An ecological perspective on integrating personality and social psychology.

We use the Gibsonian ecological construct of affordance to integrate personality and social psychology. Illustrative applications include the interpersonal implications of depression, the nature of social competence, the meaning of traits, and various aspects of the structure and function of attitudes. We also use the affordance concept to derive a lock-and-key metaphor for integrating personality and social psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on the self and social identity.

This article describes the special issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP), which is the result of a joint undertaking by the three sections of JPSP. This makes it different from previous special sections or issues of the journal in that rather than relying on the generous services of a guest editor, the same editorial team that handles the regular journal issues has originated this special issue, as well, thus conveying a sense of "business as usual." Our major reason for the present initiative was to highlight the essential unity of personality and social psychology as a field of science. The topic choice for the present special issue was dictated by its relevance and interest to the field of personality and social psychology as a whole, across its various partitions and subdivisions. The articles in the special issue amply reflect the naturalness with which the self and social identity theme transcends the boundaries of JPSP sections. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Finding "Meaning" in Psychology: A Lay Theories Approach to Self-Regulation, Social Perception, and Social Development.

Much of psychology focuses on universal principles of thought and action. Although an extremely productive pursuit, this approach, by describing only the "average person," risks describing no one in particular. This article discusses an alternate approach that complements interests in universal principles with analyses of the unique psychological meaning that individuals find in their experiences and interactions. Rooted in research on social cognition, this approach examines how people's lay theories about the stability or malleability of human attributes alter the meaning they give to basic psychological processes such as self-regulation and social perception. Following a review of research on this lay theories perspective in the field of social psychology, the implications of analyzing psychological meaning for other fields such as developmental, cultural, and personality psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Steps toward an evolutionary personality psychology: Individual differences in the social rank domain.

A comprehensive evolutionary personality psychology can be developed by identifying individual differences within each of the evolved systems that regulate social behaviour. We developed a questionnaire measure of social rank style, defined as individual differences in preferred strategies for pursuing, defending, and, when necessary, relinquishing social rank. The 17-item Rank Style with Peers Questionnaire (RSPQ) comprises three nearly independent scales: dominant leadership, coalition-building, and ruthless self-advancement. A series of studies demonstrated that: (a) the RSPQ’s, factor structure is robust; (b) the three rank style variables are not redundant with the five-factor traits or adult attachment styles; (c) they are related in theoretically expected ways to adjustment outcomes, to agentic and communal interpersonal behaviours, and to social reputations; (d) they predict group and individual performance outcomes relevant to organisational psychology; and (e) they are related in theoretically expected ways to psychopathology, including social anxiety disorder and depressive symptoms. Future directions for research on social rank styles and prospects for an evolutionary personality psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Statewide differences in personality: Toward a psychological geography of the United States.

There is overwhelming evidence from research in the regional sciences that the attitudes, values, and behaviors of Americans are geographically clustered. Psychologists, however, have historically had little to say about regional differences. This article aims to redress that neglect. In so doing, I provide evidence that there are statewide personality differences across the United States, offer potential explanations for those differences, and show that regional personality differences are linked to a variety of important social indicators. I also explain how a regional perspective can inform research in a variety of areas in psychology and suggest ways in which researchers can study regional differences in their own work. Ultimately, this work is intended to raise awareness in psychology about the value that a regional perspective can add to theory and research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality in the life course.

Using elements borrowed from psychology, sociology, and history, this article outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of personality in the life course. It is proposed that the interactional framework toward which personality psychology aspires may be conceived of as a sequence of interactions of personality with age-graded roles and social transitions in historically changing environments. To the extent that one can (a) identify the age-graded role paths in the social structure, (b) select the age-relevant situations in which these roles are enacted, and (c) identify measures relevant to the culture pattern across these age-relevant situations, it should be possible to uncover the coherence of personality—ways of approaching and responding to the world—across time and in diverse situations. Each of these steps is delineated and then illustrated with a longitudinal study of explosive, undercontrolled children. This is not an effort to articulate a theory of personality development but to outline the parameters of social life—temporal and situational—to which personality research should attend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dark side of social encounters: Prospects for a neuroscience of human evil.

This article discusses how findings from social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience might contribute to our understanding of human evil. Integrating theories of personality and social psychology as well as the notions of deindividuation and dehumanization with recent neuroscientific insight, the authors elaborate on the nature of human evil and its potential roots in brain systems associated with affective processing and cognitive control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental representations in personality development, psychopathology, and the therapeutic process.

