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In this chapter, I discuss the main methods that are currently used to describe, predict, and explain long-term development, with a particular focus on between-person differences in individual trajectories of change. First, I distinguish between three concepts of change (individual, mean, and differential change) and associated concepts of stability (mean-level and positional/rank-order stability), and highlight the equivalence of between-person differences in change and change in between-person differences in the case of linear change. Subsequently, I contrast three variable-centered models for describing differential change with each other (multilevel, latent growth curve, and autoregressive models) and outline two person-centered approaches to the description of change (development of personality types and types of personality development). Finally, I discuss four approaches to explaining personality development (statistically controlled prediction, intervention studies, natural experiments, and crosslagged analysis, including longitudinal mediation) with an eye on differences between within-person and between-person mechanisms of change.

This study examined, first, the longitudinal interplay between immigrant youth's acculturation into the host and ethnic cultures and perceived ethnic discrimination, and, second, whether acceptance and rejection by immigrant and non-immigrant peers longitudinally mediated the link between acculturation and discrimination. 1057 students nested in 49 Greek middle-school classrooms took part in the study (Wave 1; age M = 12.7 years). 532 immigrants provided the acculturation and discrimination data. Together with their 525 Greek classmates, they also provided peer nomination data. Immigrant youth's higher acculturation into the host culture predicted over time decreases in perceived ethnic discrimination. Furthermore, this link was longitudinally mediated by acceptance by Greek peers. The reverse path from perceived ethnic discrimination to acculturation into the Greek culture was not significant. The results suggest that to promote immigrant youth positive adaptation, interventions need to support their acculturation and intergroup contact.

This study examined how Greek and immigrant youth adapted to school life during the economic recession in Greece. Two cohorts of adolescents (Mage = 12.6 years) were compared, one assessed before the crisis and the other during the crisis (N = 1,057 and 1,052, respectively). Cohort findings were disaggregated by immigrant status, generation, and ethnic group. Crisis-cohort youth experienced more economic problems, displayed worse conduct, higher levels of absenteeism, and lower self-efficacy than precrisis youth. The cohorts did not differ in well-being, school engagement, and academic achievement. Most crisis-cohort groups showed a pervasive increase in conduct problems compared to the precrisis cohort. However, some of these groups also showed an increase in academic achievement.

This chapter focuses on three key issues of the psychology of situations in the special case where a situation is defined by the personality of a (potential) interaction partner. First, any taxonomy of personality can be considered as a taxonomy of situations. This recognition provides a special twist to lexically derived personality taxonomies as they mainly originate from perceptions of others’ personality and, thus, from perceptions of situations. Second, in this special case statistical personality × situation interactions become personality × personality interactions, which are discussed from the perspective of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) and the Social Relations Model (SRM). Third, dynamical personality-environment transactions become personality–personality transactions, which are discussed from a developmental perspective. Implications for the psychology of situations are highlighted and a new model for personality × situation interactions is proposed, the Actor-Situation Interdependence Model (ASIM).

Objective In multiethnic classrooms, acceptance and rejection by classmates of one's own versus other ethnicity is influenced by in-group preference, the societal status of the ethnicities, and composition of classrooms. We aimed at (a) confirming these effects for immigrant versus nonimmigrant adolescents in newly formed classrooms, (b) longitudinally studying the change of these effects over the next 2 years, and (c) studying the longitudinal links between immigrants' acculturation and acceptance/rejection by (non)immigrants. Method This was a multilevel, longitudinal study of 1,057 13-year-old students nested in 49 classrooms over the first 3 years of middle school in Greece. Immigrant composition of classrooms varied strongly (average 44%), and immigrants in a classroom were ethnically homogeneous (78% same-ethnic). Students' acceptance and rejection by Greek and immigrant students were sociometrically assessed every year. Multilevel analyses were conducted for questions a and b and cross-lagged analyses for question c. Results Initially, immigrants were less accepted and more rejected by their classmates than Greeks. However, in classrooms with more than 66% immigrants, they were more accepted and less rejected. Over time, (a) immigrants and Greeks did not differ in being rejected and (b) immigrants in classrooms with few immigrants became increasingly more accepted. Finally, immigrants with higher involvement with the Greek culture were more accepted by their Greek classmates. Conclusion Immigrants' peer relations with Greeks were positively affected by increasing opportunity for intergroup contact and involvement with the Greek culture. Interventions supporting acculturation and intergroup contact may prove beneficial for immigrant students. (PsycINFO Database Record

