Agency has been central to modern conceptions of politics but it is a complicated and contested idea that seems to have fallen into both theoretical and historical crisis. I explore the underlying ideas that have grounded it, as well as some recent historical and theoretical challenges. I respond by advocating an ontological agnosticism regarding who or what exercises agency and suggest a spect...

This paper attempts to reconcile two perspectives on the impact of positive trait change. The first perspective views positive trait change as salubrious because it reflects the process of self-enhancement, whereas the second perspective views positive change as costly because it disrupts the self-verification process. We propose that benefits and costs accrue at discrete rates, such that moder...

Three types of adult narcissism, as assessed with Wink’s (1991) observational rating method, were studied over a period of 25 years, with participants from the Intergenerational Studies of the Institute of Human Development, UC Berkeley. Narcissism was assessed on three occasions, from age 34 to age 59. Hypersensitive narcissism was found to decrease, Autonomous narcissism increased, and Willfu...

Features of borderline personality disorder (BPD) are associated with the presence and severity of interpersonal problems. At the same time, individuals with BPD are heterogeneous with regard to the types of interpersonal problems they display. BPD is also associated with temporal instability in various domains (e.g., affective lability), and this characteristic raises questions about whether B...

Although research has established that receiving expressions of gratitude increases prosocial behavior, little is known about the psychological mechanisms that mediate this effect. We propose that gratitude expressions can enhance prosocial behavior through both agentic and communal mechanisms, such that when helpers are thanked for their efforts, they experience stronger feelings of self-effic...

Dopaminergic drugs frequently produce paradoxical effects depending on baseline performance levels, genotype, or personality traits. The present study for the first time aimed to specify the mechanisms underlying such opposite effects using the following recently reported scenario as an example: depending on the personality trait agentic extraversion (agentic facet, aE; i.e., assertiveness, dom...

Research has shown that diverging romantic relationship outcomes of grandiose narcissism can be explained by differential associations agentic and antagonistic aspects narcissism. In this study, we wanted to further investigate the underlying mechanisms examining how narcissists perceive daily situations with their partners. an online diary, 171 couples reported on 1941 experienced together. An...

In recent times play-based learning has become more prevalent in New Zealand primary schools. The notion of learner agency also emerged as a priority for educators. Learner is underpinned by strong foundation theory that the potential to find synergies with learning. Based on research across three school classrooms, this paper conceptualises occurring separate levels classroom—type learning, di...