THE PERSONALITY PUZZLE REVIEW PAPER
2026 COMPLETE QUESTIONS WITH EXPERT
SOLUTIONS AND MARKING SCHEME
◉ What does Trait Approach focus on?
Answer: It focuses exclusively on individual differences. In still other
ways, each individual is unique and cannot be meaningfully
compared with anyone else.
◉ Pro for Trait Approach
Answer: This focus on comparisons is one of the great strengths of
the trait approach. It is important to understand and to assess how
people differ.
◉ Con for Trait approach
Answer: The trait approach, by its very nature, is prone to neglect
aspects of psychology common to all people, as well as the ways in
which each person is unique.
◉ Why do Young people Believe in Situationism
Answer: Because they have yet to have a clear idea on who they are
and what they believe in
,◉ Why do adults Believe in Personality
Answer: They are more stable and have had time to find their consist
Identity
◉ The Person-Situation Debate Three Issues
Answer: Does the personality of an individual transcend the
immediate situation and provide a consistent guide to her actions, or
is what a person does utterly dependent on the situation she is in at
the time? Are common, ordinary intuitions about people
fundamentally flawed? Why do psychologists continue to argue
about the consistency of personality, year after year, decade after
decade?
◉ Situationism
Answer: The belief that behavior is largely driven by the situation,
and that personality is relatively unimportant.
◉ The Situationist Argument
Answer: There is an upper limit to how well one can predict what a
person will do based on any measurement of that person's
personality. This upper limit is a low upper limit. Therefore,
situations are more important than personality traits in determining
behavior.Therefore, not only is the professional practice of
personality assessment mostly a waste of time, but also, everyday
intuitions about people are fundamentally flawed. The trait words
used to describe people are not legitimately descriptive, because
,people generally tend to see others as being more consistent across
situations than they really are. Indeed, people who believe
personality is important commit the "fundamental attribution error"
◉ Mischel's argument for the Situationist side
Answer: correlations between personality and behavior, or between
behavior in one situation and behavior in another, seldom exceed .30
◉ Richard Nissbet argument for the Situationist side
Answer: said the correlation does not go above .40
◉ The Response to The Situationist Argument
Answer: Unfair Literature Review, We can do better, 0.4 is not small
◉ Unfair Literature Review
Answer: Mischel did not go through a lot of research. He only found
research that supported him and it was bad research
◉ We can do better
Answer: Just because the upper limit is .4 does not mean that it is
not related well, it just means that people need to do better research.
Examples: Make real life scenarios and base off of that Some people
are more consistent than others Focus on general Behavioral trends
, than single actions. Use common sense and understand that being
late might be because of weather and not poor time management.
◉ 0.4 is not small
Answer: Two kinds of standard are possible absolute According to
the BESD .40 is 70% right of the time
◉ The Power of the Situation
Answer: In other words, as the effect of the situation gets stronger,
the effect of the person tends to get weaker, and vice versa. But there
were exceptions. Both influences were important in determining
how much a person talked.
◉ Traits can predict
Answer: how you are as a persona and career out comes
◉ Final Understanding of the Person situation debate
Answer: that people are psychologically different from one another,
that personality traits exist, that people's impressions of each
other's personalities are based on reality more than cognitive error,
and that personality traits affect important life outcomes.Situational
variables are relevant to how people will act under specific
circumstances. Personality traits are better for describing how
people act in general
2026 COMPLETE QUESTIONS WITH EXPERT
SOLUTIONS AND MARKING SCHEME
◉ What does Trait Approach focus on?
Answer: It focuses exclusively on individual differences. In still other
ways, each individual is unique and cannot be meaningfully
compared with anyone else.
◉ Pro for Trait Approach
Answer: This focus on comparisons is one of the great strengths of
the trait approach. It is important to understand and to assess how
people differ.
◉ Con for Trait approach
Answer: The trait approach, by its very nature, is prone to neglect
aspects of psychology common to all people, as well as the ways in
which each person is unique.
◉ Why do Young people Believe in Situationism
Answer: Because they have yet to have a clear idea on who they are
and what they believe in
,◉ Why do adults Believe in Personality
Answer: They are more stable and have had time to find their consist
Identity
◉ The Person-Situation Debate Three Issues
Answer: Does the personality of an individual transcend the
immediate situation and provide a consistent guide to her actions, or
is what a person does utterly dependent on the situation she is in at
the time? Are common, ordinary intuitions about people
fundamentally flawed? Why do psychologists continue to argue
about the consistency of personality, year after year, decade after
decade?
◉ Situationism
Answer: The belief that behavior is largely driven by the situation,
and that personality is relatively unimportant.
◉ The Situationist Argument
Answer: There is an upper limit to how well one can predict what a
person will do based on any measurement of that person's
personality. This upper limit is a low upper limit. Therefore,
situations are more important than personality traits in determining
behavior.Therefore, not only is the professional practice of
personality assessment mostly a waste of time, but also, everyday
intuitions about people are fundamentally flawed. The trait words
used to describe people are not legitimately descriptive, because
,people generally tend to see others as being more consistent across
situations than they really are. Indeed, people who believe
personality is important commit the "fundamental attribution error"
◉ Mischel's argument for the Situationist side
Answer: correlations between personality and behavior, or between
behavior in one situation and behavior in another, seldom exceed .30
◉ Richard Nissbet argument for the Situationist side
Answer: said the correlation does not go above .40
◉ The Response to The Situationist Argument
Answer: Unfair Literature Review, We can do better, 0.4 is not small
◉ Unfair Literature Review
Answer: Mischel did not go through a lot of research. He only found
research that supported him and it was bad research
◉ We can do better
Answer: Just because the upper limit is .4 does not mean that it is
not related well, it just means that people need to do better research.
Examples: Make real life scenarios and base off of that Some people
are more consistent than others Focus on general Behavioral trends
, than single actions. Use common sense and understand that being
late might be because of weather and not poor time management.
◉ 0.4 is not small
Answer: Two kinds of standard are possible absolute According to
the BESD .40 is 70% right of the time
◉ The Power of the Situation
Answer: In other words, as the effect of the situation gets stronger,
the effect of the person tends to get weaker, and vice versa. But there
were exceptions. Both influences were important in determining
how much a person talked.
◉ Traits can predict
Answer: how you are as a persona and career out comes
◉ Final Understanding of the Person situation debate
Answer: that people are psychologically different from one another,
that personality traits exist, that people's impressions of each
other's personalities are based on reality more than cognitive error,
and that personality traits affect important life outcomes.Situational
variables are relevant to how people will act under specific
circumstances. Personality traits are better for describing how
people act in general
