32 .81 10. Shake hands with people you care about (.43) .68 9 0.67 3.71 .80 If you get the chance, go to an in-person job 13. .67 10 0.53 2.93 .50 interview 11. Hug and/or kiss people that you are close with .64 11 0.49 2.74 .62 Wear a mask outside your home (assuming you 4. .54 12 0.43 2.37 .67 have masks) (R) Go to work (assuming you work and not from 5. .51 13 0.39 2.17 .49 home) Go out in public to take care of business that isn't 6. .48 14 0.29 1.63 .56 urgent Wear a mask at home (assuming you have masks) 3. .48 15 0.23 1.26 .59 (R) If you get the chance, have sex (in person, not 14. .42 (.47) 16 0.15 0.85 .64 online) with someone new Go to seek medical attention, but first call ahead 1. 17 0.10 0.57 .48 (R) Go to seek medical attention, without calling 2. 18 0.00 0.00 .33 ahead Note: Item 10 was allocated to the first component in scale creation for conceptual coherence.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 10

Table S8 Participant Characteristics (N = 502)

Sex 51% male Socioeconomic status (current) 49% female Poor 8.2% Age M = 41, SD = 11, Md = 40 Working class 33.9% Range = 21 – 76 years Lower middle class 15.9% Education M = 15, SD = 2.04, Md = 16.0 Middle class 35.3% Race/Ethnicity Upper middle class 6.8% 77.5% White/Caucasian Higher class 0.0% 10.0% Asian/Asian-American Employment status 6.2% Black/African-American Full-time employed 60.4% 3.8% Latinx/Hispanic Part-time employed 8.8% 0.6% Native American Self-employed 21.3% 2.0% Other Full-time student 0.6% Relationship status Unemployed 2.8% 47.2% single Disabled 1.2% 36.3% married Retired/Retired but working 3.6% 9.4% divorced Other 1.7% 5.2% life-partnered Covid-10 effect on work 0.6% separated No effect 57.0% 1.6% widowed More hours/extra shifts 4.6% Work from home? Fewer hours/fewer shifts 22.5% 33.3% Yes, normally from home Furlough 5.8% 25.7% Yes, because of coronavirus Laid off 3.0% 40.2% No / Not applicable Other 6.8% Covid-19 diagnosis history Covid-19 risk: chronic condition 1 “Yes” No 72.5% 20 “No, but WE think WE had it” Not sure 6.8% 481 “No” Yes 20.7%

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 11

Table S9 Self-reported Location by U.S. State

State n % State (cont. n % Alabama 6 1.2 Nevada 7 1.4 Arkansas 0 0 New Hampshire 1 0.2 Arizona 13 2.6 New Jersey 15 3 California 63 12.5 New Mexico 3 0.6 Colorado 12 2.4 New York 29 5.8 Connecticut 7 1.4 North Carolina 25 5 Delaware 1 0.2 North Dakota 0 0 District of Columbia 1 0.2 Ohio 14 2.8 Florida 35 7 Oklahoma 7 1.4 Georgia 14 2.8 Oregon 4 0.8 Hawaii 4 0.8 Pennsylvania 31 6.2 Idaho 0 0 Puerto Rico 0 0 Illinois 15 3 Rhode Island 3 0.6 Indiana 2 0.4 South Carolina 8 1.6 Iowa 2 0.4 South Dakota 0 0 Kansas 3 0.6 Tennessee 8 1.6 Kentucky 12 2.4 Texas 27 5.4 Louisiana 7 1.4 Utah 3 0.6 Maine 2 0.4 Vermont 3 0.6 Maryland 7 1.4 Virginia 13 2.6 Massachusetts 10 2 Washington 13 2.6 Michigan 23 4.6 West Virginia 2 0.4 Minnesota 10 2 Wisconsin 20 4 Mississippi 0 0 Total 501 99.8 Missouri 8 1.6 Missing 1 0.2 Montana 4 0.8 Sample 502 100 Nebraska 4 0.8

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 12

Table S10 Descriptives for Health Behavior Endorsement and Message Appeal Variables (N = 502)

