Well, specifically I'm looking at idealism and ideal-driven behavior, and I'm interested in finding out if people with a sharp sense of right and wrong are less psychologically well adapted than those who admit shades of grey and appreciation of circumstances. I'm still in the first stages of planning my research, and not much has been done in this area.
One researcher, Donelson Forsyth at the Univ. of Richmond in Virginia, has developed a scale that's been used in a lot of business studies. He looks at two basic dimensions: absolutism vs. relativism, and being high or low on idealism (in the humanitarian and optimistic sense). The four possible combinations of these dimensions then yield types he calls "situationists," "absolutists," "subjectivists," and "exceptionalists" ... hmm, rather than explain what he means by those, I'll give you a link to his own descriptions. He actually came up with these while studying people's opinions on the Milgram experiments, I suppose in grad school.
I'm not sure if I'm going to continue along those lines, because I'm also interested in non-socially-oriented ideals like efficiency and domination. My advisor is studying the personalities of militant extremists, so I'm learning a fair amount about their forms of idealism and morality too.
Thanks for asking - it's fun to describe what I'm working on. :)
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Date: 2007-01-26 05:12 am (UTC)One researcher, Donelson Forsyth at the Univ. of Richmond in Virginia, has developed a scale that's been used in a lot of business studies. He looks at two basic dimensions: absolutism vs. relativism, and being high or low on idealism (in the humanitarian and optimistic sense). The four possible combinations of these dimensions then yield types he calls "situationists," "absolutists," "subjectivists," and "exceptionalists" ... hmm, rather than explain what he means by those, I'll give you a link to his own descriptions. He actually came up with these while studying people's opinions on the Milgram experiments, I suppose in grad school.
I'm not sure if I'm going to continue along those lines, because I'm also interested in non-socially-oriented ideals like efficiency and domination. My advisor is studying the personalities of militant extremists, so I'm learning a fair amount about their forms of idealism and morality too.
Thanks for asking - it's fun to describe what I'm working on. :)