UC Riverside

There is an abundance of empirical support showing how psychological situations influence behaviors. Yet they tend to be understudied in both psychology and sociology. This study compares behavioral patterns resulting from two specific kinds of psychological situations: aversiveness and sociality. Previous studies have suggested that they exert converse effects on behaviors and ambiguity has been implied as the mechanism behind this difference. Participants from 21 countries were asked to describe a situation they experienced at 7pm of the day prior and completed two Q-Sorts; one for assessing their experience of the situation and the other for assessing behaviors reported during that situation. Findings revealed that, compared to social situations, individuals under the situations of adversity a) engaged in behaviors that expressed negative emotions and social outcomes, b) associate fewer situational cues to perceptions of adversity, and c) display more behavioral variability. These results echo what the literature has discussed on ambiguity and adversity, supporting the implication that adverse situations reflect a great degree of ambiguity. These findings can be used to develop and fortify a taxonomy on situations, and further compare social situations with adverse ones.

Keywords: psychological situations, ambiguity, adversity, DIAMONDS, cross-cultural