Task 7

Question 1

What is the Person argument in the Person-Situation debate?

Answer 1

Because behavior is determined in large by a person’s traits, a given individual will act similarly much of the time, except for some reasonable adaptation to changing circumstances

Question 2

What is the Situation argument in the Person-Situation debate?

Answer 2

Because the immediate situation is the primary determinant of behavior, a given individual will act differently on different occasions

Question 3

What do density distribution approaches show?

Answer 3

How differently the typical person acts on different occasions

Question 4

What is evidence for the Situation Position?

Answer 4

Within- person variance is large

• people maintain their relative positions only to a limited degree
• Variability within one person is at least as great as the variability in behavior across a group of people

Question 5

What is evidence for the evidence for the Person Position?

Answer 5

People differ in the central point

-> One person’s central points from several different time periods will be very similar to each other (0.9)

Question 6

What are Traits?

Answer 6

Generalized and personalized determining characteristics-consistent and stable modes of an individual’s adjustment to his environment

Question 7

What are States?

Answer 7

Temporary states, moods, and activities

Question 8

What does Fleeson’s Whole Trait Model show?

Answer 8

Combines evidence for individual differences in average global traits with the growing evidence with people also vary substantially around these averages

Question 9

What did the results of the Wilson’s study concerning affect show?

Answer 9

There is more within-person variance than between-person variance
- proportion of within-person variance in personality states was as similar to the proportion of within-person variance in affect

Question 10

Can the substantial amount of within-person variance account for the fluctuations in affect?

Answer 10

No

Question 11

How are people when they are working/studying?

Answer 11

They are less extraverted, agreeable and open

They were more conscientious and neurotic

Question 12

What traits are strongly related to affect?

Answer 12

Extraversion and Neuroticism

Question 13

What different orientations can people have, depending on their affect?

Answer 13

Avoidance oriented - higher neuroticism, higher tendency toward negative affect
Approach oriented - higher extraversion, agreeableness, openness and conscientiousness

Question 14

What are personality-situation transactions?

Answer 14

How people select, change, create, and construe situations based on their dispositions
With increasing self-knowledge and selectivity these transactions become stronger

Question 15

What did Wrzus study show?

Answer 15

Personality-situation associations increase with older age because generally people are more selective with older age due to more restricted resources

Question 16

What were the results of Wrzus study concerning Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness and Conscientiousness?

Answer 16

Neuroticism: higher levels, more often alone, doing their chores, watching TV (more pronounced with older age)
Extraversion: higher levels, less often with family and more with friends, colleagues etc.
Openness: higher levels, less often with family and more with strangers
Conscientiousness: less often with friends, more often doing chores

Question 17

What factors might explain why personality-situation transactions do not consistently increase across the life span?

Answer 17

• External constraints (may limit possibilities to choose and create situations)
• People increasingly know themselves better but may not act on it
• Cohort effects