Please join us on Thursday, March 5, at 4:10 p.m. in Ford Hall 102 for our seventh Faculty Colloquium of this semester.
Presenter: Erik Noftle, Associate Professor of Psychology
Title: Personality Dynamics and Development 
Abstract: In this talk, I describe two research efforts I completed during my sabbatical, which have to do with personality dynamics and personality development. Personality captures important, enduring psychological characteristics of a person, which are relatively consistent across situations and time, such as the traits of Extraversion or Conscientiousness. Personality dynamics concerns how personality functions: how it fluctuates across the short term, from moments to weeks. Personality development concerns how personality matures: how it changes across the long term, from years to decades. In one project, I examined how situation experience and trait-relevant behavior fluctuated within a representative span of daily life across three adult age groups: young adults, middle-aged adults, and retired adults. Results suggest that some fascinating changes in personality processes take place across the adult lifespan. In the other project, I tracked college students across the entirety of college and investigated how their personality traits affected–and were affected by—different aspects of adjustment to college. Results suggest that not only does personality predict how students are later faring when it comes to academics or their social lives, but also that how students are faring predicts their future personality traits. In sum, these findings contribute to a growing consensus that instead of personality being something about a person that’s pretty much fixed once one is a young adult, personality is, in fact, an aspect of a person that continues to be sensitive and responsive to the environment and dynamic across much of the lifespan.
Students are welcome and coffee and treats will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there. Also, remember to note the move to Thursday afternoons this semester.
Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators