Social-Personality

Social and personality psychology both seek to understand how human behavior, thinking, and emotion emerge and dynamically unfold, with social psychology placing the primary emphasis on situations and personality psychology on individual differences. Within these two traditions,  the social–personality program at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign has a number of core research strengths including in culture, close relationships, social cognition, social identity, intergroup relations, religion, physical and social pain, political cognition, attachment patterns, personality development and assessment, state–trait models, the intersection of personality with health and relationships, social, emotional, and behavioral skills, longitudinal methods, and open science. 

The social area has a heavy focus on the experimental method but also uses and provides training in a wide variety of approaches ranging from psychophysiological measures to diary studies and the analysis of large cross-cultural datasets to natural language processing (NLP). Although the work that the social area conducts tends to speak to basic questions about the human mind and behavior, it also has implications for pressing societal issues such as group-based inequality, political polarization, social change, religious conflict, organizational approaches to diversity, and many others.

The personality area has a heavy focus on longitudinal research, intensive longitudinal designs, and the multivariate systems used to analyze these types of designs. Complimenting this focus on complex structural equation models are opportunities to conduct meta-analyses, alternative approaches to assessment including machine learning, as well as intervention studies focused on changing personality. The personality area has also had a long history of theoretical contributions to the field of personality science as well as applied personality science through work with industrial–organizational psychology and policy organizations such as the OECD and the World Bank.

Curriculum

Students may specialize in social psychology, personality psychology, or both. Students also may take advantage of related courses offered across other areas of the department, including industrial–organizational, cognitive, developmental, clinical–community, and quantitative psychology. The program is designed to equip students with the skills necessary to pursue a wide array of careers, ranging from roles as academic or applied scientists to teaching-focused positions at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The program follows an apprenticeship model where students are housed in a lab and collaborate with a primary advisor to develop a program of study fitted to the student’s needs and interests. However, students are also heavily encouraged to seek out additional mentorship within the social–personality area and beyond.

The program seeks to create a climate that is both rigorous and welcoming of students of different backgrounds, interests, and approaches to the study of social and personality psychology. In addition to intensive training in research methods, statistical analysis, and a broad set of theoretical perspectives through coursework, students are expected to conduct empirical research from the beginning of their graduate studies, which they share regularly at brownbags. Journal Clubs and lab meetings provide additional opportunities to make connections with colleagues at Illinois and beyond, to create a thriving professional community, and to share and receive feedback on research contributions.

Affiliated Departments, Programs, and Institutes

Faculty with training in social and personality psychology are to be found in other departments across the university, specializing in advertising, communications, education, human development, social work, marketing, organizational behavior, political behavior, and other fields. Faculty in the social–personality area also maintain affiliations and relationships with the Center for Social and Behavioral Science, the Institute for Genomic Biology, the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Siebel Center for Design, the Gies College of Business, and the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.