About

Colin DeYoung is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. His research broadly focuses on the structure and sources of personality, aiming to discover the relations among different personality traits and the neurobiological systems that influence them. He studies the Big Five personality domains—Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness/Intellect—and characterizes these traits in ways that are consistent with neurobiological models. His work in personality neuroscience explores how individual differences in brain function produce variations in personality, utilizing neuroscience techniques including neuroimaging and molecular genetics. Additionally, his research encompasses cognitive abilities such as intelligence, working memory, decision making, and creativity, as well as mental health, focusing on how personality traits and their underlying functions relate to risks for various forms of psychopathology. DeYoung holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Toronto, earned in 2005, and has a background in the History of Science from Harvard University.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Social psychology
• Statistics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Cognitive psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Medicine
• Psychoanalysis
• Developmental psychology
• Epistemology
• Neuroscience
• Data science
• Audiology
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• Life Narratives and the Ten Aspects of the Big Five Across Open-ended and Targeted Prompts

  2026-04-27

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Personality psychology seeks to understand not only individuals’ dispositional traits, but also components of personality like self-defining life narratives. Past studies correlating traits to narrative themes have largely focused on the Big Five. In the current study, two U.S. undergraduate samples (Study 1, N = 219; Study 2, N = 107) completed the Big Five Aspect Scales, which measure the Big Five domains and ten lower-order aspects (two per domain; e.g., Conscientiousness: Industriousness and Orderliness). Participants’ 2-page life stories (Study 1) and life high point, low point, and turning point narratives (Study 2) were coded for motivational, affective, structural, and autobiographical-reasoning themes. A mini meta-analysis across the two studies revealed several aspect-specific associations with motivational themes. For example, when controlling for shared variance between the aspects, Industriousness was positively associated with agency whereas Orderliness was negatively associated with agency. Trait associations with other narrative themes varied based on narrative methodology. In particular, the open-ended prompts and expanded coding schemes implemented in Study 1 may have allowed participants to better express their dispositional traits through narrative.

  PublisherDOI

• Life Narratives and the Ten Aspects of the Big Five Across Open-ended and Targeted Prompts

  OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · 2026-03-10

  otherSenior author
  Publisher

• Affiliation: A Consequential, Interstitial Trait

  2026-03-20

  articleSenior author

  Although development and maintenance of relationships is an essential part of mental health and well-being and nearly universal among humans, people vary in their tendency to affiliate with others. Affiliation represents an interstitial personality trait falling between the Compassion aspect of Agreeableness and the Enthusiasm aspect of Extraversion. Though interpersonal behavior has been studied extensively, the field lacks validated questionnaires measuring individual differences in Affiliation. Here, we document the construction and validation of a new Trait Affiliation Scale. Data were taken from six samples (ntotal = 27,198). Study 1 focuses on scale creation, including identification of 24 candidate items and initial tests of convergent validity. Study 2 focuses on scale refinement including the application of item response theory to create a ten-item scale. Study 3 investigates reliability and construct validity. Study 4 provides evidence of test-retest reliability in a four-wave longitudinal dataset. Finally, Study 5 provides evidence for criterion and incremental validity, testing associations of affiliation with outcome variables (e.g., social behaviors, social network size, social cognition, and affiliative states) above and beyond Agreeableness, Extraversion, and their aspects. We discuss the importance of affiliation as a trait and provide recommendations for future research using this new scale.

  PublisherDOI

• Distinct Event-Related-Potential Biomarkers of Broad Versus Specific Dimensions of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology Externalizing Spectrum

  Clinical Psychological Science · 2026-02-02

  articleOpen access

  The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) provides a dimensional framework for connecting psychological disorders to neural systems/processes. We examined how neurophysiological measures of cognitive-attentional (oddball P300) and perceptual-emotional processing (fear-face N170/P200) relate to dimensions of the HiTOP externalizing spectrum. Employing 666 community participants, we fit a model in which antagonistic externalizing and substance problems subfactors, defined via symptom and questionnaire-scale measures, loaded with a disinhibitory trait scale onto a higher-order externalizing factor. Hierarchical regression was used to evaluate how much observed relations of each neural measure with the two subfactors reflected their unique variance versus their covariance (reflected in the general factor). P300's relations were fully accounted for by the general factor, suggesting that impaired cognitive processing characterizes broad risk for externalizing problems. Neural indicators of sensitivity to others' distress (N170, P200) were uniquely related to antagonistic externalizing. Findings highlight the HiTOP framework's potential to advance biobehavioral understanding of psychopathology.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Examining the Foundational Assumptions of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology

  Philosophy, psychiatry & psychology · 2026-03-01

  articleSenior author

  The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) emerged to address critical shortcomings inherent to traditional psychiatric classification systems such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and International Classification of Diseases , notably their categorical structure, high comorbidity across categories, and within-diagnosis heterogeneity. HiTOP adopts an empirically derived, dimensional, and hierarchical approach, organizing psychopathological phenomena based on their patterns of observed covariation. This paper explores essential conceptual and philosophical considerations around HiTOP, examining its theoretical assumptions about dimensionality and hierarchy, the nature and interpretation of latent variables, the notion of psychopathology, considerations around validity, and the role of epistemic and non-epistemic values in shaping scientific objectivity. HiTOP is a descriptive model based on quantitative evidence (such as taxometric and factor-analytic approaches), but it is also a nosological project that exists within a particular sociocultural and historical context. As an illustration of the role of values, the applicability of HiTOP to marginalized minority populations is discussed, highlighting ongoing efforts toward ensuring inclusivity and representational equity. By addressing these conceptual foundations, this paper lays groundwork essential for future philosophical inquiry, empirical research, and practical applications of the HiTOP framework.

