cognitions. In this procedure, subjects listen to a scenario via a video or audio player and are asked to imagine that they are in that specific situation. Later, they are asked to articulate their thoughts as they occur in reaction to the playing scenario. This method is useful in studying emotional experience given that the scenarios used can influence specific emotions. Most importantly, the method has contributed to the study of personality. In a study conducted by Rayburn and Davison (2002), subjects' thoughts and empathy toward anti-gay hate crimes were evaluated. The researchers found that participants showed more aggressive intentions towards the offender in scenarios which mimicked hate crimes. Experimental method: This method is an experimental paradigm used to study human experiences involved in the studies of sensation and perception, learning and memory, motivation, and biological psychology. The experimental psychologist usually deals with intact organisms although studies are often conducted with organisms modified by surgery, radiation, drug treatment, or long-standing deprivations of various kinds or with organisms that naturally present organic abnormalities or emotional disorders. Economists and psychologists have developed a variety of experimental methodologies to elicit and assess individual attitudes where each emotion differs for each individual. The results are then gathered and quantified to conclude if specific experiences have any common factors. This method is used to seek clarity of the experience and remove any biases to help understand the meaning behind the experience to see if it can be generalized. The experimental method does have some complications though. If researchers are manipulating a variable, it's possible this change will affect a different variable, which in turn will change the measured result (not the original manipulated condition), introducing uncertainty. This method, in personality research, often requires deception, so the ethics of experiments are also brought into question. See also Big Five personality traits Blood type personality theory Clinical psychology Enneagram of Personality Epigenetics in psychology Four temperaments Holland Codes Individual differences Industrial & organizational assessment Industrial and organizational psychology Journal of Individual Differences LOTS of data Psychological typologies Self-concealment Self-concept Self-esteem Team composition Trait leadership Trait theory Two-factor models of personality Type A personality Will (philosophy) References Further reading Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Hall, Calvin S., and Gardner Lindzey (1957). Theories of Personality. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. xi, 571 p., ill. with diagrams. External links Northwestern