Causes and Consequences of Cognitive Exploration: How Openness to Experience and Intellect Help Explain Human Personality

Colin DeYoung, associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, will present "Causes and Consequences of Cognitive Exploration: How Openness to Experience and Intellect Help Explain Human Personality" on Monday, Sept. 22, at 6:30 p.m. in Ice Auditorium. DeYoung will discuss his research on understanding openness and intellect in order to understand human personalities. One of the most striking characteristics of human beings as a species is the complexity of our cognitive processes and representations of experience. No other species produces fiction, philosophy, representational art or mathematics. Among people, however, there is much variation in the degree to which people engage in these kinds of cognitive exploration. Controversy has lingered over whether to label these individual differences as openness to experience or intellect, but research indicates that these two labels, in fact, describe two different components of one broader trait. In this presentation, DeYoung will describe what openness and intellect share and how they differ. DeYoung will explain what we know about the sources of these traits, including how they are generated by the brain and influenced by both genetics and experience, as well as what we know about the impact these important traits have on our lives. DeYoung's research focuses broadly on the structure and sources of personality, attempting to discover the relations among different personality traits and the neurobiological systems that influence them. His long-term goal is to map personality traits onto their sources in the ongoing functions of the brain, using neuroscience techniques including neuroimaging and molecular genetics. He has an A.B. from Harvard University and master's and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. This lecture is sponsored by the Department of Psychology, the Office of Academic Affairs and PLACE, the Program for Liberal Arts and Civic Engagement. Subject: PLACE Lectures Run Length: 00:53 Author: Colin DeYoung Publisher: Linfield College Copyright: 2014