The Riverside Accuracy Project

The Riverside Accuracy Project (RAP) is a long-term investigation into several important topics relevant to the assessment and perception of human personality.  Funded for almost two decades by the National Institute of Mental Health grant R01-MH42427, the project more recently gained support from National Science Foundation grant BCS-0642243.  

This research program is based on the Realistic Accuracy Model (Funder, 1995, 1999, 2012).  Theoretically, the model proposes that accurate personality judgment requires a four-stage process in which (1) relevant information is emitted by the target which (2) becomes available to the judge, who then (3) detects this information and (4) utilizes it correctly.  Empirically, four moderator variables make accuracy more or less likely, including properties of (1) the judge (e.g., judgmental ability), (2) the target (e.g., judgability), (3) the trait being judged (e.g., visibility), and (4) the information upon which the judgment is based (e.g., its quantity or quality).  For a summary of this research, click here.

Our lab has gathered three large data sets over the years.  Each includes investigations of approximately 200 participants.  Our data include self-reports of personality, peer descriptions of personality, life history interviews and measurements of behavior and life outcomes.  Research using these data is ongoing, including studies of the personality correlates of language use in a life history interview (Fast & Funder, 2008, 2010).