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Beyond quantifying change & development in multiple ways, I explore what underlies different types of change. When studying what drives change, it is crucial to consider people's environments, life stages, and disentangle separate, context-specific processes. Given typical age-specific experiences that people often have, my research considers the implications of different ages to ensure that the periods theorized to be important for given questions are tested. To do so, I leverage my lifespan approach to optimally balance detailed explorations of specific periods (zooming in) vs. holistic investigations across multiple life stages (zooming out):
Zooming in
Which periods of the lifespan are particularly important for identifying effects or capturing patterns of change due to different types of life experiences?
Do mechanisms of change differ depending on people's life stage, such as adolescence versus older age, or the timescales over which personality is assessed? Which mechanisms are more prominent at different ages or short- versus long-term timescales?
Zooming out
How are effects associated with life events related across different metrics of personality?
Do life experiences lead to similar or distinct developmental changes in personality traits versus other constructs, like personality pathology or well-being?
How is change at one timescale related to change at another timescale?
Selected Relevant Papers
Selected Relevant Papers
Wright, A. J.^, Haehner, P.^, Hopwood, C. J., & Bleidorn, W. (in press). Intervention-Induced Neuroticism Change Across Multiple Timescales. American Psychologist.
Wright, A. J., Haehner, P., Andrae, R., Lubczyk, T., Hopwood, C. J., & Bleidorn, W. (in press). Effects of a theory-based smartphone intervention to decrease neuroticism in the general public. Psychological Science.
Jackson, J. J., & Wright, A. J. (2024). The process and mechanisms of personality change. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3, 305-318.
Wright, A. J., Luhmann, M., Salzburg, S., Koss, M., & Haehner, P. (2026). A multimetric examination of self-reported personality functioning and personality trait development. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 135(1), 47–63.
Haehner, P., Krämer, M. D., Wright, A. J., & Bleidorn, W. (2026). Life Events and Personality Trait Change: A Coordinated Data Analysis. European Journal of Personality, 40(2), 391–412.
Wright, A. J. & Jackson, J. J. (2024). The associations between life events and person-centered personality consistency. Journal of Personality, 92, 162-179.
Wright, A. J. & Jackson, J. J. (2023). Initiation of drug and alcohol use and personality development during adolescence. European Journal of Personality, 37(4), 375-401.
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