The person x situation debate Flashcards
What are the two key points about the trai approach?
Almost all research is correlational
Focuses exclusively on individual differences
What was the cause of the person-situation debate?
Mischel published a book in which he argued that individual behaviour was too inconsistent to be accounted by differences in personality. This sparked the debate of what is more important when predicting behaviour, situation or personality?
What was the Situationism argument in the person-situation debate?
They argued that 1. there was a limit for behaviour predicability based on personality and that limit was low. They argued then that 2. situations were more important and 3. the professional practice of personality assessment was a waste of time and intuitions about personality are flawed and a F.A.E.
What was the response of personality scientists to the first part of the person-situation debate?
Situationists argued that the correlation of .30-.40 found in personality research was too low.
Scientists argued that
1. that value is lower than would be shown if all the evidence were considered, literature was properly selected, and some people and behaviours are more consistent than others.
2. a correlation of .40 is NOT small, by absolute comparison it would predict behaviour 70% of the time and by relative standard it’s on par with other classic and famous experiments.
What were the rest of the key points on the response by personality scientists besides the first part?
- Personality manifests relative consistency instead of absolute consistency
- There are so many words to describe personality on the dictionary, there is no way is a FAE
What were three experiments that showed the power of situations on behaviour?
Milgram’s obedience experiment
Zimbardo’s prison experiment
Asch’s conformity experiment
What is a way people vary in consistency?
Self-monitoring is a trait that increases adaptability of behaviour to the situation, so some people are more consistent than others.
People also get more consistent with age.
Overall, mention the key points from the answer to the situationists.
1- They got a .40 coefficient because: consistency vary in people and behaviour
unfair selection of studies
principle of aggregation, personality explains general behavioural patterns
absolute x relative consistency
2 - .40 IS NOT SMALL
So how powerful really are situations?
Effect sizes of situationists experiments are the same as personality experiments (around.40) and even without personality, situation would not be the only variable left to account for behaviour
What is interactionism?
Belief that behavioural consistency and change can coexist and person and situation constantly interact to produce behaviour.
