The Situational Eight DIAMONDS: a taxonomy of major dimensions of situation characteristics

From Elementary School to Midlife: Childhood Personality Predicts Behavior During Cognitive Testing over Four Decades Later

The current study uses a prospective, longitudinal design and lifespan perspective to understand how child personality relates to directly observed adult behavior during cognitive testing. Teacher assessments of child Big Five personality in elementary school were correlated with directly observed behaviors during a videotaped cognitive test four decades later. Past work suggested Openness and Conscientiousness may relate to task-relevant academic behaviors. Childhood Openness was associated with several behaviors, even after controlling for participant's cognitive performance. Childhood Conscientiousness was also related to behavior, but not as expected. Other Big Five ratings were not reliably related to behavior. The study examined personality stability in a unique way and suggests a further examination of how Openness in children manifests in later behavior.

Normative and Distinctive Accuracy in Situation Perceptions

To what extent do people achieve accuracy in judging others’ situations? Based on interpersonal perception models, we propose that ex situ raters may attain accuracy by judging the psychological characteristics of a situation that in situ raters have experienced according to a normative and distinctive characteristics profile. Biesanz’ social accuracy model (SAM) provides a flexible crossed-effects random coefficient modeling framework that can be applied to situation perception data. By targeting characteristics profiles with the analytical unit of the ex situ rater-situation dyad, the extent of and variation in normative and distinctive accuracy of ex situ raters can be estimated and explained by personality correlates to quantify “the good ex situ rater.” We demonstrate an SAM approach to situational accuracy with real in situ and ex situ data (402 ex situ raters judged 10 situations on 8 characteristics) and sketch future research.

The Validity of the Day Reconstruction Method in the German Socio-Economic Panel Study

The Day Reconstruction Method is a useful tool for evaluating short-term changes in emotional experiences over a variety of daily situations. However, traditional method of collecting DRM data can be time-intensive for both researchers and participants. In this paper we provide evidence that a random-sampling approach to DRM assessment can provide useful data that are largely consistent with previous research that used the full version of the DRM. In a nationally representative sample of 2,303 people, we demonstrate that (1) there is variability in emotional ratings of episodes that replicates what has been found in prior studies, (2) correlations with global measures are typically small in magnitude (< .30), (3) correlations with personality are for the most part negligible, (4) correlations with global ratings of domain satisfaction are higher for domain-relevant situations, and (5) parents report more positive affect while providing care for their children when compared to other activities, and this effect can account for the observed differences in emotional experiences of parents and non-parents.

Toward a Shared Understanding of Important Consequences of Personality

The assumption that personality makes a difference in people's everyday lives is probably the main reason why investigating personality seems worthwhile at all. Although the number of empirical studies addressing the everyday consequences of personality is considerable, an overarching conceptual framework is missing. We present such a framework, using a version of the SORKC model from cognitive-behavioral therapy. Our version of the model incorporates a full account of how personality may influence the ways in which people perceive and respond to situations, which may ultimately have important consequences for them and others. However, not everything that formally qualifies as a consequence of personality is equally relevant. In choosing criterion variables for their own research, researchers interested in personality consequences seem to have strongly relied on implicit assumptions regarding a “good life.” We review a sample of recent studies from the personality literature, using our own conceptualization of important personality consequences to assess the current state of the field, and deduce recommendations for future research.

The relationship between mobile phone location sensor data and depressive symptom severity

Background

Smartphones offer the hope that depression can be detected using passively collected data from the phone sensors. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend previous work using geographic location (GPS) sensors to identify depressive symptom severity.

Methods

We used a dataset collected from 48 college students over a 10-week period, which included GPS phone sensor data and the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9) to evaluate depressive symptom severity at baseline and end-of-study. GPS features were calculated over the entire study, for weekdays and weekends, and in 2-week blocks.

Results

The results of this study replicated our previous findings that a number of GPS features, including location variance, entropy, and circadian movement, were significantly correlated with PHQ-9 scores (r’s ranging from −0.43 to −0.46, p-values <  .05). We also found that these relationships were stronger when GPS features were calculated from weekend, compared to weekday, data. Although the correlation between baseline PHQ-9 scores with 2-week GPS features diminished as we moved further from baseline, correlations with the end-of-study scores remained significant regardless of the time point used to calculate the features.

