Fabian Gander

Attachment orientations are theorized to change in response to significantinterpersonal life events. However, empirical findings remain mixed. Moreover, the role ofsubjective event perceptions—though emphasized in personality research—has been largelybeen neglected in research on attachment development. In a longitudinal study spanning 7waves over 2.5 years, we examined how romantic relationship transitions—entering or endinga committed relationship—predict changes in attachment anxiety and avoidance, and whetherthese effects are moderated by subjective event perceptions. We analyzed data of N = 1,717participants (69.6% women aged 18-40, M = 26.5 years) who were single (52%) or in apartnership (48%) at the beginning of the study. Using multilevel piecewise modeling, wedistinguished selection, anticipation, and socialization effects. Avoidant individuals were lesslikely to enter new relationships (selection effect), and avoidance declined prior to partnering(anticipation effect). Both anxiety and avoidance shifted in response to transitions(socialization effects): anxiety decreased after partnering and increased after separation, whileavoidance showed a temporary decrease post-separation followed by a gradual increase.These shifts mirrored average differences between partnered and single individuals,suggesting rapid adaptation to new social roles. Subjective perceptions of the events (e.g.,valence, social status decrease, predictability) showed limited moderation effects. Overall,findings underscore the importance of social role transitions in shaping attachment processes,while suggesting that subjective evaluations may have a more nuanced role than previouslyassumed. These results contribute to personality theory by clarifying the contextual andexperiential mechanisms underlying intraindividual change in attachment insecurity.

Objective: Which personality traits do people consider worth fostering? Parents’ aspirations for their children provide a developmental perspective on this question. We examined whether the Values in Action (VIA) classification of character strengths captures these aspirations.Method: In an online survey, German- and English-speaking parents and expecting parents (N = 1,410; Mage = 31.2 years; 94.3% women) either described the qualities they hoped their children would develop or rated the desirability of the 24 VIA character strengths and ten comparison traits (e.g., intelligence) for their children. Participants also rated their own character strengths.Results: All 24 character strengths were regarded as desirable, although to varying degrees. Across ratings and open-ended responses, parents consistently prioritized love, honesty, kindness, and social intelligence. Character strengths were generally valued more highly than comparison traits, particularly academic achievement and attractiveness. Parents also placed greater value on strengths they themselves scored higher on. Desirability was also associated with perceived contribution to well-being and, depending on the method, normative levels and societal valuation.Conclusions: Character strengths capture many of the personality traits parents most want their children to develop, highlighting parental socialization goals as a valuable perspective on desirable personality.

Vocational interests, personality traits, and character strengths overlap, but their shared versus domain-specific links to work outcomes – and the role of person-job fit – remain unclear because these frameworks have rarely been examined together. In this study, N = 259 working adults (79% women; ages 20–73) rated their RIASEC interests, FFM personality traits, and VIA character strengths and the extent to which each attribute was demanded by their jobs. Profile correlations between person attributes and perceived job demands were used as indices of perceived person-job fit. Outcomes were job satisfaction, work engagement, and self-rated performance. At both the person and perceived job-demand levels, all three frameworks (vocational interests, personality traits, character strengths) showed associations with the work outcomes, although their relative contributions differed. Commonality analyses indicated substantial overlap among the three frameworks, alongside smaller domain-specific contributions. Across all three frameworks, person attributes and perceived job demands showed stronger associations with work outcomes than profile similarity, whose incremental contribution beyond person and environment characteristics was small. These findings suggest that character strengths complement established vocational interest and personality frameworks by providing additional information about work-related individual differences, while profile similarity contributes comparatively little beyond person attributes and perceived job demands.

Personality change interventions (PCIs) are structured approaches that help people intentionally modify aspects of their personality in line with self‐endorsed goals. This article synthesizes theoretical and empirical advances in volitional personality change and sets a research agenda for PCIs. We review core models of self‐regulated personality change, summarize evidence for PCI effectiveness and putative mechanisms, and delineate methodological, ethical, and societal challenges. Priorities for future research include active‐control randomized trials, multi‐method outcome assessment (self, informant, behavioral), and long‐term follow‐ups. We argue for personalized, adaptive approaches and for broadening targets from trait levels to skills and behavioral flexibility. We also map the ethical landscape (e.g., potential harm, pressure to conform, possible exacerbation of social disparities), while outlining corresponding safeguards. The result is a framework that clarifies what can change, for whom, under which conditions, and with what downstream consequences. When designed responsibly, PCIs may foster favorable individual and collective outcomes, including adaptive functioning, well‐being, and resilience in a rapidly changing world.

Personality is increasingly viewed as a dynamic system arising from the interaction between individuals and their situations. Yet, in naturalistic data, within-person links between personality states and situation perceptions often conflate two distinct mechanisms: situation contact—what people objectively encounter—and situation construal—how they interpret these encounters. To disentangle these components, we combined two longitudinal approaches: a standardized laboratory study (N = 189) in which situation contact was held largely constant, and a naturalistic experience-sampling study (N = 1,596) capturing the diversity of everyday contexts. Multilevel models revealed meaningful within-person covariation between Big Five states and situation perceptions in both designs, with effect sizes that were small to medium in magnitude and theoretically coherent across both settings. However, in the naturalistic study, person–situation associations varied systematically across situation cues—social partner, location, and activity—with some associations shifting in magnitude or reversing direction depending on the context. Together, these findings suggest that construal is a primary driver of person–situation associations, but that situation contact shapes which associations emerge, to what degree, and across which situation perception dimensions. Accounting for situation contact may therefore help to more accurately capture personality as a context-sensitive, dynamic system.

The promise of intentional change in adult personality traits attracts broad interest, even as convincing evidence remains scarce and methodologically challenging. In a preregistered randomized placebo- and waitlist-controlled study with N = 3,434 adults, we tested whether an eight-week online training of a self-selected character strength produces short- and long-term changes in character strengths (states and traits) and Big Five personality traits. Participants in the intervention condition increased targeted strengths states more than both placebo and waitlist control conditions. However, intervention and placebo participants experienced similar gains in targeted strengths traits, extraversion, and agreeableness, as well as similar decreases in neuroticism relative to the waitlist condition. Thus, some effects may result from non-specific aspects of the structured activity. Informants did not observe any between-condition differences in strengths trait change. These findings underscore the importance of using rigorous control conditions in research on volitional personality change.

Personality is increasingly viewed as a dynamic system arising from the interaction between individuals and their situations. Yet, in naturalistic data, within-person links between personality states and situation perceptions often conflate two distinct mechanisms: situation contact—what people objectively encounter—and situation construal—how they interpret these encounters. To disentangle these components, we combined two longitudinal approaches: a standardized laboratory study (N = 189) in which situation contact was held largely constant, and a naturalistic experience-sampling study (N = 1,596) capturing the diversity of everyday contexts. Multilevel models revealed meaningful within-person covariation between Big Five states and situation perceptions in both designs. Cross-study comparison of standardized effect sizes confirmed broad replication, yet revealed dimension-specific divergence: Duty and Mating showed pronounced differences across designs, whereas dimensions such as Positivity and Negativity replicated closely. In the naturalistic study, person–situation associations varied systematically across situation cues — social partner, location, and activity — with some associations reversing direction depending on the situation contact. Together, these findings demonstrate that situation contact shapes which person–situation associations emerge and to what degree, and that its influence differs meaningfully across psychological situation dimensions. Incorporating situational context into experience-sampling research is therefore essential for accurately capturing personality as a context-sensitive, dynamic system.

Attachment insecurity is associated with important relationship outcomes, well-being, and mental health. Attachment has long been considered a stable trait, but recent findings indicate that attachment insecurity decreases over time among adults in romantic relationships. Although theoretical considerations suggest that positive experiences within these relationships should contribute to changes in attachment, little is known about the specific characteristics that foster attachment security. Using a longitudinal dyadic sample of well-established couples (N = 1,036 couples; M_{Relationship Duration} = 8.6 years, M_Age = 32.9 years), this study aims to (a) examine changes in attachment anxiety and avoidance in adults in a romantic relationship over 20 months, (b) explore the codevelopment of attachment between partners, and (c) investigate actor and partner effects of relationship characteristics (i.e., relationship satisfaction, commitment, support, closeness, responsiveness, and disclosure) on changes in attachment. Dyadic growth curve models indicated small but significant decreases in anxiety over time in women. No codevelopment between partners was observed. Further, changes in attachment were largely unrelated to baseline relationship characteristics with few exceptions: Women with highly committed and responsive partners showed weaker declines in anxiety, likely due to higher initial anxiety levels. However, changes in anxiety were negatively associated with relationship duration. These findings suggest that avoidance remains stable and uninfluenced by relationship characteristics, while anxiety decreases slightly only in women, independent of partner codevelopment. This highlights that attachment insecurity partially changes over time during the course of a romantic relationship but is largely unaffected by relationship dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

This protocol describes a research project investigating changes in individual differences in the context of relationship transitions in single and partnered individuals. While prior research has examined long-term personality change in the context of life events, this study takes a fine-grained, dynamic approach to capture short-term personality changes before, during, and after relationship transitions. The study integrates trait-level, state-level, and situational perspectives to examine how personality co-evolves with relationship transitions. By employing narrower assessment intervals and considering self-perceived event characteristics, this study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of personality-change mechanisms in romantic relationships. The study employs a measurement-burst design over 2.5 years, following N = 1,781 participants aged 18–40 (mean age 26.5 years). Half of the sample started the study being single while the other half started in a relationship. Participants completed seven assessment waves at five-month intervals, each consisting of (a) global assessments at the start and end of each wave, and (b) a 3-day experience sampling phase in between. This design enables the investigation of selection effects (who experiences relationship transitions based on personality), anticipation effects (changes in personality before a transition), and socialization effects (changes in personality following relationship transitions). Additionally, by integrating situational context and subjective event characteristics, the research project aimed to address gaps in previous research on personality-situation interactions in relationship transitions. This research project is one of the first to systematically examine short-term personality dynamics in response to romantic relationship transitions. By capturing moment-to-moment changes, it advances research on personality change, relationship research, and life event perception.