CAPS

social-cognitive person variables

described PROCESSES important in describing how individuals construed situations

encoding

appraisal

variables relating to the situation

people

the self

beliefs, behavioural expectancies goals + processes of self-regulation

as opposed to trait descriptors

still aims to uncover individual differences

NOT encapsulated in situation-free trait terms

e.g. optimistic

considerate

sociable

examined college conscientiousness + friendliness

used situations that students considered relevant

found behavioural variability across diff situations

TEMPORAL stability WITHIN SITUATIONS

Subtopic

FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENCE CLASS OF SITUATIONS

systematic differences in perceptions of situations

no reason to expect people will behave similarly in situations they regard as different

activates different appraisals, beliefs, goals, expectations

only behave similarly if believe situations functionally similar

must go beyond nominal level e.g. in hallway/corridor

capture their psychologically active ingredients

situation can also = other person

in fact, adaptive behaviour enhanced by finer distinction

UNDERMINED by broad response tendencies insensitive to context

stable and characteristic pattern of variance

CAPS

'finding the invariance - in the variability

composed of various representations

CAUs (cognitive-affective units)

organised in an interrelated system

within individ/ stable networks of cognitions and emotions

differ stably in network of interconnections or associations

activation pattern of CAUs change in different situations

patterns of person-situation interactions

hint at organisation of underlying system

different representations more/less accessible for different people

Higgins

strong emprical background

focus of the individual

characterises person as organised coherent system

(not to imply lack of internal conflict)

can group people who share a comparable organisation of CAUs in similar situations

Eaton - clinical uses - narcissistic personality

personality type = common organisation of relations

among mediating units

in processing of certain situational features

rejection-sensitivity type - no more anxious than average - scan interpresonal situations for rejection cues

same score on personality trasit measure of aggressiveness

aggressisve to junior colleagues, friendly to superiors

vice versa

describing as equally aggressive on trait measure not real description in personality characteristics

stable situation-behaviour relationships

if...then...'

2004 - 'if then' relations = basic units in lay conceptions of personality

If Bill wants to produce a good impression, then he acts friendly

provides a BEHAVIOURAL SIGNTURE OF PERSONALITY

need for DYNAMIC PERSONALITY SYSTEM

approach to personality research

integrates research findings

generating individual differences

cognitions, memory, emotions, perceptual processes, genetic influences, regulatory systems and memories

what characterises CAU patterns of activation?