Personality or Predicament?

Psychologists have argued for years now about how to interpret why people act as they do. When we observe Joe behaving in a certain way, do we attribute it to his personality or to his current predicament? Is it nature or nurture? Was Joe's action due to his inherent, peculiar character or did the particular situation he was in cause his response?

While psychologists love to bicker over the real cause, most of us ordinary folks lean towards thinking that what Joe did was due to his personality. After all, we may know, for example, that he is considered to be an extrovert (not an introvert), or he's a pretty agreeable guy (not argumentative), or he's shown himself to be conscientious (not slapdash), or we know him to be a positive dude (not negative), or to be open-minded (not intolerant). We have come to know Joe over time and attribute one or more of these possible traits to him, as we see him consistently behave in a certain (and even predictable) manner.

But wait—some psychologists will contend that Joe may, for example seem to be an agreeable guy most of the time, but didn't someone see him being quite belligerent yesterday? Maybe he was stressed out and his boss was being unreasonable, and Joe uncharacteristically flashed out. Yeah, he may be an easy-going guy most of the time, but the situation he finds himself in can control what he does.

So is it personality or predicament? There seems to be scientific evidence that both play a role—one being more important at a given time than the other. Some folks will argue that one's personality is something that can be consistently observed over time; that a person's response is even quite predictable. In the short term, however, the situation may be quite variable and thus very unpredictable. For example, Joe may most of the time be the kind of guy who always shows up on time—or even early. We can count on him to be there when the show starts. But that may be just when the situation is normal. If he had a flat tire, he could be late.

Another interesting aspect of the personality-or-predicament debate is, if personality is important, how consistent over long periods of time will that person be? If Joe has long been seen to be a conscientious guy, can we expect that behavior to persevere? Can Joe change his personality? Might he become a little careless, in his golden years? That could be considered to be a turn for the worse. Is that what happens, or do people tend to become more positive in their traits, over time?

There is a school of psychology that contends that personality is important, and that we in fact do change for the better over time. Even if we disagree whether personality is more important than the situation, we'd like to believe that we can improve with age. Shouldn't the acquisition of a modicum of wisdom over the years nudge us in the direction of change for the better? Don't we want to believe that we become more agreeable, conscientious, and resilient with age?

Whatever the case—whether personality or predicament governs our behavior—I think we can say that both are important. We are not automatons that predictably respond in a certain way. I'm a believer in free will—that we can change how we respond. We go way beyond the instinctive response that most other animals have. We are in charge, and we can change—despite how a certain situation might evoke certain feelings in us.