We examined behavioral school engagement trajectories of immigrant and non-immigrant early adolescents in relation to their academic achievement. Data were based on teacher judgments and school records. Students from immigrant families living in Greece and their non-immigrant classmates ( N = 1057) were assessed over the three years of middle school (ages 13 to 15). Academic achievement influenced later school engagement more strongly than vice versa for both immigrant and non-immigrant students. Low achievement, being an immigrant student and social adversity were found to be risk factors for the initial level of behavioral engagement. An overall increase in students’ absenteeism over the course of the study was stronger for immigrant students. The immigrant status effect was due to immigrant students’ lower achievement. The results suggest that immigrant youth may disengage from school to protect themselves from academic failure. This would also be a plausible explanation for earlier findings that immigrant and non-immigrant students do not differ in psychological well-being, even though immigrant students have significantly lower academic achievement. Implications for interventions to promote academic achievement and to prevent disengagement in immigrant students are discussed.

Immigrant youth differ in their adaptation, which is judged on the basis of how well they deal with developmental and acculturative tasks. While immigrant adolescents are faced with the realities of 2 different cultures, they also have to master age-salient tasks, such as self-efficacy and identity development. To get a better insight into the interplay of developmental and acculturative tasks and their relationship with family functioning, we used 3-wave longitudinal data over a 2-year period from 13-year-old immigrant students (N = 609) in Athens, Greece. Cross-lagged models revealed that family functioning and acculturation were resources for the mastery of developmental tasks. Involvement in the host culture prospectively predicted self-efficacy beliefs, and involvement in the ethnic culture prospectively predicted ethnic identity. These effects increased over time. Family functioning prospectively predicted self-efficacy and ethnic identity. These effects decreased over time. The findings suggest that a well-functioning family, for early adolescents, and being involved in the host culture and in ethnic cultures, for middle adolescents, are particularly important resources to master the tasks of their developmental period. Our findings underscore the importance of developmentally sensitive approaches and the need to account for acculturative challenges in order to understand individual differences in immigrant youth adaptation.

We propose a triadic model of social desires directed at appetence/aversion of affiliation with friends (A), being alone (B), and closeness to one's partner (C) that account for individual differences in subjectively experienced needs for proximity and distance in serious couple relationships. The model assumes that A, B, and C can be conceptualized at the individual level as correlated latent factors measured by appetence and aversion indicators with opposite factor loadings and low shared method variance and at the couple level assuming the same measurement model and identical (co)variances for men and women. The model was confirmed with confirmatory factor analyses in a sex–balanced internet sample of 476 individuals and a longitudinal sample of both partners of 578 heterosexual couples by assessing the ABC desires with brief appetence/aversion scales. In both samples, the desires showed expected unique associations with the Big Five personality traits, loneliness and relationship satisfaction, perceived available support by friends and partner, and attachment style toward the partner and high 1–year stability in the longitudinal sample. We suggest that the ABC model helps to integrate research on couples’ distance regulation along the lines of communal and agentic motivation. Copyright © 2012 European Association of Personality Psychology

Personality developmental studies typically rely on single reporter data, while multi-informant studies are rare. In two longitudinal studies, the present investigation examined inter-judge differences in the development of the Big Five personality traits from childhood to young adulthood. Study 1 investigated personality development as judged by the self and parents from age 12 to 17 to 29 ( N = 186). Study 2 investigated personality development annually from age 12 to 18 as judged by the self, and both parents and siblings ( N = 574). Results showed personality maturation from childhood to young adulthood with disruptions during adolescence. Only parent-reports indicated maturation in adolescents’ negative affectivity (decreases in N), while self-reports indicated maturation in self-regulatory traits (increases in A and C).

Self-enhancement bias is conventionally construed as an unwarranted social comparison in social psychology and a misperception of social reality in personality psychology. Researchers in both fields rely heavily on discrepancy scores to represent self-enhancement and fail to distinguish between a general tendency or bias to self-enhance and a self-enhancement error, or false perception of own excellence. We critically review prominent discrepancy measures and then propose a decision-theoretic alternative that [a] mitigates confounds between self-positivity and self-superiority, [b] separates error from bias, and [c] discourages reliance on measures that reify self-enhancement as a stable personality trait. To evaluate our hypotheses, we re-analyze data collected in our laboratory and perform a series of simulation studies. We share these materials with interested researchers.

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.

Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are designed to provide a natural and intuitive communication with a human user. One current major topic in agent design consequently is to enhance their believability, often by means of incorporating internal models of emotions or motivations. As psychological theories often lack the necessary details for a direct implementation, many Agent modelers currently rely on models that are rather marginal in current psychological research, or models that are created ad hoc with little theoretical and empirical foundations. The goal of this article is both to raise psychologists’ awareness about central challenges in the process of creating psychologically believable agents, and to recommend existing psychological frameworks to the virtual agents community that seem particularly useful for an implementation in ECAs. Special attention is paid to a computationally detailed model of basic social motives that seems particularly useful for an implementation: the Zurich model of social motivation.

The study investigated the transfer of attachment working models onto autonomous agents in a virtual social environment (VSE). Participants from a community sample (N = 422; mean age = 29 years; mean relationship duration = 4.8 years) encountered three attachment-related key scenes in a VSE: a separation with a subsequent reunion, a conflict, and an illness. In these scenarios, participants gave instructions to the main character (the "protagonist"), who had a romantic relationship with one of the other agents (the "virtual spouse"). Recorded were numerous behaviors as well as emotions participants ascribed to the protagonist. Generally, participants' attachment styles correlated as predicted with their behavior toward the virtual spouse, with βs up to.42. Thus, the study demonstrates that internal working models are transferred to the virtual relationship. This approach opens new ways to investigate attachment-related behavior by using VSEs that allow experimental variations of the virtual partner's reactions and other situational variables.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how individual differences contribute to the translation of perceived group discrimination into perceived personal discrimination. One hundred forty-five Pontic Greek and 269 Albanian students (mean age 12.9 years) enrolled in Greek urban public schools were assessed in Grade 1 of high school. Albanians reported higher discrimination against their ethnic group, but not higher discrimination against themselves, personally, than Pontic Greeks. Personal discrimination could be predicted by perceived group discrimination as well as from individual characteristics of immigrant students, independently of their ethnicity. Furthermore, when students reported high, but not low, group discrimination, many of their individual characteristics were shown to buffer against translating perceived group discrimination into experiences of personal discrimination. These results highlight the importance of individual differences, in addition to perceptions of group discrimination, for feelings of being discriminated against as an individual and suggest that high group discrimination of immigrants, independently of ethnic background, does not necessarily result in high personal discrimination, if individual protective factors are present.

Based on a social relations perspective on mating, the actual and assumed reciprocity of mate choices was studied in a real–life speed–dating context. A community sample involving 382 singles aged 18–54 years filled out a questionnaire for the measurement of self–perceived mate value, sociosexuality, extraversion, and shyness and participated in free speed–dating sessions. Immediately after each date, choices and assumed choices were recorded. Measures of physical attractiveness and flirting behaviour were obtained by independent observers. Results show that actual mate choices are not reciprocal although people strongly expect their choices to be reciprocated and flirting behaviour is indeed strongly reciprocal. This interesting pattern of results was explained by investigating individual and dyadic effects of flirting, self–perceived mate value and physical attractiveness on mate choices. Results have important implications for understanding mating behaviour, sex differences and the (in)accuracies of mating decisions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We studied initial and long–term outcomes of speed–dating over a period of 1 year in a community sample involving 382 participants aged 18–54 years. They were followed from their initial choices of dating partners up to later mating (sexual intercourse) and relating (romantic relationship). Using Social Relations Model analyses, we examined evolutionarily informed hypotheses on both individual and dyadic effects of participants’ physical characteristics, personality, education and income on their dating, mating and relating. Both men and women based their choices mainly on the dating partners’ physical attractiveness, and women additionally on men's sociosexuality, openness to experience, shyness, education and income. Choosiness increased with age in men, decreased with age in women and was positively related to popularity among the other sex, but mainly for men. Partner similarity had only weak effects on dating success. The chance for mating with a speed–dating partner was 6%, and was increased by men's short–term mating interest; the chance for relating was 4%, and was increased by women's long–term mating interest. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study applied an attachment framework to explore whether shared everyday decisions (SHARED) and constructive communication during conflicts serve as protective factors for relationship quality and stability in a sample of 971 individuals in long-distance relationships (LDRs). The behaviors were found to partially and differentially mediate the association between attachment orientations and relationship outcomes. While SHARED was more strongly linked to commitment than to relationship satisfaction, the reverse was found for constructive communication. Only SHARED was found to predict relationship stability over and above attachment when relationship length was controlled for. The findings suggest that attachment anxiety and avoidance influence relationship quality and stability partly through the two communicative behaviors in LDRs, with especially SHARED emerging as a potent protective factor for positive relationship development in longdistance relationships.

