Tonya is a girl who demonstrates personality traits at parties with her friends that are very different from those she exhibits when she participates in class activities. One who does not know much about personality and the person-situation controversy may wonder why Tonya’s personality traits are different. Using my knowledge of both the person-situation controversy and reciprocal determinism, I will attempt to explain why Tonya’s behavior in these different situations is not surprising at all.
Tonya’s behavior is related to both her personality and the social context which she is in. Her behavior is no surprise because it can be explained by both person-situation controversy and reciprocal determinism. However, while personality traits are pretty consistent, they are only useful in predicting how a person will behave “ on average” not on a particular day in a particular situation such as Tonya’s. Therefore it is fairly easy to understand why Tonya is acting differently.
Reciprocal determinism can be used to explain this difference in Tonya’s behavior. According to reciprocal determinism, a person’s behavior is controlled by two things, the individual and their cognitive processes and the environment. Based on this, my opinion is that Tonya’s different personality traits come from her own personal comfort with the two different environments that she is in. For an example Tonya will probably be more outgoing, talkative, energetic, and down to earth when she is partying with her friends, this is because she is within her comfort zone when she is with them and she is not afraid to let loose.
Whereas when Tonya is in class and participating in class activities she is completely opposite. She may seem stuck up, quiet, calm, and very reserved. This is because she is not comfortable with the people around her or the environment she is in so she kind of shuts down. She may also know that a classroom setting is not a place to behave like you would at a party with your friends. From this we see that the social context plays a roll in Tonya’s different personality traits and she is controlling them to an extent.
So we find that there are a lot of ways to explain Tonya’s different personality traits in each environment that she is in. I simply think that Tonya behaves these different ways because these are two totally different environments, and one is expected to act a certain way in each environment. I myself would not want to see anyone act the way they would at a party, act the same way in a classroom setting. There is a time and a place for everything, and the classroom is not a place to act like your act a party with friends. Overall the key element in Tonya’s case is the notion of situations, or context, it has a major influence on how individuals behave.
