Abstract
The legacy of the person-environment debate is an appreciation by social scientists of the importance of both person and place in understanding human behavior (Bandura, 1978; Bern & Funder, 1978; Pervin, 1987). Despite this awareness, systematic study of the relationship between people and settings has been both rare and had only isolated impact on mainstream psychology (see Barker, 1978; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; and Moos, 1984, for notable exceptions). The major reason stems from a psychological world view which tends to see behavior and settings as independent entities; although they may interact with each other, usually in a unidirectional fashion, they are rarely seen as parts of a larger whole (Altman & Rogoff, 1987). An additional reason is the complexity associated with environmental assessment.
Expands Barker’s theory of behavior settings by proposing an additional method of classifying settings based on their functional/behavioral aspects—the setting phenotype. Although behavior setting theory has been widely hailed as a revolutionary contribution to behavioral science, it has had limited impact on general psychology. This may be due in part to a reliance on a purely structural method of classifying behavior settings—the setting genotype. Behavioral data were collected from 510 meetings of 13 self-help groups from a mutual help organization for persons with problems in living. A cluster analysis was performed to uncover meaningful behavioral patterns among the groups. Four phenotypes were identified: personal, impersonal, small talk, and advising. Mutual help group phenotype was found to be related to a set of setting characteristics as well as to overall rated change of group members. The results are discussed in light of the significance of the phenotype construct for making behavior setting theory more relevant for social scientists.
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Luke, D.A., Rappaport, J., Seidman, E. (2002). Setting Phenotypes in a Mutual Help Organization: Expanding Behavior Setting Theory. In: Revenson, T.A., et al. Ecological Research to Promote Social Change. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0565-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0565-5_9
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