We tested the hypothesis that there are three major prototypic patterns of personality description (resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled) in a series of studies including adults' self‐descriptions on the Big Five and parents' Big Five and Q‐Sort judgments of their children, using both replicated cluster analyses and replicated Q‐factor analyses. The consistency of the prototypes across ages, judges, and methods was quantitatively measured. The results confirmed the hypothesis in all studies. Personality, social relationship, and social interaction correlates of the prototypes indicated externalizing tendencies for undercontrollers and internalizing tendencies for overcontrollers for both children and adults. The studies provide strong evidence for a three‐prototype model of personality description at the highest level of analysis for both childhood and adulthood. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Replicability of findings is at the heart of any empirical science. The aim of this article is to move the current replicability debate in psychology towards concrete recommendations for improvement. We focus on research practices but also offer guidelines for reviewers, editors, journal management, teachers, granting institutions, and university promotion committees, highlighting some of the emerging and existing practical solutions that can facilitate implementation of these recommendations. The challenges for improving replicability in psychological science are systemic. Improvement can occur only if changes are made at many levels of practice, evaluation, and reward. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bayesian statistical methods are becoming ever more popular in applied and fundamental research. In this study a gentle introduction to Bayesian analysis is provided. It is shown under what circumstances it is attractive to use Bayesian estimation, and how to interpret properly the results. First, the ingredients underlying Bayesian methods are introduced using a simplified example. Thereafter, the advantages and pitfalls of the specification of prior knowledge are discussed. To illustrate Bayesian methods explained in this study, in a second example a series of studies that examine the theoretical framework of dynamic interactionism are considered. In the Discussion the advantages and disadvantages of using Bayesian statistics are reviewed, and guidelines on how to report on Bayesian statistics are provided.

The current study focuses on the emergence of friendship networks among just-acquainted individuals, investigating the effects of Big Five personality traits on friendship selection processes. Sociometric nominations and self-ratings on personality traits were gathered from 205 late adolescents (mean age=19 years) at 5 time points during the first year of university. SIENA, a novel multilevel statistical procedure for social network analysis, was used to examine effects of Big Five traits on friendship selection. Results indicated that friendship networks between just-acquainted individuals became increasingly more cohesive within the first 3 months and then stabilized. Whereas individuals high on Extraversion tended to select more friends than those low on this trait, individuals high on Agreeableness tended to be selected more as friends. In addition, individuals tended to select friends with similar levels of Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Openness.

Despite evident heightened adolescent risk-taking in real-life situations, not all experimental studies demonstrate that adolescents take more risks than children and adults on risky decision-making tasks. In the current 4 independent meta-analyses, neurodevelopmental imbalance models and fuzzy trace theory were used as conceptual frameworks to examine whether adolescents engage in more risk-taking than children and adults and whether early adolescents take more risks than children and mid-late adolescents on behavioral risk-taking tasks. Studies with at least 1 of the aforementioned age comparisons met the inclusion criteria. Consistent with imbalance models and fuzzy trace theory, results from a random-effects model showed that adolescents take more risks (g = .37) than adults, and early adolescents take more risks (g = .15) than mid-late adolescents. However, inconsistent with both perspectives, adolescents and children take equal levels of risk (g = -.00), and early adolescents and children also take equal levels of risk (g = .04). Meta-regression analyses revealed that, consistent with imbalance models, (a) adolescents take more risks than adults on hot tasks with immediate outcome feedback on rewards and losses; however, contrary to imbalance models but consistent with fuzzy trace theory, (b) adolescents take fewer risks than children on tasks with a sure/safe option. Shortcomings related to studies using behavioral risk-taking tasks are discussed. We suggest a hybrid developmental neuroecological model of risk-taking that includes a risk opportunity component to explain why adolescents take more risks than children in the real world but equal levels of risks as children in the laboratory.

In a longitudinal study, Q-sort patterns of German preschool children were analyzed for personality prototypes and related to developmental outcomes up to age 12. Q-factor analyses confirmed 3 prototypic patterns that showed a high continuity and cross-judge consistency; were similar to those found for North American, Dutch, and Icelandic children; and can be interpreted as resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled. Relations reported by R. W. Robins, O. P. John, A. Caspi, T. E. Moffitt, & M. Stouthamer-Loeber (1996) between these 3 patterns and the Big Five were fully replicated. Growth curve analyses showed that the 3 patterns predicted important developmental outcomes in both the social and the cognitive domains. Evidence was found for both traits and types: A continuous dimension of resiliency bifurcates in its lower part into two relatively discrete personality types, overcontrollers and undercontrollers.

Several models of individual differences in environmental sensitivity postulate increased sensitivity of some individuals to either stressful (diathesis-stress), supportive (vantage sensitivity), or both environments (differential susceptibility). In this meta-analysis we examine whether children vary in sensitivity to parenting depending on their temperament, and if so, which model can best be used to describe this sensitivity pattern. We tested whether associations between negative parenting and negative or positive child adjustment as well as between positive parenting and positive or negative child adjustment would be stronger among children higher on putative sensitivity markers (difficult temperament, negative emotionality, surgency, and effortful control). Longitudinal studies with children up to 18 years (k = 105 samples from 84 studies, Nmean = 6,153) that reported on a parenting-by-temperament interaction predicting child adjustment were included. We found 235 independent effect sizes for associations between parenting and child adjustment. Results showed that children with a more difficult temperament (compared with those with a more easy temperament) were more vulnerable to negative parenting, but also profited more from positive parenting, supporting the differential susceptibility model. Differences in susceptibility were expressed in externalizing and internalizing problems and in social and cognitive competence. Support for differential susceptibility for negative emotionality was, however, only present when this trait was assessed during infancy. Surgency and effortful control did not consistently moderate associations between parenting and child adjustment, providing little support for differential susceptibility, diathesis-stress, or vantage sensitivity models. Finally, parenting-by-temperament interactions were more pronounced when parenting was assessed using observations compared to questionnaires. (PsycINFO Database Record

Personality effects on perceived support from social relationships and vice versa were longitudinally studied over adolescence. Within personality, core (Big Five personality traits) and surface characteristics (global self-worth, perceived peer acceptance, and loneliness) were distinguished. Core, but not surface, characteristics at age 12 predicted support from both parents and peers at age 17 after controlling for support at age 12. Support at age 12 predicted surface, but not core, characteristics at age 17 after controlling for personality at age 12. These findings are interpreted within a dual model of personality-relationship transaction. Core characteristics are relatively stable traits that are largely immune against experiences in relationships and continuously influence their flux and flow. Surface characteristics are more open to relationship influences, and are therefore less stable.