Differential and Personality Psychology in 2025: Status, Developments, and Prospects

This review article seeks to take stock of personality psychology by sketching major accomplishments from recent past regarding (a) topics studied (cognitive abilities, structural models of basic tendencies, dynamics and processes, personality changes, biology, social relationships, culture, health/well-being, pathology/disorders), (b) methodologies (new technologies, large-scale surveys), and (d) meta-scientific aspects (Open Science, syntheses, causality, nomothetics–idiographics). Recent developments in the field and prospects are put into context regarding these accomplishments via reviews of the current literature. Our survey of the field suggests that there is great richness of approaches and methods, but also that more coordination, integration, and conceptual-terminological consistency are needed.