Abstract: Junzi personality, which is cultivated by the fine traditional Chinese culture, is of great significance in cultivating a positive social mentality in the new era. As a self-transcending emotion, awe is also an important pillar within the positive mentality. It has been found to promote humility, invigorate the pursuit of the authentic self, and improve the meaning of life. Some empirical evidence has revealed that the Junzi personality is closely linked to awe, which also resonates deeply with the wisdom of Confucius. In addition, Confucian theory of personality suggests that the transformation of the ideal personality (Junzi personality) into its real-world manifestations gives rise to diverse personality forms, each characterized by different levels and features of awe (e.g., “There are three things that Junzi stands in awe of.”).
However, previous research using a variable-centered approach has largely overlooked the intricate relationships between the various sub-dimensions of the Junzi personality and awe. Given these limitations, a paradigm shifting towards a person-centered approach is warranted. We employed the person-centered approach to divide the sample into subgroups, and then analyzed the differences of awe among diverse subgroups. What’s more, we used network analysis models to construct a network to depict the associations (edge-weight) between Junzi personality and awe in diverse groups, and determined the core node by the centrality index (Expected Influence, EI). Therefore, this research not only explored the differences in quantity and quality of the Junzi personality among different subgroups of Chinese undergraduates, but also conducted an in-depth exploration of the relationship between Junzi personality and awe through various analysis methods.
Our study used a cluster sampling method to recruit 1235 Chinese undergraduate students (M_age = 19.45, SD_age = 1.30, 69.6% female) for the questionnaire survey. Participants were asked to fill out the Inventory of Junzi Personality in Confucius’s Thought and the Dispositional Awe Scale for Chinese Undergraduates. We utilized latent profile analysis (LPA) to explore the heterogeneity of Junzi personality and took advantage of regression mixture model (RMM) and network analysis (NA) to explore the relationship between Junzi personality and awe in different personality profiles.
The results of LPA indicated that there was personality heterogeneity, and the threefold profiles model of Junzi personality had the best fitting index. The threefold profiles model was specifically composed of the “Juanzhe (prudent person)” group, the “Zhongxingzhe (people who adhere to the middle way)” group and the “Kuangzhe (proactive person)” group. Among them, the score of the “Kuangzhe (proactive person)” group in four dimensions of Junzi personality, including “Wisdom, benevolence, and courage”, “Respectfulness and propriety”, “Conversancy with righteousness and cherishment of benign rule” and “Self-cultivation rather than contentions with others”, excluding “Refraining from what should not be done”, was higher than that of the other two groups. Furthermore, the result from RMM showed that personality heterogeneity can be used as a means to identify individual levels of awe, there were significant differences in awe among different subgroups. Specially, the “Kuangzhe (proactive person)” group had the highest level of awe than other groups, the “Zhongxingzhe (people who adhere to the middle way)” group was the second, and the “Juanzhe (prudent person)” group had the lowest level of awe.
The result of NA showed that the global strength remained invariant. However, the network structure, core nodes, and edge weights varied across different groups. Specifically, in all three groups, the core nodes are “Awe of life”, “Awe of morality”, “Awe of nature”, and “Respectfulness and propriety”. However, in the “Kuangzhe (proactive person)” group, the EI of “Respectfulness and propriety” is higher than other groups, while the EI of the three nodes of awe (“Awe of life”, “Awe of morality”, “Awe of nature”) is relatively lower. Moreover, the positive association between “Respectfulness and propriety” and “Wisdom, benevolence, and courage” is more pronounced, as is the negative association between “Refraining from what should not be done” and “Awe of relationship”.
In conclusion, this finding provides partial empirical support for the Confucian concept of the “Three things Junzi stands in awe of”, and highlights the profound influence of traditional fine Chinese culture on contemporary Chinese undergraduates, which contributes to strengthening cultural confidence. In addition, this study provides some suggestions on how to cultivate an ideal personality under the traditional culture in the new era based on the heterogeneity of Junzi personality in undergraduates. Last but not least, this study further reveals the relationship between Junzi personality and awe, which provides several insights for improving the level of awe, which makes certain contributions to cultivating self-esteem, self-confidence, rationality, composure, and optimism among our people.

Key words: Junzi personality, awe, latent profile analysis, network analysis, regression mixture model

摘要： 中华优秀传统文化孕育的君子人格对新时代培育积极社会心态具有重要意义。本研究采用整群抽样法,以1235名大学生为对象进行问卷调查,探讨君子人格的异质性及其与敬畏感的网络关系。研究结果表明,大学生君子人格存在异质性,可以分为狷者（32.52%）、中行者（56.92%）和狂者 （10.56%）;不同亚组大学生的敬畏感存在显著差异,以狂者最高;三个亚组的核心节点均为生命敬畏感、道德敬畏感、自然敬畏感和恭而有礼,但在狂者中,恭而有礼的预期影响更大,生命敬畏感、道德敬畏感和自然敬畏感的预期影响更小,恭而有礼与智仁勇的正向关联性、有所不为与关系敬畏感的负向关联性更强。本研究对新时代大学生理想人格塑造和敬畏感培育具有一定的启示,彰显了文化自信。

关键词: 君子人格, 敬畏感, 潜在剖面分析, 网络分析, 回归混合模型