The present longitudinal study investigated cascade effects linking the longitudinal trajectories of shyness and aggressiveness between age 4 and 23 and individual differences in this longitudinal relationship. Results demonstrated that there were cascade effects from shyness to adjacent measures of aggressiveness at three moments in time, and that the dynamics of these relationships changed over time. Children who were shy at age 6 became less aggressive at age 7 and the same effect was found between age 8 and age 10. From adolescence to early adulthood, the direction of the relationship changed and shy adolescents at age 17 became increasingly aggressive 5 years later. Interindividual differences were found in the latter cascade effect in that shyness at age 17 only predicted an increase in aggressiveness at age 23 for adolescents receiving low levels of support from their parents and for adolescents spending little time in part-time work. Together, findings suggest the importance of examining the development of normal variations in personality and personality disorders from a developmental perspective and taking into account person–environment interactions.

The ability to judge another individual's romantic interest level—both toward oneself and toward others—is an adaptively important skill when choosing a suitable mate to pursue. We tested this ability using videos of individuals on speed dates as stimuli. Male and female observers were equally good at predicting interest levels, but they were more accurate when predicting male interest: Predictions of female interest were just above chance. Observers predicted interest successfully using stimuli as short as 10 s, and they performed best when watching clips of the middle or end of the speed date. There was considerable variability between daters, with some being very easy to read and others apparently masking their true intentions. Variability between observers was also found. The results suggest that the ability to read nonverbal behavior quickly in mate choice is present not only for individuals in the interaction, but also for third-party observers.

The two evolutionary psychological hypotheses that men react more jealous than women to sexual infidelity and women react more jealous than men to emotional infidelity are currently controversial because of apparently inconsistent results. We suggest that these inconsistencies can be resolved when the two hypotheses are evaluated separately and when the underlying cognitive processes are considered. We studied jealousy with forced‐choice decisions and emotion ratings in a general population sample of 284 adults aged 20–30 years using six infidelity dilemmas and recordings of reaction times. The sex difference for emotional jealousy existed for decisions under cognitive constraint, was also evident in the decision speed, increased for faster decisions, and was stronger for participants with lower education. No evidence for a sex difference in sexual jealousy was found. Our results support the view of a specific female sensitivity to emotional infidelity that canalizes the development of an adaptive sex difference in emotional jealousy conditional to the sociocultural environment. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Personality (Big Five and self-esteem) effects on social relationship quality (perceived support and conflict) and vice versa were longitudinally studied during emerging adulthood. Rank-order stability correlations of personality and social relationship quality were investigated. Subsequently, the mechanisms that may underlie personality development across emerging adulthood were examined. Results from path analyses showed that social relationship quality at the age of 17 years, in particular perceived conflict, predicted change in personality from the age of 17 years to 23 years, while the reverse pattern was not found. These findings indicated that, during emerging adulthood, personality may still be in flux, and, despite its higher stability as compared to the stability of social relationship quality, may be influenced by the environment.

In a 19-year longitudinal study, childhood personality characteristics (assessed by teachers at ages 4 to 6) were significantly related to both initial levels and changes in parental judgments of shyness and aggressiveness. Long-term stability was demonstrated by the fact that overcontrollers had consistently higher scores in shyness and undercontrollers in aggressiveness. However, undercontrollers' shyness and overcontrollers' aggressiveness changed over time from a low to a high level. Also, both types assumed adult social roles, such as leaving the parental home, establishing a first romantic relationship, and getting a part-time job, at a later time than the resilient participants. A mediation analysis indicated that under- and overcontrollers' increasing aggressiveness between age 17 and 23 was due to their longer latency of getting a part-time job. Together, results demonstrate the importance of considering person-environment transactions in explaining both change and stability in personality between childhood and adulthood.

