Broad Research Focus Areas
Dimensional Models of Personality Pathology - Using the Five Factor Model of General Personality to Understand Pathology
Clinical Applications of Dimensional Models - Can clinicians use these reliably and without bias? Do they find them useful?
More Specific Areas of Research
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, Overcontrol, and Overconscientiousness
An emerging area of interest in our lab is on understanding personality problems related to the overcontrol and regulation of behavior. We conceptualize these as problems related to excessive levels of the trait of conscientiousness. The trait of conscientiousness is one of five basic human personality traits from the Five Factor Model, or Big Five. This trait refers to one's ability to control behavior, stay organized, set goals, and stick to plans. Individuals high on conscientiousness would be described as organized, punctual, hard-working, competent, dutiful, achievement oriented, and deliberate. Those who fall on the low end of this trait would be described as disorganized, lazy, impulsive, dyscontrolled, and would often have trouble making goals and sticking to them. In general, being higher on conscientiousness is better for outcomes such as grades in school, performance at work, and even for living a longer life (primarily through adopting healthy behaviors).
We view that as with most things, there can be "too much" of an otherwise good thing such as conscientiousness. That when indivdiuals have levels that are too high, this can create problems of overcontrol, such as perfectionism, workaholism, and excessive deliberation. We have done a number of studies showing the links between conscientiousness and maladaptive personality traits such as Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. To learn more about this line of research, you can read these articles:
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/psychpubs/4/
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/psychpubs/6/