A Process Approach to Personality Psychology: Utilizing Time as a Facet of Data

Abstract

An emerging issue in the psychology of personality is an increased use of research that involves extensive observation of subjects over time (see Hormuth, 1986 for review). Semi-longitudinal designs, where measurements are made on many occasions for each subject, have generated a great deal of interest and enthusiasm within our field. Perhaps this is due to an implicit acknowledgment that the subjects of our investigations are embedded within time, that time is fundamentally important to life as it is lived, and that personality processes take place over time. Research on such personality processes must, therefore, include the temporal dimension. Researchers are beginning to ask if personality functioning is patterned over time or irregular, temporally lawful or unpredictable.