Episodes

#30 Personality states with Gabriella Harari, Kai Horstmann, and Whitney Ringwald

Many researchers like to think of personalities as patterns of dynamic states. Thanks to technological advances, they can now measure the states and build statistical models from these measurements. Other researchers may have remained more sceptical: after all, isn’t personality something relatively stable, by definition? Can state models really help us better understand how people differ from one another in their personality traits? Trying to make sense of this topic, René Mõttus speaks to three experts on the topic: Gabriela Harari, Kai Horstmann and Whitney Ringwald. They discuss what personality states are and how these relate to personality traits, the primary focus of personality research.

Key References

Abrahams, L., Rauthmann, J. F., & Fruyt, F. D. (2021). Person-situation dynamics in educational contexts: A self- and other-rated experience sampling study of teachers’ states, traits, and situations. European Journal of Personality, 35(4), 598–622. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070211005621

Fleeson, W. (2001). Toward a structure- and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(6), 1011–1027. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.80.6.1011

Harari, G. M., Vaid, S. S., Müller, S. R., Stachl, C., Marrero, Z., Schoedel, R., Bühner, M., & Gosling, S. D. (2020). Personality sensing for theory development and assessment in the digital age. European Journal of Personality, 34(5), 649-669.

Horstmann, K. T., & Ziegler, M. (2020). Assessing Personality States: What to Consider when Constructing Personality State Measures. European Journal of Personality, 34(6), 1037–1059. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2266

Ringwald, W. R., Manuck, S. B., Marsland, A. L., & Wright, A. G. C. (2022). Psychometric Evaluation of a Big Five Personality State Scale for Intensive Longitudinal Studies. Assessment, 29(6), 1301–1319.https://doi.org/10.1177/10731911211008254

Rüegger, D., Stieger, M., Nißen, M., Allemand, M., Fleisch, E., & Kowatsch, T. (2020). How are personality states associated with smartphone data?. European Journal of Personality, 34(5), 687-713.

#29 Causal inference with Michael Grosz

In this episode, Michael Grosz talks about what causal inference is, how difficult it is to test in personality psychology, and why he doesn’t give up on our field.

Key References

Explicit Causal Inference in Personality Research (ECIP) Network: https://www.ecip.cc/

Eronen, M. I. (2020). Causal discovery and the problem of psychological interventions. New Ideas in Psychology, 59, 100785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2020.100785

Margolis, S., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2020). Experimental manipulation of extraverted and introverted behavior and its effects on well-being. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(4), 719–731. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000668

Morgan, S. L., & Winship, C. (2015). Counterfactuals and causal inference: Methods and principles for social research. Cambridge University Press.

Rohrer, J. M. (2018). Thinking clearly about correlations and causation: Graphical causal models for observational data. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1, 27–42.  https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245917745629

VanderWeele, T. J. (2019). Principles of confounder selection. European Journal of Epidemiology, 34, 211-219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-019-00494-6

Grosz, M., Ayaita, A., Arslan, R. C., Buecker, S., Ebert, T., Müller, S., … Rohrer, J. M. (2023). Natural Experiments: Missed Opportunities for Causal Inference in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dah3q

#28 Big Five vs. HEXACO with Colin DeYoung, Isabel Thielmann, Luke Smillie, and Reinout de Vries

In this episode moderated by Lisanne de Moor, Colin DeYoung, Isabel Thielmann, Luke Smillie, and Reinout de Vries discuss personality traits and trait models, and debate the evidence for and against two of the most dominant trait models: the Big Five and the HEXACO model.