Although numerous studies have emphasized the role evaluations by others play for people's self-esteem, the perspective of others and the social diversity of real-life contexts have largely been ignored. In a large-scale longitudinal study, we examined the link between adolescents' self-esteem and their self- and peer-perceived popularity in socially diverse classrooms. First, we tested the competing directions of effects predicted by sociometer theory (i.e., peer-perceived popularity affects self-esteem, mediated by self-perceived popularity) and the self-broadcasting perspective (i.e., self-esteem affects peer-perceived popularity). Second, we examined differential effects of popularity in the own social group ("us") versus others ("them") by using immigrant status groups (i.e., immigrants versus host-nationals). We examined 1,057 13-year-old students in 3 annual waves. Cross-lagged analyses revealed that popularity among peers of the in-group but not among peers of the out-group prospectively predicted self-esteem, which was mediated by self-perceived popularity. Self-esteem in turn prospectively predicted self- but not peer-perceived popularity. In sum, the findings provide support for sociometer theory and a conscious sociometer mechanism but no support for the self-broadcasting perspective. The findings further demonstrate that the sociometer was more responsive to popularity in immigrant status in- than out-groups. In conclusion, the findings underscore the need to consider the perspective of others and their social group memberships to better understand the complexities of the link between self-esteem and popularity. (PsycINFO Database Record

I propose a new method of analysing personality profiles based on multiple traits. Personality profiles are regressed within individuals on prototypic profiles for personality types. To increase reliability, empirical Bayes estimates as obtained from hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) are used. The regression coefficients are interpreted as typeness, the extent to which the individual personality profile deviates from the mean profile in the sample consistent with the deviations of the personality types. These continuous parameters of typeness are subsequently used in between‐person analyses. This method was applied to two studies of Big Five profiles that were related to prototypic profiles for overcontrollers and undercontrollers. The typeness parameters, if reliable, showed a longitudinal stability and an external validity similar to the Big Five scales. The merits and limits of the proposed approach for the description of, and prediction from, personality are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A major problem with Implicit Association Tests (IATs) is that they require bipolar attributes (e.g., good-bad). Thus, IAT effects for an attribute category can be interpreted only relative to an opposite category. Problems arise if there is no clear opposite category; in this case, a neutral category can be used, although it induces systematic error variance and thus reduces validity. The present study suggests that this problem can be solved using single-attribute IATs (SA-IATs). Sociosexuality (the tendency to engage in uncommitted sex) was expected to be related at the implicit level to stronger stranger-sex associations relative to partner-sex associations. An IAT was constructed that used conversation as a neutral attribute; it showed satisfactory reliability but only low correlations with explicit sociosexuality. An alternative SA-IAT with sex as the only attribute showed a similar reliability but higher correlations with explicit sociosexuality.

This study compared the long-term predictive validity of person-centered personality types and variable-centered personality dimensions assessed between ages 4‐6 years in a population sample of 154 children. Results indicated that the predictive power of both approaches was remarkably robust between age 17 and 22, and even increased in the case of aggressiveness. At age 22 the long-term predictive ability of both types and dimensions was about equal, both in terms of the multivariate percentage of explained variance and the number of significant longitudinal correlates. This pattern is consistent with the notion that personality types and variables represent core personality domains that predict a wide range of longitudinal outcomes. However, the predictive ability of both approaches was larger for personality traits and intelligence than for social relationships outcomes. Implications for the distinction between core and surface traits are discussed.

