Lab Director
Christopher J. Soto
I took a personality test for the first time as a junior in high school, and have been hooked on personality psychology ever since. I received my A.B. in Psychology from Harvard University and my Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Since arriving at Colby in 2009, I've enjoyed teaching courses about personality psychology, research methods, and statistics, working with motivated young researchers, and exploring Maine.
My research currently focuses on three key issues. The first is personality structure: How people’s specific thoughts, feelings, and behaviors cohere into broader personality characteristics that persist over time and across relevant situations. I am especially interested in questions about whether, how, and why people’s personalities might be organized differently at different times of life, or in different social contexts. For example, are personality characteristics organized in similar or different ways during childhood versus adulthood?
The second issue is lifespan personality development: When, how, and why people’s personalities change as they age. I am curious both about how people’s personalities typically change across the life span (normative change), and about why different people’s personalities change in different ways (individual differences in change).
The third issue is personality and life outcomes: How someone's personality characteristics helps shape the course of their life. I am particularly interested in understanding how personality traits influence (a) subjective well-being (e.g., whether or not someone is satisfied with their life), and (b) the political attitudes that different people hold.
Research Assistants
 Cale WardellI'm a senior from Lake Forest, Illinois majoring in psychology with a concentration in neuroscience. I am interested in personality development, or how one's personality changes over time. I am also interested where and how personality manifests itself in the brain, and specifically what types of personality are connected to different psychiatric disorders. |
 Josephine LiangI'm a junior from Hong Kong, majoring in Psychology, minoring in Film Studies and currently on the Pred-Health path. I am interested in child development, especially concerning topics such as developmental issues in children with long-term diseases who are required to stay in the hospital for an extended period of time. I would like to study different ways that help in developing personality in such children, such as communication between hospital personnel and patients, hospital schools, medical clowns and animal doctors. I would like to learn about how personality develops over time, and various factors that mold a child's personality, especially children with speech deficiency and autism. |
 Shelley KindI'm a senior from California majoring in English and Psychology. I'm interested in how past experiences and personality interact to influence future decision-making and thought processes. I'm also intrigued by the social dynamics of groups and interpersonal relationships. |
 Kayleigh MonahanI am a senior from Westport, Connecticut majoring in Psychology. My interest in psychology focuses on the development of people's worldviews across the lifespan. I am curious as to how everyday events and significant experiences interact and change how we perceive and understand the world around us. |
Lab Alumni
Adam Thompson '13
|
Publications
Soto, C. J., & Jackson, J. J. (2013) Five-factor model of personality. In D. S. Dunn (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 
Soto, C. J. & Luhmann, M. (2013). Who can buy happiness? Personality traits moderate the effects of stable income differences and income fluctuations on life satisfaction. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 46-53.
Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2012). Development of Big-Five domains and facets in adulthood: Mean-level age trends and broadly versus narrowly acting mechanisms. Journal of Personality, 80, 881-914.
Malka, A., & Soto, C. J. (2011). The conflicting influences of religiosity on attitude toward torture. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1091-1103.
Malka, A., Soto, C. J., Cohen, A. B., & Miller, D. T. (2011). Religiosity and social welfare: Competing influences of cultural conservatism and prosocial value orientation. Journal of Personality, 79, 763-792.
Soto, C. J., John, O. P., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2011). Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big-Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 330-348.
Orth, U., Robins, R. W., & Soto, C. J. (2010). Tracking the trajectory of shame, guilt, and pride across the life span. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 1061-1071.
Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2009). Ten facet scales for the Big Five Inventory: Convergence with NEO PI-R facets, self-peer agreement, and discriminant validity. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 84-90.
Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2009). Using the California Psychological Inventory to assess the Big Five personality domains: A hierarchical approach. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 25-38.
John, O. P., Naumann, L., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual issues. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 114-158). New York, NY: Guilford.
Soto, C. J., John, O. P., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2008). The developmental psychometrics of Big Five self-reports: Acquiescence, factor structure, coherence, and differentiation from ages 10 to 20. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 718-737.
John, O. P., & Soto, C. J. (2007). The importance of being valid: Reliability and the process of construct validation. In R. W. Robins, R. C. Fraley, & R. F. Krueger (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in personality psychology (pp. 461-494). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Helson, R., Soto, C. J., & Cate, R. A. (2006). From young adulthood through the middle ages. In D. K. Mroczek & T. D. Little (Eds.), Handbook of personality development (pp. 337-352). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Helson, R., & Soto, C. J. (2005). Up and down in middle age: Monotonic and nonmonotonic changes in roles, status, and personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 194-204.