Current Research

EVERYDAY MANIFESTATIONS OF PERSONALITY

This work is exploring how personality is revealed in real-world contexts in everyday life. We are especially interested in how individuals select and craft the environments in which they dwell to suit their personalities. We argue that individuals consciously and unconsciously leave traces of their individuality in the spaces around them. In turn, others may use these traces to form impressions about the occupants. Some of these impressions are accurate but others are not. We are examining a number of different environments:

• Physical environments (e.g., bedrooms, offices)
• Virtual environments (e.g., webpages, Online Social Networks [e.g., Facebook])
• Aural environments (e.g., music)
• Social environments (e.g., the places and activities where you spend your time)

ANIMAL PERSONALITY (Comparative Personality Research)

This work examines personality or temperament in non-human animals. The ultimate goal of this work is to: (a) develop animal models to inform research in personality, social, and health psychology, (b) use perceptions of animal personality to understand general processes in personality perception, (c) apply our understanding of personality to promote animal and human welfare.

METHODS FOR COLLECTING DATA USEFUL FOR RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Since 1996 we have been collecting data using the internet. In addition to reaping the benefits of Internet research (e.g., large and relatively diverse samples), we are also evaluating the costs and benefits of using the Internet to gather data in psychology.