Items Scale M 95% C.I.2 Md SD  Health Behavior Endorsement bias-corrected Current Social Distancing 6 0-3 2.55 [2.5 - 2.6] 2.7 0.57 .89 Current Hygiene 4 0-3 2.31 [2.3 - 2.4] 2.5 0.63 .80 Future Social Distancing 6 0-4 3.55 [3.5 - 3.6] 3.8 0.83 .95 Future Hygiene 4 0-4 3.31 [3.2 - 3.4] 3.8 0.89 .87 Future Venturous Behavior 4 0-4 0.24 [0.2 - 0.3] 0.0 0.79 .95 Carrier Scenario: Protecting Others 8 0-3 0.03 [0.0 - 0.1] 0.0 0.14 .65 Carrier Scenario: Harmful Behavior 8 0-3 2.65 [2.6 - 2.7] 2.8 0.36 .74 Public-health Message (PHM) Appeal1 Message 1: Self-centered 3 0-100 77.11 [75 - 79] 83.3 22.44 .94 Message 2: Responsible 3 0-100 78.41 [77 - 80] 83.3 22.41 .94 Message 3: Compassionate 3 0-100 83.73 [82 - 86] 90.0 19.43 .93 Message 4: Avoidant 3 0-100 76.61 [75 - 79] 83.3 23.31 .95 Message 5: Sociable 3 0-100 66.29 [64 - 69] 73.3 28.74 .94 PHM Rankings Message 1: Self-centered – rank 1 1-5 2.71 [2.6 - 2.8] 3 1.16 - Message 2: Responsible – rank 1 1-5 2.75 [2.7 - 2.9] 3 1.22 - Message 3: Compassionate – rank 1 1-5 2.22 [2.1 - 2.3] 2 1.28 - Message 4: Avoidant – rank 1 1-5 3.20 [3.1 - 3.3] 3 1.37 - Message 5: Sociable - rank 1 1-5 4.13 [4.0 - 4.2] 5 1.28 - 1 Messages were presented for evaluation in a random order. 2 Bootstrapping estimates based on 1000 iterations.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 13

Table S11 Descriptives for Personality Variables (N =502)

Items Scale M 95% C.I.** Md SD  Mini-IPIP* bias-corrected Agreeableness 4 0-4 2.92 [2.8 – 3.0] 3.0 0.90 .88 Conscientiousness 4 0-4 2.93 [2.9 – 3.0] 3.0 0.80 .77 Extraversion 4 0-4 1.38 [1.3 - 1.5] 1.0 1.10 .89 Neuroticism 4 0-4 1.40 [1.3 - 1.5] 1.3 1.01 .84 Openness 4 0-4 3.00 [2.9 - 3.1] 3.0 0.86 .80 AMP* Boldness1 11 0-3 0.97 [0.9 – 1.0] 0.91 0.56 .86 Meanness1 11 0-3 0.44 [0.4 - 0.5] 0.27 0.47 .88 Disinhibition1 11 0-3 0.50 [0.5 - 0.5] 0.36 0.45 .87 SD3* Narcissism 9 0-4 1.39 [1.3 - 1.5] 1.33 0.77 .84 Machiavellianism 9 0-4 1.75 [1.7 - 1.8] 1.67 0.74 .84 Psychopathy 9 0-4 0.87 [0.8 - 0.9] 0.78 0.62 .79 *Mini-IPIP = Mini-Internal Personality Item Pool (Donnellan et al., 2006); AMP = Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy (Semel, 2018); SD3 = Short Dark Triad (Jones & Paulhus, 2014). 1Scores reversed for interpretability. ** Bootstrapping estimates based on 1000 iterations.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 14

Figure S1 The Compassionate and Sociable Messages Were the Most and Least Favored 1 = Self-centered; 2 = Responsible; 3 = Compassionate; 4 = Avoidant; 5 = Sociable.

Running head: PERSONALITY AND COVID-10 Supplementary 15

Table S12 Bivariate Correlations among Health Behavior Endorsement and Public-health Message Appeal Variables, Two-tailed (N = 502)

