PSYCH 2320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Walter Mischel
Document Summary
Personality is an abstraction or hypothetical construction behavior itself consists of observable events. That renders different situations functionally equivalent for the person . Reviewed a variety of studies showing that behavior is not consistent across situations. Personality characteristics can never predict behavior more that . 30. To understand behavior we need to know the immediate ways a person is looking at a situation not broad personality traits. Characteristics such as self-efficacy (can do attitude) control beliefs expectancies. Surely, adults might be more likely than children to show consistency. There were very few studies at the time that were directly relevant to the issue. More and better studies needed to be done. Personality may not predict all of the people all of the time, but it will predict some behavior some of the time: moderator variables. A moderator variable is a variable that influences the relationship between two others.
