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This site aggregates blogs and popular press articles about personality psychology. If you are an ARP member who writes a blog, or whose research has been featured in a recent popular press article, email us at personalitymetablog@gmail.com to have your work added to the meta-blog.-
Recent Posts
- Personality and Sheltering-in-place during the Pandemic – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
- Who Supports Freedom of Speech? Tolerance vs. Prejudice – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
- Who Uses Drugs and Why? – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
- Why Religious People are Less Likely to Own Cats – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
- Thoughts on “Ego Depletion” and Some Related Issues Concerning Replication – Scott McGreal (funderstorms)
- The Real and Fake Faces of Personality’s ‘Big One’ – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
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Links to Contributing Blogs
- citation needed by Tal Yarkoni
- funderstorms by David Funder
- Person X Situation by Carol Tweten
- pigee by Brent Roberts
- Psych Your Mind coordinated by Michael Kraus
- Secrets of Longevity by Howard Friedman
- Sherman's Head by Ryne Sherman
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- The Hardest Science by Sanjay Srivastava
- The personality sentences by Jonathan Gerber
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- Unique—Like Everybody Else by Scott McGreal
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The views expressed in blog posts and other articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Association for Research in Personality.
Category Archives: Unique—Like Everybody Else
Challenging the “Banality” of Evil and of Heroism Part 1 – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
What makes a hero, what makes a villain? Phil Zimbardo has claimed that evil and heroism are equally banal and mainly arise as a matter of circumstance rather than any special qualities of the person. However, his own analysis blames evil on external forces, but views heroism as coming from within the person. A more balanced view is needed to understand these extremes.
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More Knowledge, Less Belief in Religion? – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
A recent review of 63 studies found that higher intelligence was associated with less religious belief. The reasons for this are not known, although a number of explanations are possible. One factor that may be relevant is that religious people tend to be less knowledgeable about religion and about other topics than atheists and agnostics.
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Facebook Usage and Easy Acceptance of Racism – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
A research study found that people who spend a lot of time on Facebook are more accepting of racist content than less frequent users. This may reflect an online culture of shallow information processing. Whether Facebook is more apt for spreading misinformation compared to other social media sites is not yet known.
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The Illusory Theory of Multiple Intelligences – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
The theory of Multiple Intelligences suggests that everyone can be "intelligent" in some way even if they do not have a high IQ. As appealing as this idea is to egalitarian sentiments, the theory has never been validated and is not supported by any empirical research.
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Personality’s Big One Revisited: The Allure of the Dark Side – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Some scholars have proposed the existence of a general factor of personality combining all the socially desirable personality traits. However, new research suggests that people who are reliable and honest also tend to be socially awkward, while those who are selfish and deceitful are more socially skilled. Not all "good" traits seem to fit together in a nice whole.
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Dogmatism and Openness to Experience in the Non-Religious – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Dogmatism is usually associated with low levels of openness to experience, particularly among the religious. A study on the non-religious found that among atheists higher levels of openness to experience were actually associated with greater dogmatism, particularly if they had a strong social identity as atheists.
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Individual Differences in the Stanford Prison Experiment – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
The Stanford Prison Experiment has long been held up as an example of the power of strong situations to overcome individual differences in personality and choices. The SPE not only did NOT show this, it was not even an adequate test of such a claim. People can still make personal choices even in tough situations.
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The Knowledgeable Personality – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Research looking at how a person's knowledge of the world is correlated with their personality traits has had inconsistent findings. However, when all the findings are put together, openness to experience is the only Big Five trait substantially related to general knowledge.
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BDSM, Personality and Mental Health – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Are people into BDSM psychologically healthier than other people, as has been widely reported? Research actually shows that dominants but not submissives are less neurotic than most people. However, the research findings should be treated with caution.
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Infidelity Detection And Women’s Interest In Oral Sex – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
A recent paper attempts to link women's interest in fellatio with an evolutionary theory of infidelity detection. The results were negative, but the authors make some convoluted efforts to support their theory. The actual psychological factors influencing women's interest in oral sex are not well understood, but personality traits may play an important role.
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