Multimethod Assessment & Personality Lab (MAPL)
The Multimethod Assessment & Personality Lab (MAPL) investigates all aspects of how we measure the things we measure, including the advantages of multimethod assessment and the diverse factors that contribute to inter-test score relationships. The MAPL strives to develop, evaluate, and apply advanced measurement and statistical methodologies to the empirical study of human behavior with a concentration on instrument psychometrics, applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in psychology, and questions related to personality, psychoanalytic and psychodynamic principles, and forensic psychology.
Much of the research conducted in the MAPL focuses on three interweaving lines of inquiry:
1) What psychological and physiological processes are engaged by different methods of measurement (e.g., self-report, performance-based, implicit, behavioral, etc.), and how do these impact results?
2) How can we apply tools and strategies in novel ways to evaluate and improve the quality and utility of measurement instruments and the practice of assessment?
3) How does personality and personality pathology influence the way an individual perceives and engages with themselves, others, and their environment and why do manifestations of personality (e.g., behaviors) vary across different circumstances in diverse and sometimes even contradictory ways?
The MAPL’s projects generally draw-upon multimethod research designs and use an array of basic and advanced statistical approaches to study these questions. Other projects consist of clinical case studies, integrative literature reviews, theoretical papers, and meta-analyses.