Ricerc@Sapienza

Among the structural models of personality architecture proposed so far, the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality traits (i.e., Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism; see Digman, 1990, John & Srivastava, 1999) gained an impressive popularity. In the FFM framework, personality traits are defined as basic individual dispositions reflecting enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. One of the core assumptions of the FFM is that personality traits are "transcontextual" (McCrae & Costa, 1984), and they display similarly in their observable realizations regardless of the context in which they manifest (situational invariance principle). Despite there is large empirical support for this assumption (see Matthews, Deary, & Whiteman, 2003), some theorists proposed that trait expressions into real life behaviors are shaped by different social contexts (Mischel & Shoda, 1995) and role identities (Wood & Roberts, 2006). Using a "shortitudinal" design involving first-year university students, our research program points to provide preliminary evidence concerning the ontological status of socially defined trait expressions (e.g., henceforth, also "conditional" traits) as stable pieces of self-knowledge independent of the general self-evaluative frame of reference. In doing so, we will frame the assessment of personality traits within three specific social contexts and role identities that permeate students' life: family (me as a son/daughter), friendship/romantic relationships (me as a friend/partner), and university (me as a student). Moreover, we argue that conditional personality traits may provide a unique incremental contribution to explaining academic achievement and relevant dimensions of personal adjustment above and beyond the effects of general basic dispositions. Implications of our research program for theory, personality assessment and practice are discussed in later sections of this proposal.