Pearson correlations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1. CHB: SD r - p - 2. CHB: H r .61 p 1.3E-51 3. FHB: SD r .58 .38 p 1.7E-46 5.2E-19 4. FHB: H r .41 .69 .73 p 7.1E-22 3.5E-73 2.2E-84 5. FHB: VB r -.12 -.08 -.62 -.50 p 6.0E-03 6.4E-02 8.3E-54 3.1E-33 6. CS: HB r -.25 -.17 -.19 -.17 .20 p 1.6E-08 9.4E-05 1.4E-05 2.0E-04 8.3E-06 7. CS: PO r .30 .37 .23 .29 -.13 -.47 p 4.7E-12 1.7E-17 2.8E-07 1.7E-11 4.0E-03 1.4E-28 8. M1: SC r .42 .46 .29 .38 -.05 -.14 .23 p 1.2E-22 9.3E-28 1.6E-11 1.8E-18 3.1E-01 2.3E-03 1.1E-07 9. M2: R r .50 .51 .36 .42 -.09 -.16 .24 .75 p 1.7E-33 3.1E-34 1.0E-16 1.6E-22 5.0E-02 2.5E-04 3.1E-08 2.0E-93 10. M3: C r .54 .52 .36 .42 -.08 -.15 .23 .66 .69 p 8.5E-39 8.0E-36 3.0E-17 5.7E-23 8.8E-02 8.0E-04 2.4E-07 4.5E-65 2.2E-72 11. M4: A r .49 .45 .33 .37 -.05 -.13 .20 .78 .75 .67 p 5.0E-31 1.6E-26 5.0E-14 1.1E-17 2.3E-01 2.5E-03 5.8E-06 5.5E-105 3.8E-90 1.7E-65 12. M5: SO r .37 .38 .21 .27 .03 -.11 .17 .59 .60 .54 .60 p 5.5E-18 3.1E-18 1.5E-06 1.6E-09 4.7E-01 1.3E-02 1.3E-04 4.5E-48 1.2E-50 1.4E-38 1.3E-50 Note: CHB = Current Health Behavior (SD = Social Distancing, H = Hygiene); FHB = Future Health Behavior (VB = Venturous Behavior); CS = Carrier Scenario (HB = Harmful Behavior, PO = Protecting Others); M = Public-health Message (SC = Self- centered, R = Responsible, C = Compassionate, A = Avoidant, SO = Sociable). Note: p < .01 = 1.0E-2, p < .001 = 1.0E-3. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 16

Table S13 Bivariate Correlations among Personality Variables, Two-tailed (N = 502) 1: MIP A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 11 12 13 14 15 2. MIP C r .18 p 6.0E-05 3. MIP E r .30 .18 p 1.0E-11 7.7E-05 4. MIP NE r -.13 -.28 -.38 p 4.2E-03 2.6E-10 2.4E-18 5. MIP O r .35 .05 .30 -.12 p 5.0E-16 2.6E-01 3.5E-12 5.6E-03 6. MIP ST r .64 .67 .43 -.73 .26 p 3.2E-58 9.9E-67 1.0E-23 1.1E-84 2.8E-09 7. MIP PL r .40 .15 .86 -.33 .75 .44 p 2.5E-20 8.4E-04 4.3E-145 5.7E-14 5.3E-93 7.7E-25 8. MIP PF r .62 .51 .74 -.64 .58 .87 .82 p 2.2E-54 6.3E-34 4.3E-87 2.3E-59 1.2E-45 4.7E-157 3.5E-124 9. AMP B r -.10 .00 .50 -.27 .26 .10 .49 .33 p 2.6E-02 9.6E-01 1.3E-33 1.1E-09 1.8E-09 2.6E-02 7.5E-32 3.0E-14 10. AMP M r -.60 -.21 -.07 .24 -.18 -.51 -.15 -.40 .37 p 4.2E-50 1.7E-06 1.0E-01 8.4E-08 7.7E-05 4.0E-35 1.0E-03 3.1E-21 5.3E-18 11. AMP D r -.27 -.41 .11 .21 .01 -.43 .08 -.23 .53 .65 p 7.5E-10 5.9E-22 1.5E-02 1.4E-06 7.7E-01 1.2E-23 6.6E-02 3.2E-07 3.4E-38 5.0E-62 12. AMP Tot. r -.38 -.23 .24 .05 .06 -.31 .20 -.09 .80 .80 .87 p 2.1E-18 1.3E-07 3.1E-08 2.9E-01 1.9E-01 1.1E-12 6.0E-06 5.0E-02 3.3E-114 8.6E-113 9.2E-154 13. SD3 Nar r .03 .12 .60 -.19 .23 .17 .54 .40 .69 .28 .33 .55 p 5.6E-01 8.1E-03 2.5E-51 1.7E-05 1.7E-07 1.5E-04 8.3E-40 6.1E-21 4.1E-72 3.5E-10 6.3E-14 3.2E-40 14. SD3 Mch r -.37 -.16 -.04 .22 -.10 -.37 -.08 -.28 .34 .63 .46 .57 .37 p 1.0E-17 4.6E-04 3.2E-01 5.4E-07 3.3E-02 1.1E-17 6.4E-02 1.9E-10 6.0E-15 4.7E-56 1.0E-27 2.4E-44 4.5E-18 15. SD3 P r -.35 -.28 .14 .19 .01 -.39 .10 -.19 .53 .67 .72 .77 .42 .62 p 7.6E-16 1.7E-10 2.3E-03 2.8E-05 7.8E-01 5.1E-20 2.4E-02 1.2E-05 5.4E-38 1.8E-67 4.5E-81 3.6E-100 1.7E-22 9.5E-56 16. SD3 DF r -.28 -.12 .30 .08 .07 -.23 .24 -.01 .65 .64 .61 .77 .76 .83 .82 p 3.3E-10 8.9E-03 5.6E-12 8.0E-02 1.4E-01 2.4E-07 3.0E-08 8.0E-01 1.5E-61 3.4E-59 4.8E-52 2.1E-100 2.2E-96 5.7E-128 2.5E-124 Note: MIP = Mini-IPIP (A = Agreeableness, C = Conscientiousness, E = Extraversion, NE = Neuroticism, O = Openness, ST = Stability, PL = Plasticity, PF = General P Factor); AMP = Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy (B = Boldness, M = Meanness, D = Disinhibition); SD3 = Short Dark Triad (Nar = Narcissism, Mch = Machiavellianism, P = Psychopathy, DF = Dark Factor. Note: p < .01 = 1.0E-2, p < .001 = 1.0E-3. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 17

Table S14 Bivariate (Pearson) Correlations among Main Study Variables and Key Covariates, Two Tailed (N = 502)

Gender1 Age Risk2 Gender Age Risk Gender Age Risk CHB: SD r .19 .11 .17 MIP: A r .26 .09 .05 AMP: B r -.32 -.18 -.08 p 1.2E-05 1.1E-02 1.5E-04 p 4.5E-09 5.4E-02 2.8E-01 p 2.5E-13 3.5E-05 7.9E-02 CHB: H r .19 .04 .11 MIP: C r .04 -.04 -.08 AMP: M r -.23 -.22 -.03 p 2.5E-05 3.3E-01 1.4E-02 p 3.6E-01 3.2E-01 8.8E-02 p 2.7E-07 8.7E-07 5.2E-01 FHB: SD r .20 .12 .11 MIP: E r -.04 .00 -.09 AMP: D r -.21 -.19 -.04 p 1.0E-05 5.3E-03 1.6E-02 p 4.1E-01 9.7E-01 5.3E-02 p 1.8E-06 1.9E-05 3.6E-01 FHB: H r .22 .06 .09 MIP: NE r .16 -.08 .13 AMP: Tot. r -.31 -.24 -.06 p 8.4E-07 1.6E-01 5.7E-02 p 4.5E-04 8.1E-02 3.5E-03 p 7.1E-13 6.4E-08 1.6E-01 FHB: VB r -.08 -.05 -.05 MIP: O r -.06 -.01 .05 SD3: Nar r -.19 -.13 -.12 p 9.0E-02 2.6E-01 3.0E-01 p 2.1E-01 8.1E-01 2.7E-01 p 1.7E-05 3.5E-03 6.4E-03 CS: HB r -.11 -.16 -.04 MIP: ST r .06 .07 -.08 SD3: Mch r -.28 -.23 -.04 p 1.2E-02 2.9E-04 3.6E-01 p 1.9E-01 1.4E-01 7.1E-02 p 2.9E-10 2.5E-07 3.6E-01 CS: PO r .12 .02 .03 MIP: PL r -.06 .00 -.03 SD3: P r -.41 -.24 -.04 p 9.3E-03 6.2E-01 4.8E-01 p 2.1E-01 9.1E-01 4.6E-01 p 9.4E-22 3.5E-08 4.2E-01 M1: SC r .14 .24 .10 MIP: PF r .01 .04 -.07 SD3: DF r -.35 -.25 -.09 p 2.0E-03 5.0E-08 2.0E-02 p 8.9E-01 3.8E-01 1.2E-01 p 2.5E-16 2.6E-08 5.6E-02 M2: R r .14 .25 .15 M4: Av r .14 .23 .16 p 1.2E-03 2.1E-08 7.9E-04 p 1.2E-03 1.4E-07 4.1E-04 M3: Com r .21 .22 .13 M5: S r .10 .15 .15 p 2.2E-06 3.9E-07 2.9E-03 p 2.9E-02 7.7E-04 7.8E-04 Note: 1Gender = identified gender (0 = man, 1 = woman); 2Risk = self-reported chronic health condition that increases risk from Covid-19 (0 = no, 1 = maybe, 2 = yes); CHB = Current Health Behavior (SD = Social Distancing, H = Hygiene); FHB = Future Health Behavior (VB = Venturous Behavior); M = Public-health Message (SC = Self-centered, R = Responsible, Com = Compassionate, Av = Avoidant, S = Sociable); MIP = Mini-IPIP (A = Agreeableness, C = Conscientiousness, NE = Neuroticism, O = Openness, ST = Stability, PL = Plasticity, PF = General P Factor); AMP = Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy (B = Boldness, M = Meanness, D = Disinhibition); SD3 = Short Dark Triad (Nar = Narcissism, Mch = Machiavellianism, P = Psychopathy, DF = Dark Factor of Personality). Note: p < .01 = 1.0E-2, p < .001 = 1.0E-3. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 18

