Rebecca Shiner

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rshiner

Rebecca Shiner

Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Department/Office Information

Psychological and Brain Sciences
106B Olin Hall

My research lies at the intersection of personality, clinical, and developmental psychology. I study personality development in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood and have investigated stability and change in personality traits and the influence of personality on positive life outcomes and psychological disorders. I have written extensively on the assessment, causes, and consequences of personality disorders in youth.

In addition to my work on personality development, I currently investigate "existential traits": individual differences in how people navigate the existential challenges inherent in being human. These existential traits include variations in maximizing (exerting effort to make optimal choices), intolerance of uncertainty (responding to life's inevitable uncertainties with distress and dysfunction), and regret. These traits have important implications for mental health and wellness.

I am trained as a clinical psychologist and have experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families. I completed a clinical psychology internship at the University of Rochester Medical Center. My clinical experience has an important influence on my teaching and research.

BA, Haverford College, 1990; PhD, University of Minnesota, 1998

Personality, clinical psychology, child development 

BOOKS:

 

Book cover of "Handbook of Temperament" by Rebecca Shiner
Book cover of "Handbook of Personality Development" by Rebecca Shiner

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS:

  • Shiner, R. L. (2021). Personality development in middle childhood. In O. P. John & R. W. Robins (Eds.), Handbook of personality, 4th ed. (pp. 284-302). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Shiner, R. L., Klimstra, T. A., Denissen, J. J. A., & See, A. Y. (2021). The development of narrative identity and the emergence of personality disorders in adolescence. Current Opinion in Psychology, 37, 49-53. 
  • See, A. Y., Klimstra, T. A., Shiner, R. L., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2020). Linking narrative identity with schizotypal personality disorder features in adolescents. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment. Advance online publication.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2019). Negative emotionality and neuroticism from childhood through adulthood: A lifespan perspective. In D. McAdams, R. L. Shiner, & J. L. Tackett (Eds.), Handbook of personality development (pp. 137-152). New York: Guilford Press. 
  • Shiner, R. L. (2018). What are the dimensions and bases for lasting individual differences in emotion? In R. Davidson, A. Hackman, A. Fox, & R. Lapate (Eds.), The Nature of Emotion (2nd edition, pp. 61-64). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2018). What develops in emotional development? In R. Davidson, A. Hackman, A. Fox, & R. Lapate (Eds.), The Nature of Emotion (2nd edition, pp. 379-382). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Shiner, R. L., & Allen, T. A. (2018). Developmental psychopathology of personality disorders. In J. Livesley & R. Larstone (Eds.), Handbook of personality disorders: Theory, research, and treatment (2nd ed., pp. 309-323). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2018). The dynamic personality processes underlying emerging personality disorders in childhood and adolescence. European Journal of Personality, 32, 585-586.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2017). Personality trait structure, processes, and development in childhood and adolescence. European Journal of Personality, 31, 567-568.
  • Shiner, R. L. Allen, T. A., & Masten, A. S. (2017). Adversity in adolescence predicts personality trait change from childhood to adulthood. Journal of Research in Personality, 67, 171-182.
  • Becht, A. E., Prinzie, P., Deković, van den Akker, A. L., & Shiner, R. L. (2016). Child personality facets and overreactive parenting as predictors of aggression and rule-breaking trajectories from childhood to adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 28, 399-413. doi:10.1017/S0954579415000577
  • Shiner, R. L. (2015). Maximizers, satisficers, and their satisfaction with and preferences for reversible versus irreversible decisions. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(8), 896-903.
  • Prinzie, P., van Harten, L., Deković, M., van den Akker, A., & Shiner, R. L. (2014). Developmental trajectories of anxious and depressive problems during the transition from childhood to adolescence: Personality x parenting interactions. Development and Psychopathology, 26, 1077-1092.
  • Shiner, R. L., & Tackett, J. L. (2014). Personality disorders in children and adolescents. In E. J. Mash & R. A. Barkley (Eds.), Child Psychopathology, 3rd Ed (pp. 848-896). New York: Guilford Press. 
  • Shiner, R. L. (2014). The development of temperament and personality traits in childhood and adolescence. In M. Mikulincer, & P. Shaver (Eds.), M. L. Cooper, & R. Larsen (Assoc. Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology: Vol. 3. Personality processes and individual differences (pp. 85-105). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 
  • Shiner, R. L., & Allen, T. A. (2013). Assessing personality disorders in adolescents: Seven guiding principles. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 20, 361-377.
  • ·van den Akker, A. L., Deković, J., Asscher, J. J., Shiner, R. L., & Prinzie, P. (2013). Personality types in childhood: Relations to latent trajectory classes of problem behavior and overreactive parenting across the transition into adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 750-764. 
  • Shiner, R. L., & DeYoung, C. G. (2013). The structure of temperament and personality traits: A developmental perspective. In P. Zelazo (Ed.), Oxford handbook of developmental psychology (pp. 113-141). New York: Oxford University Press.  
  • Shiner, R. L., & Masten, A. S. (2012). Childhood personality as a harbinger of competence and resilience in adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 24(2), 507-528.
  • Shiner, R. L., & Caspi, A. (2012), Temperament and the development of personality traits, adaptations, and narratives. In M. Zentner & R. L. Shiner (Eds.), Handbook of temperament (pp. 497-516). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Zentner, M., & Shiner, R. L. (2012). Fifty years of progress in temperament research: A synthesis of major themes, findings, and challenges and a look ahead. In M. Zentner & R. L. Shiner (Eds.), Handbook of temperament (pp. ). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Shiner, R. L., Buss, K. A., McClowry, S. G., Putnam, S. P., Saudino, K. J., & Zentner, M. (2012), What is temperament now? Assessing progress in temperament research on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Goldsmith et al. (1987). Child Development Perspectives.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2010). Mapping the landscape of personality in childhood and adolescence. Social Psychology and Personality Compass, 4, 1084-1097.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2009). The development of personality disorders: Perspectives from normal personality development in childhood and adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 715-734.