This article considers the construct of mental representation from the perspectives of psychoanalytic object-relations theory and cognitive developmental psychology and the congruence of these formulations with research and theory in cognitive science and social cognition. Concepts of mental representation are applied to the study of psychopathology, personality assessment, interpersonal relationships or attachment styles, and therapeutic progress in the long-term, inpatient treatment of seriously disturbed adolescents and young adults. Understanding of personality development, psychopathology, and the therapeutic process is greatly enhanced by this constructivist perspective, which considers the construction of mental representations or cognitive–affective schemes to be a central constituent of personality development and organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complex adaptive systems in the behavioral and social sciences.

This article examines applications of complexity theory within the behavioral and social sciences. Specific attention is given to the fundamental characteristics of complex adaptive systems (CAS)—such as individuals, groups, and societies—including the underlying structure of CAS, the internal dynamics of evolving CAS, and how CAS respond to their environment. Examples drawn from psychology, sociology, economics, and political science include attitude formation, majority-minority relations, social networks, family systems, psychotherapy, norm formation, organizational development, coalition formation, economic instabilities, urban development, the electoral process, political transitions, international relations, social movements, drug policy, and criminal behavior. The discussion also addresses the obstacles to implementing the CAS perspective in the behavioral and social sciences and implications for research methodology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Network models contribute to cognitive and social neuroscience.

Cognitive neuroscience emerged to integrate cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Social cognitive neuroscience has recently emerged to integrate social psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience. This article comments on these theoretical integration efforts because they help reverse psychology's long history of division and disunification. The second point of this article notes that network theories and models are also helping to unify cognitive and social neuroscience. Throughout this article the author refers to the burgeoning parallel distributed processing-connections neural network literature that includes social cognitive neuroscience in addition to most other fields of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The practice of psychological science: Searching for Cronbach’s two streams in social–personality psychology.

The present research surveyed a group of editors and editorial board members of personality and social psychology journals to examine the practice of psychological science in their field. Findings demonstrate that (a) although personality and social researchers tend to use many of the same approaches, methods, and procedures, they nonetheless show average differences in each of these domains, as well as in their overarching theoretical aims and perspectives; (b) these average differences largely conform to social and personality researchers’ stereotypes about each subgroup; (c) despite their methodological and philosophical differences, the 2 subgroups study many of the same research topics; and (d) the structure of social–personality research practices can be characterized as having 2 independent factors, which closely correspond to L. J. Cronbach’s (1957) correlational and experimental “streams of research.” (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of basic social skills.

Proposes a conceptual framework for defining and assessing basic social skills derived from the attempts of social personality psychologists to measure individual differences in nonverbal communication skills. Preliminary testing resulted in the development of a 105-item, pencil-and-paper measure of 7 basic dimensions of social skills, the Social Skills Inventory (SSI). In a series of validation studies using 149 undergraduate students, the SSI demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity in relation to other measures of nonverbal social skill and traditional personality scales (e.g., the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire [16PF], the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale). Scores on the SSI also predicted some social group memberships, typical social behaviors, and the depth of social networks. Evidence suggests that the SSI could prove to be a valuable tool for research in personality and social psychology and for work in applied settings. (57 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Research in Soviet social psychology.

Reviews the book, Research in Soviet social psychology by L. H. Strickland, V. P. Trusov, and E. Lockwood (1986). This volume includes invited reports of social psychological research by Soviet contributors from a single institution: Leningrad State University. The volume includes eight chapters, with brief introductions by the editors in each case. Overall, the chapters in this volume are generally well written, with only the occasional lapse of grammar or turgid prose. I enjoyed the opportunity if afforded me to acquaint myself further with the research efforts of Soviet colleagues in social psychology. With this volume, Strickland and his colleagues achieve their aim of giving us a perspective on contemporary social psychology in the USSR that we certainly would not otherwise have. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contemporary perspectives and future directions of personality and social psychology.

