Identifying meaningful types in daily life

Despite long-held recognition of the importance of situations in psychological understanding and analysis, current research is lacking in discernment of structurally important elements of situations as they relate to behavior (Funder et al., 2012). Using the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ: Wagerman & Funder, 2009), an 89-item measure used to assess the psychological properties of situations, the major aim of this study was to identify a reliable set of categories or types of situations that people experience every day. Data was collected online from a U.S. sample (N = 186). Participants were asked to recall details about a situation he or she experienced during the previous day (i.e. "What were you doing yesterday at this time?"). Participants were then asked to rate that situation using the RSQ. Inverse factor analyses revealed the following everyday situation types: 1) Social Closeness, 2) Obligatory, 3) Cognitive, 4) Enjoyable/Aesthetic, and 5) Anxiety Inducing.