Chapter 4 - The Person-Situation Debate

Question 1

What are the three different perspectives on individual differences?7

Answer 1

1. some properties and processes are universal
2. some properties differ but allow for grouping
3. each individual is unique

Question 2

Which perspective on individual differences does the trait approach focus on?

Answer 2

Each individual is unique

Question 3

Why are traits so important?

Answer 3

They are the building blocks of personality

Question 4

What two factors contribute to how consistent someone is in their personality?

Answer 4

• trait stability increases with age

- trait stability increases with good general mental health

Question 5

In a nutshell, describe what the person-situation debate is?

Answer 5

What is more important for determining what people do - the person or the situation?

Question 6

What is Mischel’s Personality coefficient?

Answer 6

R = 0.30

Question 7

What are the three issues with the person-situation debate?

Answer 7

1. does the personality of an individual transcend the immediate situation and provide a consistent guide to actions, or is what a person does utterly dependent on the situation at the time?
2. Are common, ordinary intuitions about people fundamentally flawed, or basically correct?
3. Why do psychologists continue to argue about the consistency of personality?

Question 8

What is situationism?

Answer 8

The belief that behaviour is driven largely by the situation

Question 9

What is the consequence if the situationists are correct?

Answer 9

There is no reason to study personality theories because traits and personalities do not exist

Question 10

What is the first situationist argument?

Answer 10

Predictability - there is an upper limit to how well one can predict what a person will do based on any measurement of that person’s personality, and this upper limit is low (based off Mischel’s correlations of self, informant, and behavioural data where r = 0.30)

Question 11

How can one respond to the first situationist argument?

Answer 11

1. Unfair - selective literature review done by Mischel

2. could be due to poor methodology

Question 12

What is the second situationist argument?

Answer 12

Situations are more important than personality traits in determining behaviour

Question 13

What is the response to the second situationist argument?

Answer 13

1. use effect size to determine effects of the situation on behaviour (we can then conclude that both the situation and the person are important determinants of behaviour)
2. situations influence behaviour, but people are still consistent

Question 14

What is the third situationist argument?

Answer 14

Person perceptions are erroneous - the professional practise of personality assessment is a waste of time and everyday intuitions about people are fundamentally flawed

Question 15

What is the response to the third situationist argument?

Answer 15

1. the effects of personality are large enough to be perceived accurately
2. the importance of traits is reflected in our language (17953 trait terms)

Question 16

What is interactionism?

Answer 16

The effect of a personality variable may depend on the situation, or vice versa

• certain types of people go to or find themselves in different types of situations
• people change the situation they are in (ex. stanford prison experiment)

Question 17

What is the situationist’s view on human nature?

Answer 17

• people are free to do whatever they want
• everybody is equal, and differences are a function of the situation
• relieves us of responsibility if situation is all powerful

Question 18

What is the personality psychologist’s view on human nature?

Answer 18

• behaviour is determined by personality
• people can develop consistent identities that allow them to be themselves across situations
• take ownership for action

Question 19

What is the resolution of the person-situation debate?

Answer 19

• people can adapt to situations and have a generally consistent personal style
• people are psychologically different, and these differences matter