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Open research questions in Personality Traits and Psychology

761 gap statements mined from Personality Traits and Psychology papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 5,978 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • Future research should examine psychometric properties across different linguistic, cultural, and professional contexts.

    In the Blink of an AI: Exploring Large Language Models’ Capability to Infer Traits From LinkedIn · 2026 · DOI

  • Although Harman’s single-factor test suggested that a single factor did not account for the majority of variance, this procedure has recognized limitations and should not be considered a definitive test of common method bias.

    Moral Disengagement and Unethical Generative AI Use as the Chain Mediators Between Antagonistic Personality and Problematic Generative AI Use · 2026 · DOI

  • The longitudinal architecture, mechanism-specific pathways, and potential moderators underlying the relationship between DT and MD remain under-explored, despite the general association being well documented.

    The Longitudinal Relationship Between Dark Triad Traits and Moral Disengagement in Adolescents: A Cross-Lagged Panel Network Analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Prior meta-analytic studies have not systematically examined leader narcissism from an interactional perspective. The direction of cultural context moderation on the social valuation of competing dimensions remains underexplored. The study aims to address the mixed findings on leader narcissism.

    The benefits and drawbacks of leader narcissism: a meta-analysis based on an agentic-communal framework · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of understanding of how leader narcissism affects NPD outcomes through design thinking practices. The need for a theoretically integrated explanation for the relationship between leader narcissism and NPD performance.

    From ego to innovation: how leader narcissism affects new product development performance via design thinking practices · 2026 · DOI

  • The study used a simulation to determine the sample size needed to achieve satisfactory statistical power. The results are based on a specific analytical model (Condition-Based Regression Analysis). The study did not investigate the generalizability of the findings to other populations or contexts.

    Anchored in truth but driven by grandiosity: A process account of narcissistic self-enhancement. · 2026 · DOI

  • The underlying mechanism of the relationship between physical activity and self-esteem is not fully understood. The role of Big Five personality traits in this relationship is not well-studied. Prior studies have not fully explored the relationship among college students in China.

    The moderating role of big five personality between physical activity and self-esteem in college students: a cross-sectional survey · 2026 · DOI

  • Although the differences in Responsibility are significant, the very small effect size means that these findings should be interpreted with caution and need to be replicated in other samples.

    Differences in Personality Between High-Ability and Average-Ability University Students · 2025 · DOI

  • The need to capture decision-making information in a simulated design environment. The challenge of examining the relationships between personality traits, domain knowledge, and decision-making quality using partial least squares structural equation modeling and machine learning models.

    The Influence of Personality Traits and Domain Knowledge on the Quality of Decision-Making in Engineering Design · 2025 · DOI

  • These exploratory findings support further investigation of spatial iris colorimetry in relation to temperament and require replication in independent populations.

    Spatial iris chromaticity disparities as phenotypic correlates of harm avoidance temperament in a Korean sample · 2026 · DOI

  • Although ocular visual features have been linked to personality traits in Western cohorts, whether quantitative spatial chromaticity disparities in the iris are associated with temperament dimensions in Korean individuals remains understudied.

    Spatial iris chromaticity disparities as phenotypic correlates of harm avoidance temperament in a Korean sample · 2026 · DOI

  • The findings contribute to the understanding of the role of personality in unethical decision-making in policing and highlight the need for further research into other influencing factors.

    When police officers break rules: Do personality traits matter in unethical decision-making? · 2025 · DOI

  • Although exposure to dysfunctional parenting styles in childhood can have lasting, negative impacts on overall functioning into adulthood, it remains unclear why.

    The Lasting Effects of Bad Parenting: Effects of Dysfunctional Parenting on Functional Impairment Through Antisocial Personality · 2025 · DOI

  • Previous research has indicated that attachment styles and emotion regulation difficulties play significant roles in narcissism development; however, the combined effects of these variables on both dimensions of narcissism remain insufficiently explored.

    The Relationship Between Adult Attachment Styles and Emotion Dysregulation With Fragile and Grandiose Narcissism · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should explore additional mediators and moderators to further elucidate the mechanisms underlying the development of adolescent depression.

