RESEARCH. |
Overview
Our research focuses on identifying precursors of career success and well-being. We look at the impact of life experiences, personality, and social context across the lifespan. We also look at creativity, which is an increasingly essential contributor to career success, and, in the context of well-being, we investigate both psychological well-being and physical health. Our research is diverse, but the common thread is our interest in understanding how people navigate life experiences (including hardship, trauma, and diversity), how their personalities change as a result, and how this impacts their career success and well-being. Below are some examples of project topics we are currently working on.
Personality DevelopmentWe use diverse longitudinal data sets from around the world to investigate how people's personalities change across time and following life experiences. Among these samples are a US representative sample (Project Talent), a representative sample from Luxembourg (MAGRIP), and a sample of US Mexican-origin youth (California Families Project).
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Creativity and Career SuccessWe are currently working on several projects looking at correlates and precursors of creativity and career success. In this line of research we investigate both personality, social context, and life experience precursors of creativity and career success. We are also interested in lay theories of creativity and creative people, and in creative genius.
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Diversifying ExperiencesWe are currently working on several studies investigating the role of diversifying experiences (i.e., positive and negative unusual and unexpected experiences that push people outside the realm of normality) on life success and creativity. We are also working on developing a new measurement scale for diversifying experiences.
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Well-being and Achievement Following Adversity
Hurricane Harvey AftermathUsing a large and diverse sample of college students who experienced Hurricane Harvey, we address two key questions:
This research is funded by the Hurricane Resilience Research Institute (HuRRI) |
South Korean Firefighter StudyIn this 3-wave longitudinal study, we tracked a large sample of South Korean recruits across their firefighter academy training. Some key questions we seek to address are:
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COVID-19 Pandemic Study
In this 3-wave longitudinal study, we tracked a large sample of US adults across 1 year of the pandemic. Some key questions we seek to address are:
- How did people's personalities change across the pandemic?
- How did pandemic impact across life domains (work, health, family, and community) differentially impact changes across the pandemic?