Traits and Situation

What does the Trait Approach to personality focus on?

Identifying stable psychological and behavioural tendencies that differ between people

What does the Trait Approach exclude?

Universal characteristics (e.g., having two eyes) and temporary states (e.g., a momentary increase in heart rate)

Difference between traits and states?

Traits are stable individual differences; states are temporary conditions or feelings

Example of a trait vs a state for narcissism

Trait: narcissism as a personality characteristic; State: high self-esteem after winning a game.

How are traits vs states measured?

Example - Traits: “In general, how are you?”; States: “Are you happy right now?”

Two key points of the Trait Approach

Based on empirical research (mostly correlational) and focuses on accurate measurement of individual differences

Strength of the Trait Approach

Helps assess and understand individual differences

Weaknesses of the Trait Approach

Neglects universals and ignores aspects that make each person uniquely different

According to Walter Mischel (1968), what was the central question of the Person–Situation Debate?

Which is more important for determining behaviour—the person or the situation?

What is situationism?

The view that behaviour is more influenced by the situation than by personality traits.

What effect sizes did situationists argue personality measures typically have?

Correlations rarely exceeding .30–.40.

What does an r = .4 mean in the Binomial Effect Size Display (BESD)?

Changes a 50/50 prediction to about 70/30 accuracy.

Why might personality effects be bigger in real life than in lab studies?

Labs amplify situation effects and suppress individual differences; real life is less controlled.

What is absolute vs relative consistency in behaviour?

Absolute behaviour may change across situations, but relative rankings between individuals remain consistent.

What is a person-by-situation interaction?

When different people respond differently to the same situation (e.g., introverts vs extraverts at a party vs library).

What is situation–personality fit?

Certain traits are advantageous in some situations but not others (e.g., aggressiveness in boxing vs office).

What is self-selection into situations?

When people choose or create situations consistent with their traits (e.g., risk takers seeking adventure)

Why did self-selection undermine the Stanford prison study?

People who volunteered tended to be more authoritarian and bullying.

What is p-hacking?

Selectively analysing data to find significant results by capitalising on chance

What is HARKing?

Hypothesising after the results are known—creating a theory to fit the data after seeing results.

What are strategies to fix replication issues in psychology?

Preregistration, larger samples, and multi-lab replication studies.

Why can extremely large effect sizes be a red flag?

They may indicate errors, bias, or findings unlikely to replicate.