Key References

Bainbridge, T. F., Ludeke, S. G., & Smillie, L. D. (2022). Evaluating the Big Five as an organizing framework for commonly used psychological trait scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122(4), 749–777. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000395

Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2020). Objections to the HEXACO Model of Personality Structure—and why those Objections Fail. European Journal of Personality, 34(4), 492–510. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2242

DeYoung, C. G. (2020). The Big Five model remains a good choice for personality theory and research. European Journal of Personality, 34, 511–590.

https://www.melbppl.com (website Luke Smillie)

Thielmann, I., Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B.E., & Zettler, I. (2022). On the comparability of basic personality models: Meta-analytic correspondence, scope, and orthogonality of the Big Five and HEXACO dimensions. European Journal of Personality, 36(6), 870-900.https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070211026793

Thielmann, I., & Zettler, I. (2020). On the distinction between Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness in the HEXACO model. European Journal of Personality, 34(4), 552-553. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2284

Zettler, I., Thielmann, I., Hilbig, B. E., & Moshagen, M. (2020). The nomological net of the HEXACO model of personality: A large-scale meta-analytic investigation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(3), 723-760. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619895036

De Vries, R. E., Tybur, J. M., Pollet, T. V., & Van Vugt, M. (2016). Evolution, situational affordances, and the HEXACO model of personality. Evolution & Human Behavior, 37, 407-421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.04.001

De Vries, R. E., Wawoe, K. W., & Holtrop, D. J. (2016). What is Engagement? Proactivity as the missing link in the HEXACO model of personality. Journal of Personality, 84(2), 178-193. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12150

#27 Geography and personality with Fritz Götz, Elisa Militaru, and Markus Jokela

What does geography have to do with personality? In this episode, Rebekka Weidmann speaks with Fritz Götz, Elisa Militaru, and Markus Jokela about studying personality from a geographical psychology approach—what that research field is, how things are measured (and how tricky it is to measure), past interesting findings and future directions.

Key References

Ebert, T., Götz, F. M., Gladstone, J. J., Müller, S. R., & Matz, S. C. (2021). Spending reflects not only who we are but also who we are around: The joint effects of individual and geographic personality on consumption. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121(2), 378–393. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000344

Jokela, M. (2020). Selective residential mobility and social influence in the emergence of neighborhood personality differences: Longitudinal data from Australia. Journal of Research in Personality, 86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2020.103953

Militaru, I. E., Serapio-García, G., Ebert, T., Kong, W., Gosling, S.D., Potter, J., Rentfrow, P.J., & Götz., F.M. (2022), The lay of the land: Associations between environmental features and personality. Under Review. 

#26 Spirituality and Religiosity with Julie Exline

Julie Exline is an expert in studying spirituality and religiosity. For this episode, Julie talked with Rebekka Weidmann about how she came to study spirituality and religiosity, the nature of spiritual struggles, and supernatural operating rules—how people envision or experience God or other supernatural powers.

Key References

Bockrath, M. F., Pargament, K. I., Wong, S., Harriott, V. A., Pomerleau, J. M., Homolka, S. J., Chaudhary, Z. B., & Exline, J. J. (2022). Religious and spiritual struggles and their links to psychological adjustment: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 14(3), 283–299. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000400

Exline, J. J., Pargament, K. I., Grubbs, J. B., & Yali, A. M. (2014). The Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale: Development and initial validation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(3), 208. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036465

Exline, J. J., Pargament, K. I., Wilt, J. A., Grubbs, J. G., & Yali, A. M. (2022). The RSS-14: Development and preliminary validation of a 14-item form of the Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000472 

Pargament, K. I., & Exline, J. J. (2022). Working with spiritual struggles in psychotherapy: From research to practice. New York: Guilford. 

Pargament, K. I., & Exline, J. J. (2021). The psychology of spiritual struggle. Report prepared for the John Templeton Foundation. https://www.templeton.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Spiritual-Struggle-Whitepaper_FINAL-10.5.pdf

#25 Behaviour Genetics with Michel Nivard

Michel Nivard and René Mõttus discuss classical and modern behaviour genetics, and why much of personality genetics is no longer focused on finding personality genes (there are none) but using genes to learn about environment. Perhaps paradoxically, then, genetics is as likely to help with building psychological and sociological theories of personality as biological theories.

