Faculty » David C. Funder

At present my research has three main emphases:

1. Accuracy of Personality Judgment. This research is based on the Realistic Accuracy Model (Funder, 1995, 1999). Theoretically, the model proposes that accurate personality judgment requires a four-stage process in which (1) relevant information is emitted by the target which (2) becomes available to the judge, who then (3) detects this information and (4) utilizes it correctly. Empirically, four moderator variables make accuracy more or less likely, including properties of (1) the judge (e.g., judgmental ability), (2) the target (e.g., judgability), (3) the trait being judged (e.g., visibility), and (4) the information upon which the judgment is based (e.g., its quantity or quality).
   
   Our lab has gathered three large data sets over the years. Each includes investigations of approximately 200 participants. Our data include self-reports of personality, peer descriptions of personality, life history interviews and measurements of behavior and life outcomes. Research using these data is ongoing, including recent studies of the personality correlates of language use in a life history interview (Fast & Funder, 2008).
   
   
2. Situational Assessment. We are currently engaged in intensive data gathering for research on the assessment of psychological situations. We have developed the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ) and are using this instrument to assess situations experienced by college students in daily life, and the correlates between elements of situations, personality, and behavior.
   
   
3. Behavioral Correlates of Personality and Health over Time. A new project is investigating the behavioral correlates of personality as assessed decades earlier, along with contemporaneous measures of personality and health. This project is in collaboration with Lew Goldberg and Sarah Hampson of the Oregon Research Institute. We are using the Riverside Behavioral Q-sort (RBQ) to assess the behavior of participants in a personality diagnostic interview. Other information available on these participants includes personality judgments made of them by their teachers decades earlier, and results of a recent, comprehensive health assessment.

Selected Publications

Funder, D.C. (2008). Persons, situations and person-situation interactions. In O.P. John, R. Robins & L. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality (3rd Ed.), pp. 568-580. New York: Guilford.

Fast, L.A., & Funder, D.C. (2008). Personality as manifest in word use: Correlations with self-report, acquaintance-report, and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 334-346.

Funder, D.C. (2007). The Personality Puzzle (4th Ed.). New York: W.W. Norton.

Krueger, J.I., & Funder, D.C. (2004). Towards a balanced social psychology: Causes, consequences and cures for the problem-seeking approach to social behavior and cognition (target article), Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27, 313-327.

Funder, D.C. (1999). Personality judgment: A realistic approach to person perception. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Funder, D.C. (1995). On the accuracy of personality judgment: A realistic approach. Psychological Review, 102, 652-670.

Funder, D.C. (1987). Errors and mistakes: Evaluating the accuracy of social judgment. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 75-90.