“NEPS Personality” focuses on mechanisms of social and personality psychology in relation to educational trajectories. This field includes the assessment of personal traits and learning motivations as well as the school-related/academic self-concept of students in school and higher education institutions, their self-assessed self-esteem, general orientations of interest, and different aspects of social competencies.

The constructs under investigation can be applied in different explanatory approaches of educational research and can also be understood as a theoretical-conceptual bridge between the more sociostructural determinants and the individual development of competencies. Through longitudinal assessments of the same persons at different points in time, questions can be tackled regarding the influence of motivational aspects and personal traits on educational decisions, or on careers in education and further education, as well as questions of whether, and how, educational experiences will in turn create repercussions for these traits.