Research
Members of the Stanford Media and Personality Lab study how personality and context shape one another in everyday life — how people's psychological characteristics interact with their physical and digital environments to affect behavior and well-being. We take an ecological approach that emphasizes the importance of studying people in their natural daily lives through intensive longitudinal field studies. Our methods span surveys, experience sampling, mobile sensing, ecological momentary interventions, multilevel and longitudinal modeling, and machine learning.
Below you can find more information about some of our current areas of research:
Mobile Sensing
How can smartphones and other mobile devices reveal psychologically meaningful information about behavior and context? We study ways of turning raw sensor and metadata into insights about daily life.
Social Behavior
Sociability is a facet of personality reshaped by new technologies. We study social behavior across in-person and computer-mediated contexts to understand how sociability is expressed in the digital age.
Media Use and Effects
How and why do people use smartphones, social media, and self-tracking tools — and what are the psychological consequences? We study individual differences and situational fluctuations in media use and media effects.
Identity Development
How do our identities shape our digital environments, and how do digital environments shape the development of our identities over time? We study how media can support the process of exploring and committing to one's identity.
Mobility Behavior
We study how people move through and spend time in physical environments — and what mobility patterns reveal about people and their well-being.