Abstract
Thirty members of a fraternity were rated by each other to yield trait scores for energetic and sociable. The subjects also completed 14 days of records that described their locations and activities. It was predicted that energetic and sociable people would select experiences that were consistent with their personality traits. Using participation in sports as an example, there was a strong relationship (R =.70) between personality traits and selection of experiences. It was suggested that this relationship was influenced by biologically based preferences for particular experiences and that random assignment to experimental conditions is a limited model for studying behavior. Approach-avoidance, the selection of experiences, is a core process of the person and is a class of behavior which is likely to be predictable from personality trait scores.
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Gormly, J. Behaviorism and the biological viewpoint of personality. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 20, 255–256 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334832
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334832