Today I’m joined by professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, Colin DeYoung. Amongst his varied interests, Colin is perhaps most well known for his pioneering work in the field of personality neuroscience, having developed what is known as the Cybernetic Big Five Theory of personality.
For those who may not be familiar, the Big 5 personality construct is typically considered the most valid of personality measures. Often remembered using the acronym, OCEAN, it has the following 5 traits: O for Openness, which reflects cognitive flexibility, imagination, and intellectual engagement; C for Conscientiousness, which reflects a kind of orderliness or self-discipline; E for Extraversion, which represents sensitivity to reward and positive emotions; A for Agreeableness, which represents our tendencies towards empathy and cooperation; and N for neuroticism (sensitivity to threat and negative emotions).
In this conversation, we delve much more deeply into these personality concepts, exploring how stable our personalities are over time, what can cause them to change, their relationship with mental illness, what role cybernetics plays in increasing our understanding, and finally how our personality relates to the world we occupy.
To learn more about Colin and his work, check out his lab at the University of Minnesota: https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/cdeyoung
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