Table S15 Descriptive Statistics for Personality Superfactors (N = 502)

Items Scale M 95% C.I.** Md SD  Mini-IPIP* bias-corrected Stability (C, A, rev. N) 12 0-4 2.82 [2.8 - 2.9] 2.8 0.62 .80 Plasticity (E, O) 8 0-4 2.19 [2.1 - 2.3] 2.1 0.79 .83 P (General Factor of Personality) 4 0-4 2.57 [2.5 - 2.6] 2.6 0.58 .85 AMP* AMP Psychopathy1 33 0-3 0.64 [0.6 - 0.7] 0.58 0.41 .92 SD3* D (Dark Factor of Personality) 27 0-4 1.34 [1.3 - 1.4] 1.30 0.57 .90 * Mini-IPIP: Mini – International Personality Item Pool; AMP: Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy; SD3: Short Dark Triad. ** Bootstrapping estimates based on 1000 iterations.th PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 19

Table S16 Exploratory Analyses with Personality Superfactors and Health Behavior Endorsements: Partial Correlations Controlling for Gender, Age, and Risk Health Condition, One-tailed, with Bias-corrected Confidence Interval Estimates, N = 502.

Personality Current Health Behavior Future Health Behavior Carrier Scenario superfactors Social Hygiene Social Hygiene Venturous Harmful Protecting distancing distancing behavior behavior others MIP Stability rp/p .24 4.3E-08 .38 1.2E-18 .21 1.6E-06 .37 6.9E-18 -.09 2.1E-02 -.15 2.9E-04 .18 2.4E-05 98% b.c. C.I. [.14 − .36] [.27 − .48] [.09 − .33] [.26 − .48] [-.24 − .03] [-.24 − -.08] [.08 − .28] MIP Plasticity rp/p .13 2.6E-03 .24 9.7E-08 .05 1.5E-01 .17 5.0E-05 .02 3.5E-01 -.08 4.0E-02 .15 3.5E-04 98% b.c. C.I. [.03 − .25] [.12 − .34] [-.06 − .15] [.06 − .29] [-.09 − .13] [-.15 − -.01] [.05 − .25] MIP P Factor rp/p .23 3.2E-07 .37 1.6E-17 .16 2.4E-04 .33 2.9E-14 -.05 1.4E-01 -.14 8.8E-04 .20 4.7E-06 98% b.c. C.I. [.12 − .34] [.25 − .47] [.05 − .28] [.22 − .44] [-.17 − .05] [-.21 − -.07] [.10 − .29] AMP Psychopathy rp/p -.15 9.2E-04 -.15 5.6E-04 -.21 1.3E-06 -.20 2.2E-06 .18 2.6E-05 .17 4.4E-05 -.17 4.5E-05 98% b.c. C.I. [-.26 − -.03] [-.28 − -.01] [-.36 − -.06] [-.35 − -.07] [.03 − .33] [.01 − .30] [-.28 − -.08] SD3 Dark Factor rp/p -.14 1.5E-03 -.12 9.6E-03 -.13 2.5E-03 -.12 2.8E-03 .11 6.1E-03 .13 1.5E-03 -.10 1.3E-02 98% b.c. C.I. [-.24 − -.04] [-.23 − .01] [-.27 − .01] [-.26 − .01] [-.04 − .29] [.02 − .23] [-.20 − .00] Note: Controlling for sex, age, and risk health condition. Note: Bootstrap estimation of C.I. with 1000 iterations. Note: p < .01 = 1.0E-2, p < .001 = 1.0E-3. Note: MIP = Mini-IPIP (Stability subsumes Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and low Neuroticism; Plasticity subsumes Extraversion and Openness; and the General P Factor subsumes all five factors with Neuroticism reversed); AMP = Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy (AMP Psychopathy subsumes Boldness, Meanness and Disinhibition); SD3 = Short Dark Triad (the SD3 Dark Factor subsumes Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy).

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 20

Table S17 Exploratory Analyses with Personality Superfactors and Public-health Message Appeal: Partial Correlations Controlling for Gender, Age, and Risk Health Condition, One-tailed, with Bias-corrected Confidence Interval Estimates, N = 502.

