Construction and Validation of an Instrument Measuring Actors’ Preferred Performance style
Construction and Validation of an Instrument Measuring Actors’ Preferred Performance style

Summary/Abstract: In this present paper we aim to describe the stages and the product of theeffort to develop a psychometric instrument designed to measure the actors’ preferredstyle of work, based on the results of qualitative studies based on interviews withprofessional actors. The approaches or styles described by actors grossly overlap theideologies and practices that define the main existing styles of acting. Diderot’sparadox was the starting point of a dispute between scholars and actors, writers andtheoreticians. They have been discussing whether the outside-in techniques or theinside-out ones are more efficient. First of all, Diderot asserts that a good actor does notfeel anything, and, precisely because of that, he elicits the strongest possible reactionsfrom the audience. A sensitive actor cannot perform the same role with the samesuccess. The outside-in techniques attempt to imitate the external appearance of theemotion; nevertheless, the actors are not supposed to actually feel the emotions theydisplay. The inside-out techniques focus on generating emotions from within. Startingfrom the two identified directions, we developed a two dimensional instrument to bettercapture this preference. The present results, obtained from a sample of 201 professionalactors and students, support the hypothesis that actors tend to prefer either an involvedstyle, or, on the contrary, a detached style, each being defined by specific cognitive,subjective and behavioral components.

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