Research Group of Personality and Individual Differences
We jointly contribute to education, research, and service within the broad field of individual differences among infants, children, adolescents, and adults. We particularly focus on fundamental questions concerning the nature, assessment, and development of personality, vocational interests and personality pathology. In addition, each of us engages in translating these insights to a variety of applied domains, drawing on our specific areas of expertise. From an overarching perspective on the relevance of individual differences, we contribute to research on early parent–child interactions and the development of regulation strategies, forensic applications, the development of socio‑emotional skills, and applications within work and organizational psychology such as leadership and volitional personality change programs in the course of professional development.
Together, we form a heterogeneous group of researchers covering a wide and diverse range of topics, united by the fundamental premise that individual differences in personality, interests, and identity form an essential foundation for the choices people make, the developmental pathways they follow in family and professional contexts, and the ways in which they successfully fulfill societal roles.
An overview of our research areas can be found below for each team member.
Staff
Filip De Fruyt is senior full professor in differential psychology and personality assessment and holds the Institute Ayrton Senna Chair @ Ghent University. He investigates the structure, development and assessment of individual differences with specific attention for vocational interests, personality traits and skills. He applies this knowledge in the fields of education, clinical assessment and human resources.
Barbara De Clercq is full professor in personality psychology and focuses on the development of personality pathology from a person-environment perspective. From an applied perspective, she promotes the relevance of individual differences in infants, children adolescents and adults to develop tailored intervention programs and to better understand multiple life outcomes. She also works as a child psychologist at the department of paediatrics in a hospital in East-Flanders, where she is mainly active in the treatment of eating disorders in young adolescents and broader regulation problems at a young age.
Bart Wille is associate professor in industrial-organizational psychology. His research focuses on the predictive validity, assessment and development of individual differences (e.g., personality traits, vocational interests, leadership styles) in work and career contexts. Insights from this research are applied in the fields of human resource management and career guidance.
Janne Vanhalst is a part-time guest professor and is the academic coordinator of the professional development program of undergraduate clinical psychology students. Apart from that, she mainly works as a clinical child psychologist at the department of paediatrics at a hospital in West-Flanders, where she provides psychological support to children and families with various mental health problems.
Lize Verbeke is a part-time guest professor in forensic psychology. Next to her academic teaching appointment, she works at the UCLL as a teacher and researcher in the unit of Resilient People. She is currently involved in several applied research projects within the broad field of partner-and gender-related violence, assessment of personality pathology and risk taxation.
Raissa Franssens is a post-doctoral researcher, studying developmental aspects of borderline personality pathology. She is particularly interested in the assessment of within-person variability in personality pathology from various measurement perspectives, including experience sampling methodology and the use of situation judgement tests for clinical purposes.
Sofie Dupré is a post-doctoral researcher and teaching assistant whose work bridges work and organizational psychology and personality psychology. Her research topics include volitional personality development in professional contexts, person-environment fit, and leadership. Alongside her research, she teaches skills labs in Human Resource Management.
Marie-Lotte Van Beveren is a part-time postdoctoral researcher focusing on early temperament/personality, (co-)regulation, and (developmental) psychopathology. She is also a teaching assistant in the Primary Health Care program for infants, children, and adolescents and a mentor of remediation trajectories within the professional development program for undergraduate clinical psychology students. Next to her academic appointment, she works as a clinical child psychologist in the Department of Pediatrics at a hospital in East Flanders where she co-developed a parent–infant training program focusing on co-regulation, self-compassion, and mindful parenting.
Joyce Scheirlinckx is a clinical and experimental psychologist and a PhD researcher studying teachers’ personality and social-emotional and instructional (SEI) characteristics, including emotion regulation, classroom management, and relationship-building in the classroom. Building on taxonomic work, her research examines how these characteristics are structured and how they relate to educational outcomes such as teacher burnout, job satisfaction, and retention, as well as student well-being and academic achievement.
Marie-Céline Gouwy is a clinical psychologist and court-appointed expert. She is a PhD student on developmental aspects of early callous-unemotional traits, deception and morality. Her research also promotes a child-friendly approach during judicial procedures and the importance of child-sensitive communication adapted to the developmental level of the child.
Hanna Eylenbosch is a PhD student, focusing on the clinical utility of the DSM-5 Alternative Model of Personality Disorders in forensic populations, such as prisoners and individuals assigned to forensic psychiatric settings. In collaboration with several clinical units in Flanders, she is exploring how daily adaptation at the ward can be framed from personality vulnerabilities and how fluctuations in maladaptive functioning and quality of life can be better anticipated from various aspects of a person’s personality in restrictive environments.
Shuming Fan is a PhD student studying the dynamic processes through which teachers shape students’ social–emotional development. Her research examines how teachers’ social–emotional support adapts to students’ situational needs in everyday classroom interactions using intensive longitudinal methods.
Cassie Xu is a PhD student studying Machiavellianism in the work context. Specifically, her research investigates the dynamic and developmental properties of this trait using experience sampling studies and longitudinal designs spanning several years across the professional career.
Wiesje Hauspie is a joint PhD student at Ghent University and Tilburg University on the development of personality pathology in youth from a prospective view on multiple high-risk domains from childhood onwards. She is primarily attached to the Viersprong, a top-clinical centre in the Netherlands specialized in the assessment and treatment of personality pathology. Her research project aims to develop a short screening measure for personality pathology to detect vulnerable youth at a feasible timing of development, in order to prevent cascading trajectories of maladaptation.
Rosie Kidane is a joint PhD student at Tilburg University and Ghent University, particularly focusing on the value of clinical staging models and identifying impairments in youth personality functioning before a clear clinical picture emerges. Within this project, she also explores the value of multi-informant assessment of youth personality functioning and validates both questionnaire-and interview-based measures of personality difficulties for younger age groups.
Ilke Corneillie is a teaching assistant in the practical courses of the primary health care program for infants, children and adolescents. She is also involved as a mentor in the professional development program for undergraduate psychology students. Her main work position is at a primary health care center where she works as a clinical psychologist and family therapist.
Nathalie Coorevits is a teaching assistant and is the logistical coordinator of the professional development program of undergraduate clinical psychology students. She is the liaison between the university and the professional field of clinical psychologists. Apart from that, she is a self-employed clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioral therapist.