THE PERSON AND THE SITUATION
Is our behavior shaped by the situation we are in or by the type of person we
are? In the September 11 tragedy, did people act the way they did because ofthe events surrounding them, or were their reactions more the result of the
kind of people they were before the incident? This is one of the enduring
questions in psychology. The generally agreed-upon answer today is that
both the situation and the person contribute to behavior. Certainly we don ’t
act the same way in all situations. Depending on where we are and what ishappening, each of us can be outgoing, shy, aggressive, friendly, depressed,frightened, or excited. But it is equally apparent that not everyone at the
same party, the same ball game, or the same shopping center behaves identi-
cally. The debate among psychologists has now shifted to the question ofhow the situation influences our behavior as well as how our behavior reflects
the individual.
We can divide the fields of study within psychology along the answer
to this question. Many psychologists concern themselves with how people
typically respond to environmental demands. These researchers recognize
that not everyone in a situation reacts the same. Their goal is to identify pat-
terns that generally describe what most people will do. Thus a social psychol-
ogist might create different situations in which participants view someone in
need of help. The purpose of this research is to identify the kinds of situations
that increase or decrease helping behavior. Personality psychologists turn this
way of thinking completely around. We know there are typical response pat-
terns to situations, but what we find more interesting is why Peter tends to
help more than Paul, even when both are presented with the same request.
You may have heard the axiom, “There are few differences between peo-
ple, but what differences there are really matter. ”That tends to sum up the
personality psychologists ’viewpoint. They want to know what makes you dif-
ferent from the person sitting next to you. Why do some people make friendseasily, whereas others are lonely? Why are some people prone to bouts of de-pression? Can we predict who will rise to the top of the business ladder and
who will fall short? Why are some people introverted, whereas others are so
outgoing? Each of these questions is explored in this book. Other topics cov-ered include how your personality is related to hypnotic responsiveness, reac-
tions to stress, how well you do in school, and even your chances of having a
heart attack.
This is not to say that situations are unimportant or of no interest to per-
sonality psychologists. Indeed, as discussed in Chapter 7, many of the ques-tions posed by personality researchers concern how a certain kind of personbehaves in a particular situation. However, the emphasis of this book is on
what makes you different from the next person— that is, your personality.
Before addressing that question, let ’s start by defining “personality. ”
DEFINING PERSONALITY
Anyone who has been in college a while can probably anticipate the topic
of the first lecture of the term. The philosophy professor asks, “What is“The outstanding
characteristic of man
is his individuality.
There was never aperson just like him,
and there never will
be again. ”
Gordon AllportDefining Personality 3