Three very large, nationally representative samples of married couples were used to examine the relative importance of 3 types of personality effects on relationship and life satisfaction: actor effects, partner effects, and similarity effects. Using data sets from Australia (N = 5,278), the United Kingdom (N = 6,554), and Germany (N = 11,418) provided an opportunity to test whether effects replicated across samples. Actor effects accounted for approximately 6% of the variance in relationship satisfaction and between 10% and 15% of the variance in life satisfaction. Partner effects (which were largest for Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability) accounted for between 1% and 3% of the variance in relationship satisfaction and between 1% and 2% of the variance in life satisfaction. Couple similarity consistently explained less than .5% of the variance in life and relationship satisfaction after controlling for actor and partner effects.

The association between Extraversion and positive affect is one of the most robust findings in the study of personality and emotion. Temperament models posit that the association is direct; instrumental models posit that the association is mediated by additional processes. Two experience sampling studies were conducted to test instrumental mechanisms that might underlie the effect. According to a mediation model, extraverts' greater social activity can account for their increased positive affect when compared to introverts. According to a person-by-situation interaction model, extraverts react more positively to social situations than do introverts, and this interaction can account for the association. Only weak support for the instrumental models was found; consistent with temperament models, a moderate direct association remained even after controlling for these effects.

be achieved without considering the interpersonal consequences of these judgments. We first describe these interpersonal consequences and then integrate this research within a theoretical framework examining how system-and group-justifying beliefs moderate these consequences. Interpersonal Nature of Discrimination AttributionsIn the first investigation documenting the interpersonal consequences of discrimination attributions, Kaiser and Miller (2001) had White participants read about a Black man who received a failing test grade from a grader who was certainly, possibly, or not at all prejudiced against Blacks. Participants then learned that the target attributed his grade either to discrimination, his inadequate test answers (an internal attribution), or the test difficulty (an external attribution). Both internal and external attribution control groups were utilized because discrimination attributions are both internal (causal locus resides within one's social

Subjective well-being is a broad construct that reflects an individual's subjective evaluation of the quality of his or her life. Psychologists know a great deal about the causes and correlates of well-being, but some important misconceptions have developed and are often repeated. The purpose of this article is to address the evidence for four such misconceptions that we believe reflect 'myths' about subjective well-being. These myths include the idea that well-being measures are strongly influenced by irrelevant contextual factors, the idea that money is not an important correlate of well-being, the idea that social relationship variables are a particularly strong correlate of well-being, and the idea that well-being cannot change.An important goal of most scientific endeavours is to improve people's lives. Medical doctors seek treatments that will not only lengthen life, but also those that will promote patient comfort, energy, and a sense of wellbeing. Political scientists hope to understand the processes that promote efficient and effective government because these types of governments are thought to create satisfying conditions for their citizens. Economists attempt to discover the laws that govern micro-and macro-economic processes; but again, this work is done with the belief that economic conditions can serve a greater good: thriving economies should lead to flourishing individuals. Thus, quality of life -the psychological construct that reflects the global evaluation of a person's life as a whole -is a common currency that can link all sciences.One important way that quality of life can be evaluated is through subjective evaluations of a person's life as a whole. The field of subjective well-being (SWB) focuses on such evaluations. Although the field is relatively new, research findings have built up rapidly. There are now numerous reviews of the field where catalogues of correlates can be found (e.g

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