This study explored the psychometric properties of the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST; De Houwer, 2003a) as adapted for the measurement of the implicit self‐concept of personality. The EAST was adapted to allow the simultaneous assessment of the three traits shyness, anxiousness, and angriness. In order to test the EAST's psychometric properties, 100 participants completed a trait EAST, Implicit Association Tests (IATs), and direct self‐ratings. The EAST showed low internal consistencies and correlated neither with the IATs nor with the direct measures. The main problem of the EAST, namely its low reliability, is discussed, and general conclusions regarding the indirect assessment of the personality self‐concept by EASTs are derived. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The utility of a configural type approach for predictions from personality is currently controversial. Configural types predict important personality correlates, but continuous dimensions based on the same data often fare much better in cross‐sectional head‐to‐head comparisons. However, many such comparisons can be considered unfair to the type approach, confound diverse differences between type and dimensional approaches, and rely only on cross‐sectional data. A sequence of analyses is reported that include fairer comparisons and deconfound differences due to the number of predictors, categorical versus dimensional predictors, dichotomized dimensions versus configural types, dimensional versus type criterion variables, and cross‐sectional versus longitudinal predictions. The results suggest incremental validity of configural types over dimensions only in a very few cases. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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.

It was a pleasure to read the rich, sometimes evenbreathtaking target article by Brian A. Nosek and YoavBar-Anan (this issue) on a utopia of open scientificcommunication.Theauthorsstartfromthepremisethatthe purpose of public science is knowledge accumula-tion, and propose a sequence of six steps that wouldincreasingly take us away from the current model ofscientificcommunicationwithitsmixtureofpublicandprivate communication channels to a utopia of rapid,open, and extensive communication. The sequence ofthe steps makes sense, but does each step serve thepurpose of public science?Inmyviewthemosturgentproblemsoftoday’spsy-chologicalsciencearenotslowspeedofdissemination,nontransparent decision processes, or restricted com-munication options. Instead, psychological researchaccumulates a vast body of bits and pieces of knowl-edge that are produced by scientists, institutions, andjournal editors that increasingly strive to maximize im-pact instead of quality by focusing on jazzy “uniquecontributions” instead of contributing to a common cu-mulative progressbasedonrock-solidfindings.Conse-quentlythedisseminatedknowledgeistoalargedegreenonreplicable and lacks serious theoretical foundationand integration.Therefore let’s look at the proposed sequence fromthe somewhat different perspective that the purposeof public science is the accumulation of

Three major personality prototypes were derived on the basis of a Big Five instrument (NEO‐PI) by means of replicated cluster analysis in two Spanish samples (a sample from the general population and a student sample). The replicability of the three prototypes within and their consistency between the two samples were evaluated. In addition, subtypes were analysed in a similar way. Finally, the relation between prototype assignment and level of education was examined in the sample from the general population. Within‐study replicability was satisfactory only for the student sample. Comparison with the results for a similar instrument (NEO‐PI‐R) applied to a German sample showed satisfactory consistency only for the student sample. Discussion centres on the strong sample dependency of the results. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In two German samples we investigated whether three major personality prototypes (resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled) can be replicated across different Big Five instruments (NEO‐FFI and NEO‐PI‐R), and whether they can be differentiated into replicable subtypes. For prototypes and subtypes, replicability within and consistency across samples was quantitatively measured. Three replicable prototypes were confirmed, but only two replicable resilient subtypes (well adjusted and assertive) were found. It is concluded that the search for a hierarchical taxonomy of people will require more investigation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Contents: Part I:Conceptual and Methodological Issues: An Overview. K.H. Rubin, J.B. Asendorpf, Social Withdrawal, Inhibition, and Shyness in Childhood: Conceptual and Definitional Issues. J. Kagan, N. Snidman, D. Arcus, On the Temperamental Categories of Inhibited and Uninhibited Children. Part II:Biological and Familial Factors: Independent and Interdependent Contributions. R.J. Davidson, Childhood Temperament and Cerebral Asymmetry: A Neurobiological Substrate of Behavioral Inhibition. A. Engfer, Antecedents and Consequences of Shyness in Boys and Girls: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study. N.A. Fox, S.D. Calkins, Pathways to Aggression and Social Withdrawal: Interactions Among Temperament, Attachment, and Regulation. J. Stevenson-Hinde, A. Shouldice, Wariness to Strangers: A Behavior Systems Perspective Revisited. R.S.L. Mills, K.H. Rubin, Socialization Factors in the Development of Social Withdrawal. Part III:Social Behaviors, Skills, and Relationships. A.G. Broberg, Inhibition and Children's Experiences of Out-of-Home Care. M. Rezendes, N. Snidman, J. Kagan, J. Gibbons, Features of Speech in Inhibited and Uninhibited Children. M.A. Evans, Communicative Competence as a Dimension of Shyness. Part IV:Peer and Self Perceptions. A. Younger, C. Gentile, K. Burgess, Children's Perceptions of Social Withdrawal: Changes Across Age. S. Hymel, E. Woody, A. Bowker, Social Withdrawal in Childhood: Considering the Child's Perspective. Part V:Longitudinal Perspectives on Social Withdrawal and Inhibition. J.B. Asendorpf, Beyond Temperament: A Two-Factorial Coping Model of the Development of Inhibition During Childhood. K.H. Rubin, The Waterloo Longitudinal Project: Correlates and Consequences of Social Withdrawal from Childhood to Adolescence. D. Olweus, Victimization by Peers: Antecedents and Long-Term Outcomes.