  PublisherDOI

• Life Narratives and the Ten Aspects of the Big Five Across Open-ended and Targeted Prompts

  PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · 2026-05-16

  preprintOpen access

  Personality psychology seeks to understand not only individuals’ dispositional traits, but also components of personality like self-defining life narratives. Past studies correlating traits to narrative themes have largely focused on the Big Five. In the current study, two U.S. undergraduate samples (Study 1, N = 219; Study 2, N = 107) completed the Big Five Aspect Scales, which measure the Big Five domains and ten lower-order aspects (two per domain; e.g., Conscientiousness: Industriousness and Orderliness). Participants’ 2-page life stories (Study 1) and life high point, low point, and turning point narratives (Study 2) were coded for motivational, affective, structural, and autobiographical-reasoning themes. A mini meta-analysis across the two studies revealed several aspect-specific associations with motivational themes. For example, when controlling for shared variance between the aspects, Industriousness was positively associated with agency whereas Orderliness was negatively associated with agency. Trait associations with other narrative themes varied based on narrative methodology. In particular, the open-ended prompts and expanded coding schemes implemented in Study 1 may have allowed participants to better express their dispositional traits through narrative.

  Publisher

• Clarifying the Philosophical Foundations of HiTOP

  Philosophy, psychiatry & psychology · 2026-04-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Life Narratives and the Ten Aspects of the Big Five Across Open-ended and Targeted Prompts

  PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · 2026-04-26

  preprintOpen access

  Personality psychology seeks to understand not only individuals’ dispositional traits, but also components of personality like self-defining life narratives. Past studies correlating traits to narrative themes have largely focused on the Big Five. In the current study, two U.S. undergraduate samples (Study 1, N = 219; Study 2, N = 107) completed the Big Five Aspect Scales, which measure the Big Five domains and ten lower-order aspects (two per domain; e.g., Conscientiousness: Industriousness and Orderliness). Participants’ 2-page life stories (Study 1) and life high point, low point, and turning point narratives (Study 2) were coded for motivational, affective, structural, and autobiographical-reasoning themes. A mini meta-analysis across the two studies revealed several aspect-specific associations with motivational themes. For example, when controlling for shared variance between the aspects, Industriousness was positively associated with agency whereas Orderliness was negatively associated with agency. Trait associations with other narrative themes varied based on narrative methodology. In particular, the open-ended prompts and expanded coding schemes implemented in Study 1 may have allowed participants to better express their dispositional traits through narrative.

  Publisher

• Life Narratives and the Ten Aspects of the Big Five Across Open-ended and Targeted Prompts

  2026-05-16

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Personality psychology seeks to understand not only individuals’ dispositional traits, but also components of personality like self-defining life narratives. Past studies correlating traits to narrative themes have largely focused on the Big Five. In the current study, two U.S. undergraduate samples (Study 1, N = 219; Study 2, N = 107) completed the Big Five Aspect Scales, which measure the Big Five domains and ten lower-order aspects (two per domain; e.g., Conscientiousness: Industriousness and Orderliness). Participants’ 2-page life stories (Study 1) and life high point, low point, and turning point narratives (Study 2) were coded for motivational, affective, structural, and autobiographical-reasoning themes. A mini meta-analysis across the two studies revealed several aspect-specific associations with motivational themes. For example, when controlling for shared variance between the aspects, Industriousness was positively associated with agency whereas Orderliness was negatively associated with agency. Trait associations with other narrative themes varied based on narrative methodology. In particular, the open-ended prompts and expanded coding schemes implemented in Study 1 may have allowed participants to better express their dispositional traits through narrative.

  PublisherDOI

• Affiliation: A Consequential, Interstitial Trait

  PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · 2026-03-18

  preprintSenior author

  Although development and maintenance of relationships is an essential part of mental health and well-being and nearly universal among humans, people vary in their tendency to affiliate with others. Affiliation represents an interstitial personality trait falling between the Compassion aspect of Agreeableness and the Enthusiasm aspect of Extraversion. Though interpersonal behavior has been studied extensively, the field lacks validated questionnaires measuring individual differences in Affiliation. Here, we document the construction and validation of a new Trait Affiliation Scale. Data were taken from six samples (ntotal = 27,198). Study 1 focuses on scale creation, including identification of 24 candidate items and initial tests of convergent validity. Study 2 focuses on scale refinement including the application of item response theory to create a ten-item scale. Study 3 investigates reliability and construct validity. Study 4 provides evidence of test-retest reliability in a four-wave longitudinal dataset. Finally, Study 5 provides evidence for criterion and incremental validity, testing associations of affiliation with outcome variables (e.g., social behaviors, social network size, social cognition, and affiliative states) above and beyond Agreeableness, Extraversion, and their aspects. We discuss the importance of affiliation as a trait and provide recommendations for future research using this new scale.

  Publisher

Recent grants

• NIH Grant F32MH077382

  NIH · $139k · 2009

• NIH Grant R03DA02917701A1

  NIH · $227k · 2012

Frequent coauthors

• Robert D. Latzman

  Takeda (France)

  130 shared

• Rachael Grazioplene

  Yale University

  126 shared

• Roman Kotov

  126 shared

• Alexander J. Shackman

  112 shared

• Elizabeth A. Martin

  University of California, Irvine

  109 shared

• John D. Haltigan

  University of Toronto

  109 shared

• Isabella M. Palumbo

  Georgia State University

  106 shared

• Giorgia Michelini

  105 shared