Discussion

Our findings were consistent with past research demonstrating that GPS features may be an important and reliable predictor of depressive symptom severity. The varying strength of these relationships on weekends and weekdays suggests the role of weekend/weekday as a moderating variable. The finding that GPS features predict depressive symptom severity up to 10 weeks prior to assessment suggests that GPS features may have the potential as early warning signals of depression.

Functional Interdependence Theory: An Evolutionary Account of Social Situations

Social interactions are characterized by distinct forms of interdependence, each of which has unique effects on how behavior unfolds within the interaction. Despite this, little is known about the psychological mechanisms that allow people to detect and respond to the nature of interdependence in any given interaction. We propose that interdependence theory provides clues regarding the structure of interdependence in the human ancestral past. In turn, evolutionary psychology offers a framework for understanding the types of information processing mechanisms that could have been shaped under these recurring conditions. We synthesize and extend these two perspectives to introduce a new theory: functional interdependence theory (FIT). FIT can generate testable hypotheses about the function and structure of the psychological mechanisms for inferring interdependence. This new perspective offers insight into how people initiate and maintain cooperative relationships, select social partners and allies, and identify opportunities to signal social motives.

Situation Characteristics Are Age Graded

The current work examines mean-level patterns of major dimensions of situation characteristics—the Situational Eight DIAMONDS—across the life span. Using population-representative data from the 2013 and 2014 American Time Use Survey (Study 1) and the 2012 German Socioeconomic Panel (Study 2), we tested hypotheses generated from research on situation cues and personality development. Results demonstrated that the DIAMONDS characteristics were age graded: Individuals tended to be in different kinds of situations as a function of their age. Furthermore, there was evidence that some patterns were country specific, whereas others replicated across the United States and Germany. Overall, these studies suggest that—much like personality traits—situation characteristics have predictable mean-level patterns over the life span.

Taking Situations Seriously

After years of neglect, situations are beginning to be taken seriously in psychological research. Two recent steps include the development of a theoretical framework, the Situation Construal Model (SCM), and an assessment tool, the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ). The SCM describes behavior not only as a function of direct effects of personality and situations but also as a function of construal—how the individual perceives and responds to each situation he or she confronts. The RSQ assesses situations in terms of 89 descriptive phrases that can be rated by observers or participants; the consensus of socially competent observers represents the “objective” nature of a situation. The SCM provides a basis for an ongoing program of research using the RSQ to examine topics including the consistency of behavior, person-environment congruence, consequences of situational construal in social and medical contexts, classification of situations based on evolutionary theory, and the comparison of situational experience across cultures. Promising directions for future research include applications to educational, medical, and industrial settings. Taking situations seriously opens the door to many potential theoretical advances and practical applications.

Processes of Personality Development in Adulthood: The TESSERA Framework

The current article presents a theoretical framework of the short- and long-term processes underlying personality development throughout adulthood. The newly developed TESSERA framework posits that long-term personality development occurs due to repeated short-term, situational processes. These short-term processes can be generalized as recursive sequence of Triggering situations, Expectancy, States/State expressions, and Reactions (TESSERA). Reflective and associative processes on TESSERA sequences can lead to personality development (i.e., continuity and lasting changes in explicit and implicit personality characteristics and behavioral patterns). We illustrate how the TESSERA framework facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of normative and differential personality development at various ages during the life span. The TESSERA framework extends previous theories by explicitly linking short- and long-term processes of personality development, by addressing different manifestations of personality, and by being applicable to different personality characteristics, for example, behavioral traits, motivational orientations, or life narratives.

Directionality of Person–Situation Transactions

To elucidate temporal sequences among and between person and situation variables, this work examines cross-measurement spillovers between situation experiences S (on the Situational Eight DIAMONDS characteristics [Duty, Intellect, Adversity, Mating, pOsitivity, Negativity, Deception, Sociality]) and personality states P (on the Big Six HEXACO dimensions [Honesty/Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience]) in experience sampling data. Multi-level modeling of lagged data at tn-1 and non-lagged data at tn grants the opportunity to examine (a) the stability (P → P, S → S), (b) cross-sectional associations (S ↔ P), and (c) cross-lagged associations among and between situation experiences and personality states (S → P, P → S). Findings indicated that there were (a) moderate stability paths, (b) small to moderate cross-sectional paths, and (c) only very small cross-lagged paths (though the different situation characteristics and personality states showed differential tendencies toward no directionality, S → P or P → S unidirectionality, or bidirectionality). Findings are discussed in light of refining studies on dynamic person–situation transactions.

