Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Sherman, Ryne A.

Abstract

Theoretical models posit that the perception of situations consists of two components: an objective component attributable to the situation being perceived and a subjective component attributable to the person doing the perceiving (Murray, 1938; Rauthmann, 2012; Sherman, Nave & Funder, 2013; Wagerman & Funder, 2009). In this study participants (N = 186) viewed three pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1938) and rated the situations contained therein using a new measure of situations, the Riverside Situational Q-Sort (RSQ; Wagerman & Funder, 2009). The RSQ was used to calculate the overall agreement among ratings of situations and to examine the objective and subjective properties of the pictures. These results support a twocomponent theory of situation perception. Both the objective situation and the person perceiving that situation contributed to overall perception. Further, distinctive perceptions of situations were consistent across pictures and were associated with the Big Five personality traits in a theoretically meaningful manner. For instance, individuals high in Openness indicated that these pictures contained comparatively more humor (r = .26), intellectual stimuli (r = .20), and raised moral or ethical issues (r = .19) than individuals low on this trait.

Extent

62 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA0004059

Format

pdf

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