Trait‐Specific Versus Person‐Specific Moderators of Cross‐Situational Consistency

ABSTRACT Moderator variables for cross‐situational consistency can be tested m two different ways ( a ) a trait‐specific manner which examines differences in cross‐situational consistency among traits, or ( b ) a person‐specific manner which examines differences in cross‐situational consistency among people The present study examined moderator effects–both trait‐ and person‐specific–of the discrepancy between private self‐ratings on trait dimensions (“How do you see yourself?”) and the corresponding public self‐ratings (“How do others see you?”) Agreement between self‐ and peer ratings served as the dependent variable The results showed that public‐private discrepancy moderated self‐peer agreement when operationalized in a trait‐specific manner, i e, for each trait, higher discrepancy was associated with lower self‐peer agreement On the other hand, the results showed only minimal moderator effects when public‐private discrepancy was operationalized in a person‐specific manner, i e, when mean discrepancy across all traits served as the moderator Implications of the distinction between trait‐ and person‐specific approaches to moderator effects are discussed