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  • Perspective
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Person–environment transactions differentiate personality and psychopathology

Nature Reviews Psychology volume 1, pages 55–63 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Personality and psychopathology have generally been regarded as distinct aspects of human behaviour, largely studied by researchers from different disciplines. However, an established body of research shows a common structure for personality and psychopathology phenotypes. This evidence has led to significant changes in how psychiatric problems are conceptualized and studied, as well as new questions about the differences between personality traits and mental disorders. In this Perspective, we suggest that models that differentiate personality and psychopathology based on the structure or stability of individual differences depict models of risk for psychopathology at the population level, rather than frameworks for psychiatric diagnosis at the individual level. We propose that person–environment transactions, across different timescales, hold the key for differentiating personality and psychopathology, and thus for psychiatric diagnosis. This proposal points to the need for new approaches to studying personality, psychopathology and the differences between the two.

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Fig. 1: Structure of individual differences in personality and psychopathology.
Fig. 2: Variation in conscientiousness and risk for externalizing across different timescales.
Fig. 3: Person–environment transactions across different timescales.
Fig. 4: Psychopathology as dysfunction in person–environment transactions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank C. DeYoung for commenting on an earlier draft of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Christopher J. Hopwood & Wiebke Bleidorn

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Aidan G. C. Wright

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  1. Christopher J. Hopwood
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  2. Aidan G. C. Wright
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C.J.H researched data for the article. All authors contributed substantially to discussion of the content. C.J.H. wrote the article. All authors reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Christopher J. Hopwood.

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Hopwood, C.J., Wright, A.G.C. & Bleidorn, W. Person–environment transactions differentiate personality and psychopathology. Nat Rev Psychol 1, 55–63 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-021-00004-0

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