dr. Gabriel Olaru

Bio

My name is Gabriel Olaru. I am currently working as an assistant professor at the department of Developmental Psychology at Tilburg University.  Before coming to Tilburg I did my PhD in Germany (University of Kassel and Ulm University) and worked at a testing company in the US for over a year. Right now I focus mainly on questions about the effect of personality on our lives, how it develops across the lifespan, and whether people can actively change parts of their personality. I am also fascinated by the concepts of purpose and meaning in life and investigate how people can find it and how having a strong sense of purpose can contribute to overall life quality.

Courses

• ReMa-IDA: Dynamics of Indiv. Differences
• Bachelor's Th: Dev. Psych. & Lifesp. psy
• Bachelor's Th: Dev. Psych & Lifespan Psy
• Psychology of Personality

Recent publications

1. Intervention-related correlated change between personality traits and…

   Allemand, M., Olaru, G., Stieger, M., & Flückiger, C. (2024). Intervention-related correlated change between personality traits and self-esteem. Consulting Psychology Journal. Advance online publication.

2. Purposeful and purposeless aging - Structural issues for sense of pur…

   Pfund, G. N., Olaru, G., Allemand, M., & Hill, P. L. (2024). Purposeful and purposeless aging: Structural issues for sense of purpose and their implications for predicting life outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 60(1), 75-93.

3. What if there were no personality factors? - Comparing the predictabi…

   Altgassen, E., Olaru, G., & Wilhelm, O. (2023). What if there were no personality factors? Comparing the predictability of behavioral act frequencies from a big-five and a maximal-dimensional item set. European Journal of Personality. Advance online publication.

4. Personality and limitations in instrumental activities of daily livin…

   Chereches, F. S., Brehmer, Y., & Olaru, G. (2023). Personality and limitations in instrumental activities of daily living in old age: Reciprocal associations across 12 years. European Journal of Personality, 37(5), 543-559.

5. Reciprocal associations between sense of purpose and subjective well-…

   Gudmundsdottir, G. R., Pfund, G. N., Hill, P. L., & Olaru, G. (2023). Reciprocal associations between sense of purpose and subjective well-being in old age. European Journal of Personality. Advance online publication.