Psychology 253: Laboratory Research Methods in Personality
Neil Lutsky
Department of Psychology, Carleton College
Olin 111, x4379, e-mail: nlutsky@carleton.edu
Lab Assistant: Elizabeth Johnson (johnseli@carleton.edu)
Course Meeting Times: TTh 8:15-10:00 or TTH 10:10-11:55, Olin 112, 116
Psychology 253 is intended to introduce you to
general issues in research in personality and to selected examples of
the phenomena personality psychologists study, the research questions
they pose, and the research methods they employ. Its means is to give
you hands-on experience designing, executing, and reporting empirical
studies in personality. The list of topics and readings below
indicates what in personality we will be exploring. The requirements
for this two-credit course include the following: attendance at
laboratory sessions; completion in a timely matter of assigned
readings; participation as researchers in the design and execution of
course projects; preparation of laboratory posters or written reports
on lab projects.
Laboratory Topic, Activity, and
Reading Schedule:
- Th 3/29 Course Overview; Ethical Responsibilities in Research; Seeing
Personality Lab: What Available Attributes Indicate Personality?
Borkenau, P., & Liebler, A. (1992). Trait inferences: Sources of validity
at zero acquaintance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62,
645-657. [Handouts]
- T 4/3 Physical
Manifestations of the Five Factor Model Traits.
Gosling, S. D., Ko, S. J., Mannarelli, T., & Morris, M. E. (2002). A room
with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 379-398.
- T 4/10 Written Emotional Expression.
Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 162-166.
Lyubomirsky, S., Sousa, L., & Dickerhoof, R. (2006). The costs and benefits of writing, talking, and thinking about life's triumphs and defeats. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90 , 692-708.
- Th 4/12 Research Design.
- T 4/17 Cross-Lab Presentations; Research Design.
- Th 4/19 Research Design and Pretesting.
- T 4/24 Naturalistic Monitoring of Everyday Behavior.
Mehl, M. R., Gosling, S. D., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2006). Personality in its naturalistic habitat: Manifestations and implicit folk theories of personality in everyday life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90 , 862-877.
Reis, H. T., & Gable, S. L. (2000). Event-sampling and other methods for
studying everyday experience. In H. T. Reis & C. M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook
of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology, pp. 190-209.
- Th 4/26 Event Sampling Laboratory (continued).
- T 5/1 Mortality
Salience.
Goldenberg, J. L., Hart, J., Pyszczynski, T., Warnica, G. M., Landau, M., & Thomas, L. (2006). Ambivalence toward the body: Death, neuroticism,
and the flight from physical sensation. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 32, 1264-1277.
- Th 5/3 Positive Psychology.
Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Pak, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421.
- T 5/8 Research Design.
- Th 5/10 Cross-Lab Presentations; Research Design.
- T 5/15 Research Design and Pretesting.
- Th 5/17 Project Research.
- T 5/22 Project Reports.
- Th 5/24 Project Reports.
- T 5/29 Closing Laboratory Meeting.
March 25, 2007