6. instability of behavior Flashcards
differential psychology
- sometimes called trait psychology
- study of differences among people
2nd assumption
consistency over time
- second assumption made by all trait theories is that there’s a degree of consistency in personality over time
why could latent trait potentially stay stable but the manifest behaviour change over the years?
example using trait of sensation seeking. if someone is a high sensation seeker they might do sky diving and climbing but as the years go by and hes 75 its pretty unlikely that hell still be doing that. instead, the trait of sensation seeking will manifest itself in placing high bets at playing cards.
ex: ur a disagreeable kid so u throw tantrums. as an adult you’ll still be disagreeable but you will maybe just be curt and make it hard to maintain friendships.
latent trait
although a trait might be consistent over time, the way in which it is expressed in actual behavior might change substantially.
3rd assumption
consistency across situations
- you would act similar in different situations
- if youre a highly conscientious person youd act like that most times
person/ situation interaction, situational selections
- we tend to choose the situations so we don’t randomly find ourselves in a random situation we dont wanna be in
person environment fit
- when personality type influences where person chooses to put themselves (links with situation selection)
evocation
certain personality traits can evoke certain reactions from the environment. happens naturally, the idea that certain person traits influence how you react to situations. example when ur really positive, ppl ur talking tp get positive too, but when ur being manipulative ppl would feel uneasy about u in the moment.
manipulation
- using coercive behavior to get your way : yelling until ppl follow orders
- charm tactics (being extra sweet
- silent treatment
situational specificity
when someone acts in a specific way under particular situations
ex: feeling super anxious before an exam even if ur not an anx person
strong and weak personality
- strong personality, low self monitoring
- weak, high self monitoring
barnum station
- interpreting some type of data
aggregation
correlation between image of behavior and personality cuz they only measure behavior once so thats why you observe behavior many times and then form a result.
trait theory
- traits care consistent all da time
