Personality: A User’s Guide

’The best introduction to personality psychology I have ever read’ Robert Hogan, founder and president, Hogan Assessment Systems

We are each born with a particular genetic makeup and traits that are further shaped by our individual environments and life experiences, creating a personality unique to us. But at no point are we given a manual for how to use that personality in our relationships or at work, for how to make sense of the facets that create our sense of self, or for how to troubleshoot our personality if there are things we are unhappy with.

Personality: A User’s Guide is that missing manual. An authoritative and comprehensive guide to personality psychology, this book outlines the different building blocks of our personality, presents the many theories and models that have been argued over the years, and helps you identify where you stand on the spectrum of key traits that define us.

Using this knowledge about yourself, the book also suggests ways you can better empathise with those around you who may have very different approaches to the world, and how we can all leverage our different strengths. The authors also consider the constantly developing nature of the self, and ways we can turn that to our advantage and make changes for greater success and wellbeing.

Finally, the book looks at some specific questions: Can our pets be said to have their own personalities? What happens when the ’dark triad’ of negative traits are dominant? And is there a future in store where we can say that an AI has a genuine personality?

Georgi Yankov, PhD, is a senior research scientist at Development Dimensions International (DDI), where he develops traditional tests and innovative simulations scored with machine learning algorithms. His expertise and publications are in the fields of computational psychometrics, machine learning and personality assessment. Georgi has previously worked at Hogan Assessment Systems in the USA and Giunti Psychometrics in Europe, as well as consulted multiple assessment start-ups on how to build and validate their tools. Georgi holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Sofia University, Bulgaria, as well as an MSc from Baruch College, CUNY and a PhD from Bowling Green State University, both in industrial-organisational psychology.

Nikita Mikhailov is a London-based specialist in personality psychology. For over a decade, Nikita has worked in the field of psychometrics, helping develop assessments, qualifying people to use them and also applying the assessments for individuals, couples and teams to increase awareness and understanding of individual differences. His clients have included Fortune 500 companies in the areas of finance and banking as well companies in the transport, construction, FMCG, aerospace, pharmaceutical and tech startup industries. His mission is to share the goodness of psychology with a wider audience, be it through workshops, podcasts, writing or stand-up comedy.