Ph.D. Psychology: Personality
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Thesis: "Interpersonal Theory and Circumplex Structure"
September 1999
A.B. Psychology
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Thesis: "Is Children's Anxiety Categorical or Dimensional? Analysis of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale Using Item Response Theory"
May 1993
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Research supported by NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Critiqued the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and recommended investigating dimensional alternatives.
1994-1998
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
(1) Used item response theory to determine whether children's anxiety is categorical or dimensional; (2) wrote thesis on probabilistic causality.
1991-1993
Intelligence and Personality
Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation, Chicago, Illinois
Tested the hypothesis that there is a functional correspondence between general intelligence and measures of sensory discrimination.
1999-2000
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Research supported by NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and advised by William Revelle.
(1) Investigated the interpersonal theory of personality by testing five instruments for circumplex structure; (2) created four new psychometric criteria for circumplex structure; (3) tested 10 circumplex criteria for their sensitivity to circumplex structure using Monte Carlo simulation; (4) studied the law-like relations of measures of the interpersonal circle and other personality taxonomies; (5) synthesized the literature on the interpersonal principle of complementarity using meta-analysis.
1994-1999
Special Topics: Great Ideas in Personality
Advanced undergraduate course on outstanding personality research programs. Emphasized writing and peer commentary. Students answered the question, What makes an idea in personality great? The Instructional Materials Website includes student web projects and papers with peer commentaries.
Fall 1997
Validity of Personality Taxonomies
Independent study student conducted a convergent and discriminant validity study on measures of the interpersonal circle and other personality taxonomies. Results were presented to the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences in Vancouver, Canada.
Spring 1999
Meta-Analysis of Interpersonal Complementarity
Independent study student conducted a quantitative review of the literature on the interpersonal principle of complementarity.
Spring 1997
Acton, G. S., Prochaska, J. J., Kaplan, A. S., Small, T., & Hall, S. M. (in press). Smoking, psychopathology, and stages of change in psychiatric outpatients [abstract]. Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Acton, G. S., Prochaska, J. J., Kaplan, A. S., Small, T., & Hall, S. M. (submitted). Smoking, psychopathology, and stages of change in psychiatric outpatients.
Acton, G. S., & Revelle, W. (submitted). Evaluation of multiple circumplex criteria.
Acton, G. S., & Revelle, W. (submitted). Interpersonal theory and circumplex structure.
Acton, G. S., & Schroeder, D. H. (submitted). Sensory discrimination as related to general intelligence.
Acton, G. S., & Jang, K. M. (1999). Nomological relations of the interpersonal circle and other personality taxonomies. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, Vancouver, Canada.
Acton, G. S., & Revelle, W. (1999). New criteria for circumplex structure. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, Vancouver, Canada.
Acton, G. S., & Schroeder, D. H. (1999). Color discrimination as related to other aptitudes: An analysis of the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue Test. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, Vancouver, Canada.
Acton, G. S. (1997). Testing for circumplex structure in the Interpersonal Checklist and the Interpersonal Adjective Scales. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, D.C.
Acton, G. S. (1996). On the nature of language in the classification of psychopathology. Address presented at the annual Northwestern-University of Chicago Psychology Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
Acton, G. S., & Revelle, W. (1996). Testing for circumplex structure in the interpersonal circle and the structural analysis of social behavior. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
Acton, G. S. (1995). On the nature of language in the classification of psychopathology. Address presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, New York.