Key References

Lo, M. T., Hinds, D. A., Tung, J. Y., Franz, C., Fan, C. C., Wang, Y., … & Chen, C. H. (2017). Genome-wide analyses for personality traits identify six genomic loci and show correlations with psychiatric disorders. Nature Genetics, 49(1), 152-156. https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3736

Grotzinger, A. D., Mallard, T. T., Akingbuwa, W. A., Ip, H. F., Adams, M. J., Lewis, C. M., … & Nivard, M. G. (2022). Genetic architecture of 11 major psychiatric disorders at biobehavioral, functional genomic and molecular genetic levels of analysis. Nature Genetics, 54(5), 548-559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-022-01057-4

Gage SH, Davey Smith G, Ware JJ, Flint J, Munafò MR (2016) G = E: What GWAS Can Tell Us about the Environment. PLoS Genetics 12(2): e1005765. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005765

#24 Personality, Doomsday Prepping, Science Denial, and Being Wrong with Adam Fetterman

In this episode, Lisanne de Moor chats with Adam Fetterman about his work on the role of personality and beliefs in shaping people’s behavior in contemporary phenomena such as doomsday prepping, science denial, and people’s willingness to admit to being wrong.

Key References

Evans, N. D., & Fetterman, A. K.(2022). It doesn’t apply to me, so it isn’t real: People are likely to deny science if it contradicts their personality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13, 1032-1046. PDF

Fetterman, A. K., Muscanell, N. L., Wu, D., & Sassenberg, K. (2022). When you are wrong on Facebook, just admit it: Wrongness admission leads to better interpersonal impressions on social media. Social Psychology, 53, 34-45. PDF

Fetterman, A. K., Rutjens, B. J., Wilkowski, B. M., & Landkammer, F. (2019). On post-apocalyptic and doomsday prepping beliefs: A new measure, its correlates, and the motivation to prep. European Journal of Personality, 33, 506-525. PDF

#23 Personality: universalism and cultural context with Moin Syed

Personality psychology is an exciting field of research. However, as we learn in Moin Syed’s presentation, this excitement has been dampened by a hyper focus on methodological and definitional issues based on the history of our field. However, personality can be more. Moin Syed talks in his presentation about how our field can earn back its excitement. 

Key References

Presentation Notes: https://osf.io/jnz9h/

Arshad, M., & Chung, J. M. (2022). Practical recommendations for considering culture, race, and ethnicity in personality psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 16(2), e12656. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12656

Syed, M. (2021). Where are race, ethnicity, and culture in personality research?PsyArXiv. https://psyarxiv.com/m57ph/

Thalmayer, A. G., Saucier, G., & Rotzinger, J. S. (2022). Absolutism, relativism, and universalism in personality traits across cultures: The case of the Big Five.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 53(7–8), 935–956. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221221111813

#22 Interviews at the 20th European Conference on Personality in Madrid

For this episode, we talked to ten researchers at the 20th European Conference on Personality (#ECP20) in Madrid, including Anna Hakobjanyan, Jérome Rossier, Matej Bjurković, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura Buchinger, Markus Jokela, Barbara De Clercq, Verònica Benet-Martínez, Arij Yehya, and Kendall Mather.

#21 Personality and health with Nick Turiano, Damaris Aschwanden, and Yannick Stephan

This episode’s guests were Nick Turiano, Damaris Aschwanden, and Yannick Stephan, three experts in personality and health psychology, who talked with Rebekka Weidmann about the importance of considering personality when predicting important health outcomes across the life span.

Key References

Turiano, N. A., Chapman, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., & Mroczek, D. K. (2015). Personality and the leading behavioral contributors of mortality. Health Psychology, 34, 51–60. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000038

Aschwanden, D., Strickhouser, J. E., Luchetti, M., Stephan, Y., Sutin, A. R., & Terracciano, A. (2021). Is personality associated with dementia risk? A meta-analytic investigation. Ageing Research Reviews, 67, 101269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2021.101269

Stephan, Y., Sutin, A. R., Luchetti, M., Canada, B., & Terracciano, A. (2020). Personality and HbA1c: Findings from six samples. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 120, 104782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104782

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#20 Post-traumatic growth with Laura Blackie and Eranda Jayawickreme

Many people believe that traumatic experiences are often followed by psychological growth. What does not kill us, makes us stronger, right?  Laura Blackie and Eranda Jayawickreme are among the leading researchers on this topic, and they just guest-edited a special issue on post-traumatic personality growth in the European Journal of Personality. They talked with René Mõttus what they have learned about how trauma can change us—or if it even changes us, after all.