Ultra-Brief Measures for the Situational Eight DIAMONDS Domains

Abstract. People perceive psychological situations on the “Situational Eight” DIAMONDS characteristics (Duty, Intellect, Adversity, Mating, pOsitivity, Negativity, Deception, Sociality; Rauthmann et al., 2014 ). To facilitate situational assessment and economically measure these dimensions, we propose four ultra-brief one-item scales (S8-I, S8-II, S8-III-A, S8-III-P) validated against the already existing 24-item S8*. Convergent/discriminant validity of the four S8-scales was examined by analyses of the multi-characteristics multi-measures matrix, and their nomological associations with external criteria were compared. Application areas of the scales are discussed.

Measuring the Situational Eight DIAMONDS Characteristics of Situations

Abstract. It has been suggested that people perceive psychological characteristics of situations on eight major dimensions ( Rauthmann et al., 2014 ): The “Situational Eight” DIAMONDS (Duty, Intellect, Adversity, Mating, pOsitivity, Negativity, Deception, Sociality). These dimensions have been captured with the 32-item RSQ-8. The current work optimizes the RSQ-8 to derive more economical yet informative and precise scales, captured in the newly developed S8*. Nomological associations of the original RSQ-8 and the S8* with situation cues (extracted from written situation descriptions) were compared. Application areas of the S8* are outlined.

How Journals Can Facilitate the Study of Underlying Situational Characteristics Distinguishing Worker and Professional Samples

Bergman and Jean's (2016) focal article decries the limited research attention of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists on “workers”—that is, employees such as wage earners, frontline workers, and contractors, who do not fill professional, managerial, or executive positions. We agree. In addition to the scientific and moral benefits of studying workers, there is a practical imperative. An academic discipline that comes across as being disinterested in workers may leave itself open to charges of being the “handmaiden” of management (Hulin, 2002, p. 12). Moreover, such an academic discipline may be ill prepared to provide evidence-based contributions to important societal debates on topics such as income inequality and immigration.

Reinvigorating the Concept of a Situation in Situational Judgment Tests

What is the role of the situation in situational judgment tests (SJTs)? Lievens and Motowidlo (2016) assert that SJTs are somewhat of a misnomer because they do not actually measure how individuals would behave in a given situation per se. According to these researchers, SJTs assess general domain knowledge—whether potential employees recognize the “utility of expressing certain traits” (p. 4). As a result, SJTs map onto personality measures, which are a summary of behavior across time and situations. SJTs provide predictive validity in part because they tap into personality. However, rather than renaming SJTs, it is possible to reintroduce the concept of a situation to provide even greater predictive power. Thus, the goals of this commentary are to (a) clarify what constitutes a situation, (b) describe what SJTs might actually measure, and (c) set forth a path for a taxonomy of workplace situations.

Situation Change: Stability and Change of Situation Variables between and within Persons

When, how, and why situations flow into one another is important for understanding dynamic personality processes, but the topic of situation change has traditionally been a thorny issue in personality/social psychology. We explore conceptual and methodological issues in research on situation change: (1) What is situation change, which variables could we measure, and how can situation change be methodologically captured and analyzed (at between- and within-person levels)? (2) Which person-situation transaction mechanisms (situation management strategies) could entail stability and change of situations in daily life? (3) How do single or repeated instances of situation change impact short-, middle-, and long-term outcomes (e.g., intra- and interpersonal adjustment)? Besides laying out a research program for situation change, we present preliminary data from participants who wore mini-video cameras recording their situations so that they could be rated later in the lab. We demonstrate rater consensus on when situations change, mean-level changes of situation characteristics across situations, similarity of situation characteristics across adjacent situations, and inter-individual differences in intra-individual situation change in change networks.

Revised Measure of Environmental Qualities of Activity Settings (MEQAS) for youth leisure and life skills activity settings

PURPOSE

The aim was to create an expanded version of a published observer-rated Measure of Environmental Qualities of Activity Settings (MEQAS-32).

METHOD

Testing was conducted using a diverse sample of activity settings. Raters completed the original MEQAS questionnaire (MEQAS-66) for 76 youth leisure and life skills activity settings. Scales for the revised measure (MEQAS-48) were determined using a two-step approach: (a) developing a theoretically-based model based on item-to-item linkages, and (b) confirmatory factor analysis.