    A Longitudinal Examination of Anxiety as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Neuroticism and Dimension of Depression Among Adolescents · 2025 · DOI

  • Research has not investigated differential association theory alongside personality traits in predicting antisocial behaviour.

    Differential association theory, the Dark Triad of personality and the prediction of antisocial behaviour · 2024 · DOI

  • Whilst the link between personality and decision-making has been studied across various domains, the predictive capability of the Big Five model (openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism) for police decisions in high-risk ambiguous situations under time pressure remains unexplored.

    The top tier of the Big Five does not predict police decisions in ambiguous and high-pressure situations · 2024 · DOI

  • Such a finding is of relevance to educational and developmental psychology, but it needs to be further investigated in order to be understood.

    A Multilevel Analysis of Associations Between Children’s Coloured Progressive Matrices Performances and Self-Rated Personality: Class-Average and Class-Homogeneity Differences in Nonverbal Intelligence Matter · 2025 · DOI

  • Reference compares human versus machine performance in personality-based deception detection, but lacks specification of which personality dimensions most contribute to deceptive communication detection and whether personality factors interact differently with machine learning classifiers versus human judges.

    Twenty Years of Personality Computing: Threats, Challenges and Future Directions · 2026 · DOI

  • Investigate the generalizability of the findings to other populations or contexts. Examine the role of other personality traits or factors in influencing self-views and anchored inflation effects. Develop and test interventions aimed at reducing narcissistic self-enhancement and promoting more accurate self-views.

    Anchored in truth but driven by grandiosity: A process account of narcissistic self-enhancement. · 2026 · DOI

  • While findings remain inconclusive regarding associated psychosocial benefits of role-play, results suggest significant predisposing factors that shape the individual’s tendency to engage in role-play activities.

    Openness to Experience Predicts Engagement in Role-Play: Evidence From Two Methodologies · 2024 · DOI

  • Future studies could investigate the causal relationship between physical activity and self-esteem - Future studies could examine the moderating role of other personality traits - Future studies could explore the mechanisms underlying the association between physical activity…

    The moderating role of big five personality between physical activity and self-esteem in college students: a cross-sectional survey · 2026 · DOI

  • Investigate the relationship between personality traits and decision-making in other contexts, - Examine the impact of other factors on decision-making in engineering design, - Develop more accurate models of decision-making in engineering…

    The Influence of Personality Traits and Domain Knowledge on the Quality of Decision-Making in Engineering Design · 2025 · DOI

  • First, the primary limitation of this study concerns statistical power and sample size, long-standing challenges in both neuroscience and personality-social psychology.

    Tuned Out, Not Drawn In: Blunted Neural Sensitivity to Social Reward in Narcissism · 2026 · DOI

  • By exploring the relationship between character personality and popularity, this study fills the gap in understanding how personality traits influence character popularity and expands the theoretical framework for developing anime characters.

    The Correlation between the MBTI-Based Personality Analysis of Anime Characters and Their Popularity · 2024 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Personality Traits and Psychology

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Future research should examine psychometric properties across different linguistic, cultural, and professional contexts (“In the Blink of an AI: Exploring Large Language Models’ Capability to Infer…”, 2026); (2) Prior meta-analytic studies have not systematically examined leader narcissism from an interactional perspective (“The benefits and drawbacks of leader narcissism: a meta-analysis based on an…”, 2026); (3) The lack of understanding of how leader narcissism affects NPD outcomes through design thinking practices (“From ego to innovation: how leader narcissism affects new product development…”, 2026); (4) The underlying mechanism of the relationship between physical activity and self-esteem is not fully understood (“The moderating role of big five personality between physical activity and…”, 2026); (5) Although exposure to dysfunctional parenting styles in childhood can have lasting, negative impacts on overall functioning into adulthood, it remains unclear why (“The Lasting Effects of Bad Parenting: Effects of Dysfunctional Parenting on…”, 2025). 761 gap statements have been mined from Personality Traits and Psychology papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 5,978 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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