Situation cognition and coherence in personality : an individual-centred approach /

The study of personality is based on the assumption that people behave consistently from situation to situation. Social psychology, on the other hand, demonstrates instance after instance where people behave in particular ways regardless of their "personality." Krahe's book is valuable because she thoroughly reviews the ongoing conflict between these approaches and presents a research methodology that balances the relevant variables. The review is excellent and more complete and unbiased than other recent presentations, e.g., Albert Bandura's Social Foundations of Thought and Action (CH, Apr'86). The research combines the individual (idiographic) and the normative (nomothetic) by letting each participant define the relevant situation and describe his or her behavior in that situation. With this specific approach a wide range of conditions were examined and the individual behaviors reported did indeed correlate significantly and highly within situations. The types of situations examined were those producing anxiety (social, physical, interpersonal, and ambiguous). Consequently ethical and practical considerations prevented the direct manipulation of the resulting behavior. Nevertheless, the goal of this approach is admirable and should lead to further research, perhaps even using more benign events to evaluate actual behavioral consistency. Graduate level.-P. L. Derks, College of William and Mary