Personality and social relationships were assessed twice across a 4-year period in a general population sample of 489 German young adults. Two kinds of personality-relationship transaction were observed. First, mean-level change in personality toward maturity (e.g., increase in Conscientiousness and decrease in Neuroticism) was moderated by the transition to partnership but was independent of other developmental transitions. Second, individual differences in personality traits predicted social relationships much better than vice versa. Specifically, once initial correlations were controlled for, Extraversion, Shyness, Neuroticism, self-esteem, and Agreeableness predicted change in various qualities of relationships (especially with friends and colleagues), whereas only quality of relationships with preschool children predicted later Extraversion and Neuroticism. Consequences for the transactional view of personality in young adulthood are discussed.

Perceived security of attachment to mother, father, same-sex peers, and opposite-sex peers, and perceived available support from members of the individual network of relationships were related to each other both cross-sectionally and longitudinally in a four-wave longitudinal study of 171 students. Security of attachment and available support were closely linked within particular relationships such as the relationship to mother, and modestly linked for categories of relationships such as same-sex peers; their consistency across relationships was much lower. Furthermore, longitudinal changes in attachment and support were correlated within relationships, but not between relationships. Thus, perceptions of attachment security and support availability reflected the fluctuating quality of the relationships. Consequences for research on attachment and support are discussed.

In recent years, researchers have examined factors that “determine” parenting beliefs, styles, and behaviours. One potential determinant of parenting is the child him/herself. Child characteristics, such as temperament, have been cited as evocative influences on parenting beliefs and behaviours. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal relations between children’s social wariness/inhibition and parents’ beliefs about how to best socialise their children. Questionnaire data on child temperament and parenting practices were collected from the parents (mothers and fathers) of sixty 2-year-olds; identical data were collected 2 years later. Observations of inhibited behaviour were taken at two years. Results indicated that few differences existed between mothers’ and fathers’ expressed parenting styles at ages 2 and 4 years. Second, parental perceptions of child shyness at age 2 were: (a) stable to age 4; and (b) predicted a lack of encouragement of independence at age 4. Third, parents’ expressed lack of encouragement of independence, although stable from 2 to 4 years, failed to predict child shyness at age 4. The findings support the conjecture that young children’s dispositional characteristics predict subsequent maternal and paternal behaviour.

Dyadic perception between 108 older identical and same-sex fraternal twin pairs was examined using three different tasks: (i) an emotional sensitivity task, (ii) a Q-Sort rating of emotion-eliciting situations, and (iii) an assessment of each other's personality traits. Idiographic analyses related judgements of self and co-twin within and between twins. Projection approached the reliability of the judgements and was significantly higher than both empathic accuracy and actual similarity, suggesting that the process of dyadic perception was mainly shaped by projection. Significant correlations between empathic accuracy and projection were caused by the similarity of the twins in self-judgements. Empathic accuracy was much weaker once projection was controlled, indicating that twins had used valid projection to improve accuracy. Similarity-controlled projection was still high and reflected the fact that the twins overestimated their similarity to a large extent. Contrary to expectation but consistent across the three tasks, identical and fraternal twins differed neither in levels of actual similarity, empathic accuracy and projection, nor in similarity-controlled empathic accuracy and projection.

