Next comes the matter of consistency across situations. Do people behave in certain ways only under particular situations? Or is it true that people have traits that show up in a wide range of settings? So the main question is--which controls behavior: the person's traits or the situation? The answer is that BOTH of them do. They work together to make a certain person behave in a certain way under a certain situation. Some people may side more with the situational factors, believing that individuals will show little consistency except when the environment remains consistent. Others who stress on the domination of personality will expect individuals to display consistency and stability.

Therefore, a consistency paradox appears. By stressing the influence of situational factors on behavior, the common assumption of cross-situational consistency in behavior is challenged. Recent research in social psychology supports how behavior may change under different circumstances. Researchers have revealed some biases and shortcomings about our ability to make correct judgments about consistency made from the data we receive through every day experiences. Here are six of the reasons.

1. Our preconceived notions of how people behave may lead us to generalize beyond our actual observations. We may fill in the missing data according to our implicit personality theories of which traits and behaviors go together. Moreover, research shows that when we expect two behaviors to be correlated, we tend to see them as correlated even when they are not. Stereotypes of how a gay person, a librarian, or an athlete behaves may cause us to attribute greater consistency to a person's actions than actual observations warrant.

2. Many features of an individual remain fairly constant -- physical appearance, manner of speaking, expressive gestures, and so on. These constancies help to create an impression that the personality is consistent as well.

3. Our presence can cause people to behave in certain ways. Thus, our acquaintances may appear to behave consistently because we are present as a stimulus during every observation we make. They may behave quite differently when we are not there.

Produced for Thinkquest Internet Challenge 2000.

Send an email to contact Team C004361.