  • Shiner, R. L., & Masten, A. S. (2008). Personality in childhood: A bridge from early temperament to adult outcomes. European Journal for Developmental Science, 2, 158-175. Special Issue: Current Trends in the Study of Child Temperament.
  • Caspi, A., & Shiner, R. L. (2008). Temperament and personality. In M. Rutter, D. Bishop, D. Pine, S. Scott, J. Stevenson, E. Taylor, & A. Thapar (Eds.), Rutter’s child and adolescent psychiatry (5th ed., pp. 182-199). London: Blackwell.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2007). Personality disorders. In E. J. Mash & R. A. Barkley (Eds.), Assessment of childhood disorders (4th ed., pp. 781-816). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R. L., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007), The power of personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 2, 313-345.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2006), Temperament and personality in childhood. In D. K. Mroczek & T. Little (Eds.), Handbook of personality development (pp. 213-230). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Caspi, A., & Shiner, R. L. (2006). Personality development. In W. Damon & R. Lerner (Series Eds.) & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (6th edition, pp. 300-365). New York: Wiley.
  •  Shiner, R. L. (2005). A developmental perspective on personality disorders: Lessons from research on normal personality development in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Personality Disorders, 19, 202-210.
  • Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005). Personality development: Stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 453-484.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2005). A developmental perspective on personality disorders: Lessons from research on normal personality development in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Personality Disorders, 19, 202-210.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2005). An emerging developmental science of personality: Current progress and future prospects.Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 51, 379-387.
  • Shiner, R. L., Masten, A. S., & Roberts, J. M. (2003). Childhood personality foreshadows adult personality and life outcomes two decades later. Journal of Personality, 71, 1145-1170. Special issue: Personality development.
  • Shiner, R. L., & Caspi, A. (2003). Personality differences in childhood and adolescence: Measurement, development, and consequences. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 44, 1-31.
  • Shiner, R. L., & Masten, A. S. (2002). Transactional links between personality and adaptation from childhood through adulthood. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 580-588.
  • Shiner, R. L., Masten, A. S., & Tellegen, A. (2002). A developmental perspective on personality in emerging adulthood: Childhood antecedents and concurrent adaptation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1165-1177.
  • Shiner, R. L. (2000). Linking childhood personality with adaptation: Evidence for continuity and change across time into late adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 310-325.
  • Shiner, R. L., & Marmorstein, N. R. (1998). Family environments of adolescents with lifetime depression: Associations with maternal depression history. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1152-1160.
  • Shiner, R. L. (1998). How shall we speak of children’s personality traits in middle childhood? A preliminary taxonomy. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 308-332.
    • Master Lecturer, American Psychological Association, Personality, 2021
    • Fellow, Association for Psychological Science, Clinical Science, 2019
    • Service Award, Association for Research in Personality, 2019
    • Fellow, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2018
    • Princeton Review's Best 300 Professors, 2012
    • Colgate Presidential Scholar, 2008-2011
    • Professor, 2013 – present 
    • Founder and Faculty Director, Ciccone Residential Commons, 2015 – 2021 
    • Chair, Department of Psychology, 2010 – 2013     
    • University Professor, Scientific Perspectives Program, 2007 – 2010
    • Associate Professor, 2005 – 2013
    • Assistant Professor, 1999 – 2005
    • Psychology Intern, University of Rochester Medical Center, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1998 – 1999
    • Research Coordinator, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, 1991 – 1992
    • Case Administrator, Cambridge and Somerville Cooperative Apartment Project, 1990 – 1991
    • Introduction to Psychology
    • Personality Psychology
    • Developmental Psychopathology
    • Psychotherapy and Behavior Change
    • The Good Life: Perspectives from Psychological Science (Scientific Perspectives course)
    • Senior Research in Psychology
    • Board Member, Central New York Psychological Association, 2021 – present
    • Committee Member, Primarily Undergraduate Institutions Committee, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2020 –2022
    • Executive Officer, Association for Research in Personality, 2015 – 2017
    • Instructor, Summer Institute in Social and Personality Psychology, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Personality Development course, 2015
    • Executive Board Member-at-Large, Association for Research in Personality, 2007 – 2010
    • Secretary-Treasurer, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2009
    • Consultant, DSM-5 Working Group on Personality and Personality Disorders, 2008-2013
    • Associate Editor, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2015 – 2017    
    • Governing Consortium Member, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2015 – 2016
    • Associate Editor, Journal of Personality, 2004 – 2008
    • Consultant Editor:
      • Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 2009 – 2014
      • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2009 – 2013
      • European Journal of Personality, 2001 – 2012
      • Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2008 – 2011
      • Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2009 – 2010
      • Journal of Personality, 2008 – 2011
      • Journal of Research in Personality, 2003 – 2005