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Is personality stable or fluid? Research showing that personality is far more context-dependent than we believe — the same person can be brave in one situation and cowardly in another. The implications for how we judge ourselves and others.
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Canon
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The fundamental attribution error — we attribute behavior to character when it's caused by situation
Spiegel: the fundamental attribution error is our tendency to explain others' behavior in terms of their personality ('he's a jerk') while explaining our own behavior in terms of the situation ('I was having a bad day'). This asymmetry distorts how we judge others and ourselves.Highlights
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Personality is context-dependent — the same person behaves dramatically differently across situations
Spiegel: Walter Mischel's research showed that personality traits (honesty, aggression, introversion) are poor predictors of behavior across situations. A child who is aggressive at home may be gentle at school. Personality is not a fixed internal essence but a pattern of situation-specific responses.Was this useful?