Trend in person-situation controversy about personality research

Abstract

The purpose is to review the trend in “person-situation controversy”, and to comment on recent literature and their implications. “Person-situation controversy” is related to whether people do or do not have consistent personality traits. Although the topic is not at all new, it aroused a great deal of interest since the publication of Mischel's (1968) “personality and assessment”. Here, we began with Mischel's criticism against the trait approach, then, we discussed two opposite viewpoints of situationism and interactionism. Situationism is the idea that situational variables influence more on the behavior of people than personality traits, while interactionism is the idea that personality traits and situations interact with each other to influence behavior. Furthermore, this article focussed on three conceptual issues, such as consistency, prediction, and meaning of traits. Finally, the reconsideration and evaluation of the two viewpoints were presented from a viewpoint of personality psychology. © 1993, The Japanese Psychological Association. All rights reserved.