René Mõttus
@renemottus.bsky.social
Personality psychology professor. Edinburgh. Tartu. Current effort: https://whichjob.me About psychology: https://psychologytoday.com/us/blog/people-unexplained https://personalitypsychologypodcast.com
Top download from APA Journals in 2025 examines occupational differences in #personality traits, drawing on Big Five domains and personality nuances. Full article + interactive tool to explore the results ➡️ https://bit.ly/3NMyk3h @katlinanni.bsky.social @ukuvainik.bsky.social @renemottus.bsky.social
New episode alert! 🚨 @renemottus.bsky.social spoke with Elliot Berkman, @kaitlynmwerner.bsky.social and @andero.bsky.social about self-regulation and affect regulation, and how each of the guests' research connects to personality psychology. Check it out!
Two-year post-doc position in my department working on a cool project applying cognitive science (transmission chain experiments and natural language processing) to study cultural evolution: tinyurl.com/bdeju6kw
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
The Psychology Department in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences are seeking a full time, fixed term Post-Doctoral Research Associate. This post is available from 1st of Septemb...
tinyurl.com
For those submitting a symposium to the ECP22 (deadline soon!): I added details to the submission instructions. www.ecp22edinburgh.org/submission
For those coming to the ECP22 in Edinburgh, 2026: You can now book more affordable Summer Stay rooms (75 rooms currently available at a cheaper price) For details: www.ecp22edinburgh.org/accommodation
🔔 Those coming to the ECP22 in Edinburgh: Consider booking accommodation early! Edinburgh is a very popular place. Here are accommodation tips for ECP folks: docs.google.com/document/d/1... 📝 Submissions & registrations are also open: ecp22edinburgh.org #ecp22
Why aren't some of the strongest personality neuroscience papers getting widely cited?
Reminder: the 22nd European Conference on Personality, ECP22, Edinburgh, July 2026, is accepting submissions until 07/12. Submit a symposium, talk, or poster! We promise you the best research, many smart discussions, social fun, and a fantastic historic city. www.ecp22edinburgh.org/submission
Early career personality researchers coming to the Edinburgh ECP22: If you want to get a link to a slightly more affordable uni accommodation option later this year, leave your email here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Advance Accommodation Information
Primarily for Early Career Researchers (PhD, post-doc): If you would like to receive advance information about a limited number of more affordable accommodation options available for the 22nd Europea...
docs.google.com
Personality change people: does it make sense to think that to change a broader trait domain (neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness) one could consider starting with those facets/nuances that are furthest from the desired levels? (Most room for change?)
Submissions are now open for 22nd European Conference on Personality (Edinburgh, 2026); deadline 7/12/25. Keynote speakers and pre-conference workshops have also been confirmed. www.ecp22edinburgh.org/submission
New paper out with @boryslaw.bsky.social 🥳 In which we sketch out how to rethink measurement invariance causally for applied researchers. And provide a causal definition of measurement invariance! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I once proposed a simple tool to understand and visualise correlations, TACT. doi.org/10.5964/ps.7... This app makes it even easier to use: apps.psych.ut.ee/TACT/
TACT: Trisect And Cross-Tabulate to understand and visualise correlations
apps.psych.ut.ee
Personality folks, is there an argument to be made for latent Big Five traits that exist independently of the particular test we happen to use to assess them? (If yes, I will have a follow-up question)
Now published in Current Opinion, we show why personality research should embrace multi-rater studies and how this can be achieved in practice, even at scale. Often, this is the most realistic way to avoid (reliably) invalid conclusions. doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
What I really enjoy about Bluesky is how you can serendipitously learn so much stuff. You’ve probably heard of Dunbar’s number — the idea that humans can only maintain X stable social relationships, because *gestures vaguely* brain? Here’s a deconstruction of it.>
Duncan Stibbard Hawkes@dstibbardhawkes.bsky.social · last yr.Taking the chance to boost the antidote, for what good it will do royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Folks, it's time to submit your papers to PCI Psychology. Here is our invitation to you, taken from our editorial osf.io/preprints/ps...
PCI Psychology@psych.peercommunityin.org · last yr.PCI Psychology is here!! 🎉🥳 After over a year of hard work by so many people, we are thrilled to announce that we are open for submissions! Join us in making publishing more efficient, equitable, and open: psych.peercommunityin.org #PsychSciSky #scipub
What is the best public domain occupational interest test currently available (still relevant for the current job market)?
New preprint: One of the largest studies (N = 67,000) on how sexual desire varies with age, sexual orientation, education, job, number of children, recent birth, and relationship satisfaction, and how the trends differ by gender. doi.org/10.21203/rs....
Associations Between Demographic and Relationship Variables and Sexual Desire: Findings from a Large-Scale Estonian Biobank Dataset
Sexual desire plays a crucial role in human well-being and relational dynamics, yet its demographic and relational predictors remain insufficiently understood. Leveraging a uniquely large and represen...
doi.org
Would you recognise your friend from their personality trait profile? Photos can be instructive: portraits of 5×5px (Big Five), 30×30px (NEO facets), or 100×100px (more facets/nuances). You decide. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
This was a fun conversation with Kensy, the host of the @manymindspod.bsky.social
Many Minds podcast@manymindspod.bsky.social · last yr.New episode!! 📣🎙️ A conversation w/ @renemottus.bsky.social about the science of human personality. The "Big Five" model of human personality has been enormously generative and influential. But what does it miss? What does it mask? Where should the field go next? Listen: disi.org/the-big-five...
With a PhD in personality research and interested in teaching? Consider applying for a fixed-term teaching job at the University of Edinburgh. elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Lecturer
The School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences is seeking to appoint a teaching focused lecturer in Psychology on a full time, fixed term contract until 31st of August 2026.
elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
This may be one of the largest personality research projects ever.
Ted Schwaba@tedmond.bsky.social · last yr.Extremely excited to share the first effort of the Revived Genomics of Personality Consortium: A highly-powered, comprehensive GWAS of the Big Five personality traits in 1.14 million participants from 46 cohorts. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
German coverage of our work on occupational personality profiles. www.spektrum.de/news/persoen...
Job: Typische Persönlichkeitsprofile für 263 Berufe
In vielen Berufen haben die Menschen mindestens ein besonderes charakterliches Merkmal
spektrum.de
Episode alert 🚨 Anat Bardi and Laura Parks-Leduc discuss their research on values. They delve into definitions and research approaches, changes in values, and associations with personality traits. They also highlights established evidence about values and areas unexplored.
Some really interesting contrasts in our new "assumption-free heritability" preprint: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Nature, nurture, and socioeconomic outcomes: New evidence from sib pairs and molecular genetic data
A consequence of Mendel's First Law is that siblings' genetic relatedness varies randomly (with a mean of 50% and a standard deviation of ~4%). We use molecular
papers.ssrn.com
How do life satisfaction and job satisfaction vary among hundreds of jobs? (Doing a religion job looks good, if you are considering a career change.) New preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
A reminder: the European Conference of Personality of 2026, ECP22, will be in Edinburgh in July 2026. ecp22edinburgh.org
