Problem 6: (In)stability of behaviour Flashcards
situationism
Situationism: behaviour is influenced by situational factors rather than personality
consistency over time – do traits, behaviour change over time, how are they related?, why is stability relevant?
consistency of traits ir more a rule than an exception
Latent trait: relatively stable qualities of an individual; trait remains stable overtime but how you express it changes
→ example: young -> like fun activities such as bungee jumping and skydiving. Older -> can’t do that -> try to find the same feelings in other more suitable activities, such as betting
→ stability is relevant here because personality needs to be stable over time in order to be measured
Manifest behaviour: manifestation of the trait changes over time
→example: a kid throws tantrums when they are young, but this changes into being very argumentative when you are older
Latent trait and manifest behaviour are related; the personality doesn’t change (latent trait) but the behaviour; how you express it changes (manifest behaviour)
how to measure stability, 2 important concepts, what are they and how can we distinguish between them?
Rank-order stability (mentioned in the article): subtracting or adding a constant to each participant’s score on a trait measure
everyone’s trait changes but the ranking between individuals remains the same
You maintain your status in the group over time
if a characteristic/trait decreases in all people over time, they still maintain the rank order
If at 10, you are the most energetic, and it decreases when you are 20, you are still the most energetic at 20
Mean-level change:
When there is mean level change there is rank order stability
The extent to which personality scores changes over time
The average level of a personality trait does not change with age
A population increases in age, but the ratio of liberalism and conservatism doesn’t change with the increasing age - there is a high mean-level stability
Rank order stability is when you have a certain trait and it could increase/decrease over time but you still have the highest rank when comparing yourself to the norm group as you did before (on average the same score over time)
Mean level change: the personality trait decreases in comparison to the norm group
2 possible explanations for behaviour (Mischel)?conclusion?
- behaviour as a function of personality traits
ex: someone is more extroverted - behaviour as a function of situational factors
ex: people behave differently at a sports event or at a funeral
conclusion: both personality and situation interact to produce behaviour
person-situation interaction
Explains behaviour by considering personality and situation
For example, ur in a stressful situation and u usually react angrily (have that personality trait of being an angry person), you will react angrily in that situation
Interactionism
behaviour is explained by combination of personality and psychological environment (traits + situation interact)
situational specificity
situational specificity: Consistency depends on the situation if the situation is strong or weak
→example: the boyfriend is usually the calm one in the relationship, but because of the situation, he snaps at the girlfriend for nagging him
strong situations: situations where almost everyone reacts the same way
→example: funerals. In a crowded elevator everyone always stares at their shoes/ceiling to avoid awkwardness
weak situations: ambiguous situations where personality comes forward, has the greatest influence on behaviour
→example: there’s a stranger staring at you, and your personality will be expressed through your reaction
2 types of dispositions/personalities
strong dispositions/personalities: dispositions that are less influenced by situations
weak dispositions/personalities: dispositions that are very susceptible to situations, high in self monitoring - concerned with what people think of you and therefore influenced by the situation, lower self-esteem
→example: when people started feeling sick because others were, and they thought there was an epidemic, but there wasn’t, they were just reacting to the situation
Seymour Epstein, how should personality and behaviours be measured
→ Aggregation: the average of the measure taken, combining different measures to achieve a stable measure
Just using a single observation is not sufficient enough, and so using longer studies and more observations is better to measure behaviour
combine behaviours -> differences become more stable
example: in order to find out if the man is impulsive, they did a longitudinal study to see the behaviour is consistent
Correlation of behaviour increased over two weeks, and was more consistent; if it’s measured more than once it shows stable
3 ways how your own personality traits interact with the situation.
situational selection
evocation
manipulation
what is situational selection?
→ main idea: someone chooses the situation they want to be in
it reflects your personality
→ example: if you are an introvert you wouldn’t choose a situation where you go out a lot, rather you would choose to stay home
Introvert; singular activities
Extravert; team activities
bidirectional relationship: personality affects situation and vice versa
→ example: if you like being around extraverts, it increases your extraversion
evocation
→main idea: certain personality traits evoke responses from others in your environment,
you don’t always realise you are doing it, more unintentional, the way you carry yourself may elicit a reaction in others
→example:you're extroverted and like to party, but your friends are introverted, they start going out with you more and partying and you evoke that reaction in them, without manipulating them
manipulation (how is it dif from selection?)
→main idea: use of certain tactics to influence/change others’ behaviour,
more intentional, there’s motivation to alter a behaviour
→example: girl doesn't wanna have sex but her bf gives her silent treatment therefore it makes her want to do it to avoid this behaviour
Tactics;
calm, aggressive, silent treatment, charm, coercion
Can be good or bad, for example to change a social situation, and make something different in that specific situation
dif from situational selection: you choose the environment you want to be in based on your personality
but in manipulation you’re changing the environment that’s already there
article: military study (pt1)
- goal
-hypothesis
-method
What was their goal/aim?
1. to test whether personality traits assessed in high school predict who eventually chooses to join the military
2. whether individuals who received military training were more likely to show changes in personality traits than individuals in a control group were
3. (if changes associated with military experiences were found (2)), whether these changes persisted after military recruits went to college or entered the labor market.
Method:
random high school selection in Germany
assessed in 4 dif times:
1. their final year of high school (before conscription)
2. reassessed 2 years later
3. 3 years after
4. 4 years after completing military training
conscription law:
military service for 9 months or civillian community service (control group) - mandatory from age 16
assessed on the big five
Longitudinal study; over a long period of times
Measured if personality traits stayed the same
article: military study (pt2)
-results
-conclusion
Results
- who chooses to join the military?
personality traits played a moderate role in the decision to select military training instead of civilian community service - individuals lower in agreeableness, neuroticism and openness to experience were more likely to enter the military service. - is military training associated with changes in personality traits?
military training was associated with decrease in agreeableness in comparison to control group (due to aggressive behaviour)
note: in all groups, due to maturity, there is an increase in conscientiousness and agreeableness and a decrease in neuroticism - does the effect of military training persist?
the decrease in agreeableness was not temporarily but long term, even after they entered college and the labor market this persisted
Conscientiousness increases after military as they need to work hard and do as they are told
This is because in the military they don’t have the freedom of being nice and agreeable as they need to find
Conclusion:
Adolescents that went into military were less agreeable and neurotic than those who went into community service
After military service their agreeableness decreased even more and it remained like this after the military (due to situation and aggression)
Situations do influence personality traits, and personality traits influence the situation
Life experiences have associations with changes in our personality traits
“the man makes the military and the military makes the man”
