Personality Traits and Behavior Part One

Question 1

What is the Trait Approach?

Answer 1

Mostly correlational

Emphasis on accurate measurement of traits

Question 2

What does the Trait Approach focus on?

Answer 2

It focuses on individual differences

It also focuses on how we are like some other people

Question 3

Name a Pro of the Trait Approach

Answer 3

assesses and attempts to understand

how people differ

Question 4

Name a Con of the Trait Approach

Answer 4

neglects aspects of personality common to all people

Question 5

What are Traits viewed as?

Answer 5

Traits are viewd as the “building blocks” of personality

Question 6

What other factors control behaviors other than personality traits?

Answer 6

Situations are also important

Question 7

What is the debate concerning the Trait Approach?

Answer 7

Debates continue about whether traits

really exist, or if everybody is basically the same and behavior changes according to the situation?

Question 8

What does the data show in relation to trait stability

Answer 8

Data do show that trait stability increases

with age and is related to psychological adjustment (but the same is true for situational stability).

Question 9

What were Walter Mischel’s belief in the person-situation debate?

Answer 9

behavior is too inconsistent across situations for individual differences to be characterized by traits

Question 10

What were some other questions raised in the person-situation debate?

Answer 10

Does the personality of an individual
transcend the immediate situation and provide a consistent guide to his or her actions, or is what a person does utterly dependent on the situation at that time?

Question 11

What were some other questions raised in the person-situation debate?

Answer 11

Are common, ordinary intuitions about

people fundamentally flawed or basically correct?

Question 12

What were some other questions raised in the person-situation debate?

Answer 12

Why do psychologists continue to argue

about the consistency of personality when the basic empirical questions were settled long ago?

Question 13

Name an argument presented by the situationist

Answer 13

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 a small one.

Question 14

Name another argument presented by the situationist

Answer 14

Situations are more important than personality traits in determining behavior.

Question 15

Name an additional argument presented by the situationist

Answer 15

The professional practice of personality assessment is a waste of time, and everyday intuitions about people are fundamentally flawed.

Question 16

What is the The First Situationist Argument: Predictability focus on?

Answer 16

Focuses on how Personality is not a good predictor of behavior

Question 17

What did Mischel focus on in the first situationist argument: predictability?

Answer 17

Mischel looked at relationships of self,
informant, and behavioral data to behavioral data
◦ Ability of trait judgments to predict behavior
◦ Using past behavior to predict future behavior
◦ Most behaviors were assessed in the lab

Question 18

What do correlations rarely exceed?

Answer 18

Correlations rarely exceeded .30 (Nisbett -

.40)

Question 19

What Was The Response to the First Situationist Argument: Predictability

Answer 19

Unfair, selective literature review by
Mischel
◦ Studies with poor methodology
◦ But some found evidence of consistency

Question 20

What was an additional response to the first situationist argument: predictability

Answer 20

A correlation of .40 is not small
◦ Comparison to an absolute standard: number
of correct and incorrect predictions
BESD: r = .40 70% accuracy
◦ Comparison to a relative standard: other methods used to predict behavior

Question 21

What was another response to the first situationist argument: predictability

Answer 21

We can do better
◦ .40 limit may be due to poor methodology
◦ Get out of the laboratory ◦ Study individual consistency as a moderator variable (a variable that alters the relationship
between two other variables)
◦ Focus on behavioral trends; use aggregation
◦ This is difficult

Question 22

What does the The Second Situationist Argument: Situationism focus on?

Answer 22

Behavior is determined by situations, not

personality

Question 23

How do you determine how personality affects behavior with The Second Situationist Argument: Situationism

Answer 23

correlate personality and behavior

Question 24

How do you determine how situations affect behavior with The Second Situationist Argument: Situationism

Answer 24

total variance minus “variance explained” by personality
◦ Not legitimate
◦ Could be due to other personality traits
◦ Says nothing about important aspects of the situation

Question 25

What is a question raised by the second situationist argument: situationism? and what was the conclusion of this question?

Answer 25

How the effects of situations on behavior should be determined: based on social psychological experiments
◦ Convert statistical significance tests to effect
sizes
◦ Funder & Ozer, 1983: situational effect sizes = .36 to .42
◦ Conclusion: both personality and situations are important determinants of behavior

Question 26

What does the The Third Situationist Argument: Person Perceptions are Erroneous focus on?

Answer 26

The effects of personality on behavior are large enough to be perceived accurately
AND
The importance of traits is reflected in our language