Martin Sellbom is a Professor in the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University.  Prior to coming to Monash, he worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama (2009-2013), Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor at the Australian National University (2013-2016), and most recently, Associate Professor and later Professor at the University of Otago (2016-2025). 

Professor Sellbom received his PhD in Clinical Psychology in 2007 from Kent State University (USA). His research focuses on psychopathy and other personality disorders, contemporary models of psychopathology and mental health, and personality assessment with the MMPI instruments. Prof Sellbom's work has been featured in over 300 publications and he has co-authored a book on Interpreting the MMPI-3 (with Y.S. Ben-Porath) and on Forensic Mental Health Assessments with the MMPI-3 (with D.B. Wygant; currently in press). He has won several awards, including the American Psychological Foundation’s Theodore Millon mid-career award for advancing personality science, Society for Personality Assessment’s Mid-Career Award, and the American Psychology-Law Society’s Saleem Shah Award for early career achievement. Prof Sellbom currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Personality Assessment. 

Personality Disorders

Most of this work has focused on how we can use individual differences personality traits to understanding and operationalise personality pathology. Current diagnostic manuals (DSM-5, ICD-11) have begun to move away from traditional personality disorders (e.g. Borderline, Antisocial, Narcissistic) and instead understand them from the perspective of functional impairment in relation to self and others coupled with description using dimensional personality trait profiles. My lab has especially focused on personality trait manifestations of traditional antisocial, borderline, and obsessive-compulsive manifestations of dysfunction, but we are now moving away from these old phenotypes altogether.

A lot of work in my lab has historically been directly devoted towards furthering our understanding of the classical concept of psychopathic personality. In addition to conceptualising psychopathy from the perspective of dimensional personality traits, some specific areas are also being targeted. We are focused on how psychopathy personality traits manifest across different settings. Although it is straightforward to study psychopathy in prisons, as individuals high on such traits are readily available there, we know relatively little about those with psychopathic traits operate in the community. Moreover, one major question that continues to puzzle the field is what factors differentiate individuals high on psychopathic traits who operate successfully in the community from those who end up in the criminal justice system. Finally, self-report questionnaires constitute an economical method for assessing psychopathy – but can we trust the results given psychopathic individuals' propensity to lie? My lab continues to address many of these questions and more.

Psychopathology Classification Issues

There is considerable evidence that the structure of common mental disorders is hierarchical in nature. Research in behaviour genetics, for instance, has indicated that a lot of the shared commonalities among groups of mental disorders (e.g. internalising, externalising) can be largely attributed to genetic vulnerabilities that translate into brain (dys)functions. Interestingly, similar brain functions can also be linked to individual differences in personality traits (e.g. neuroticism, disinhibition). My lab seeks to further understand what mechanisms are shared between personality traits and mental disorders. Do they represent manifestations of the same thing (e.g. is mental disorder a reflection of dysfunctional personality under stressful circumstances?) Are personality traits risk factors for developing mental health problems? 

Clinical Personality Assessment

How can patients' or offenders' personality and mental health be best assessed in applied settings? My lab conducts research on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – 3 (MMPI-3), which it a multi-scale omnibus clinical assessment measure designed to cover a wide range of personality and psychopathology. Recent work has focused a lot on the assessment of personality disorders and mapping the instruments' scales onto contemporary hierarchical structures of personality and psychopathology and the assessment of personality disorders using the MMPI-3. Another line of research has centred on malingering and defensiveness. Can people feign their responses on the MMPI-3 and get away with it? The answer to that question is most often “no” and the PPM lab has focused on understanding how the MMPI-3's so called validity scales can be best used in detecting distorted responding.

PSY2042 - Personality and Social Psychology

PSY5102/6102 - Psychological Assessment