Want us to add your blog or article?
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)
Filter Posts by Blog
- citation needed (22)
- funderstorms (26)
- Person X Situation (4)
- pigee (35)
- Press coverage (3)
- Psych Your Mind (46)
- Secrets of Longevity (8)
- Sherman's Head (7)
- sometimes i'm wrong (66)
- The Desk Reject (10)
- The Hardest Science (55)
- The personality sentences (5)
- The SAPA Project (1)
- The Trait-State Continuum (34)
- Unique—Like Everybody Else (104)
Archives
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
- sometimes i'm wrong by Simine Vazire
- The Desk Reject Recent content on The Desk Reject
- The Hardest Science by Sanjay Srivastava
- The personality sentences by Jonathan Gerber
- The Trait-State Continuum by Brent Donnellan
- Unique—Like Everybody Else by Scott McGreal
Association for Research in Personality
Disclaimer
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.
Tag Archives: personality
Challenging the “Banality” of Evil and of Heroism Part 2 – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Situationism implies that evil-doers are victims of circumstances beyond their control, yet argues that heroes are those who can rise above their circumstances to do what is right. An ideology of victimisation is incompatible with heroism. Personal responsibility for one's actions cuts both ways.
Comments Off on Challenging the “Banality” of Evil and of Heroism Part 2 – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Posted in Unique—Like Everybody Else
Tagged personality
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.
Comments Off on Challenging the “Banality” of Evil and of Heroism Part 1 – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Posted in Unique—Like Everybody Else
Tagged personality
Why Do We Take Personality Tests? – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)
I often get questions from friends and family that they would like answered in a post. This month, my post is inspired by a question from my grandmother. Kudos to my grandma for asking a question about a popular trend on the internet!
![]() |
Personality tests |
Personality tests are not new, but they have recently skyrocketed in popularity on the internet. This week, Buzzfeed published 15 such tests in one 24-hour period. It seems every day on my Facebook news feed, someone has posted new results from one of these quizzes. Online personality tests have expanded beyond the traditional format of telling us certain traits we possess, although those do still exist (try here and here). Now, there are also tests that give us information about ourselves by comparing us to people or characters we know (“Which pop star should you party with?” or “Which children’s book character are you?”) and by comparing specific behaviors or knowledge to others’ (“How many classic horror films have you seen? Continue reading
Comments Off on Why Do We Take Personality Tests? – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)
Posted in Psych Your Mind
Tagged personality, personality psychology
Ten Findings About Facebook for its 10th Birthday – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)
![]() |
Happy Birthday, Facebook! |
1. Does Facebook help us feel better by fulfilling our need for social connection? The authors of one study text-messaged people five times per day for two weeks and asked people about their Facebook use and their well-being. The more people used Facebook at one time, the worse they felt the next time they were text-messaged. Continue reading
Comments Off on Ten Findings About Facebook for its 10th Birthday – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)
Posted in Psych Your Mind
Tagged personality
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.
Comments Off on More Knowledge, Less Belief in Religion? – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Posted in Unique—Like Everybody Else
Tagged personality
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.
Comments Off on Facebook Usage and Easy Acceptance of Racism – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Posted in Unique—Like Everybody Else
Tagged personality
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.
Comments Off on The Illusory Theory of Multiple Intelligences – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Posted in Unique—Like Everybody Else
Tagged personality
What Your Resistance to Halloween Candy Predicts About Your Life – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)
![]() |
Tempting Halloween candy |
Thanks to yesterday’s festivities, both kids and adults have
a few more sweet treats on hand than normal. With a big bowl of candy sitting at
home on the kitchen table or stashed in a desk drawer, many of us now face the
annual challenge of eating our Halloween candy in moderation. Some of us will
succeed; others won’t. We face situations like this constantly in life, where
we are tasked with resisting temptations and overriding our impulses. What might our responses to these situations
reveal about the rest of our lives? Are we happy? Are we satisfied? To approach
this question, let’s imagine a couple of eight-year olds and their new stashes
of Halloween candy.
Read More->Comments Off on What Your Resistance to Halloween Candy Predicts About Your Life – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)
Posted in Psych Your Mind
Tagged personality, personality psychology
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.
Comments Off on Personality’s Big One Revisited: The Allure of the Dark Side – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Posted in Unique—Like Everybody Else
Tagged personality
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.
Comments Off on Dogmatism and Openness to Experience in the Non-Religious – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Posted in Unique—Like Everybody Else
Tagged personality