- Email: [email protected]
Personality psychology: Current status and some issues for the future
JOURNAL OF
Journal of Research in Personality 36 (2002) 638–639
RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY www.academicpress.com
Abstract
Personality psychology: Current status and some issues for the future David C. Funder University of California, Riverside
The current status of personality psychology is by many measures excellent and continues to improve. Researchers in personality fill several prestigious journals with increasing amounts of their work, as these journals become evermore visible and influential. The topics of current personality research range widely from investigations of the fundamental units of individual difference to applications of personality knowledge to interpersonal relationships, workplace productivity, and physical health. Even social psychological research is more often including individual difference constructs, and personality psychologyÕs voice is more often heard in forums such as SPSP (Society for Personality and Social Psychology) meetings and advisory panels for government agencies such as NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), NSF (National Science Foundation), and NIA (National Institute on Aging). Finally, a new Association for Research in Personality (ARP) has been founded, and the Journal of Research in Personality has becomes its official journal. On a substantive level, the key issue that concerned a generation of researchers seems to be approaching resolution. It is now clear that crosssituational consistency to behavior, and behavioral change across situations, are orthogonal and not competing phenomena. In one study, for example, a cross-situational comparison of subjectsÕ behavior across two situations showed that 20 out of 65 measured behaviors significantly changed in mean level (at p < :05), while at the same time 37 of the same 65 behaviors showed cross-situational consistency correlations (at p < :001; Funder & Colvin, 1991). Overall, the tendency of a behavior to change (mean level) across situations and to be consistent (correlationally) across situations, statistically independent, was empirically independent as well (r ¼ :01). The person0092-6566/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 9 2 - 6 5 6 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 5 1 5 - 9
D.C. Funder / Journal of Research in Personality 36 (2002) 638–639
639
situational dichotomy, the source of so much controversy, is and always has been a false one. This recognition can open the way for a new personality psychology that sets aside tired old issues and builds on this insight. The new personality psychology will need to deal with several concerns. Basic psychometric knowledge and practice will have to be carefully protected and more widely taught—too many ‘‘social’’ or even ‘‘social-personality’’ training programs omit even the most basic instruction in psychological measurement. Personality psychologyÕs methods will need to be expanded into innovative techniques that go beyond, without replacing, self-report measures, such as peer report, expert judgments, life outcome measurement, and direct behavioral observations. The ‘‘personality triad’’—of persons, situations, and behaviors—needs to become more balanced, so that the large amount of attention paid to person variables becomes better matched by attention to situational and behavioral variables. Finally, personality psychologyÕs relationship with neighboring fields such as abnormal and social psychology will need to be resolved; will personality psychologyÕs future be invested in independent personality psychology research training programs or in some kind of integration into other fields?
Reference Funder, D. C., & Colvin, C. R. (1991). Explorations in behavioral consistency: Properties of persons, situations, and behaviors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 773–794.
Journal of Research in Personality 36 (2002) 638–639
RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY www.academicpress.com
Abstract
Personality psychology: Current status and some issues for the future David C. Funder University of California, Riverside
The current status of personality psychology is by many measures excellent and continues to improve. Researchers in personality fill several prestigious journals with increasing amounts of their work, as these journals become evermore visible and influential. The topics of current personality research range widely from investigations of the fundamental units of individual difference to applications of personality knowledge to interpersonal relationships, workplace productivity, and physical health. Even social psychological research is more often including individual difference constructs, and personality psychologyÕs voice is more often heard in forums such as SPSP (Society for Personality and Social Psychology) meetings and advisory panels for government agencies such as NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), NSF (National Science Foundation), and NIA (National Institute on Aging). Finally, a new Association for Research in Personality (ARP) has been founded, and the Journal of Research in Personality has becomes its official journal. On a substantive level, the key issue that concerned a generation of researchers seems to be approaching resolution. It is now clear that crosssituational consistency to behavior, and behavioral change across situations, are orthogonal and not competing phenomena. In one study, for example, a cross-situational comparison of subjectsÕ behavior across two situations showed that 20 out of 65 measured behaviors significantly changed in mean level (at p < :05), while at the same time 37 of the same 65 behaviors showed cross-situational consistency correlations (at p < :001; Funder & Colvin, 1991). Overall, the tendency of a behavior to change (mean level) across situations and to be consistent (correlationally) across situations, statistically independent, was empirically independent as well (r ¼ :01). The person0092-6566/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 9 2 - 6 5 6 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 5 1 5 - 9
D.C. Funder / Journal of Research in Personality 36 (2002) 638–639
639
situational dichotomy, the source of so much controversy, is and always has been a false one. This recognition can open the way for a new personality psychology that sets aside tired old issues and builds on this insight. The new personality psychology will need to deal with several concerns. Basic psychometric knowledge and practice will have to be carefully protected and more widely taught—too many ‘‘social’’ or even ‘‘social-personality’’ training programs omit even the most basic instruction in psychological measurement. Personality psychologyÕs methods will need to be expanded into innovative techniques that go beyond, without replacing, self-report measures, such as peer report, expert judgments, life outcome measurement, and direct behavioral observations. The ‘‘personality triad’’—of persons, situations, and behaviors—needs to become more balanced, so that the large amount of attention paid to person variables becomes better matched by attention to situational and behavioral variables. Finally, personality psychologyÕs relationship with neighboring fields such as abnormal and social psychology will need to be resolved; will personality psychologyÕs future be invested in independent personality psychology research training programs or in some kind of integration into other fields?
Reference Funder, D. C., & Colvin, C. R. (1991). Explorations in behavioral consistency: Properties of persons, situations, and behaviors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 773–794.