Most behavior patterns, effective or ineffective, result from habits and spontaneous reactions to situations, and not from self-conscious, self-directed efforts. For most of us, the gap between habitual responses and thoughtful responses is huge. Making a small change in the
Most behavior patterns, effective or ineffective, result from habits and spontaneous reactions to situations, and not from self-conscious, self-directed efforts. For most of us, the gap between habitual responses and thoughtful responses is huge. Making a small change in the way we act can yield significant gains. For example, consider an overaggressive, impatient manager who is also a poor listener. This type of person tends to interrupt others, degrade communications, and is viewed as difficult and rude. Yet, through an awareness of their predisposition to interrupt and a conscious effort to monitor the habit, such an individual can learn to suppress this negative behavior. By changing one behavior, an otherwise aggressive, impatient person can dramatically reduce the number of times that they irritate others and increase the opportunities to hear their co-workers’ insights regarding work-related matters.
Personality traits are widely defined as stable, inner, personal dispositions that determine relatively consistent patterns of behaviour (including feelings and thoughts) across different situations. Thus personality traits are what make a person’s behaviour similar in different situations, as well as different from the behaviour of other people.
Intuitively, individuals are inclined to believe that their behaviour is largely determined by the situation, and there are clear examples supporting this idea. For instance, few people behave in the same way when they are with friends as when they are with strangers, or, indeed, potential employers (in a job interview). That said, there are marked inter individual differences (differences between people) in how individuals behave both with their friends and with strangers – including in a job interview. Moreover, these patterns of behaviour are likely to emerge every time we are with our friends, every time we are with strangers and every time we have a job interview. Thus, although most people are more at ease in the company of friends than in the company of strangers, and although most people are more anxious during a job interview than while watching a film with friends, some people are clearly more comfortable interacting with strangers than others, even in a job interview. Likewise, some people are characterised by a tendency to worry all the time, even when they are watching a film with friends (in fact, if they are watching a film just before a job interview they may be completely unable to concentrate on the film), whereas other people rarely feel worried or anxious about things (in fact, if they are watching a film before a job interview they may be so relaxed that they forget about the interview).
The key to understanding personality traits is understanding both how people differ and how they are similar. In that sense, personality traits are the cause of behavioural differences among individuals in a given situation, and since these differences are maintained across a number of situations, personality traits should predict how people will behave in comparison to other people most of the time. Accordingly, behaviour can be understood as a product of both situational and personal variables.
Behaviour, personality and the situation
Personality is the overall combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person as that person reacts to and interacts with others. The term personality encompasses the overall combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person as that person reacts to and interacts with others.
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