In this target article, we argue that personality processes, personality structure, and personality development have to be understood and investigated in integrated ways in order to provide comprehensive responses to the key questions of personality psychology. The psychological processes and mechanisms that explain concrete behaviour in concrete situations should provide explanation for patterns of variation across situations and individuals, for development over time as well as for structures observed in intra-individual and inter-individual differences. Personality structures, defined as patterns of covariation in behaviour, including thoughts and feelings, are results of those processes in transaction with situational affordances and regularities. It cannot be presupposed that processes are organized in ways that directly correspond to the observed structure. Rather, it is an empirical question whether shared sets of processes are uniquely involved in shaping correlated behaviours, but not uncorrelated behaviours (what we term 'correspondence' throughout this paper), or whether more complex interactions of processes give rise to population-level patterns of covariation (termed 'emergence'). The paper is organized in three parts, with part I providing the main arguments, part II reviewing some of the past approaches at (partial) integration, and part III outlining conclusions of how future personality psychology should progress towards complete integration. Working definitions for the central terms are provided in the appendix.

Kwan, John, Kenny, Bond, and Robins conceptualize self-enhancement as a favorable comparison of self-judgments with judgments of and by others. Applying a modified version of Kwan et al.'s approach to behavior observation data, we show that the resulting measure of self-enhancement bias is highly reliable, predicts self-ratings of intelligence as well as does actual intelligence, interacts with item desirability in predicting responses to questionnaire items, and also predicts general life satisfaction. Consistent with previous research, however, self-ratings of intelligence did not become more valid when controlling for self-enhancement bias. We also show that common personality scales like the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale reflect self-enhancement at least as strongly as do scales that were designed particularly for that purpose (i.e., "social desirability scales"). The relevance of these findings in regard to the validity and utility of social desirability scales is discussed.

The principles of "interpersonal complementarity" posit that one person's behavior tends to evoke reactions from others that are similar with regard to affiliation, but dissimilar with regard to status (Carson, 1969). Empirical support for these assumptions has been mixed, especially with regard to the status dimension. The present study investigated influences of level of observation (behaviors vs. traits), personality, and instructional set on complementarity. Previously unacquainted participants (N ϭ 182) were randomly assigned to dyads who engaged in videotaped discussions with either a cooperative or a competitive framing. Their behaviors were rated every 10 s in terms of affiliation and status. We used a multilevel modeling approach that enables powerful omnibus tests of core tenets of interpersonal theory, including previously overlooked influences of person and situation, as well as time-lags. Interpersonal complementarity was found for both affiliation and status. It was highest for simultaneous behaviors, (i.e., occurring within the same 10-s interval), but for status we also found lagged effects being anticomplementary. Complementarity was also moderately predicted by some personality traits. The situational context predicted the mean levels of interpersonal behaviors but not complementarity. Concerning consequences of complementarity, the participants' individual complementarity coefficients predicted their being liked by the interaction partner, observer judgments of their social competence, and their overall discussion performance. We clearly recommend this type of comprehensive multilevel modeling for future research into these and related issues.

Mimicking, that is showing the same nonverbal behaviour as one's interaction partner, is related to trait Affiliation, but there are no previous investigations on its relations to broader concepts of personality. In this study, personality was assessed in terms of the Big Five and the two interpersonal dimensions Affiliation and Dominance. Dyads of unacquainted participants completed a task, several of their behaviours being coded every 10 s. Moreover, the interactants were instructed either to cooperate or to compete, and their performance and liking were measured. Using multilevel modelling, mimicry coefficients were estimated (Level 1) and predicted from personality (Level 2) and the situational context (Level 3). In addition, performance and being liked were predicted from mimicry and the context. Mimicry turned out to be widespread, being predicted by personality traits for some behaviours. In turn, mimicry predicted performance and being liked, some of these effects also depending on the context. Copyright