Chapter 3: Personality versus Situation by Connect-4

Ideally … Personality Predicts Behavior

Behavior = Situation Walter Mischel ( Columbia University) 1968 paper threw an academic bomb - Found only 0.30 correlation between personality and behavior - Statistically - only 15-20% of behavior is explained by personality - Situations are more than just noise in personality versus behavior plots - Personality testing itself can be thought of as a “situation” Kenrick, D.T., & Funder, D.C. (1988). Profiting from controversy: Lessons from the person-situation debate. American Psychologist, 43,

New York Times Article PERSONALITY: MAJOR TRAITS FOUND STABLE THROUGH LIFE By DANIEL GOLEMAN Published: June 09, 1987 New York Times THE largest and longest studies to carefully analyze personality throughout life reveal a core of traits that remain remarkably stable over the years and a number of other traits that can change drastically from age to age.The new studies have shown that three basic aspects of personality change little throughout life: a person's anxiety level, friendliness and eagerness for novel experiences. But other traits, such as alienation, morale and feelings of satisfaction, can vary greatly as a person goes through life. These more changeable traits largely reflect such things as how a person sees himself and his life at a given point, rather than a basic underlying temperament.One of the recently completed studies followed 10,000 people 25 to 74 years old for nine years. Another involved 300 couples first tested in The studies are joined by a new analysis of more than two dozen earlier studies of lifetime personality and a study of twins that looks at the genetic contribution.

Behavior = Personality Prof. Seymour Epstein (U Mass) -Personality is actually pretty stable across time and situations -Situations just introduce a little noise -Personality traits are best predictors -0.4 correlations are actually pretty good -Predicts behaviors over long time period; but not as accurate at any given time Kenrick, D.T., & Funder, D.C. (1988). Profiting from controversy: Lessons from the person-situation debate. American Psychologist, 43,

Nature versus Nurture Stooges to Gentlemen?

Interactionist Consensus Behavior = f(personality, situation) Personality traits predict behavior well in low intensity-situations especially among low self- monitors Personality traits do not predict behavior well in high-intensity situations especially among high self monitors Kenrick, D.T., & Funder, D.C. (1988). Profiting from controversy: Lessons from the person-situation debate. American Psychologist, 43,