EPIC: Elements of Personality and Identity Change

A longitudinal, multi-perspective study of moral personality, self-concept, and reputation

Background
Personality traits, self-concept, and identity are central to how people think about themselves, how they are perceived by others, and how they behave in everyday life. In the moral domain, these aspects shape whether individuals act in an honest, fair, and cooperative manner – or engage in unethical behavior. Yet, research on moral character has often relied on narrow perspectives, focusing primarily on self-reported traits at a single point in time rather than trying to understand individual differences more comprehensively.

The EPIC project takes a broader and more dynamic approach. It aims to capture moral character from a 360-degree perspective by integrating self-reports of different personality traits, self-concept and identity aspects, informant reports from close others, and behavioral measures, and by following individuals over time. By doing so, EPIC seeks to understand not only how people see and identify themselves, but also how they are seen by others, and how these perspectives align or diverge.

Project Aims and Research Questions
The project addresses the following central questions:

1. How stable or malleable are morality-related personality traits and aspects of self-concept and identity over time?
2. How do change goals, perceived barriers to change, and life events contribute to stability and change in moral character?
3. How accurately are these characteristics perceived, and how strongly do self-views and informants’ views converge?
4. How do different aspects of moral character relate to prosocial and dishonest behavior?
5. How are aspects of moral character linked to well-being and relationship satisfaction?

Methodology
The project employs a longitudinal, multi-method approach, following several hundred participants over multiple years. Participants are recruited as dyads, with each target person paired with a close friend or partner who provides informant reports, enabling the study of reputation in addition to self-perception. Data collection combines self-report surveys, informant reports, and behavioral paradigms assessing prosocial and dishonest behavior. Advanced analytic techniques, including latent variable modeling, longitudinal change models, and large language models, are applied to study stability, change, and the complex relations between the variables assessed.

Expected Impact
By adopting a longitudinal perspective, EPIC examines how morality-related traits, self-concept, and social evaluations co-evolve over time and jointly shape moral behavior. Thereby, the project contributes to theory development in personality, social, and moral psychology. In addition, by explicitly incorporating change goals, perceived barriers, and life events, EPIC sheds light on the processes that promote stability and transformation in moral character.

Methodologically, EPIC demonstrates the value of longitudinal dyadic designs and advanced analytic approaches for studying personality development. Its findings inform future research on personality change, moral behavior, and well-being.