Person Variables

Person Variables
Cognitive and behavioral construction competencies represent the first of
the person variables. Mischel terms them “competencies” to emphasize that
they represent potentials�"that is, what people can do, rather than what they
do. Referring to their “constructive” quality implies that people do not passively
store but actively construct their experiences by transforming and synthesizing
incoming information in novel ways. Another of these person variables
involves encoding strategies and personal constructs. People encode
information and classify events in personalized, unique ways. For different individuals, traitlike constructs such as intelligence or honesty may therefore
have some overlapping features but may also have many idiosyncratic ones.
This explains why two people can witness and process the same event but interpret
it differently. Both people only attend to stimuli consistent with their
own personal construct systems and ignore discrepant information.

Mischel maintains that besides knowing people’s potentials and how they
construct events, to predict behavior people must also know their expectations.
One type, termed stimulus-outcome expectancies, develops when
people form associations between two events and begin to expect the second
event as soon as the first occurs. For example, if a child learns to associate
parental frowning with being scolded, any angry face alone may instill
anxiety.
A second type, termed response-outcome expectancies, refers to learned
“if-then rules,” in which specific actions will result in certain outcomes. Outcome
expectancies can have a significant influence on what people do.
When expectations are inconsistent with reality, they can lead to dysfunctional
behavior. Expecting relief from alcohol, when drinking actually leads
to multiple problems, illustrates this point.

Subjective stimulus values�"subjective values or worth that a person attributes
to an object or event�"are another type of person variable. In spite
of holding identical outcome expectancies, people may behave differently if
they do not attribute equal value to this outcome. For example, many believe
that practice makes perfect, but not everyone values achievement. Furthermore,
the worth of a given outcome often depends on its context. Even
an avid skier might cancel a ski trip on an icy, stormy winter day.

Self-regulatory systems and plans are yet another kind of person variable.
Besides being affected by external rewards and punishments, people are
capable of regulating their own behavior. They set goals and mediate selfimposed
consequences, depending on whether they meet their own standards.
These self-regulatory processes produce individual differences in behavior
independently from the effects of extrinsically imposed conditions.

More recently, Mischel and his colleagues have proposed that people also
classify events based on cognitive prototypes. These are analogous to templates,
and they contain only the best or most typical features of a concept.
Although prototypes facilitate the classification of input information, they
carry with them the danger of stereotyping. Anyone who, for example, has
mistaken a woman business executive for the secretary can appreciate the
problem resulting from inaccurate classification.

In summary, with the concept of person variables, Mischel can explain
behavioral consistency and at the same time take into account the environment
as an important determinant of human actions. In psychologically
strong situations, person variables play a minimal role (at a church service,
for example, all people behave similarly). In psychologically weak situations
(such as a cocktail party), however, individual differences are pronounced
because there are no consistent cues to signal what behaviors are deemed appropriate. Therefore, whether or how much cognitive dispositions influence
behavior varies with the specific situation.