Personality and social psychology are both concerned with the study of individual and social behavior, although each approaches this domain from a different perspective.

Personality psychology emphasizes the role of intrapersonal factors (within the person), whereas social psychology emphasizes interpersonal ones (between people). Of course, there is a dynamic interrelation between these perspectives, since people with different personalities may behave differently when subjected to social or group forces.

The interests of the faculty include a variety of topics within these domains. In addition, a number of different research methods are used, including both experimental and correlational techniques. Though there is diversity in both research topics and methods, our efforts stem from a common core of interest in individual and social behavior, which forms the focus of weekly research meetings of the faculty and graduate students in the area.

Faculty

C. Randall Colvin

Specialization: Social Perception and Personality

Dr. Colvin’s research interests focus on several related topics. One area of research pertains to the factors that influence the accuracy of personality judgments of self and others. Research in the second area focuses on the personality processes and characteristics associated with positive psychological functioning. The third area of research represents an integration of these two areas by investigating how individual differences in social perception influence psychological adaptation across social settings.

David DeSteno

Specialization: Emotion and Social Cognition

Dr. DeSteno's research centers on the role of the emotion system in social cognition and social behavior. His lab takes a multilevel and multiprocess approach to examining the psychological and biological functions, phenomenologies and consequences that are associated with discrete emotional states. Current projects focus on the effects of specific emotions on several types of volitional and automatic social judgments (e.g. risk assessment, persuasion, prejudice) on the cultural and evolved aspects of social emotions (e.g. jealousy, gratitude), and on individual differences in attention to and utilization of affective information.

Judith A. Hall

Specialization: Interpersonal Processes

Dr. Hall studies verbal and nonverbal communication, and accuracy of interpersonal perception, especially with regard to gender differences, using both primary and meta-analytic methods of research. Her current emphasis is on studying these factors in the context of social dominence and power and on determining the impact of motivation on accuracy of interpersonal perception. Dr. Hall also studies the processes and outcomes associated with physician patient interactions.

Stephen G. Harkins

Specialization: Group Processes

Dr. Harkins is currently testing a simple, three-variable model that may serve as the basis for an integration of five different traditions in which it has been shown that the potential for evaluation affects task performance: social loafing, social facilitation, goal-setting, intrinsic motivation/creativity, and achievement-goal theory. Although these research traditions have proposed process models to account for the evaluation effects, the models do not agree on the mediating process(es), nor is there any compelling evidence favoring one account over the others. In a second line of work, he is attempting to identify the process(es) that produce the evaluation effects through a molecular analysis of specific tasks (e.g., Remote Associates Task) on which these effects have been shown.