SOCIAL-COGNITIVE MECHANISMS AND PERSONALITY COHERENCE:

Abstract— This article presents a social-cognitive analysts of cross-situational coherence in personality functioning. Social-cognitive analyses are contrasted with those of trait approaches in personality psychology. Rather than attributing coherence to high-level constructs that correspond directly to observed patterns of social behavior, social-cognitive theory pursues a "bottom-up" analytic strategy in which coherence derives from interactions among multiple underlying causal mechanisms, no one of which corresponds directly to a broad set of responses. Research investigating social and self-knowledge underlying cross-situational coherence in a central social-cognitive mechanism, perceived self-efficacy, is presented. Idiographic analyses revealed that individuals' schematic self-knowledge and situational beliefs give rise to patterns of high and low self-efficacy appraisal across diverse, idiosyncratic sets of situations that do not, in general, correspond to traditional high-level trait categories Bottom-up analyses in personality psychology are related to other disciplines' analyses of organization in complex, adaptive systems.     

The person and the situation in an international model of behavior

Abstract.— The report deals with two main problems: ( a ) cross-situational consistency of person variables, which is discussed on the basis of a critical analysis of empirical research on cross-situational stability of actual behavior, and ( b ) the role of the momentary situation in models of behavior, and the consequences of an interactional view for theorizing and research on situations. The analyses and discussions are based on two distinctions, namely ( a ) a distinction between consistency in terms of actual behavior and consistency in terms of mediating processes, and ( b ) a distinction between personality theories and measurement models. Three different senses of consistency in terms of reactions are distinguished.     

Variations on a theme

Epstein (1986) has demonstrated that aggregation leads to high correlations which are not spurious but which reflect only stability. He claims that there is no distinction between a demonstration of test-retest reliability and behavioral stability. It is suggested that Epstein has confused personality theory and measurement models and has made the logical fallacy of claiming that high correlation coefficients uniquely reflect stability. Epstein has failed to distinguish clearly between reaction variables and mediating variables and between temporal stability and cross-situational consistency. While high correlation coefficients may reflect stability there is no necessary one-to-one relationship between personality theories and their measurement models nor between reaction variables and mediating variables. The interaction model recognizes that behavior is consistent in the sense of coherence, i.e. a lawful idiographically predictable pattern of behavior. This pattern involves personsituation interactions, and changes over time. Aggregation may obscure these patterns.     

Trait-Specific Versus Person-Specific Moderators of Cross-Situational Consistency

ABSTRACT Moderator variables for cross-situational consistency can be tested m two different ways (a) a trait-specific manner which examines differences in cross-situational consistency among traits, or (b) a person-specific manner which examines differences in cross-situational consistency among people The present study examined moderator effects–both trait- and person-specific–of the discrepancy between private self-ratings on trait dimensions (“How do you see yourself?”) and the corresponding public self-ratings (“How do others see you?”) Agreement between self- and peer ratings served as the dependent variable The results showed that public-private discrepancy moderated self-peer agreement when operationalized in a trait-specific manner, i e, for each trait, higher discrepancy was associated with lower self-peer agreement On the other hand, the results showed only minimal moderator effects when public-private discrepancy was operationalized in a person-specific manner, i e, when mean discrepancy across all traits served as the moderator Implications of the distinction between trait- and person-specific approaches to moderator effects are discussed     

攻击行为一般模式述评

攻击行为一般模式从社会认知取向分析了特定情境下攻击行为的发生过程,即,人的因素和情境因素两个输入变量通过影响个体当时的内在状态和后继的评价与决策过程而产生攻击行为;同时,它还阐释了攻击性人格的形成和发展过程,即,生物因素与社会环境的相互作用影响个体的知识结构和知识结构中的情感要素,与攻击性相关的知识结构的发展、自动化和强化。对个体会产生长期的影响,从而改变个体的人格。该模式代表了攻击行为认知研究取向最新的理论进展。     

行为的跨情境一致性及人格与行为的关系——对人格内涵及其中西方差异的理论与实证分析

旨在对行为的跨情境一致性和人格的内涵等问题进行跨文化的理论和实证分析。人格内容被划分为4个层次,包括个体的外显行为、内心体验、动机和神经生理基础等,文化对人格的不同内容都会产生一定的影响。同时,不同情境下的行为由于受到来自个体内部不同动机（自我统一性动机与适应环境要求的动机）的影响而出现跨情境的一致或不一致。文中从理论和实证角度对上述问题进行了分析,并提出了进一步研究的方向     

Trait Influences on Stress Appraisal and Coping: An Evaluation of Alternative Frameworks

According to contemporary trait models, personality variables influence the relation of certain social-cognitive processes to coping and adjustment. Specifically, neuroticism may effect a greater perception of threat in a given stressor and thus effect a greater propensity for emotion-focused coping efforts. Similarly, higher levels of conscientiousness may be related to a greater use of problem-focused coping. We tested these presumed effects of personality traits on the association between stress appraisals and coping among 141 undergraduates. Resulting models indicated that certain personality characteristics are related to appraisal and coping activities, but these relations do not fully explain the association between stress appraisal and coping.     

Networks of Meaning: Intergroup Relations, Cultural Worldviews, and Knowledge Activation Principles

In this article, we bring advances in the fields of social cognition, personality, and culture to bear on the topic of intergroup relations. Specifically, principles of knowledge activation ( Higgins, 1996 ), and of the architecture of knowledge networks ( Cervone, 2005; Mischel & Shoda, 1995 ) are applied to understanding how cultural groups develop divergent worldviews. We discuss these principles within a recently proposed model of culture and person dynamics, the Cultural Cognitive-Affective Processing System ( Mendoza-Denton & Mischel, 2007 ). It is argued that the underlying psychological principles that govern knowledge acquisition and activation may be universal, but that the manifestations of these processes are culture specific. More precisely, culture impacts the availability, applicability, and accessibility of knowledge, as well as the organizational relationships among constructs. Together, these processes give rise to complex networks of meaning that, despite diverging across cultures, can nevertheless be communicated and understood by non-natives of that culture.     

Disposed to aggress?: In search of the violence-prone personality

The heritability, cross-situational consistency, and cross-temporal stability of aggressive behavior is examined in an effort to assess the logical, practical, and empirical utility of the violence-prone personality. For reasons of conceptual obscurity, circular reasoning, labeling, and negation of process, the concept of a violence-prone personality is rejected in favor of several more specific processes (i.e., Person × Situation interaction, survival strategies, psychological adjustment, the motivation to avoid change, implicit personality theories, systemic reinforcement of behavior, environmental stability, methodological issues).     

Appraisal and coping processes in acute time-limited stressful situations: A study of police officers

This study focuses on the appraisal and coping process in acute, time-limited stressful situations in a stress experienced group: 54 Swedish police officers. Each police officer retrospectively reported their thoughts, emotions, and actions during five recent stressful job events. The relations among appraisals of threat and of coping options, seven forms of problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies, and selfrated performance were examined. Compared with previous studies of ordinary people in stressful situations, the police officers felt less threatened, appraised the situations as more solvable, and used considerably more problem-focused forms of coping. Age had a significant effect on appraisal, while organizational position had a significant effect on coping. Using latent profile analysis, four appraisal styles were obtained. Consistency of cross-situational appraisal style amongst individuals was high. The functional relationships among variables, i.e. appraisal, coping, and performance, are discussed.     

Reduced Sense of Coherence Due to Neuroticism: Are Transcendent Beliefs Protective Among Catholic Pastoral Workers?

In this study, we examined a third variable effect on the relationship of personality traits, especially neuroticism and the salutogenetic concept sense of coherence. Specifically, we were interested in the moderating role of religious trust (RT) and transcendence perception operationalized as daily spiritual experiences (DSE) on the aforementioned relationship among religious individuals. We applied a cross-sectional study among a sample of 8594 pastoral workers using standardized questionnaires. Multiple regression and moderator analysis displayed the relationships between big five personality variables and sense of coherence. Neuroticism was identified as a negative predictor to sense of coherence, indicating impairment on this psychological resource. RT and DSE appear to function as moderators that buffer the negative effects of neuroticism on sense of coherence among religious persons. This is an interesting finding because people with expressions of neurotic personality tendencies often struggle to find helpful methods of coping and may find a helpful resource in the concepts studied here.     

Exploring the dynamics of the appraisal–emotion relationship: A constraint satisfaction model of the appraisal process

This paper presents a computational model of emotions that is based in an appraisal theoretical framework. The model explores the dynamics of the appraisal–emotion relationship using parallel constraint satisfaction. It proposes belief coherence, desire coherence and belief–desire coherence as basic principles and specifies how these principles can be realised in a parallel constraint satisfaction system. The model shows that the very same mechanisms that account for the formation of coherence or consistency are also pivotal for the emergence and alteration of emotional states and for the dynamics of the cognition–emotion relationship. Concrete simulation examples show how discrete emotions such as anger, pride, sadness, shame, surprise, relief and disappointment emerge out of these principles.     