RESULTS

The analysis revealed a good fitting 9-factor model (CFI= 0.965, RMSEA= 0.049). Five of the six MEQAS-32 scales remained and were validated in an independent dataset. Four additional scales were identified in the MEQAS-48: Comfortable Place-related Qualities, Opportunities for Privacy/Relaxation, Opportunities to Interact with Peers, and Opportunities for Cooperative Group Activity. Opportunities for Choice and Opportunities for Personal Growth were significantly correlated with corresponding youth experiences. Construct validity was demonstrated through predictions for various types of activities.

CONCLUSIONS

The MEQAS-48 more completely reflects the original conceptualization of the measure's content than does the MEQAS-32. Findings suggest the increased utility of the measure due to broader coverage of environmental qualities. The MEQAS-48 can be used to assess environmental qualities for research, program design, and clinical practice. Implications for Rehabilitation The MEQAS is the first observer-completed measure of environmental qualities of activity settings. Compared to the MEQAS-32, the MEQAS-48 captures a broader range of important environmental qualities, including comfortable place-related qualities, and opportunities for privacy/relaxation, peer interaction, and cooperative group activity. The MEQAS-48 has clinical utility for use in program design and development, and research utility for understanding environmental qualities.

Personality and Situation Predictors of Consistent Eating Patterns

INTRODUCTION

A consistent eating style might be beneficial to avoid overeating in a food-rich environment. Eating consistency entails maintaining a similar dietary pattern across different eating situations. This construct is relatively under-studied, but the available evidence suggests that eating consistency supports successful weight maintenance and decreases risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. Yet, personality and situation predictors of consistency have not been studied.

METHODS

A community-based sample of 164 women completed various personality tests, and 139 of them also reported their eating behaviour 6 times/day over 10 observational days. We focused on observations with meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner). The participants indicated if their momentary eating patterns were consistent with their own baseline eating patterns in terms of healthiness or size of the meal. Further, participants described various characteristics of each eating situation.

RESULTS

Eating consistency was positively predicted by trait self-control. Eating consistency was undermined by eating in the evening, eating with others, eating away from home, having consumed alcohol and having undertaken physical exercise. Interactions emerged between personality traits and situations, including punishment sensitivity, restraint, physical activity and alcohol consumption.

CONCLUSION

Trait self-control and several eating situation variables were related to eating consistency. These findings provide a starting point for targeting interventions to improve consistency, suggesting that a focus on self-control skills, together with addressing contextual factors such as social situations and time of day, may be most promising. This work is a first step to provide people with the tools they need to maintain a consistently healthy lifestyle in a food-rich environment.

Situations in 140 Characters: Assessing Real-World Situations on Twitter

Over 20 million Tweets were used to study the psychological characteristics of real-world situations over the course of two weeks. Models for automatically and accurately scoring individual Tweets on the DIAMONDS dimensions of situations were developed. Stable daily and weekly fluctuations in the situations that people experience were identified. Predicted temporal trends were found, providing validation for this new method of situation assessment. On weekdays, Duty peaks in the midmorning and declines steadily thereafter while Sociality peeks in the evening. Negativity is highest during the workweek and lowest on the weekends. pOsitivity shows the opposite pattern. Additionally, gender and locational differences in the situations shared on Twitter are explored. Females share both more emotionally charged (pOsitive and Negative) situations, while no differences were found in the amount of Duty experienced by males and females. Differences in the situations shared from Rural and Urban areas were not found. Future applications of assessing situations using social media are discussed.

Measuring the Evolutionarily Important Goals of Situations : Situational Affordances for Adaptive Problems

According to the Fundamental Motives Framework, basic goals such as protecting oneself, forming coalitions, and avoiding disease have emerged as a result of evolutionary processes to enhance reproductive fitness. This article introduces the Situational Affordances for Adaptive Problems (SAAP), a measure of situation characteristics that promotes or prevents the achievement of these evolutionarily important goals. In Study 1, participants rated a recent situation they encountered using a preliminary version of the SAAP. Using factor analysis, the measure was reduced to 28 items. In Study 2, the factor structure was confirmed. Studies 3 and 4 evaluated the psychometric properties of the measure including its predictive validity. Future studies can use the SAAP to investigate differences in the everyday experience of these fundamental motives.

