[SOC Seminar] Personality in Social Structure
Speaker
Stephen AntonoplisLocation
PSY-E3834Info
Abstract:
Personality science has been defined as the study of people’s characteristic adaptations to their environments. Two environmental features people must interact with are the acquisition of social and material resources and the navigation of intergroup boundaries. These correspond to the societal questions of “Who gets resources?” and “Who is part of ‘us’?”. In this talk I present three studies that demonstrate the importance of using a personality perspective in studying these questions. The first two studies address “Who is part of ‘us’?”, first mapping normative patterns of cross-race contact across adulthood and then honing in on how open-mindedness vs. interpersonal kindness guide engagement in more or less cross-race contact. The third study addresses “Who gets resources?” and examines the development of Americans’ class identity in response to the 2008 Great Recession. Overall, these studies show the importance of personality and personality traits to understanding how people engage with social structures.
Bio:
Stephen Antonoplis is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside, where he leads the Self & Society Laboratory. His research focuses on the interplay of personality, intergroup relations, and resource allocation, as well as the measurement of social and psychological constructs. His past work has examined personality factors motivating cross-race friendship, how personal income shapes how people think about their futures, and how to best conceptualize and measure “socioeconomic status”. His lab uses a variety of methods, including surveys; panel and archival datasets; social network analysis; and experiments. His lab is currently studying the development of class identity, the development of generalized prejudice, and the contribution of parental economic resources to personality development.
Previously, Antonoplis was a post-doctoral research scholar at Northwestern University. He completed his Ph.D. in Psychology (Social–Personality) at the University of California, Berkeley, and his B.A. in Psychology (minor in Economics) at Northwestern University.
