You Say the Party is Dull, I Say It is Lively: A Componential Approach to How Situations Are Perceived to Disentangle Perceiver, Situation, and Perceiver x Situation Variance

A componential approach to situation perceptions is presented, disentangling Perceiver (how much people differ in perceiving situations), Situation (how much situations differ in how they are perceived), and Perceiver x Situation variance (how much perceivers idiosyncratically perceive specific situations) in a Situation Perception Components Model (SPCM). For frequency, valence, and activation ratings of 55 Big Five situations, the percentage of Perceiver, Situation, and Perceiver x Situation variance and relations between perceiver effects and perceivers' Big Five were investigated (N = 126). Perceiver x Situation variance appeared high for all situation classes. Neuroticism, Openness, and Conscientiousness situation classes yielded more perceiver, and Extraversion and Agreeableness situation classes more situation variance. Situation-perceiver effects correlated strongest with the perceivers' Big Five trait they expressed. The viability of variance decomposition in situation perception and future research is discussed.