I tend to agree with this direct correlation to worry and our reaction to the pandemic. We may say we are totally fine being on our own, but this is a prolonged period. I for one find myself saying things like I can find a thousand things to do, but then I buckle at times. It's very much like a grief process being separated from family so much. Our work family can only fill a small part of the void. Although work right now is risky, it does bring the human connection.
Yeah, this seems like a situation that's harder in lots of ways for folks who have strong social networks comprised of friends and family who are physically nearby. In some perverse way, being in Germany over the holidays is therapeutic, because it takes away the option of agonizing about whether and how and when to try to see people, along with the nagging feeling that something you really want is just out of reach.
Bill, I'm compelled to complain about the reliance on the introvert/extrovert and Big Five personality types literature. Setting aside issues of reproducibility -- which is itself a pretty serious problem -- there are various conceptual and methodological issues with the ways these categories are defined and operationalized. I don't mean to say that there is no such thing as personality or character traits, but I'm wary of treating these theoretical constructs of psychology as real categories. My worry is amplified further by Ian Hacking's idea of looping kinds, where just embracing the psychological classification can shape a person's sense of self in such a way as to make them fit the classification. Does one need to rely on work in personality psychology to make sense of one's experience during the pandemic? What does it add really?
My understanding is that the Big Five has a ton of evidence in its favor and makes correct and useful predictions about all sorts of things. For example, in this piece about what parts of psychology have held up in the face of the replication crisis (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brainstorm/201905/what-findings-do-skeptical-psychologists-still-believe-in), the finding that people are generally stable with respect to B5 traits over their lifetimes is described as "one of the largest and most robust effects in all of psychology".
Obviously there are still some criticisms of the model, but they're mostly things like "there should be six factors rather than five" or "B5 doesn't work that well for childhood personality" rather than "the basic idea of a small number of independent, persistent personality traits is fundamentally wrong".
I didn't mean to suggest that people should rely on work in personality psychology to make sense of their experiences. I just think it's interesting to ask, if you accept that e.g. introversion/extroversion is a real thing, how people at different places on that continuum tend to respond to this sort of crisis.
I support the general interest in reflecting on our experiences and entertaining what the existing psych literature might tell us. I'm also just interested in thinking about the status of the science generally. I'm still not convinced the Big Five literature is trustworthy. What do metanalyses on publications that are not good studies to begin with really show? Sending love.
For me personally, as an introvert, this has been a very difficult year. I’ve always preferred staying in and gaming, hanging out with a small group at someone’s place rather than going out. For the first time in my life I had to take a mental health day from work, because I was just overwhelmed with worry. Worry regarding the long term effects of Covid globally. Worry over the US politics. Worry over the continued rise of right wing nationalism. Racism. Climate change. Guilt. Guilt that I have job security and we’re stable while much of the country and the world struggles.
I hear you, man! If there's anything worth feeling shitty about in the world, those are all pretty excellent candidates. And you're far from alone in carrying that weight. I hardly know anyone who hasn't needed a mental health day or five this year.
Love you guys, and looking forward to seeing you in the better days soon to come. <3
I tend to agree with this direct correlation to worry and our reaction to the pandemic. We may say we are totally fine being on our own, but this is a prolonged period. I for one find myself saying things like I can find a thousand things to do, but then I buckle at times. It's very much like a grief process being separated from family so much. Our work family can only fill a small part of the void. Although work right now is risky, it does bring the human connection.
Yeah, this seems like a situation that's harder in lots of ways for folks who have strong social networks comprised of friends and family who are physically nearby. In some perverse way, being in Germany over the holidays is therapeutic, because it takes away the option of agonizing about whether and how and when to try to see people, along with the nagging feeling that something you really want is just out of reach.
Bill, I'm compelled to complain about the reliance on the introvert/extrovert and Big Five personality types literature. Setting aside issues of reproducibility -- which is itself a pretty serious problem -- there are various conceptual and methodological issues with the ways these categories are defined and operationalized. I don't mean to say that there is no such thing as personality or character traits, but I'm wary of treating these theoretical constructs of psychology as real categories. My worry is amplified further by Ian Hacking's idea of looping kinds, where just embracing the psychological classification can shape a person's sense of self in such a way as to make them fit the classification. Does one need to rely on work in personality psychology to make sense of one's experience during the pandemic? What does it add really?
My understanding is that the Big Five has a ton of evidence in its favor and makes correct and useful predictions about all sorts of things. For example, in this piece about what parts of psychology have held up in the face of the replication crisis (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brainstorm/201905/what-findings-do-skeptical-psychologists-still-believe-in), the finding that people are generally stable with respect to B5 traits over their lifetimes is described as "one of the largest and most robust effects in all of psychology".
Obviously there are still some criticisms of the model, but they're mostly things like "there should be six factors rather than five" or "B5 doesn't work that well for childhood personality" rather than "the basic idea of a small number of independent, persistent personality traits is fundamentally wrong".
I didn't mean to suggest that people should rely on work in personality psychology to make sense of their experiences. I just think it's interesting to ask, if you accept that e.g. introversion/extroversion is a real thing, how people at different places on that continuum tend to respond to this sort of crisis.
I support the general interest in reflecting on our experiences and entertaining what the existing psych literature might tell us. I'm also just interested in thinking about the status of the science generally. I'm still not convinced the Big Five literature is trustworthy. What do metanalyses on publications that are not good studies to begin with really show? Sending love.
Entirely agree about metanalyses. If you have specific worries (about individual studies or general methodology or whatever), I'd like to hear!
For me personally, as an introvert, this has been a very difficult year. I’ve always preferred staying in and gaming, hanging out with a small group at someone’s place rather than going out. For the first time in my life I had to take a mental health day from work, because I was just overwhelmed with worry. Worry regarding the long term effects of Covid globally. Worry over the US politics. Worry over the continued rise of right wing nationalism. Racism. Climate change. Guilt. Guilt that I have job security and we’re stable while much of the country and the world struggles.
I hear you, man! If there's anything worth feeling shitty about in the world, those are all pretty excellent candidates. And you're far from alone in carrying that weight. I hardly know anyone who hasn't needed a mental health day or five this year.
Love you guys, and looking forward to seeing you in the better days soon to come. <3