Are the sources of interest the same for everyone? Using multilevel mixture models to explore individual differences in appraisal structures

How does personality influence the relationship between appraisals and emotions? Recent research suggests individual differences in appraisal structures: people may differ in an emotion's appraisal pattern. We explored individual differences in interest's appraisal structure, assessed as the within-person covariance of appraisals with interest. People viewed images of abstract visual art and provided ratings of interest and of interest's appraisals (novelty–complexity and coping potential) for each picture. A multilevel mixture model found two between-person classes that reflected distinct within-person appraisal styles. For people in the larger class (68%), the novelty–complexity appraisal had a stronger effect on interest; for people in the smaller class (32%), the coping potential appraisal had a stronger effect. People in the larger class were significantly higher in appetitive traits related to novelty seeking (e.g., sensation seeking, openness to experience, and trait curiosity), suggesting that the appraisal classes have substantive meaning. We conclude by discussing the value of within-person mixture models for the study of personality and appraisal.     

A failure to replicate the Bem and Allen study of individual differences in cross-situational consistency

Bem and Allen (1974) purportedly found evidence that, by using self-report measures of cross-situational consistency as moderator variables, it was possible to substantially increase the size of correlation coefficients computed among measures of each of two personality traits. The present study was undertaken to (a) replicate the Bem and Allen finding on a larger set of personality traits, (b) determine if the results hold differentially for self-report, other-report, and objective personality measures, and (c) compare different methods for dividing subjects into high and low consistent groups. One hundred twelve subjects (64 men and 48 women) were divided into high and low consistent groups using three different methods. Within each group correlations were computed among and between 6 self-report measures, 10 other-report measures, and when possible a few objective measures, for each of eight traits. In general, none of the methods of consistency classification replicated the Bem and Allen finding. In cases where the high consistent group had a larger average correlation among the measures than their low consistent counterparts, the size of that difference was negligible. Moreover, there were about as many instances in which the low consistent group actually had larger average correlations. Finally, there was essentially no agreement among the various consistency classification methods in dividing subjects into high and low consistent subsamples.     

Expanding the scope of reflective knowledge: From MINE to OURS

Ernest Sosa has suggested that we distinguish between animal knowledge, on the one hand, and reflective knowledge, on the other. Animal knowledge is direct, immediate, and foundationally structured, while reflective knowledge involves a knower's higher‐order awareness of her own mental states, and is structured by relations of coherence. Although Sosa's distinction is extremely appealing, it also faces serious problems. In particular, the sorts of processes that would be required for reflective knowledge, as Sosa understands it, are not processes that are instantiated in human cognition. I argue that the problems facing Sosa's notion of reflective knowledge stem from treating human cognitive processes individualistically. They stem from what I will term Sosa's perspective of methodologically individualistic noetic explanation—or MINE. I suggest that these problems disappear if we expand the scope of what counts as cognitive processes to include socially distributed cognitive processes, if we adopt a framework of other‐derived united reflective self‐evaluation—or OURS. In other words, I'll suggest that a solution to the problems facing the distinction between animal and reflective knowledge may be found in a shift of perspective from MINE to OURS.     

Prediction of stress appraisals from mastery,extraversion, neuroticism,and general appraisal tendencies

Several personality dimensions (mastery, extraversion, and neuroticism) and a new General Appraisal Measure were used to predict stress appraisals made by college students in specific situations. Using multiple-regression techniques, mastery and general appraisal tendencies predicted appraisals for an intellectual task. Path analysis supported a structural model with general appraisal tendencies as a mediator between mastery and specific appraisal. In the second study mastery, extraversion, neuroticism, and general appraisal tendencies predicted appraisals for an academic stressor. Path analysis again supported the mediational nature of general appraisal tendencies from personality variables to specific appraisal. We discuss a potential causal mechanism between personality dimensions and appraisal patterns.     

Language Reflects “Core” Cognition: A New Theory About the Origin of Cross‐Linguistic Regularities

The underlying structures that are common to the world's languages bear an intriguing connection with early emerging forms of “core knowledge” (Spelke & Kinzler, 2007), which are frequently studied by infant researchers. In particular, grammatical systems often incorporate distinctions (e.g., the mass/count distinction) that reflect those made in core knowledge (e.g., the non‐verbal distinction between an object and a substance). Here, I argue that this connection occurs because non‐verbal core knowledge systematically biases processes of language evolution. This account potentially explains a wide range of cross‐linguistic grammatical phenomena that currently lack an adequate explanation. Second, I suggest that developmental researchers and cognitive scientists interested in (non‐verbal) knowledge representation can exploit this connection to language by using observations about cross‐linguistic grammatical tendencies to inspire hypotheses about core knowledge.