Situations, like
personalities, can
influence hires’
behavior

People's behavior that seems inconsistent becomes much more understandable when observers take into account both personality and situational influences. Let's examine two examples. Beverly is known as a quiet employee who does not enjoy public speaking and rarely voices her opinions at company meetings. But on the weekends, at picnics involving her large extended family, she is lively and animated. She is known as a person who can be counted on to contribute to successful picnics. She is also a good organizer and calls family members to be sure they know about social gatherings.

Ray is a midlevel manager in an accounting firm. His subordinates do not consider him a good boss. He is harsh and demanding, addresses his employees in an unpleasant tone of voice and regularly criticizes their work in public settings. When he is with high-level executives in the firm, however, he is polite and charming. He addresses the executives in a respectful tone of voice and tells them what a great job they are doing.

The behavior of Beverly and Ray might seem inconsistent because they are not behaving the same way in different social situations. But if person-situation combinations are considered, their behavior becomes much more understandable. These combinations are called behavioral signatures by Stanford University's Walter Mischel.

Signatures include information about people's personalities and the social situations in which they regularly find themselves. Beverly has a quiet and introverted personality. She does not speak up at company meetings, but she is the life of the party at weekend family gatherings.

This is a common signature. Many people become very open and expressive when they are in the company of people whom they have known all their lives. But they are quiet and withdrawn with people whom they don't know well, as is common in many large workplaces.

Ray is harsh and unpleasant with subordinates but seems like a charm school graduate when he is in the company of company executives. This is a common signature of people with authoritarian personalities. Such people are very sensitive to their positions in power and status hierarchies. They often "dump down" on subordinates to demonstrate their self-images of powerful people who have to right to order others around. But they "suck up" to people who have more power and status. Authoritarians want the approval of high-status people and obtain feelings of satisfaction by associating with company executives and other influential people in their communities.

Whenever people ask me to explain puzzling behaviors they have observed, I try to encourage them to think about both personalities and situations. Was a normally pleasant person rude because she was under a great deal of stress on a certain day? Was a normally punctual person late because of a family medical emergency? Did a person who usually contributes to charities turn down a request because of recent financial troubles? Thinking about both personalities and situations is difficult, but it allows for fairer and more accurate analyses of people's behavior.