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Related Experiment Videos

What a_____ thing to do! Formally characterizing actions by their expected effects.

Dustin Wood1, William Tov2, Cory Costello1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|January 27, 2015
PubMed
Summary

Actions are understood by their expected environmental effects, aligning with personality traits like the Big Five and HEXACO. This research clarifies how perceived action outcomes link to personality characteristics and individual differences.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Personality Psychology

Background:

  • Personality traits are often conceptualized as central tendencies of action.
  • The link between specific actions and trait attributions requires further clarification.
  • Existing frameworks like the Big Five and HEXACO provide dimensions for personality, but action characterization needs deeper investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify dimensions of expected action effects used by perceivers.
  • To link these effect dimensions to personality trait characterizations (Big Five and HEXACO).
  • To explore how action characterizations relate to self-reported individual differences.

Main Methods:

  • Generated 150 situation-action scenarios related to conscientiousness and other HEXACO traits.

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  • Participants characterized actions on bipolar dimensions (e.g., assertive vs. submissive).
  • Raters coded the expected environmental effects of performing these actions on various outcomes.

    • Main Results:

    • Action characterizations were strongly predicted by expected effect dimensions.
    • Findings were consistent across studies and aligned with hypotheses.
    • Action characterizations effectively diagnosed self-reported individual differences in personality traits.

    Conclusions:

    • Perceived effects of actions on the environment are crucial for trait attribution.
    • This provides a framework for understanding the behavior-trait relationship.
    • Implications for integrating trait and decision-making models and understanding situational influences on personality.