The Cognitive Neuroscience of Personality Dynamics

A cutting-edge preconference symposium at the 16th European Conference on Personality in Trieste. Cosponsored by:

This program occurred on 10 July 2012.

Historically, research on personality and the brain has focused on the neural bases of individual differences, commonly by drawing on findings from animal research. By contrast, a major focus of personality theory has been intra-individual personality dynamics, including mental activities that are uniquely human such as autoneotic consciousness and the development of self-representations, the subjective interpretation of social and interpersonal cues, and the striving to attain a life that is meaningful. Current psychological science features a rapidly growing cognitive neuroscience of these personality dynamics. In this preconference symposium, leading researchers from Europe and the United States presented cutting-edge findings that illuminate their neural bases and evolutionary origins.

Speakers

A Neuroimaging Perspective on How Personal Relevance Shapes our Reality
Anna Abraham
Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

How Persons Shape the Social Effects of Oxytocin and Implications for Understanding the Biological Core of Personality
Jennifer A. Bartz
McGill University, Canada

Neural Basis of Self-Representation: Insights From Functional Neuroimaging
Arnaud D’Argembeau
Université de Liège, Belgium

Evolution of Human Brain Functions: Implications for Promotion of Well-Being
Robert Cloninger
Washington University in St Louis, USA

Moderator: Daniel Cervone
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA