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Posts by René Mõttus

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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

2 months ago 5 3 0 0

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!

3 months ago 7 4 0 0
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...

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

4 months ago 13 12 1 1
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For those submitting a symposium to the ECP22 (deadline soon!): I added details to the submission instructions.

www.ecp22edinburgh.org/submission

4 months ago 5 3 0 0
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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

5 months ago 5 2 0 0
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Reminder: The submission deadline for ECP22 is December 7th.
www.ecp22edinburgh.org/submission

5 months ago 2 6 0 0
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🔔 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

5 months ago 8 4 0 0

Small samples

5 months ago 0 0 0 0
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Why aren't some of the strongest personality neuroscience papers getting widely cited?

5 months ago 12 0 2 1
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ECP22 Registration is now open:
www.ecp22edinburgh.org/registration

5 months ago 2 0 0 0
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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

5 months ago 4 1 0 1
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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...

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...

6 months ago 7 8 0 0

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?)

6 months ago 5 3 1 0

21 to 24 July 2026

7 months ago 1 0 0 0

Keynote speakers: @tuckerdrob.bsky.social @foswald.bsky.social Ellen Hamaker

Hands-on workshops by:
@tedmond.bsky.social & @ukuvainik.bsky.social (genomic analyses)
@dirkwulff.bsky.social (LLMs in personality research)

www.ecp22edinburgh.org/programme

7 months ago 2 3 1 0
European Conference on Personality, Edinburgh, 2026

European Conference on Personality, Edinburgh, 2026

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

7 months ago 23 13 1 3
Rethinking measurement invariance causally

Highlights:
It is preferable to work with a causal definition of measurement invariance
A violation of measurement invariance is a potentially substantively interesting observation
Standard tests for measurement invariance rely on strong assumptions
Group differences can be thought of as descriptive results

Rethinking measurement invariance causally Highlights: It is preferable to work with a causal definition of measurement invariance A violation of measurement invariance is a potentially substantively interesting observation Standard tests for measurement invariance rely on strong assumptions Group differences can be thought of as descriptive results

Conceptual graph illustration the central points of the manuscript. A group variable is potentiall connected to a construct of interest which affects items. Measurement invariance is violated if the group variable directly affects the items, for example by modifying the loadings from the construct to the items, or by directly affecting an item

Conceptual graph illustration the central points of the manuscript. A group variable is potentiall connected to a construct of interest which affects items. Measurement invariance is violated if the group variable directly affects the items, for example by modifying the loadings from the construct to the items, or by directly affecting an item

To make this less abstract, consider a scenario where students take an exam, R, meant to capture some ability, T, and then are admitted to a program, V, depending on their exam results: R → V. This is sufficient to result in a violation of the statistical definition of measurement invariance. Exam results and admission are not independent given ability because exam results have a direct effect on admission. Even if we know somebody’s ability (e.g., we know it’s very high), learning about their admission status (e.g., they were not admitted) can tell us something about their exam result (e.g., it may have been worse than expected). According to the causal definition, this in itself does not constitute measurement bias, which seems a sensible conclusion here. After all, the scenario does not involve any reason to believe that the measurement process varied systematically by admission status. Admission happens after the exams took place, it cannot retroactively influence the measurement process (and, for example, lead to unfair treatment depending on admission status).

To make this less abstract, consider a scenario where students take an exam, R, meant to capture some ability, T, and then are admitted to a program, V, depending on their exam results: R → V. This is sufficient to result in a violation of the statistical definition of measurement invariance. Exam results and admission are not independent given ability because exam results have a direct effect on admission. Even if we know somebody’s ability (e.g., we know it’s very high), learning about their admission status (e.g., they were not admitted) can tell us something about their exam result (e.g., it may have been worse than expected). According to the causal definition, this in itself does not constitute measurement bias, which seems a sensible conclusion here. After all, the scenario does not involve any reason to believe that the measurement process varied systematically by admission status. Admission happens after the exams took place, it cannot retroactively influence the measurement process (and, for example, lead to unfair treatment depending on admission status).

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...

7 months ago 113 36 3 1
TACT: Trisect And Cross-Tabulate to understand and visualise correlations

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/

7 months ago 6 1 0 0

Since otherwise the stability is confounded with test-specific variance (e.g., facets/nuances, stable item interpretations etc).

It's like people define latent traits as the shared variance of multiple indicators cross-sectionally -- here we extend to longitudinal data.

9 months ago 0 0 0 0
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I suppose yes, this makes them real in some sense.
My follow-up question is: if these "real" Big Five exist independently of their tests, then to study the "real" rank-order stability of the Big Five, we should assess them with different tests at different time-points.

9 months ago 0 0 1 0

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)

9 months ago 2 1 2 0
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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...

9 months ago 3 0 0 0
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a cartoon of a girl with the words " yes please " on the bottom ALT: a cartoon of a girl with the words " yes please " on the bottom
10 months ago 1 0 1 0

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.>

10 months ago 41 10 5 0

Good thing there is a reference for why this (or any such) number makes no sense.

10 months ago 1 0 1 0

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...

10 months ago 54 37 2 3
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What is the best public domain occupational interest test currently available (still relevant for the current job market)?

10 months ago 2 1 0 0

And how that difference plays out in other demographic trends (see number of kids 👀). Personality is up next 😁

10 months ago 2 0 0 0
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...

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....

10 months ago 5 2 1 0
OSF

doi.org/10.31234/osf...

Sorry.

10 months ago 1 0 1 0