Personality influences on social relationships and vice versa were longitudinally studied. Personality affected relationships, but not vice versa. After entry to university, 132 students participated for 18 month in a study in which the Big Five factors of personality, the subfactors Sociability and Shyness, and all significant social relationships were repeatedly assessed. A subsample kept diaries of all significant social interactions. After the initial correlation between personality and relationship quality was controlled for, Extraversion and its subfactors, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness predicted aspects of relationships such as number of peer relationships, conflict with peers, and falling in love. In contrast, relationship qualities did not predict personality traits, and changes in relationship qualities were unrelated to changes in personality traits. Consequences for dynamic-interactionistic views of personality and relationships are discussed.

McCrae et al.'s (2006) analyses of the California Adult Q‐Set (CAQ) are flawed in two respects. First, they misunderstand the meaning of Q‐factors by claiming that high Q‐correlations between the first Q‐factor and item endorsements or the social desirability of items are an artifact. Second, their attempt to overcome this ‘artifact’ by conducting a Q‐factor analysis of interindividually standardised items induces, ironically, a real artifact because this approach ignores meaningful interindividual differences in the intraindividual means and standard deviations of the standardised Q‐sort profiles. Instead of closing doors on person‐centred analyses of personality data, more of these doors should be passed through. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A sample of 139 Grade 6 students (12-year-olds) completed a social network interview and rated their network members on various dimensions of social support. Low support showed some consistency across members of the nuclear family but was fairly specific for particular network members outside of the family. Children with low support from their mother, father or classmates reported a low general self-worth, but those with low support from siblings or nonschool peers did not. Low support by one parent could only be compensated for by a supportive relationship with the other parent. Low support by a classmate was not compensated by supportive siblings or nonschool peers. These findings underscore the relationship specificity of social support and of its relation to self-esteem in preadolescence.

The continuity of the prototypes of two personality traits, social competence and shyness, over the life span and across life transitions was studied. Teachers who were either familiar with children in a particular life phase, or who were themselves in a certain transitional or stable life phase, were asked to give a description of a prototypical socially competent person and a prototypical shy person in that specific life phase. Results showed almost no change across the life phases in the extent to which specific behaviors or personality characteristics are regarded as typical for social competence or for shyness. Social competence and shyness therefore can be assessed by the same judgmental instruments at different ages and in different kinds of life phases.

During the second year of life, children's social-cognitive competence shows a dramatic increase. They begin (a) to recognize themselves in mirrors (Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979), (b) to react self-consciously when in the center of others' attention (Lewis, Sullivan, Stanger, & Weiss, 1989), (c) to react with empathic behavior to victims of distress (Zahn-Waxier, RadkeYarrow, & King, 1979), (d) to communicate with peers preverbally through the synchronic imitation of each other's activity (Nadel-Brulfert & Baudonniere, 1982), and (e) to cooperate with peers (Brownell&Carriger, 1990). We (Asendorpf & Baudonniere, 1993) have attempted to integrate these findings within a social-cognitive framework. The five rapidly developing abilities are instances of two particular kinds of cognition: self-awareness (self-recognition ability) and other-awareness (self-consciousness, empathy, communication through synchronic imitation, and cooperation). We have proposed that these two kinds of cognition develop in close synchrony during the second year because both types of cognition are based on one common cognitive capacity: the capacity for secondary representation.

A 9-year longitudinal study of 99 children observed from ages 4 through 12 showed that inhibition toward strangers was strongly related to inhibition with peers, and test intelligence to social competence with peers, only in the first months of preschool socialization. These correlations decreased later on. Stranger inhibition and test intelligence were not predictive of social self-esteem in middle childhood. However, high inhibition and low competence in the peer group after 1 and 2 years of group socialization did predict low social self-esteem up to age 10. Discussion focuses on the processes that might mediate these correlative relations and on the role of relationship-unspecific traits and relationship-specific individual attributes for later social-emotional developmental outcomes.

Knowing one’s mate value (mate-value accuracy) is an important element in reproductive success. We investigated within- and between-sex differences in this ability in a real-life speed-dating event. A total of 190 men and 192 women filled out a personality questionnaire and participated in speed-dating sessions. Immediately after each date, participants recorded who they would choose as mates and who they expected would choose them. In line with evolutionarily informed hypotheses, results indicated that sociosexually unrestricted men and more agreeable women showed greater mate-value accuracy than sociosexually restricted men and less agreeable women, respectively. These results have important implications for understanding mating behavior and perhaps the origin of sex differences in personality.