Capturing Situational Information with Smartphones and Mobile Sensing Methods

Smartphones are pervasive companions to many people as they go about their daily lives. In addition, they are equipped with a wide array of sensors making it possible to measure objective information about people and situations, many times, with great fidelity, over long periods of time, in a way that is both unobtrusive and ecologically valid. Therefore, we argue that smartphones and other forms of mobile sensing are ideally suited to measuring situations. In particular, we describe how sensing methods can be used to assess situational cues, characteristics and classes. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

Structuring Situational Information

Abstract. There is as yet no consensually agreed-upon situational taxonomy. The current work addresses this issue and reviews extant taxonomic approaches by highlighting a “road map” of six research stations that lead to the observed diversity in taxonomies: (1) theoretical and conceptual guidelines, (2) the “type” of situational information studied, (3) the general taxonomic approach taken, (4) the generation of situation pools, (5) the assessment and rating of situational information, and (6) the statistical analyses of situation data. Current situational taxonomies are difficult to integrate because they follow different paths along these six stations. Some suggestions are given on how to spur integrated taxonomies toward a unified psychology of situations that speaks a common language.

Principles of Situation Research: Towards a Better Understanding of Psychological Situations

There is currently no consensus on how to study psychological situations, and situation research is still riddled with problems of conceptualization (what is a situation and what is it not?) and measurement (how can situational information be assessed?). This target article formulates three core principles (with corollaries) to provide a foundation for psychological situation research: the Processing, Reality and Circularity Principles. These principles build upon each other, ranging from basic to more complex issues (e.g. how to study situations in both objective and subjective terms). They are intended to guide and spur more coherent research programs that produce cumulative knowledge on psychological situations. We conclude with a plea for real–life, multi–method, multi–situation, multi–time, multi–group designs that can illuminate the interwoven dynamics between persons (with their personalities and behaviour) and situations. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

What Is the Nature of Faking? Modeling Distinct Response Patterns and Quantitative Differences in Faking at the Same Time

Research trying to uncover the true nature of faking is currently dominated by two competing modeling approaches. One approach views faking as the manifestation of distinct and qualitatively different response patterns. Typically, mixed Rasch models are used within this approach. The alternative approach views faking as a continuous and quantitative variable resulting from the interaction between test taker personality and situational demands. Modeling techniques for this approach range from regression analyses to structural equation modeling. So far, there has been no study in which both modeling approaches have been applied within one data set. More importantly, so far there has been no methodological model in which both views of faking could have been modeled simultaneously. Within the present article such a modeling approach is introduced and applied to a data set of N = 497 applicants. By combining factor mixture modeling with a latent change score model, it was possible to test both views of faking within the same model. Findings support the view of faking mainly as a continuous and quantitative variable. Theoretical implications are discussed.

The Social Consequences of Personality: Six Suggestions for Future Research

Historically, personality psychology has not focused on the social realm, and social psychology has mostly neglected the influence of individual differences. This has, however, begun to change in the past two decades. Recent years have brought an explosion in creative research programmes on the social consequences of personality. In this paper, we offer a (highly subjective) view on how research on the social consequences of personality should move forward. We note that the existing literature is focused heavily on: traits (at the expense of other personality characteristics), a narrow set of social outcomes (e.g. romantic relationship satisfaction) and effects of personality on one's own outcomes (rather than taking a dyadic/interpersonal perspective). In addition, little attention has been paid to the complex dynamic processes that might account for the links between personality and social outcomes. Based on this, we outline six suggestions for future research on the social consequences of personality: (1) examine a wide range of personality variables and integrate findings across domains; (2) take a broader and more integrative view on social outcomes, including different relationship types, phases and transitions; (3) analyse personality effects on social outcomes from different social perspectives (e.g. self, other and dyad); (4) search for processes that explain the associations between personality and social outcomes; (5) collect rich, multi–method, longitudinal, behavioural datasets with large samples and (6) carefully evaluate the implications of personality effects on social outcomes. We invite researchers to embrace a more collaborative and slower scientific approach to answer the many open questions about the social consequences of personality. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

Lab And/Or Field? Measuring Personality Processes and Their Social Consequences

How can researchers study personality processes and their social consequences? In our methodology overview, we first introduce ambulatory assessment methods, which repeatedly measure experiences, physiology and behaviour in people's daily lives based on real–time assessments of self–reports, physiological activity and behavioural observations. Then, we describe methods suitable for assessing personality processes in laboratory settings: self–reports on interpersonal perception, physiological measurements and behavioural observation. We discuss the combination of field and laboratory assessment methods based on their respective strengths and limitations and then highlight ethical issues surrounding the use of these methods. Finally, we propose future avenues for how developments in mobile technology can be used to advance personality research. The increasing availability and the decreasing costs of smartphones, wearable sensors and Internet connectivity offer unique potentials for further understanding the processes underlying how personality exerts broad and important social consequences. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology