Advancing the empirical basis for the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP)
A dimensional conceptualization of psychopathology, exemplified by the HiTOP model, is increasingly influential on clinical science and practice and forms the basis of all the work we do in the lab. Ensuring HiTOP has a solid evidential foundation is a priority. We use meta-analytic techniques and novel methodologies like large language models to test the robustness of the HiTOP structure and evaluate its comprehensiveness.
Understanding personality and psychopathology as dynamic processes
Adaptation is fundamentally the product of how people manage day-to-day situations, so to understand why some people thrive and others struggle, we need to study what they do where the rubber meets the road. We use intensive longitudinal methods to track how people think, act, and feel in the flow of everyday life, with a focus on dynamics that differentiate adaptive from maladaptive functioning.
Identifying behavioral markers of personality and psychopathology
Most of what we know about human psychology has been based on multiple choice questionnaires–but there is so much more to a person than how they answer survey items. Recent advances in technology have exploded the types of data we can analyze, giving us completely new ways to assess and understand individual differences. We are developing ways to capitalize on data streams like video, text, and smartphone sensors to see what we can learn about people beyond the self-report questionnaire.
