Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
When referring to personality traits, "consistent" means that a person's behavior and characteristics remain relatively stable across different situations or contexts.
These are external influences that can affect a person's behavior and may cause inconsistencies in their personality traits.
Trait Variability: It refers to the degree of variation or inconsistency in an individual's behavior and characteristics across different situations.
Person-Situation Interaction: This concept highlights the dynamic relationship between an individual's personality traits and the specific situations they encounter, emphasizing that both factors interact to shape behavior.