Open AccessOn the Contributions of a Network Approach to Personality Theory and Research
Author(s) -
Furr R. Michael,
Fleeson William,
Anderson Michelle,
Arnold Elizabeth Mayfield
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.839
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1099-0984
pISSN - 0890-2070
DOI - 10.1002/per.1871
Subject(s) - nomothetic and idiographic , psychology , personality , trait , personality theory , trait theory , metatheory , cognition , value (mathematics) , cognitive psychology , social psychology , big five personality traits , epistemology , computer science , philosophy , neuroscience , machine learning , programming language
Understanding personality structure and processes is one of the most fundamental goals in personality psychology. The network approach presented by Cramer et al. represents a useful path towards this goal, and we address two facets of their approach. First, we examine the possibility that it solves the problem of breadth, which has inhibited the integration of trait theory with social cognitive theory. Second, we evaluate the value and usability of their proposed method (qgraph), doing so by conducting idiographic analyses of the symptom structure of borderline personality disorder. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.