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A large proportion of my research includes some element of prediction. I frankly think it is *incredible* that someone's self-reported answers to a few questions can predict the level, frequency, and/or occurrence of a particular outcome up to decades in advance. However, although it is well established that personality predicts life outcomes, this is primarily tested for mean levels of typical constructs, in isolation of other important factors, & with self-reports of the Big Five, leading to potential biases and neglected effects. To remedy this, my research also focuses on the consequences of personality using:
Different metrics
Do distinct individual difference metrics (e.g., mean-level changes, within-person variability) vary in their predictive validity?
Are the mechanisms responsible for how various individual difference metrics are able to predict outcomes shared, or are they unique to that metric?
Can we optimize prediction by incorporating information on different metrics?
Multiple individual-difference frameworks
Does personality in childhood (i.e., temperament) offer incremental predictive validity over personality in adulthood?
Do life goals uniquely predict prospective outcomes relative to personality traits?
Different report methods
Can the personality traits or life goals of one's spouse influence their own life outcomes?
Do people and their peers agree on how they have changed in their personality over time?
Can peer-reports of personality prospectively predict someone's health?
Multiple data sources
Can we explain incremental variance in the personality-health pathway by incorporating physiological data?
Do situational, psychological, and mobile-sensing characteristics uniquely predict change and adherence during an intervention?
Selected Relevant Papers
Selected Relevant Papers
Wright, A. J. & Jackson, J. J. (2023). Do changes in personality predict life outcomes? 125(6), 1495-1518. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Haehner, P., Wright, A. J., Lubczyk, T., Andrae, R., Asselmann, E., Buecker, S., Hopwood, C. J., & Bleidorn, W. (2026). Tailoring Personality Interventions: How Timing, Context, and Strategies Influence Proximal Intervention Outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Wright, A. J. & Jackson, J. J. (2022). Childhood temperament and adulthood personality differentially predict life outcomes. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-9.
Wright, A. J., Weston, S. J., Norton, S., Voss, M., Bogdan, R., Oltmanns, T. F., & Jackson, J. J. (2022). Prospective self- and informant personality associations with inflammation, health behaviors, and health indicators. Health Psychology, 41(2), 121–133.
Huntington, C., Puricelli, A.*, Wright, A. J., Gilbert, K., Vogel, A. C., Barch, D., Luby, J., & Whalen, D. J. (2025). Preschool Big Five personality traits and childhood peer relationships predict BPD but not MDD in late adolescence. Personality and Mental Health, 19(3), e70027.
Wright, A. J., Litwin, A. W.*, & Jackson, J. J. (2023). Compensatory couple effects: How a spouse’s life goals impact one’s own career and health outcomes. Journal of Research in Personality, 103.
Wright, A. J. & Jackson, J. J. (2024). Is parent personality associated with child outcomes? A response surface analysis approach, 33(2), e2395. Infant and Child Development.
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