Person vs situation Flashcards
Stanley Milgram- Obedience to authority> results (3) + (3)
- 65% continued to highest level of 450 V
- all participants continued to 300V
- situation was most important factor:
>yale interaction lab
>high status authority figure ordering person to inflict punishment
>links to agency theory: most took on ‘agentic state’
Agency theory> (2)
1) Autonomous state: self-directed with personal responsibility
2) Agentic state: agents for other people’s will (lets another’s will become own)
Solomon Asch- Peer conformity (1951): line judgement task> results>
> 32% of participants conformed with clearly incorrect majority
75% conformed at least once
25% never conformed
control group (no conformity pressure)= less than 1% incorrect
Solomon Asch- Peer conformity (1951): line judgement task> two influencing factors linking to outcome> (2)
- normative influence= pressure & desire to fit with the group despite conflict with personal judgement
- informational influence= assumption that the group must know more and are correct
Albert Bandura- social learning theory & Bobo Doll experiment (1961)> aims:
SLT= exploring if parental role model is important part of child’s learning
Aim of bobo experiment: to discover if social behaviours can be learned via observation & imitation
Albert Bandura- social learning theory & Bobo Doll experiment (1961)> outcome
- aggression group children were far more likely to imitate aggressive behaviour on bobo doll
- boys were more physically aggressive than girls- but equal verbal aggression incidents
Albert Bandura- social learning theory & Bobo Doll experiment (1961)> method> (4)
- N=72 children with a matched pair design on aggression (aggressive, non-aggressive & control group)
>step 1: modelling=
-aggression group exposed to m/f model playing
aggressively with doll
>step 2: aggression arousal=
-all groups exposed to MILD aggression arousal (e.g.
desirable toy taken from child & ‘reserved’ for others) to
induce aggressive state
>Step 3: tested for delayed imitation:
-children relocated to room with various toys including bobo
& explored if children played AGGRESSIVELY & mimicked
adult behaviours
Personality & assessment> (mischel, 1968)
> in real world contexts, situation “overwhelms” behaviour every time
what we call ‘personality’ is simply situational consistency
Overall social psych conclusions> (3)
> correlation analysis: coefficient= between 0.30 & 0.40, therefore not very good
Regression analysis: R-squared= only 16% of variance accounted for by individual differences> suggests personality doesnt matter/ isnt real
people struggle to accept due to “Human error”
“Human error”= bias towards a belief in fundamental consistency (of personality) that doesn’t exist which obfuscates the importance of situation
Overall social psych conclusions> response from personality psych> (5)
- social psych was cherry picking weak studies to analyse
- regression analysis & 16%: much better than chance & so low due to ‘unexplainable variations’ (human behaviour studies always less than 50%)
- 16% personality doesn’t= 84% situation> prediction from situation roughly same
- some people are more consistent than others (self-monitoring)
- personality psych isn’t trying to predict discrete behaviours but looking for general patterns
Rise of interactionism>
argument that ‘situationism’ is appealing because it is simple & deterministic but:
>has ethical ramifications (removes personal responsibility)
>doesnt always fit the situationist’s data
Interactionism principles> Buss (1987)
person vs situation interactions occur in 3 ways:
1) selection
2) manipulation
3) Evocation
Interactionism principles> Buss (1987)> (1) selection>
idea different personalities tend to get themselves into different situations
(e.g. thrill seekers vs risk-aversive)
Interactionism principles> Buss (1987)> (2) manipulation
> Inter-personal relationship creates a dynamic which can be mutually reinforcing
(e.g. certain behaviours considered to be social norms)
Interactionism principles> Buss (1987)> (3) Evocation>
- a strong personality gets a strong reaction & this becomes mutually reinforcing