Personality and politics: introduction to the special issue

This special issue of Journal of Personality brings together 10 original articles addressing the intersection of personality and politics. Articles build on classic traditions in political psychology by presenting both idiographic and nomothetic work on the motivational, cognitive, ideological, attitudinal, and identity correlates of many different aspects of political behavior. This work is used to understand political activism and leadership as well as everyday political behavior. We hope this collection of articles will inspire our readers to explore new investigations in personality and political psychology.     

Guest editors' introduction to the special issue

The background and focus of this special issue are described in this Introduction.     

Reconceptualizing personality disorder categories using personality trait dimensions: introduction to special section

The categorical model of personality disorders has been widely criticized, and many argue for it to be reconceptualized or replaced by a dimensional model rooted in personality trait research. Such criticisms have forged a much needed integration between the previously distinct research areas of normal and abnormal personality. The five articles in this special section provide compelling evidence for the usefulness of personality traits for describing and explaining the complexities of personality disorders among widely varying samples using very different assessment strategies.     

Assessment of interpersonal aggression and violence: introduction to the special issue

Violence and interpersonal aggression are considered major public health problems throughout the world. Yet there is considerable variability in how these terms are operationalized, measured, and studied in the social sciences, which can lead to ambiguity and confusion in the field. In this introduction to the special issue, the authors highlight some of the difficulties inherent in studying interpersonal aggression and violence and briefly review the heterogeneous nature of the research conducted in this area. The authors conclude with a summary of the key findings of the articles that appear in this special issue.