Key References

Blackie, L. E., & Jayawickreme, E. (2022). What does a personality science approach to post-traumatic growth reveal?. European Journal of Personality, 08902070221104628. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070221104628

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#19 Paper Spotlight with Emily Willroth and Brett Ford

René Mõttus talks with Emily Willroth and Brett Ford about their recently published paper in the European Journal of Personality entitled: „Emotional responses to a global stressor: Average patterns and individual differences“

Key Reference

Willroth, E. C., Smith, A. M., Graham, E. K., Mroczek, D. K., Shallcross, A. J., & Ford, B. Q. (2022). Emotional responses to a global stressor: Average patterns and individual differences. European Journal of Personality, 08902070221094448. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070221094448

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#18 Personality and psychopathology with Bob Krueger, Odilia Laceulle, and Johannes Zimmerman

In this episode, Lisanne de Moor talked with three experts about a dimensional approach to conceptualizing and measuring psychopathology, and the HiTOP model as an example of one of the advancements of this approach.

Key References

Krueger, R. F., Kotov, R., Watson, D., Forbes, M. K., Eaton, N. R., Ruggero, C. J., Simms, L. J., Widiger, T. A., Achenbach, T. M., Bach, B., Bagby, R. M., Bornovalova, M. A., Carpenter, W. T., Chmielewski, M., Cicero, D. C., Clark, L. A., Conway, C., DeClercq, B., DeYoung, C. G., . . . Zimmermann, J. (2018). Progress in achieving quantitative classification of psychopathology. World Psychiatry, 17, 282–293. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20566

Leising, D., & Zimmermann, J. (2011). An integrative conceptual framework for assessing personality and personality pathology. Review of General Psychology, 15, 317–330. doi: 10.1037/a0025070 

van Dijk, I., Krueger, R. F., & Laceulle, O. M. (2021). DSM–5 alternative personality disorder model traits as extreme variants of five-factor model traits in adolescents. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 12, 59–69. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000409

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#17 Paper Spotlight with Paul Eastwick

Rebekka Weidmann talks with Paul Eastwick about his recently accepted paper in the European Journal of Personality entitled: „Predicting Romantic Interest during Early Relationship Development: A Preregistered Investigation using Machine Learning“

Key Reference

Eastwick, P. W., Joel, S., Molden, D. C., Finkel, E., & Carswell, K. L. (2021, March 8). Predicting Romantic Interest during Early Relationship Development: A Preregistered Investigation using Machine Learning. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/sh7ja

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#16 Self-Esteem with Ulrich Orth, Ketaki Diwan, and Lorenzo Filosa

Lisanne de Moor speaks with three self-esteem researchers about what self-esteem is, why it has attracted so much scientific attention, some interesting new discoveries, and some outstanding research questions.

Key References

Orth, U., & Robins, R. W. (2019). Development of self-esteem across the lifespan. In D. P. McAdams, R. L. Shiner, & J. L. Tackett (Eds.), Handbook of personality development (pp. 328-344). Guilford.

Reitz, A. K., Shrout, P. E., Denissen, J. J., Dufner, M., & Bolger, N. (2020). Self‐esteem change during the transition from university to work. Journal of Personality, 88(4), 689-702. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12519

Filosa, L., Alessandri, G., Robins, R. W., Pastorelli, C., (2022). Self-esteem Development during the Transition to Work: A 14-year Longitudinal Study from Adolescence to Young Adulthood. Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12713

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#15 Intelligence with Ian Deary

René Mõttus speaks with Ian Deary, who has published many hundreds of articles on intelligence and personality traits, alongside several books. They discuss the value of robust empirical findings over grand theories and key findings about human intelligence. They also compare personality and intelligence research and discuss their future. And finally, this is the first episode of the podcast where a guest also sings.

