Toward a cognitive social learning reconceptualization of personality.

Diverse data challenge and undermine ihe central assumptions of the tradi tional trait approach to personality. The implications for conceptions of individual differences and situations in the study of personality are examined. The issues discussed include the nature of behavioral "specificity," the acquired meaning of stimuli, the uses and misuses of traits, and the construction of personality. To move toward a more adequate theoretical approach to persons, the following cognitive social learning variables are proposed as basic units for the study of individuals: cognitive and behavioral construction competencies, encoding strategies and personal constructs, behavior-outcome and stimulus-outcome expectancies, subjective stimulus values, and selfregulatory systems and plans. The specific interactions between these person variables and psychological situations are analyzed within the framework of a cognitive social learning approach.