Conducted an empirically based study in which the judgments of experts were used to identify the theoretical/methodological structure of the field of personality and social psychology, as well as the core "interest communities" extant in these disciplines. The similarities of figures prominent in the history of the field were judged by 16 of the American Psychological Association's Division 8 (Society of Personality and Social Psychology) Fellows. Multidimensional scaling of these similarity judgments revealed 3 general dimensions along which the figures varied: synthetic vs analytic, internal vs external determinants of behavior, and prominence. An alternate view of the field was provided by a taxonomic scheme in which the figures were grouped along major ideological, substantive, and methodological lines. The following 5 contemporary interest communities were identified from the self-characterizations of the Fellows: (a) psychoanalysis and psychiatry, (b) modern personality theory, (c) measurement and individual differences, (d) sociology, and (e) social psychology. Statements of implications for future directions in the field were also obtained from Ss. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applied social psychology: A partial response to Sarason's suggested divorce.

S. B. Sarason (see record 1977-06620-001) has recently called for a divorce of community psychology from clinical psychology and community mental health, and has proposed as an alternative a loose confederation among community psychology, ecological psychology, and the social sciences. Sarason's rejection of social psychology as having little to offer community psychology is countered by a call for the rejuvenation and full development of applied social psychology, involving a creative integration of theory, research, and practice at all levels of human social functioning. Examples of useful concepts, research, and practice skills are given for 8 levels of interaction, and the advantages of approaching the community from an applied social psychology perspective are made clear. (French summary) (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The support of autonomy and the control of behavior.

In this article we suggest that events and contexts relevant to the initiation and regulation of intentional behavior (i.e., to promote choice) or to control behavior (i.e., to pressure one toward specific outcomes). Research herein reviewed indicates that this distinction is relevant to specific external events and to general interpersonal contexts as well as to specific internal events and to general personality orientations. The research review details those contextual and person factors that tend to promote autonomy and those that tend to control and shows that autonomy support has generally been associated with more intrinsic motivation, greater interest, less pressure and tension, more creativity, more cognitive flexibility, better conceptual learning, a more positive emotional tone, higher self-esteem, more trust, greater persistence of behavior change, and better physical and psychological health than has control. Also, these results have converged across different assessment procedues, different research methods, and different subject populations. On the basis of these results, we present an organismic perspective in which we argue that the regulation of intentional behavior varies along a continuum from autonomous (i.e., self-determined) to controlled. The relation of this organismic perspective to historical developments in empirical psychology is discussed, with a particular emphasis on its implications for the study of social psychology and personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgment of covariation by social perceivers.

Judgments about relationships or covariations between events are central to several areas of research and theory in social psychology. In the present article, the normative, or statistically correct, model for making covariation judgments is outlined in detail. Six steps of the normative model, from deciding what data are relevant to the judgment to using the judgment as a basis for predictions and decisions, are specified. Potential sources of error in social perceivers' covariation judgments are identified at each step, and research on social perceivers' ability to follow each step in the normative model is reviewed. It is concluded that statistically naive individuals have a tenuous grasp of the concept of covariation, and circumstances under which covariation judgments tend to be accurate or inaccurate are considered. Finally, implications for research on attribution theory, implicit personality theory, stereotyping, and perceived control are discussed. (137 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The social psychology of creativity: A componential conceptualization.

Considers the definition and assessment of creativity and presents a componential framework for conceptualizing this faculty. Including domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant skills, and task motivation as a set of necessary and sufficient components of creativity, the framework describes the way in which cognitive abilities, personality characteristics, and social factors might contribute to stages of the creative process. The discussion emphasizes the previously neglected social factors and highlights the contributions that a social psychology of creativity can make to a comprehensive view of creative performance. (99 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguished Scientific Awards for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology: David M. Buss.

The Early Career Awards, given for the first time in 1974, recognize the large number of excellent young psychologists. Recipients of this award may not have held a PhD for more than nine years. For purposes of this award, psychology has been divided into nine areas: human learning and cognition, psychopathology, physiological animal learning and behavior, personality, developmental social sensation and perception, and applied research. Three areas are considered each year, with areas rotated in three-year cycles. The areas considered in 1988 were animal learning, behavior, and ethology; personality; and developmental. This year's winner in the area of personality is David M. Buss. Buss is cited for the theoretical breadth and empirical depth of his work, which are exemplars of the personological tradition in psychology and for his act-frequency approach to the analysis of personality dispositions, which, by combining a summary interpretation of traits with recent advances in cognitive psychology, has yielded a steadily developing agenda of research in personality and a fresh perspective on central issues of the field. Along with the citation, a biography and selected bibliography of Buss's published works are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)