Key References

Deary, I. (2020). Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Deary, I.J., Cox, S.R. & Hill, W.D. (2021). Genetic variation, brain, and intelligence differences. Molecular Psychiatry https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01027-y

Deary, I.J., Hill, W.D. & Gale, C.R. (2021). Intelligence, health and death. Nature Human Behaviour 5, 416–430. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01078-9

Deary, I. J., & Sternberg, R. J. (2021). Ian Deary and Robert Sternberg answer five self-inflicted questions about human intelligence. Intelligence, 86, 101539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2021.101539

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#14 Psychopathology, Authenticity, Sustainability, and Veganism with Chris Hopwood

In this episode, Rebekka Weidmann talked with Chris Hopwood about his research on personality and psychopathology, but also his work on authenticity and realness, sustainable behavior, and veganism.

Key References

Hopwood, C.J., Bleidorn, W., Schwaba, T., & Chen, S. (2020). Health, environmental, and animal rights motivations for vegetarian eating. PLOS One 15(4): e0230609. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230609

Hopwood, C. J., Schwaba, T., & Bleidorn, W. (2021). Personality changes associated with increasing environmental concerns. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 77, 101684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101684

Hopwood, C. J., Wright, A. G., & Bleidorn, W. (2022). Person–environment transactions differentiate personality and psychopathology. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1(1), 55-63. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-021-00004-0

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#13 Personality science and helping people to change, with Patrick Hill

Patrick Hill has studied many topics, including purpose in life, gratitude, health, and personality change. In this episode, Patrick spoke with René Mõttus about the influence of personality on life outcomes, interventions to change personality traits, and several other topics.

Key Reference

Hill, P. L., Sin, N. L., Turiano, N. A., Burrow, A. L., & Almeida, D. M. (2018). Sense of purpose buffers against daily reactivity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 52, 724-729. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kax039

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#12 Diversity and inclusiveness with Alexandria West, Hrag Vosgerichian, and Khatuna Martskvishvili

At the 2021 EAPP Day, we conducted a live panel discussion with Alexandria West, Hrag Vosgerichian, and Khatuna Martskvishvili and discussed how we can bring more diversity and inclusiveness into the field of personality research. Thank you all for coming!

Key References

Daouk-Öyry, L., Zeinoun, P., Choueiri, L., & van de Vijver, F. J. (2016). Integrating global and local perspectives in psycholexical studies: A GloCal approach. Journal of Research in Personality, 62, 19-28. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2016.02.008

Zeinoun, P., Daouk-Öyry, L., Choueiri, L., & Van de Vijver, F. J. (2017). A mixed-methods study of personality conceptions in the Levant: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank. Journal of personality and social psychology, 113, 453-465. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000148

https://www.theloveconsortium.org/

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#11 Adolescent personality with Jenny Wagner, Eva Bleckmann, Larissa Wieczorek, and Naemi Brandt

Lisanne de Moor spoke with Jenny Wagner, Eva Bleckmann, Larissa Wieczorek, and Naemi Brandt about their research on adolescent personality. They discussed personality development, and school and relationships as influencing factors. In addition, they discussed major recent accomplishments in the fields as well as the next steps forward.

Key References

Israel, A., Brandt, N. D., Spengler, M., Göllner, R., Lüdtke, O., Trautwein, U., & Wagner, J. (in press). The Longitudinal Interplay of Personality and School Experiences in Adolescence. European Journal of Personality.

Wagner, J., Lüdtke, O., Robitzsch, A., Göllner, R., & Trautwein, U. (2018). Self-esteem development in the school context: The roles of intrapersonal and interpersonal social predictors. Journal of Personality, 86(3), 481–497. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12330

Wieczorek, L. L., Mueller, S., Lüdtke, O., & Wagner, J. (2021). What makes for a pleasant social experience in adolescence? The role of perceived social interaction behavior in associations between personality traits and momentary social satisfaction. European Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070211017745

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#10 The past, present, and controversies of personality trait psychology with Jeff McCrae

René Mõttus spoke with one of the most influential personality psychologists in recent decades, Robert „Jeff“ McCrae. They discussed the history and achievements of personality trait psychology and some of the key questions still awaiting an answer. They also spoke about an early „conspiracy“ among the Big Five enthusiasts to promote the trait model and the most controversial aspect of the Five-Factor Theory – lack of direct influences of life experiences on personality traits.

