up: [[Social Psychology MOC]] Tags:: # Situationism Situationism is the theory that changes in behavior are more often due to factors of the situation than factors of personality. [[Your situation plays a larger role than personality in how you act]]. And yet we [[We tend to overestimate how much personality plays a role in behavior compared to situation]]. This reminds me of [[The Extended Mind]] which shows the incredible effect our external landscape has on who we are. ##### Why is your childhood crucial in who you become Especially during your childhood, your situation has a profound effect on your [[Self|self]] and [[Attachment theory|attachment style]]. because you are particularly neuroplastic during early development (see: [[How the brain grows throughout development]]). This is why often the things people focus on as adults are stem from childhood. ###### Why do we think personality plays a larger role in behavior than it really does? 1. [[We confuse temporal stability for cross-situational consistency]]. People are stable within the same circumstance across time but not across situations yet we confuse the two. If you are extroverted in one situation you might not be extroverted in another. 2. We tend to observe people in a narrow range of situations without fully appreciating how differently they might react in those we don't see them in. 3. We are always a variable in someone's situation when we see them and yet we don't appreciate how much of an effect we have on their behavior. 4. We smooth over other people's consistencies with explanations. 5. We commit the [[Fundamental attribution error]] by believing other's shortcomings has more to do with their personality while our shortcomings has more to do with our situation. #### How can we assess personalities role in differentiating behavior with the same situation? Study how people with different personalities (found from a personality scale) act differently in the same situation. ###### How does our propensity of social influence change depending on our degree of uncertainty in a situation? We are more likely to be socially influenced through [[Social Influence#Normative social influence]] and [[Social Influence#Informative social influence]] in situations which are uncertain e.g. new cultures or environments. #### What implications does situationism have on fostering behavior change? It might be more effective in many circumstances to change the situation by getting rid of what's blocking the behavior instead of trying to motivate it (see: [[Environmental Design]]). Often times what people lack is not motivation, but clarity on how to get rid of the situational blockers to a behavior. This suggests that the most disciplined and hard working people don't necessarily have an innate will to do more, but have rather created an environment that pushes them to do more unconsciously. #### What are channel factors? Charles's Lewin coined the term channel factors, creating substantial behavior change through changing situational factors. ###### How did artists use situational factors to promote better aiming in urinals in Schiphol Airport? They painted a fly in the urinal to make people want to aim in the right spot. ![[Pasted image 20221018134647.png]] ###### What is the French Paradox? French people exercise less, eat more saturated foods, and smoke more and yet have some of the lowest obesity rates among Europeans. Why do they have such low levels? Because their proportion sizes are so much smaller than ours. Related: [[Social Influence]] ___ # Resources