What is experimental Research in Personality?

Abstract

Special features in experimental research on personality variables are described and discussed. Different positions of personality variables in a psychological experiment are considered: as dependent, as intervenient, as antecedent variables. Research on anxiety is briefly revisited to the purpose of illustration of those methodological positions. Besides the conventional exeperimentation, there are other designs that have appeared useful in the study of personality: interactional designs and N = 1 designs with events partially under control of the researcher and so, therefore, quasi-experimental designs.