Speaker

Dr. Emilio Ferrer
Professor of Psychology
University of California, Davis

Dr. Emilio Ferrer is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis and a member of the Graduate Groups in Biostatistics, Education, and Human Development. His research interests include methods to analyze change and intra-individual variability, in particular latent change models and dynamical systems. His current research in this area involves techniques to model dyadic interactions as well as multivariate processes associated with reasoning and reading achievement from childhood to adolescence. His projects in these two areas are funded by NSF and NIH, respectively. He is an Associate Editor of Psychological Methods and Multivariate Behavioral Research, and is co-editor of the books Longitudinal Multivariate Psychology and Statistical Methods for Modeling Human Dynamics. In 2013 he received the Raymond B. Cattell Research Award for contributions to multivariate psychology.

Title

Intra- and Inter-Individual Variability in Psychological Processes in Dyadic Interactions

Abstract

The study of intra-individual variability is well recognized as a crucial premise to understanding individual processes. On the strength of this principle, psychologists have devoted substantial effort to examining and comprehending the essence unique to the person (e.g., Allport, 1937). Evidence of the pursuit of this aim are the methods developed to capture an individual’s fluctuations over time. In this talk, I describe several of such methods and extend them to the study of dyadic interactions. I focus on how these methods can help to identify patterns of intra- and inter-individual variability in dyads and how this information can be used to make predictions about future states of the system. I conclude with current challenges and ideas for future research.