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Welcome to ARP!

Welcome to the online home of the Association for Research in Personality. ARP is a scientific organization devoted to bringing together scholars whose research contributes to the understanding of personality structure, processes, and development. ARP aims to further the scientific study of personality through our biennial conference, our newsletter, a major journal co-sponsored with several other scientific associations (Social Psychological and Personality Science), several personality-focused awards, and a collection of resources promoting research in personality psychology . We invite you to browse our website and learn more about the Association and the field of personality psychology. If you are interested in joining ARP, please visit our membership page.

News and Updates

Dates have been announced for the ARP Conference in July 2023!

The 8th Biennial Meeting of the Association for Research in Personality will be held in Evanston, Illinois in July 2023. The main conference will begin in the late afternoon on July 20 and will conclude with a Gala Dinner on July 22. In addition, there will be pre-conference programming during the day on Thursday, July 20.

See the Conference page for more information about registration and the schedule of events.

Congratulations to the 2022 Dunlop Spark Grant Recipients

Jana Böhler, Koblenz-Landau University
Will Futch, Marquette University
Rachel Jacobson, University of Oregon
Travis Miller, Menlo College
Dulce Wilkinson Westberg, University of California, Riverside

Please see the awards page for more details about the first class of Spark Grant winners!

Olivia Atherton wins the 2020 Tanaka Dissertation Award

May 9, 2022 — The Tanaka Dissertation Award Committee (Sanjay Srivastava, Rodica Damian, and Julia Rohrer) has identified Dr. Olivia Atherton as the recipient of the Tanaka Dissertation Award for dissertations defended in 2020. The committee was uniformly impressed by Dr. Atherton’s rigorous and sophisticated program of research. Dr. Atherton’s dissertation is an investigation of how effortful control develops across adolescence. The data come from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth, studied from the ages of 10 to 19, which Dr. Atherton played a significant leadership role in designing and running during her time in graduate school. In the first chapter, Dr. Atherton describes the development of effortful control across this period and looks at the role of individual and cultural antecedents. The remaining chapters investigate the co-development of effortful control with relational aggression (Chapter 2), school behavioral problems (Chapter 3), and symptoms of externalizing disorders (Chapter 4). Dr. Atherton’s dissertation is notable for its theoretical depth, rigorous design, focus on an understudied ethnic minority sample, technically strong longitudinal modeling, and clear and compelling writing. Congratulations to Dr. Atherton, and thank you to all of the 2020 Tanaka award applicants for the excellent work they are doing to further personality science!

Brian Little wins the 2020 Murray Award

ARP is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2020 Henry A. Murray Award is Brian Little. Dr. Little’s work integrates a variety of disciplines, theoretical viewpoints, and research techniques to illuminate the intrapsychic structure and thematic unity of individual lives amidst their phenotypic diversity, making him an exemplar of the Murray tradition of scholarship and science. See the Murray Award page to learn more.

2021 Early Career Award Winner is Dr. William Chopik

ARP is happy to announce that William J. Chopik is the winner of the Association for Research in Personality’s Early Career Award for 2021. Dr. Chopik received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2015, and is currently an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. He is a particularly productive researcher and his contributions use a lifespan development perspective to understand personality development and attachment orientations within relationship contexts. Dr. Chopik facilitates broad collaborations resulting in efficient and effective use of archival data to answer key questions in our field. He employs multiple methods and hard to recruit samples, including deployed soldiers and older individuals. His work draws on basic theory in personality and attachment, which both have implications for health and well-being. Given these achievements, it is not surprising that his research is widely recognized for its quality as evidenced by other awards and grant funding. Congrats Bill!

New ARP President and Board Members Elected

January 10, 2022 — We are excited to announce that Wiebke Bleidorn has been elected as the next ARP President, and that Jenny Wagner and Tammy English have been elected as Members-at-Large of the ARP Executive Board. Their terms began on January 1, 2022. Congratulations!