Rethinking ‘Propensity’ in Situational Action Theory: Personality, Place, and the Perception-Choice Process

• In Event: Innovative Techniques for Examining Routine Activities and Situational Perspectives

Abstract

This research interrogates core assumptions of Situational Action Theory (SAT). First, we assess SAT's principle of the conditional relevance of controls by examining whether the salience of self-control is contingent on the absence of strong personal morality. Second, we assess SAT's principle of moral correspondence by examining whether key individual-level associations depend on an individual’s social environment (i.e., “moral context”). Third, we expand upon SAT's conceptualization of the "person" in its person-environment interaction. Standard tests of SAT measure a person's criminal propensity as a joint function of self-control and personal morality. Our extension explores additional characteristics derived from personality psychology (e.g., callousness and conscientiousness) hypothesized to influence the perception-choice processes with potential consequences for the decision to commit crime. Using data from a large and nationally representative sample of Finnish youth, we explore intersections between SAT's notion of criminal propensity and these alternative personal characteristics, testing whether they are uniquely associated with delinquency net of personal morality and self-control, and examine whether any person-delinquency associations vary across environments (moral contexts) in ways anticipated by SAT.

Authors

• Jonathan R. Brauer, Indiana University

• Karoliina Suonpää, University of Helsinki

• Jukka Savolainen, University of Michigan