Belief in demonic possession and exorcism persists strongly across history, culture, and religion. Let’s consider some psychological reasons.

Most of us have encountered a leader who uses meetings as personal brainstorming time. Everyone leaves feeling confused or uncertain about what to do next. That same leader might also have a reputation for rapidly expressing several vague ideas at once. These ideas might even be so vague as to seem contradictory, yet nonetheless, the leader expects the team to implement them.

Chances are good that this leader is manifesting the dark side of creativity. At Hogan, we call this Imaginative behavior, which occurs when imagination derails performance and teams suffer from the resulting confusion and lack of direction.

Can personality predict the success of professional athletes? Whether helping NBA teams predict rookie-year performance or NFL teams perfect their draft, personality assessment meets the talent management needs of professional sports organizations.

The world of personality psychology is familiar with the perennially hot topic of personality change. A recent article theorizes a decline in conscientiousness, particularly among young adults. It also shows a decrease in agreeableness, extraversion, and emotional stability. So, can personality change? If so, is it changing right now?

On the new episode of The Science of Personality, cohosts Ryne Sherman, PhD, and Blake Loepp discussed “The Troubling Decline in Conscientiousness” by John Burn-Murdoch, published in the Financial Times.

Why do some brilliant individual contributors fail spectacularly when promoted to leadership roles, while others with similar skills thrive? The answer isn’t a matter of experience or technical expertise. What makes leaders successful (or not) is personality. For talent professionals who want to get better results from their leadership development initiatives, understanding this personality-performance connection is crucial.

Organizational outcomes improve when coaching culture is part of business strategy. Creating a coaching culture requires more than good intentions or even a mandate. Coaching culture must be modelled from the top down.

Ryne Sherman, PhD, and Blake Loepp spoke with Charlotte Saulny, CEO at Coaching.com, about how organizations can create a coaching culture.

What do individual musical preferences say about personality? How does personality affect the type of music a person enjoys? And what does AI have to do with our musical preferences? The connection between music and psychology isn’t as much of a mystery as some might assume. Current research shows a strong connection between music and personality.

People use social media platforms to shine a light on current workplace trends. Short-form videos on TikTok, YouTube, and People use social media platforms discuss and learn about current workplace trends. Short-form videos on TikTok and other platforms all provide commentary about acting your wage, quiet quitting, and task masking. How do these behaviors relate to personality strengths, challenges, and values?

Why did you show up at work today? Whether to gain authority, help others, make money, or have fun, the answer most likely connects to your values. Organizations have values too, whether declared or implied. Organizational culture is formed by the values of leaders, which can be revealed in executive assessment.

People are the deadliest invasive species in the history of the earth. People have the potential to kill every living thing and, in certain instances have already done so (e.g. passenger pigeon, western black rhinoceros, great auk) or are on their way to doing so (e.g. sea turtle, elephant, tiger, polar bear). Given their frightful potential and worldwide presence, it would be useful to know something about people. Personality psychology is the “go-to” discipline for understanding people; personality psychology is the only discipline whose primary focus is the nature of human nature. What does personality psychology tell us about human nature? The answer depends on whom you ask, or more precisely, to which personality theory you subscribe.

Keep reading to learn more about the history of personality theory, different theoretical approaches, and the role of personality in organizational and leadership performance.