Situational/interpersonal approach

Mischel debate

correlated trait with behavior, tried to predict behavior, only found a correlation of .3

Mischel four cognitive strategies

everyone has every type just different amount and they change as we interact through time 

• Encoding - how we interpret the information, using schemas 

• Competencies - amount talent 

• Expectancies - what do I think the outcome will be when I engage in this behavior 

• Plans - different type of approaches

Power of the situation

situation directs behavior, not everyone is influenced the same way. Proof for illusion of individuality

Mirror neurons

biological basis of social response, they react in the same way either the person itself or the person observe someone else doing a behavior

Selection of situation

 we ourself seek out situation that reinforces our self conceptions resulting in consistency

Cumulative continuity

tendency for personality to be stable over time is through consistency in environment, interpretation and reaction.

Personality development in adulthood

• Maturity principal - most people become more dominate, agreeable, conscientious and emotionally stable over time 

• Cumulative continuity principal  - the stabilization that comes with age is influenced by four factors; genes, niche building, identity development, and normative development 

• Coresponsive principal  - we often double down on our personality traits

Interpersonal perspective

personality is best conceptualized as the social product of interactions 

Needs vs press (Murray)

motivation (needs) of an individual is modified by the directional force arising from other people or the environment

Thema

typical combination of need and press and the reaction it elicit, used to understand the individuals motivation

Circumplex model

 two primary independent dimensions, dominance (vertical) and affiliation (horizontal), the vertical opposite attracts, the horizontal same attract

Complementarity

our interpersonal actions are designed to gather the attention of restricted class of reaction from people with we interact with

Copy process

Identification - interpersonal behavior in the present copies the that of an important person 

Recapitulation - seek the same behavior they had in the past
Introjection - current way of relating to oneself mimics that of the prior treatment of an attachment person