Personality Public-health Message Appeal dimensions Self-centered Responsible Compassionate Avoidant Sociable

MIP Stability rp/p 0.27 7.1E-10 .26 1.8E-09 .31 7.5E-13 .23 1.8E-07 .19 6.9E-06 98% b.c. C.I. [0.15 − .37] [.14 − .36] [.21 − .40] [.11 − .32] [.07 − .32] MIP Plasticity rp/p 0.17 9.7E-05 .17 5.1E-05 .15 2.6E-04 .14 1.1E-03 .16 1.8E-04 98% b.c. C.I. [0.05 − .27] [.06 − .28] [.05 − .25] [.02 − .24] [.05 − .26] MIP P Factor rp/p 0.26 2.2E-09 .26 2.3E-09 .28 9.9E-11 .22 4.9E-07 .21 1.3E-06 98% b.c. C.I. [0.14 − .37] [.14 − .36] [.17 − .37] [.10 − .32] [.09 − .32] AMP Total rp/p -0.08 3.2E-02 -.11 8.3E-03 -.25 7.1E-09 -.08 3.5E-02 -.06 1.0E-01 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.18 − .03] [-.21 − .01] [-.36 − -.14] [-.18 − .01] [-.15 − .03] SD3 Total rp/p -0.06 8.9E-02 -.09 2.8E-02 -.21 1.1E-06 -.01 3.9E-01 .01 4.6E-01 98% b.c. C.I. [-0.17 − .04] [-.19 − .02] [-.31 − -.11] [-.11 − .08] [-.10 − .10] Note: Controlling for sex, age, and risk health condition. Note: Bootstrap estimation of C.I. with 1000 iterations. Note: p < .01 = 1.0E-2, p < .001 = 1.0E-3. Note: MIP = Mini-IPIP (Stability subsumes Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and low Neuroticism; Plasticity subsumes Extraversion and Openness; and the General P Factor subsumes all five factors with Neuroticism reversed); AMP = Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy (AMP Psychopathy subsumes Boldness, Meanness and Disinhibition); SD3 = Short Dark Triad (the SD3 Dark Factor subsumes Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy).

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 21

Table S18 Exploratory Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Message Appeal from Personality Variables (N = 502)

Personality Public-health Message Appeal dimensions Self-centered Responsible Compassionate Avoidant Sociable Model 1  p  p  p  p  p MIP Agreeableness 0.25 <.0001 0.29 <.0001 0.39 <.0001 0.25 <.0001 0.21 <.0001 MIP Conscientiousness 0.10 .0260 0.07 .1450 0.08 .0615 0.07 .1068 0.01 .7450 MIP Neuroticism 0.04 .3601 0.04 .3739 -0.05 .2462 0.02 .6232 0.11 .0245 MIP Extraversion -0.04 .4034 -0.02 .5994 -0.04 .3994 -0.02 .7271 -0.02 .7462 MIP Openness -0.02 .6758 -0.02 .7047 0.01 .8121 -0.01 .7732 -0.05 .3364 Model 2  p  p  p  p  p AMP Boldness 0.05 .3095 0.05 .3260 0.03 .6099 0.01 .8029 0.05 .3379 AMP Meanness -0.15 .0087 -0.23 .0001 -0.31 <.0001 -0.12 .0352 -0.19 .0015 AMP Disinhibition -0.08 .1853 -0.04 .5173 -0.10 .0817 -0.08 .2387 0.00 .9536 Model 3  p  p  p  p  p SD3 Narcissism 0.15 .0019 0.16 .0011 0.08 .0945 0.13 .0080 0.16 .0010 SD3 Machiavellianism -0.10 .0691 -0.18 .0015 -0.16 .0025 0.00 .9611 -0.06 .2996 SD3 Psychopathy -0.20 .0005 -0.16 .0043 -0.27 <.0001 -0.24 <.0001 -0.16 .0064 Note: MIP: Mini-IPIP; AMP: Abbreviated Measure of Psychopathy; SD3: Short Dark Triad.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 22

Figure S2 Conscientiousness and neuroticism interact in predicting self-reported social distancing (corrected for age, gender identity, and the presence of a chronic health condition that increases the risk of Covid-19), N = 502. PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 23

Figure S3 Conscientiousness and agreeableness as they relate to self-reported intent for future social-distancing (corrected for age, gender identity, and the presence of a chronic health condition that increases the risk of Covid-19), N = 502. (Note that the test of interaction was significant in null-hypothesis testing but not in a bootstrap analysis.)

