Research Es have more positive affect. Why? Extraverts may be less responsive to punishment Pearce-McCall & Newman (1986) 2. Extraverts may recall past differently than introverts 3. Extraverts participate in more social activities

Research related to individual differences in N N is associated with complaints of poor health High-N people report more stress Greater # of stressors More reactivity to stressors More sources of stress Different types of coping

Weaknesses of 5 factor model and rebuttals Problem of circularity Description rather than explanation Neglects psychopathology and change No a priori theory for 5 factors

Problem of Situation Mischel - criticism of trait approach Situationism – situational variables matter more than personality in determining behavior Interactionism – idea that personality traits and situation interact with each other to form behavior

Interactionism Weak situations Strong situations Lab situations??

Interactionism cont’ People choose different environments The same situations are different for different people. The same situations may have different effects on different people.