Discuss where you think personality psychology research is headed. Write(2-3 paragrs)
In your

initial post, consider the following questions:

• Do you see limitations in current personality research?
• What types of research would address these limitations?
• What are the key areas of future research in personality psychology?

In your responses to the prompts below,address the following:(1-2 paragrs)

Do you agree with the peer’s position on the direction needed for additional research? Why or why not?

Is there current research that already exists to address the peer’s opinion on the keys areas of future research in personality psychology?

Prompt 1:(BF) After all the studying, I conducted on Julian Rotter’s theory of Social Learning and his Locus of Control, I would like to see more research done into different theories about medical concerns. It would be beneficial to see if research could find a theory to promote better health conscious people. As it is, health is a pretty serious problem in the Western world. 

A few limiting factors would be how difficult it would be predict people’s involvement in their own medical health. For instance, a researcher could not look simply at a participant’s medical history when they were a child and hope that a pattern can reveal itself. One reason would be since most children are taken to the doctor by their parents without question by the participant. This type of study might require more than a simple survey to develop a theory. However, a good theory would explain why people are so hesitant on taking care of themselves but so willing to look after others.

Of course, there are lots of other roads personality psychology can take. Exploring medical health issues is only one option. A definitive theory which states if the influences of exterior elements or internal ones are more important or influential would completely help the field of personality psychology.

Prompt 2:(TT) The limitations in current personality research consists of understanding individual differences, such as why do individuals behave differently within similar situations? Or how two brothers from the same home can still have one brother that behaves negatively whereas the other do not? Within this course, the behavioral theories discussed aren’t applied to an individual, instead the theories relate common traits within a population. As King (2015) related, “The incorporation of individual differences as an essential part of the larger science of behavior is vital to describing human behavior with precision and accuracy.” Like King, I believe that researching individual differences within personality psychology is vital towards obtaining a fuller and richer picture of personality processes and how they intermingle.

    Another limitation that I see involves societal processes utilizing discoveries of psychology. For instance, psychology relates that placing juveniles within prisons with adults have a significant negative impact on future behaviors and the juvenile’s psyche, but societal processes neglects considering this information and continues this process. Another example is sending a child home that is consistently disruptive in school, although empirical evidence states that usually disruptive behavior of children is based on issues or problems at home. This information is available to the criminal justice system and the educational field, but both professions do not used this information to assist the younger population. I believe this action of not considering this information limits the application of the empirical evidence within processes that can benefit from it, as well as, the action limits the ability to see the application within real-world situations which can assists in discovering new ways to assist these groups effectively.

    In other words, the information to assist these populations are available, but societal processes being grounded in beliefs and punishments, allows societal wants to overshadow social helping processes. To address these limitations research within social and personality psychology must merge to emphasize the processes that interact, and then find ways to observe individuals to gain a fuller picture of how individual differences are added to the equation of social and personality psychology. Personalities have many aspects that are combine that assist in personality development. I believe two major aspects of personality are, one’s social environment and one’s internal processes that interacts and shows the results of the interaction through behaviors that can be observed. The main concern of addressing this limitation is finding ways to observe and measure individual differences.

    I believe a key area of future research in personality psychology is finding ways to observe and measure individual differences within a society that is becoming more technologically advance. Due to technology, it’s easier to connect to people, but a downside is that face-to-face interactions are decreasing, which will make it harder to observe behaviors within situations. This is one of the problems researchers will face when attempting to observe natural behaviors and responses towards situations. But in the future, I hope the field find ways towards observing and measuring individual differences, doing so will provide new developments to explain personality differences, and it may assist in creating a new field within personality psychology.  

Benet-Martinez, V., Donnellan, M., Fleeson, W., Fraley, R., Gosling, S., King, L. & Funder, D.

    (2015). Six visions for the future of personality psychology. APA Handbook of Personality

    and Social Psychology, 4, 665-689. doi:10.1037/14343-030.