Mamaeva-Niles V.D., Grishina N.V. Personality in the situations of goal incongruity: assessment factors

A growing body of research shows that the concepts of both character traits and goals are important for understanding individual differences in behavior, however, there are relatively few studies exploring how they relate to each other in specific life situations. The objective of the present study was to examine the interaction between dispositional characteristics, goal determinants and situational parameters in the event of situational incongruency, which led to a discrepancy between expectations and changed affordances for goal achievement. In the course of study, participants (N = 328) first provided trait self-ratings (NEO PI-R and NEO FFI Five-Factor Personality Traits Questionnaire), after which they determined perceived affordances to achieve their goals in the situations congruent (CS) and non-congruent (NCS) to the original goals using the tool “Situational 8 Diamonds”. As an experimental stimulus material, we used an original set of 4 pairs of situational vignettes, developed by the authors, relating to the main spheres of life. The outcomes of the study indicate that situational determinants, such as the emergence of incongruity of goals and situational affordances, substantially affect the perception of the situation and the manifestation of stable dispositions. The findings suggest that individuals’ assessment of situational affordances is contextual, and situations are evaluated depending on the context to which they belong. The statistical analysis showed that the change in situational affordances to achieve personal goals explained the manifestation of personal dispositions. In case of emergence of situational changes that prevent the achievement of the initial goals of a person, almost all situational characteristics revealed a decrease in the assessment of their affordances. The exception is a sharp increase in the assessments of the situation on the “Negativity” scale. The NCS situations that create obstacles to the achievement of an individual’s goals were perceived, as expected, as unfavorable and negative. Personal dispositions turn out to be a significant factor in the perception of situations, although they are manifested in different ways with the situational change. The conducted research confirmed the effectiveness of using the Situational 8 Diamonds scale to study the perception of situations and situational influences on human goals and behavior.

Key words: situation, incongruency of goals and affordances, personality dispositions

For citation: Mamaeva-Niles, V.D., Grishina, N.V. (2024). Personality in the situations of goal incongruity: assessment factors. New Psychological Research, No. 1, 30–56. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2024_04_01_02