Welcome to the Personality and Relationship Processes Laboratory webpage!
Affiliated with the Clinical Psychology Program within the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University, our broadest research goals involve assessing ways in which Personality and Relationship Processes are associated with well-being and psychopathology. Our research interests are framed by the beliefs that: 1) personality provides a meta-structure for organizing and understanding psychopathology, 2) the most salient aspects of personality and psychopathology manifest in relationships, and 3) some of the most interesting and informative aspects of personality and psychopathology are reflected in how individuals change across time and contexts.
Personality: The unique and patterned ways in which individuals feel, think, and relate to their environment (i.e., their personality) intersects with psychopathology in a variety of ways. In our work we are particularly interested in examining associations between structural and dynamic aspects of personality and psychopathology and in understanding ways in which personality assessment provides clinically rich and relevant information, even when personality does not directly contribute to a person's psychological problems. For instance, individuals' characteristic behavioral patterns, emotions, interpersonal style, and motivations, among many other individual differences, invariably contribute to how they experience, express, and cope with psychological symptoms and how they relate to partners and providers. Some of our studies have shown how models of personality that focus more and less on certain individual difference characteristics (e.g., emotions, regulation, relationships) yield differential associations with various clinical outcomes, such as co-occurring symptoms, disorder course, and treatment prognosis. We are interested continuing to learn more about these and other ways in which personality is directly and indirectly associated with psychopathology and relationship functioning over time.
Relationships: Satisfying connections with others are the cornerstone of human health and happiness. Our research on relationships includes broad goals, such as quantitatively mapping moment-to-moment interpersonal processes involved with relationship satisfaction and distress across a variety of domains, as well as specific interests, such as better understanding associations between relational processes in psychotherapy and treatment outcomes. For instance, although meta-analytic research documents an association between positive therapeutic alliance and treatment success, surprisingly little empirical attention has been paid to psychotherapy relationship processes and outcomes like treatment drop-out and symptom remission in most randomized controlled trials of emerging and existing treatments. Our work is guided by the belief that empathy is a central characteristic associated with relationship satisfaction, and thus an applied aim of our research is to better understand satisfying and problematic ways in which people connect with one another.
Processes: Psychological constructs are challenging to measure, and our research methods are inextricably linked to our beliefs and results. We are interested in engaging in research that continues to clarify the structural associations between personality and psychopathology, particularly with respect to how these structures differ across individuals, contexts, and time. Relative to work on the structure of personality and psychopathology, far less empirical attention has been dedicated to modelling the processes that link personality and psychopathology, even though many psychological theories are rooted in dynamic principles. As technological advancements continue to facilitate our ability to develop and systematically employ methods that capture real-time psychological processes, our lab is especially interested in improving the utility and validity of assessments aimed at capturing personality and relationship processes as they unfold over time and across contexts. Improving assessment methods provides a map for improving psychological theories, research, and interventions.
Purdue University, Department of Psychological Sciences
Information on this site is the sole opinion and copyright of Katherine M. Thomas, 2018
Information on this site is the sole opinion and copyright of Katherine M. Thomas, 2018