Denis Bratko was born in 1966 in Zagreb. He finished his primary and secondary education in Varaždin. He enrolled in psychology studies in 1986 at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences where he obtained his B.A. degree in 1990 with a thesis entitled Effect of demand characteristics of experimental procedure on the estimate of the term “aggression”. The same year he started his graduate studies for scientific education at the Department of Psychology. He defended his M.A. thesis entitled Behavioural-genetic analysis of verbal and spatial abilities: A twin study in 1993, and his PhD thesis entitled Genetic and environmental contribution to individual differences in personality: A longitudinal study of twins in 1997.
He attended two summer schools: Psychological summer school of students and professors of Department of Psychology that took place in Mali Lošinj in 1989 and Summer school of European Association of Personality Psychology that took place in Brno in 1993. He was a head of one summer school - Psychological summer school of students and professors of Department of Psychology that took place in Vis in 1999. After completing his undergraduate studies he started working as an scientific apprentice at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences where he still works today. He became an assistant in 1994, higher assistant in 1998, assistant professor in 1999, associate professor in 2004, full professor in 2009, and permanent full professor in 2013.
He is a member of the following professional organisations: Croatian Psychological Association, Behavior Genetics Association, European Association for Research on Adolescence, and European Association for Personality Psychology, where he was a member of the Executive committee of the association.
He took part in the organisation of three national and several international scientific conferences. He was a reviewer for a number of papers in national and international journal such as European Journal of Personality, Personality and Individual Differences, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Review of Psychology, Contemporary Psychology, etc.
He has published more than 50 papers, which have been cited more than 1300 times. He has also been awarded the Croatian National Science Award in 2007.
HR | EN
The main research areas of Denis Bratko are the field of personality psychology and behaviour genetics. In his research, he used specific behavioural genetic methodology (family studies, twin studies) and statistical procedures developed for analysing longitudinal data of genetically related participants, with diverse phenotypes (e.g. personality, intelligence, subjective well-being).
Selected publications
Vukasović, T. & Bratko, D. (2015). Heritability of Personality: A Meta-Analysis of Behavior Genetic Studies. Psychological Bulletin, 141(4), 769-785. doi: 10.1037/bul0000017
De Bolle, Marleen; De Fruyt, Filip; McCrae, Robert R., Bratko, D.(2015.). The Emergence of Sex Differences in Personality Traits in Early Adolescence: A Cross-Sectional, Cross-Cultural Study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 171-185.
Loehlin, J.C., Bartels, M., Boomsma, D.I., Bratko, D., Martin, N.G., Nichols, R.C. & Wright, M.J.(2015). Is There a Genetic Correlation Between General Factors of Intelligence and Personality?, Twin Research and Human Genetics, 18, 234-242.
McCrae, R.R., Chan, W., Jussim, L., … Bratko, D., Marušić, I. i sur. (2013.). The Inaccuracy of National Character Stereotypes. Journal of Research in Personality, 47, 831-842.
Bratko D., Butković, A., Vukasović, T., Chamorro-Premuzic, T. & von Stumm, S. (2012). Cognitive ability, self-assessed intelligence and personality: Common genetic but independent environmental aetiologies. Intelligence, 40(2), 91-99. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2012.02.001
Bibliography
Undergraduate study programme in psychology
- Psychology as a science and profession
- Personality
Graduate study programme in psychology
Postgraduate doctoral study programme
- Genetics and personality
- Personality and intellectual competence
Denis Bratko, Ph.D. (Chair)
Professor
Room: C-311, Tel. 4092-194
E-mail: denis.bratko@ffzg.hr
Denis Bratko was a co-author of Croatian validation study of personality questionnaire NEO PI-R. He was an author and co-author of several popular lectures and publications. He is also the author of a high-school handbook on psychology and the editor of the Croatian edition of the university handbook on personality psychology.