... that's a personality defect of mine. It seems to me that such theories (or at least the common applications of such theories) overlook the constantly changing situations in which we find ourselves during the course of each day. A little reflection will soon reveal that, although some of us may think of people in such terms, the reality doesn't support such a theory. As Argyle (1982) points out, if persons and situations are equally important and we take three mythical people with a varying degree of a tendency to arrive late in their personality, then we would expect to find something like this: minutes late for: lecture tutorial coffee person means: Tom 0 3 6 3 Dick 3 6 9 6 Harry 6 9 12 9 situation means: 3 6 9 6 What we're much more likely to get in practice is something like this: minutes late for: lecture tutorial coffee person means: Tom -6 3 12 3 Dick 3 6 9 6 Harry 12 9 6 9 situation means: 3 6 9 6 You'll notice that the means remain the same, but there are considerable differences between the people's lateness in response to the situation. Harry is really bored by ...

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