IB Psychology HL - SCLOA - Describe the Role of Situational and Dispositional Factors in Explaining Behaviour

Heider (1958):

• attribution: attempting to explain observable behaviour

• they distinguish between causes of behaviour as internal (dispositional) or external (situational)

Assumptions made:

• people perform attributions bc they f„eel that there are motives behind most of„ their own behaviour

• people rely on their intuition to formulate cause –> effect of human behaviour

• making attributions enables one to understand and make predictions about their environment

• this makes them feel in control of their surroundings (and derive comfort from this control)

• most cultures have constructed causal explanations „or the origin and meaning o„f life (e.g. myths, religions)

• situational
  - dispositional

when we attribute behaviour as due to external/social factors

when we attribute behaviour as due to internal characteristics (i.e. personality)

Epstein (1983):

• studied the behaviour of college students for about a month

• initially observed a lot of behavioural variability: participants did not necessarily act the same way in similar situations

• however, when behaviour was aggregated over a 2-week interval it was highly predictive of their behaviour in similar circumstances over another 2-week interval

• findings support the existence of traits provided the appropriate time perspective is adopted

• one’s general tendencies will manifest themselves, albeit to different extents every situation

Roberts and Del Vecchio (2000):

• conducted meta-analysis of 152 longitudinal personality studies

• found a high correlation between measures of personality obtained 7 years apart from the same sample

Gosling et al. (2010):

• participants self-reported on their FB activities

• and did an FFM test

• correlations found between participants’ FFM scores and FB activities

Situational factors: group pressure, culture, weather, etc

• social influence can affect behaviour

• people don’t always respond the same way in similar situations

• it can be argued that behaviour is more dependent on situational rather than dispositional factors

Studies: Milgram (1963; 1974)

• conformity study

• the participant is under the impression they have to teach the confederate

• every time the confederate makes a mistake, participants are ordered by an authority figure to administer shocks to a confederate

• participants are led to believe the shocks are real (as the confederate appeared to react with pain)

• Milgram (1963;1974) is generally considered to support the effect of situational factors being greater than dispositional

• however, that is subject to dispute

Benjamin and Simpson (2009):

• participants’ behaviour was under situational control (e.g. a legitimate authority’s orders), rather than dispositional control (e.g. the participants’ conscience)

• Milgram’s research on obedience is regarded by many as a prime example of the power of situational factors

Sabini et al. (2001):

• both obedience and disobedience can take place in conformity studies

• whether an individual obeys or not depends on their personality (dispositional factor)

• virtually all the situational explanations can be explained as dispositional as well; unless somebody has the disposition to obey, no obedience will occur