About
Dr. Emorie D. Beck, PhD, Principle Investigator
(she/her)
(see Dr. Beck’s faculty webpage here).
Dr. Beck’s research focuses around the question of what personality is. Definitions have big consequences for how we measure personality, what those measures predict both short- and long-term, how personality is thought to change, and more. One way of doing this is to focus on different levels of aggregation. Thus, she studies how to understand the personality of an individual relative to only themself, relative to some others, and relative to all others.
To do so, she uses a mix of methods, including experience sampling methods, passive sensing, survey data, panel data, cognitive tests, and more measured across time intervals from moments to years along with an array of statistical approaches, including time series analysis, multilevel / hierarchical modeling, machine learning, network psychometrics, structural equation modeling, and more. For example, Dr. Beck has been working to build personalized machine learning prediction of behaviors, experiences, and more, finding that we can predict behaviors and experiences better when we don’t assume that people have the same antecedents of the behaviors and experiences. Instead, people have unique antecedents, which could have consequences for how to change or intervene upon behaviors and experiences.
In other work, Dr. Beck uses longitudinal panel data across multiple continents to answer questions about what personality traits predict over time. For example, she recently examined personality trait and well-being predictors of later dementia diagnoses and neuropathology measures after death, finding that personality traits are strong predictors of dementia diagnosis but have a much more complex relationship with neuropathology measures.
Awards
2023 | Walter G. Klopfer Award for the Best Empirical Paper, Journal of Personality Assessment
2022 | Tanaka Dissertation Award Finalist, Association for Research in Personality
2021 | Emerging Scholar Award, Association for Research in Personality
2021 | Dissertation Award Finalist, European Association of Personality Psychology
2018 | Departmental Teaching Award, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
2018 | Summer School in Personality, European Association of Personality Psychology
2017 | Scholarship and Travel Award, The Society of Young Network Scientists
2017 | Student Travel Award, Society for Personality and Social Psychology
2016 | Muriel Fain Sher Premium in Psychology, Brown University
2016 | Kling Premium for Excellence in Teaching, Brown University
Grants
2018 | Visionary Grant, American Psychological Foundation, Co-PI ($19,268)
2018 | Inside the Grant Panel, Society for Personality and Social Psychology ($5000)
2018 | Predoctoral NRSA, National Institutes of Aging T32 AG00030-3 ($49,140)
2015 | Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award, Brown University ($3,500)
2014 | Linking Internships and Knowledge, Brown University ($3,000)
PhD Students
Adam Nissen, MA
he/him
Adam is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Beck lab. He received both his MA and BS at UC Davis. He broadly studies personality and well-being change using both nomothetic and idiographic approaches. He is specifically interested in understanding the role of sexual and gender minority experiences and minority stress processes in such patterns of change. When the weight of the world isn’t getting him down, he enjoys going to concerts, breweries and trivia nights with his friends.
Angel Orozco
they/them
Angel Orozco is a third year PhD student in the lab investigating how people perceive and make sense of gender, including bias, learning, and conscious and unconscious processes.
Winkie Ma
she/her
Winkie is a second year PhD student in the Beck Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Emory University in 2021. She is currently investigating the structure, dynamics, change, antecedents, and consequences of narcissism in various sociocultural contexts using a number of both nomothetic and idiographic methods. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing, backpacking, and creative writing.
Evan Warfel
he/him
Evan is a second year PhD student. His interests include personality development in general, and in family contexts in specific. Prior to coming to UC Davis he worked as a data scientist in the Tech industry for many years. Outside of the lab he likes to play music, write, and go partner dancing.
Colin Lee
he/him
Colin is a first year PhD student in the lab investigating the idiographic dynamics of personality using a variety of quantitative approaches. His research frames personality as a dynamic, multivariate system. He aims to understand the relationship between a person, the situation, and observed behaviors in everyday life. Outside of the lab, Colin golfs, skateboards, and wrangles his two dogs.
Rongxin Cheng
she/her
Rongxin is a third-year graduate student in the Beck Lab. She received her B.A in Social Science from New York University Shanghai in 2019, and her M.A. in Social Psychology from New York University in 2021. Rongxin’s research examines how changes in individual factors (e.g., personality and psychopathology), contextual factors (e.g., parenting, school experience, neighborhood environment, and sociocultural values on education), and the interaction between these factors would predict educational outcomes. She is also enthusiastic about applying new quantitative methods and statistical models to research.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
… Coming soon!
(Dog) Research Assistants
Sgt Pepper
Sgt Pepper is Emorie’s two-year-old lab German Shepherd mix. Pepper is a great case for the validity of cardinal traits. Like many pandemic pups, anxiety is her dominant emotion, but she’s also the sweetest, friendliest girl who will greet everyone with circle wags and wiggles. When not staring anxiously at mom, she can be found licking mom, refusing to eat, and grumbling. Alternate names include Peppy, Grumbles, Perfect Pepper, Pretty Pepper, and Wiggles.
Apple
Apple is Emorie’s one-year-old mysterious mixed breed dog. If she was a Pokémon, she’d be a ghost and dark type. Apple is pure reinforcement and social learning at work. She observes the probability of favored outcomes and acts accordingly, updating her priors based on the result. When not staring menacingly at mom and dad, she can be found on her back, chewing something, or plotting world domination. There are a least 13 distinct voices in her head. Alternate nicknames include Applegator, Demon, Ancient Evil, Hellhound, and Nibbles.
Syd
Syd is Colin’s miniature Australian Shepherd. When she is not eating, she is barking. When she is not barking, she is sleeping. She has a beautiful soul.
Francis
Francis is Colin’s Terrier mix. He thought she would be bigger. Her old man beard nearly masks her puppy exuberance. She gets cold easily, but her heart is warm and full of love.
