HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH METHODS IN PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY Handbook of Research Methods in Personality Psychology edited by Richard W. Robins R. Chris Fraley Robert F. Krueger THE GUILFORD PRESS New York London © 2007 The Guilford Press A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc. 72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012 www.guilford.com All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher. Printed in the United States of America This book is printed on acid-free paper. Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Handbook of research methods in personality psychology / edited by Richard W. Robins, R. Chris Fraley, Robert F. Krueger. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10: 1-59385-111-1 ISBN-13: 978-1-59385-111-8 (hardcover) 1. Personality—Research—Methodology. I. Robins, Richard W. II. Fraley, R. Chris. III. Krueger, Robert F. BF698.4.H28 2007 155.2072—dc22 2006035429 About the Editors Richard W. Robins, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on personality, emotion, and the self. Dr. Robins is coeditor of two forth- coming books, Handbook of Personality and The Self-Conscious Emotions, and served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He was awarded the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Con- tribution to Psychology and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s Theoretical Innovation Prize. R. Chris Fraley, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His research focuses on adult attachment dynamics, personality pro- cesses and development, and research methods. Dr. Fraley serves as Associate Editor of Per- sonality and Social Psychology Bulletin. He received the American Psychological Associa- tion’s Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology. Robert F. Krueger, PhD, is McKnight Presidential Fellow and Associate Professor in the De- partment of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. His major interests lie at the intersec- tion of research on personality, psychopathology, disorders of personality, behavior genetics, and quantitative methods. Dr. Krueger was the recipient of the Early Career Award from the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, the American Psychological As- sociation’s Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology, and the American Psychological Foundation Theodore Millon Award for midcareer contributions to personality psychology. v Contributors Leona S. Aiken, PhD, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Andrew T. Ainsworth, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California Michael C. Ashton, PhD, Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada Rachel Bachner-Melman, MA, Scheinfeld Center of Human Genetics for the Social Sciences and Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, Department of Psychology, Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts Jennifer S. Beer, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California Verónica Benet-Martínez, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California Tim Bogg, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign, Illinois William F. Chaplin, PhD, Department of Psychology, St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York Rand D. Conger, PhD, Department of Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, California Tamlin S. Conner, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut Kenneth H. Craik, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California Phebe Cramer, PhD, Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts Lisa M. Diamond, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah vi Contributors vii Audrey S. Dickey, BA, Department of Pharmacology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa M. Brent Donnellan, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan Richard P. Ebstein, PhD, Scheinfeld Center of Human Genetics for the Social Sciences and Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel Alan C. Elms, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California William Fleeson, PhD, Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina R. Chris Fraley, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign, Illinois David C. Funder, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California R. Michael Furr, PhD, Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina Samuel D. Gosling, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas James W. Grice, PhD, Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma Inga Gritsenko, MS, Scheinfeld Center of Human Genetics for the Social Sciences and Department of Psychology, Hebrew University and Sarah Herzog Memorial Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel Rick H. Hoyle, PhD, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina Salomon Israel, MS, Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel Oliver P. John, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California Robert F. Krueger, PhD, Department of Psychology and Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota Nathan R. Kuncel, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana– Champaign, Champaign, Illinois Kibeom Lee, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Michael V. Lombardo, BA, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California Michael J. Marks, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana– Champaign, Champaign, Illinois Dan P. McAdams, PhD, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois Robert R. McCrae, PhD, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland Julien Morizot, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Daniel K. Mroczek, PhD, Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana Lubov Nemanov, MD, Sarah Herzog Memorial Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel John B. Nezlek, PhD, Department of Psychology, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia Kimberly D. Otter-Henderson, MA, Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Daniel J. Ozer, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California viii Contributors Jennifer L. Pals, PhD, Foley Center for the Study of Lives, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois Joyce S. Pang, PhD, Department of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Delroy L. Paulhus, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Steven P. Reise, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California William Revelle, PhD, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois Brent W. Roberts, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana– Champaign, Champaign, Illinois Richard W. Robins, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California Michael D. Robinson, PhD, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota Steven J. Schapiro, PhD, Department of Veterinary Sciences, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, Houston, Texas Oliver C. Schultheiss, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Jeffrey W. Sherman, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California Yuichi Shoda, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington Leonard J. Simms, PhD, Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York Dean Keith Simonton, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California Anna V. Song, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California Christopher J. Soto, AB, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California Jennifer L. Tackett, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Aaron B. Taylor, MA, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Howard Tennen, PhD, Department of Community Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut Jessica L. Tracy, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Michele M. Tugade, PhD, Department of Psychology, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York Simine Vazire, PhD, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri Wolfgang Viechtbauer, PhD, Department of Methodology and Statistics, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands David Watson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa Alexander Weiss, PhD, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland Stephen G. West, PhD, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Barbara A. Woike, PhD, Department of Psychology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, New York Wei Wu, MA, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Preface One of the hallmarks of the field of personality psychology is the breadth and sophistica- tion of its methods. Thumbing through a typical issue of a personality journal, one encoun- ters a rich array of research designs, assessment procedures, and statistical techniques. Indeed, there is no standard personality study—instead, one finds longitudinal studies of per- sonality development, experimental studies of motivational processes, twin and molecular genetic studies, and narrative studies of individual life stories. Just as personality psycholo- gists appreciate the complexity of human nature and individual variability, so too do we appreciate the diverse ways in which that complexity can be assessed, quantified, and examined. It is this diversity that first attracted us to the field. However, as aspiring personality psychologists, we quickly realized that there was no single source to which we could turn for guidance in how to design and implement a personality study. Instead, we learned about personality methods through a hodgepodge of articles, con- ference presentations, workshops, and seminars, as well as through direct mentoring from our seemingly all-knowing advisors. An earlier generation of researchers learned the ins and outs of personality methods from Wiggins’s (1973) classic work, Personality and Prediction: Principles of Personality Assessment, but this book is long outdated and was never intended to be comprehensive. The idea for the Handbook of Research Methods in Personality Psychology came from the recognition that one of the most noteworthy strengths of the field—the diversity of its re- search methods—was not represented in a single volume that could serve as a guide for re- searchers interested in conducting personality research. Our goal was simple: To create a “one-stop” source that describes, in a straightforward and practical manner, all of the re- sources in the methodological toolkit of the personality psychologist. This volume includes overviews of classic topics, such as how to construct a personality scale, as well as more re- cent innovations, such as neuroimaging and molecular genetic techniques. Each chapter pro- vides a general introduction to a particular method and then explains, in a step-by-step man- ix