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 24

Tale S19 Unplanned Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Key Health-related Variables from Normal-range Personality Dimensions (N = 502)

Model Step 21 Predictors R Adj. R2 p  p b 95% b.c. C.I. VIF DW 1 Current Agreeableness .35† .108† 5.3E-11 0.17† 8.0E-4 0.11 0.02 – 0.18 1.35 2.04 Health Behavior: Conscientiousness 0.13* 4.4E-3 0.09 0.02 – 0.16 1.13 Social Distancing Neuroticism -0.05 3.5E-1 -0.03 -0.08 – 0.03 1.31 Extraversion 0.02 6.8E-1 0.01 -0.04 – 0.06 1.32 Openness 0.02 7.4E-1 0.01 -0.05 – 0.07 1.23 2 Future Agreeableness .31† .097† 3.7E-8 0.15* 2.0E-3 0.14 0.04 – 0.24 1.35 1.99 Health Behavior: Conscientiousness 0.11ˆ 1.7E-2 0.11 0.01 – 0.22 1.13 Social Distancing Neuroticism -0.07 1.4E-1 -0.06 -0.16 – 0.02 1.31 Extraversion 0.00 1.0E+0 0.00 -0.06 – 0.07 1.32 Openness -0.08 1.1E-1 -0.07 -0.16 – 0.01 1.23 3 Future Agreeableness .44† .181† 1.8E-19 0.28† 6.0E-9 0.27 0.17 – 0.39 1.35 2.01 Health Behavior: Conscientiousness 0.15* 6.1E-4 0.16 0.06 – 0.27 1.13 Hygiene Neuroticism -0.12ˆ 1.3E-2 -0.10 -0.18 – -0.03 1.31 Extraversion 0.04 3.6E-1 0.03 -0.03 – 0.10 1.32 Openness -0.05 2.3E-1 -0.06 -0.14 – 0.03 1.23 4 Carrier Scenario: Agreeableness .25* .05* 8.7E-5 -0.15* 2.4E-3 -0.02 -0.05 – 0.00 1.35 2.06 Harmful Behavior Conscientiousness -0.02 5.9E-1 0.00 -0.02 – 0.01 1.13 Neuroticism 0.06 2.2E-1 0.01 0.00 – 0.02 1.31 Extraversion 0.03 5.9E-1 0.00 -0.01 – 0.03 1.32 Openness -0.02 7.1E-1 0.00 -0.04 – 0.02 1.23 1Each model controls for age, gender identity, and health risk status in a previous step omitted for brevity. Bootstrap estimation of bias-corrected C.I. with 1000 iterations. VIF: variance inflation factors. DW: Durbin-Watson statistic. ˆ p < .05 = 5.0E-2; * p < .01 = 1.0E-2; † p < .001 = 1.0E-3

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 25

Table S20 Unplanned Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Health-related and Harmful Behavior Endorsement from the Triarchic Model of Psychopathy Dimensions (N = 502).

Model Step 21 Predictors R Adj. R2 p  p b 95% b.c. C.I. VIF DW 1 Current Boldness .31† .087† 3.1E-09 0.08 1.4E-01 0.08 -0.03 – 0.17 1.50 2.01 Health Behavior: Meanness -0.10 7.2E-02 -0.13 -0.33 – 0.06 1.80 Social Distancing Disinhibition -0.15ˆ 1.7E-02 -0.19 -0.35 - -0.04 2.10 2 Future Boldness .32† .094† 4.7E-10 0.04 4.8E-01 0.05 -0.10 – 0.20 1.50 1.97 Health Behavior: Meanness -0.10 7.7E-02 -0.18 -0.40 – 0.04 1.80 Social Distancing Disinhibition -0.19* 2.7E-03 -0.34 -0.60 - -0.09 2.10 3 Future Boldness .39† .140† 2.2E-15 0.17† 9.2E-04 0.27 0.10 - 0.43 1.50 1.96 Health Behavior: Meanness -0.21† 2.2E-04 -0.39 -0.66 - -0.14 1.80 Hygiene Disinhibition -0.20† 8.0E-04 -0.40 -0.65 - -0.14 2.10 4 Carrier Boldness .29† .070† 1.9E-7 -0.06 2.2E-01 -0.02 -0.04 – 0.01 1.50 2.05 Scenario: Meanness 0.15ˆ 1.0E-02 0.04 0.01 – 0.09 1.80 Harmful Behavior Disinhibition 0.13ˆ 3.9E-02 0.04 0.00 – 0.09 2.10 5 Future Boldness .23† .040† 2.1E-4 0.01 8.9E-01 0.01 -0.14 – 0.16 1.50 2.04 Health Behavior: Meanness -0.01 8.7E-01 -0.02 -0.27 – 0.20 1.80 Venturous Disinhibition 0.22† 6.3E-04 0.38 0.10 – 0.68 2.10 1Each model controls for age, gender identity, and health risk status in a previous step omitted for brevity. Bootstrap estimation of bias-corrected C.I. with 1000 iterations. VIF: variance inflation factors. DW: Durbin-Watson statistic. ˆ p < .05 = 5.0E-2; * p < .01 = 1.0E-2; † p < .001 = 1.0E-3.

