Call for Programs: ARP Conference

Building on the success of the first standalone meeting in 2009, the ARP Program Committee is soliciting abstracts for presentations at the 2nd Biennial Meeting of the Association for Research in Personality, which is scheduled to take place Thursday, June 16, to Saturday, June 18, 2011, in Riverside, California. The program will include a provocative slate of invited speakers as well as symposium and posters selected in response to this open call. More details of the meeting can be found at the following URL: http://www.personality-arp.org/riverside1.html
The ARP Executive Board recently drafted a white paper—“The Grand Challenges of Personality and Individual Differences for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science”—that was developed and submitted in response to a call from the National Science Foundation. The full text of the white paper can be found on the ARP website. In short, the Board identified the key, broad questions in the psychological study of personality as follows:

1. What are the primary dimensions of personality and ability, and how can they best be measured?
2. What are the origins of these individual differences?
3. What are the psychological processes that underlie individual differences in personality?
4. To what degree and in what ways is personality stable, variable, and changeable across the lifespan?
5. What are the behavioral implications of personality and how do these implications vary with situational circumstances?
6. What are the long‐term implications of personality for important life outcomes and how do these implications vary according to the nature of physical, social and cultural environment?

Although there is no official “theme” for this upcoming meeting, these Grand Challenges are presented here to inspire prospective presenters. The overriding goal of the Program Committee is to develop a slate of presentations that broadly reflects the diversity of basic questions facing our discipline, including (but not limited to) these six.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRESENTERS
Two formats are available for submissions: Symposia and Posters. The Program Committee will make a final selection of presentations based on quality, balance of content, and diversity, broadly speaking, in the overall conference program. Submissions not accepted for oral presentation will be considered for presentation as individual posters unless the authors stipulate otherwise. The first author is expected to give the oral presentation or be available at the poster.
Symposia
Symposia are 90 minutes in length and include presentations from a maximum of 4 speakers, including an optional discussant, on a related topic. Thus, typical symposia will be comprised of 3 talks plus a discussant or 4 talks with no discussant; however, symposia with fewer speakers are permitted as well. In planning a symposium, please allow sufficient time for audience questions and discussion. Submissions must include (a) names and contact information for the chairperson(s), all presenters, and the discussant (if applicable), (b) a symposium title and overarching abstract of no more than 200 words, and (c) individual abstracts (200 words max) for each talk to be included in the symposium. Please address in the overarching abstract how Q&A/discussion will be integrated into the symposium.
Poster PresentationsPoster submissions may include presentations of works that are either complete or in progress (e.g., studies for which data collection is well under way, but for which full results are not yet available at the time of submission). Submissions must include (a) names and contact information for all authors, (b) presentation title, and (c) an abstract of no more than 200 words describing the rationale, methods, results, and implications of the work to be presented.
Graduate student poster presenters may elect to have their abstracts considered for the Rising Stars Symposium, which will provide the opportunity for the top poster authors to present their work orally rather than by poster. To be considered for the Rising Stars Symposium, presenters must describe a completed project and submit an extended abstract of no more than 1,000 words (which can include tables, figures, and references) detailing the rationale, methods, results, and implications of the work. Presenters also must submit a current CV. Rising Stars will be selected by the Program Committee based on the quality of the work described in the abstract and the quality of their academic records. Potential candidates must be enrolled in graduate school at the time of abstract submission.
Number of SubmissionsThere is no limit to the number of submissions on which a presenter may be an author. However, anyone submitting an abstract may be first author on only one oral presentation (discussant roles are exempted from this limit). There is no limit to the number of first-authored poster abstract submissions.
Submission WithdrawalsIf it is necessary to withdraw a submission, please notify the Program Chair as soon as possible.
Abstract Submission Details and DeadlineThe deadline for all abstract submissions is January 21, 2011. Please prepare your submission using the appropriate abstract templates. For the symposium template, click here. For the poster template, click here. Submit all materials via email to arp2011submissions@gmail.com. Please follow the templates: Abstracts that do not follow the template will be returned to authors.