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The dynamics, processes, mechanisms, and functioning of personality: An overview of the field
Author(s) -
Kuper Niclas,
Modersitzki Nick,
Phan Le Vy,
Rauthmann John F.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/bjop.12486
Subject(s) - personality , relevance (law) , dynamics (music) , psychology , field (mathematics) , the renaissance , engineering ethics , epistemology , cognitive science , social psychology , pedagogy , art , philosophy , mathematics , political science , pure mathematics , law , art history , engineering
Personality psychology has long focused on structural trait models, but it can also offer a rich understanding of the dynamics, processes, mechanisms, and functioning of individual differences or entire persons. The field of personality dynamics, which works towards such an understanding, has experienced a renaissance in the last two decades. This review article seeks to act as a primer of that field. It covers its historical roots, summarizes current research strands – along with their theoretical backbones and methodologies – in an accessible way, and sketches some considerations for the future. In doing so, we introduce relevant concepts, give an overview of different topics and phenomena subsumed under the broad umbrella term ‘dynamics’, and highlight the interdisciplinarity as well as applied relevance of the field. We hope this article can serve as a useful overview for scholars within and outside of personality psychology who are interested in the dynamic nature of human behaviour and experience.