PERSONALITY AND COVID-19 Supplementary Materials 26

Table S21 Unplanned Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Health- related and Harmful Behavior Endorsement from the Dark Triad of Personality Dimensions (N = 502)

Model Step 21 Predictors R Adj. R2 p  p b 95% b.c. C.I. VIF DW 1 Current Narcissism .39† .118† 1.0E-12 0.14* 2.6E-03 0.11 0.08 – 0.19 1.26 2.03 Health Behavior: Machiavellianism -0.07 2.0E-01 -0.05 -0.14 – 0.03 1.70 Social Distancing Psychopathy -0.27† 4.9E-06 -0.25 -0.37 – -0.13 1.95 2 Future Narcissism .31† .085† 4.6E-9 0.10ˆ 3.8E-02 0.11 0.01 – 0.21 1.26 1.97 Health Behavior: Machiavellianism -0.03 5.5E-01 -0.04 -0.14 – 0.06 1.70 Social Distancing Psychopathy -0.24† 5.5E-05 -0.32 -0.51 – -0.13 1.95 3 Future Narcissism .35† .121† 6.8E-12 0.18† 2.1E-04 0.20 0.10 – 0.32 1.26 1.94 Health Behavior: Machiavellianism -0.12ˆ 3.6E-02 -0.14 -0.27 – 0.00 1.70 Hygiene Psychopathy -0.23† 9.2E-05 -0.33 -0.52 - -0.15 1.95 4 Carrier Narcissism .25† .052† 1.3E-5 -0.02 6.5E-01 0.00 -0.02 – 0.01 1.26 2.06 Scenario: Machiavellianism 0.00 9.3E-01 0.00 -0.2 – 0.03 1.70 Harmful Behavior Psychopathy 0.20† 8.9E-04 0.05 0.01 – 0.08 1.95 5 Future Narcissism .20* .028* 2.6E-3 -0.03 5.0E-01 -0.03 -0.13 – 0.06 1.26 2.05 Health Behavior: Machiavellianism -0.03 5.9E-01 -0.03 -0.15 – 0.09 1.70 Venturous Psychopathy 0.23† 2.5E-04 0.29 0.10 – 0.48 1.95 1 Each model controls for age, gender identity, and health risk status in a previous step omitted for brevity. Bootstrap estimation of bias-corrected C.I. with 1000 iterations. VIF: variance inflation factors. DW: Durbin-Watson statistic. ˆ p < .05 = 5.0E-2; * p < .01 = 1.0E-2; † p < .001 = 1.0E-3.

Running head: PERSONALITY AND COVID-10 Supplementary 27

Appendix SA

Public-health Messages

Self-centered:

"Keep yourself healthy! First and foremost, prioritize your own health. Control other people's distance from you, and keep them at least 6 feet away. Use soap and hand sanitizer often to keep other people's germs away. Leave your home only to take care of your basic needs (food and medical care). If possible, work from home."

Responsible:

"Take personal responsibility! You have an obligation to safeguard your health. Be mindful how far you are from other people, and maintain a distance of at least 6 feet. Carefully wash your hands with soap, or rub them with hand sanitizer thoroughly. You should not leave your home, except for such necessities as food or medical care. If possible, work from home."

Compassionate:

"Help protect the vulnerable! Consider the well-being of people who are older or have chronic health conditions. To reduce their and everyone's risk, try to keep a distance of at least 6 feet away from others. Help slow the spread of germs by washing your hands with soap and using hand sanitizer often. To protect my community, only leave the house if you need necessities, like food, medication, or to help a person in need. If possible, work from home."

Avoidant:

"Avoid the disease! It is essential to stay clear of the contagion. To remain disease-free, steer away from people by keeping a distance of at least 6 feet. To ward off germs, cleanse your hands thoroughly with soap or hand sanitizer often. Avoid leaving your home, except to get food or medical care. If possible, work from home."

Sociable:

“Distant socializing, not social distancing! You don't have to give up on the fun of socializing because of the coronavirus. You have to keep 6 feet a part in person, but you can meet up online or chat over the phone one-on-one or in a group session. That way, you can leave your home only for necessities, like getting food or medical care. And if you do, don't spoil the party - wash your hands with soap or use hand sanitizer often. If possible, work from home.”