Key References

McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(1), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.1.81

McCrae, R. R. (1994). Openness to Experience: Expanding the boundaries of Factor V. European Journal of Personality, 8, 251-272. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2410080404

McCrae, R. R., Terracciano, A., & 78 Members of the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project. (2005). Universal Features of Personality Traits From the Observer’s Perspective: Data From 50 Cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(3), 547–561. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.547

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#9 Narcissism with Mitja Back, Carolyn Morf, and Joshua Miller

In this episode, Rebekka Weidmann talked with Mitja Back, Carolyn Morf, and Joshua Miller about narcissism—what it is, how it manifests in people’s lives, whether it changes, and common misconceptions about narcissism.

Key References

Back, M. D. (2018). The Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept. In A. D. Hermann, A. Brunell, & J. Foster (Eds.), The Handbook of trait narcissism: Key advances, research methods, and controversies (pp. 57-67). New York, NY: Springer.

Morf, C. C., Schürch, E., Küfner, A., Siegrist, P., Vater, A., Back, M., … & Schröder-Abé, M. (2017). Expanding the nomological net of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory: German validation and extension in a clinical inpatient sample. Assessment, 24(4), 419-443. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191115627010

Miller, J. D., Lynam, D. R., Hyatt, C. S., & Campbell, W. K. (2017). Controversies in narcissism. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 13, 291–315. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045244

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#8 Morality and moral development with Jessie Sun

In this episode, Lisanne de Moor talked with Jessie Sun about morality and moral development, and how to conceptualize and measure it in research. In addition, they discussed some of Jessie’s past, ongoing, and upcoming research, and the major challenges she sees in moving forward.

Key References

Sun, J., & Goodwin, G. P. (2020). Do people want to be more moral?. Psychological science, 31(3), 243-257. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619893078

Meindl, P., & Graham, J. (2014). Know thy participant: The trouble with nomothetic assumptions in moral psychology. Advances in experimental moral psychology, 233-252.https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.700.6349&rep=rep1&type=pdf

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#7 Personality development with Ted Schwaba, Eva Asselmann, and Chris Soto

In this episode, Rebekka Weidmann talked with Ted Schwaba, Eva Asselmann, and Chris Soto about their research on personality development across the lifespan, the importance of personality for life outcomes, and the emerging study of social, emotional, and behavioral skills.

Key References

Schwaba, T., Bleidorn, W., Hopwood, C. J., Gebauer, J. E., Rentfrow, P. J., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2021). The impact of childhood lead exposure on adult personality: Evidence from the United States, Europe, and a large-scale natural experiment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(29).  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020104118 Openly accessible pre-print: https://psyarxiv.com/nxdca

Asselmann, E., & Specht, J. (2021). Personality maturation and personality relaxation: Differences of the Big Five personality traits in the years around the beginning and ending of working life. Journal of Personality. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12640

Soto, C. J., Napolitano, C. M., & Roberts, B. W. (2021). Taking skills seriously: Toward an integrative model and agenda for social, emotional, and behavioral skills. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(1), 26-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420978613

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#6 A chat with Joanne Chung

In this episode, Lisanne de Moor talks with Joanne Chung about how she became interested in personality psychology, her past, present, and future work, and creating spaces and recognizing different voices in our work as personality scientists.

Key References

ARP Conference in July: https://www.personality-arp.org/conference/ 

Arshad, M., & Chung, J. M. (2021, April 29). Practical Recommendations for Considering Culture, Race, and Ethnicity in Personality Psychology. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/bjgh4

Chung, J. M., Meijer, l., Zonneveld, R., Sawaf, Z. A., Alajak, K., Moopen, N., … Laceulle, O. (2021, February 16). Initial Insights From a Study of Emotions and Positive Personality Change in Syrian Origin Young Adults Who Have Recently Resettled in the Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xvqrs

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#5 Subjective well-being with Susanne Bücker, Richard Lucas, and Samantha Heintzelman

In this episode, Rebekka Weidmann talked to Susanne Bücker, Richard Lucas, and Samantha Heintzelman about subjective well-being across the life span, factors that can change the well-being of people including the pandemic, and typical misconceptions that people might hold.

Key References

Buecker, S., Denissen, J. J. A., & Luhmann, M. (2020). A propensity-score matched study of changes in loneliness surrounding major life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000373

Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., Oishi, S., Hall, N., & Donnellan, M. B. (2018). Advances and open questions in the science of subjective well-being. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.115

Heintzelman, S. J., Kushlev, K., Lutes, L. D., Wirtz, D., Kanippayoor, J. M., Leitner, D., Oishi, S., & Diener, E. (2020). ENHANCE: Evidence for the efficacy of a comprehensive intervention program to promote subjective well-being. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 26(2), 360–383. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000254

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#4 Personality in the work context with Joanna Sosnowska

In this episode, Joanna Sosnowska and René Mõttus discuss dynamic models of personality and their usefulness for describing and understanding the psychology of workplace. The discussion is partly based on a recent paper Joanna and her colleagues published in the European Journal of Personality, as well as an upcoming special issue co-edited by Joanna (to be published in July in the European Journal of Personality).

Key Reference

Sosnowska, J., Kuppens, P., De Fruyt, F., & Hofmans, J. (2020). New directions in the conceptualization and assessment of personality—A dynamic systems approach. European Journal of Personality, 34(6), 988-998. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2233

Discussed Literature

Sosnowska, J., Hofmans, J., Rauthmann, J., & Wille, B. (in press) Personality dynamics in applied contexts [special issue]. European Journal of Personality. To be published in July, 2021

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#3 Personality structure and change with Emorie Beck

In this episode, we hear a presentation by Emorie Beck on her research on nomothetic and idiographic approaches to personality structure and change, couched in a historical perspective.

Presentation Script

Key Reference

Beck, E. D., & Jackson, J. J. (2020a). Idiographic traits: A return to Allportian approaches to personality. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(3), 301-308. https://psyarxiv.com/r8xfh.

Discussed Literature

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#2 Personalized approaches to personality with Aidan Wright

For this episode, Lisanne de Moor talked to Aidan Wright about how personality can be measured from a more personalized angle, what such an approach can contribute to personality science, and what are some of the challenges that he sees for moving this research forward.

Key Reference

Wright, A.G.C., Gates, K.M., Arizmendi, C., Lane, S.T., Woods, W.C., & Edershile, E.A. (2019). Focusing personality assessment on the person: Modeling general, shared, and person specific processes in personality and psychopathology. Psychological Assessment, 32, 502-515. doi: 10.1037/pas0000617

Discussed Literature

Collins, L. M. (2006). Analysis of longitudinal data: the integration of theoretical model, temporal design, and statistical model. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 505-528. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190146

Leary, T. (1957). The interpersonal diagnosis of personality: a functional theory and methodology for personality evaluation. Ronald Press

Wright, A.G.C. & Woods, W.C. (2020). Personalized models of psychopathology. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 16, 49-74. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-102419-125032. Open Access Link: https://psyarxiv.com/6hqzj/   

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#1 Introducing personality psychology with Julia Rohrer and Jaap Denissen

Welcome to our podcast! For this episode, René Mõttus talked to Julia Rohrer and Jaap Denissen about what personality is, how personality psychology is unique as a field, and what its most significant achievements have been so far—but also what is still puzzling and what can be improved for the future.

Key References

Rohrer, J. M. (2018). Thinking clearly about correlations and causation: Graphical causal models for observational data. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1(1), 27-42. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245917745629

Denissen, J. J., Luhmann, M., Chung, J. M., & Bleidorn, W. (2019). Transactions between life events and personality traits across the adult lifespan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116(4), 612-633. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000196

Discussed Literature

Allport, G. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation. New York: Henry Holt. Online Access