A failure to replicate the Bem and Allen study of individual differences in cross-situational consistency.

Abstract

Bem and Allen (1974) purportedly found evidence that, by using self-report measures of cross-situational consistency as moderator variables, it was possible to substantially increase the size of correlation coefficients computed among measures of each of two personality traits. The present study was undertaken to (a) replicate the Bem and Allen finding on a larger set of personality traits, (b) determine if the results hold differentially for self-report, other-report, and objective personality measures, and (c) compare different methods for dividing subjects into high and low consistent groups. One hundred twelve subjects (64 men and 48 women) were divided into high and low consistent groups using three different methods. Within each group correlations were computed among and between 6 self-report measures, 10 other-report measures, and when possible a few objective measures, for each of eight traits. In general, none of the methods of consistency classification replicated the Bem and Allen finding. In cases where the high consistent group had a larger average correlation among the measures than their low consistent counterparts, the size of that difference was negligible. Moreover, there were about as many instances in which the low consistent group actually had larger average correlations. Finally, there was essentially no agreement among the various consistency classification methods in dividing subjects into high and low consistent subsamples.

Moderators of self–other agreement: Reconsidering temporal stability in personality.

“…These moderators have shown promise in predicting the magnitude of selfother agreement in some studies (Chaplin, 1991;Mischel & Peake, 1982), but other studies have failed to replicate the findings (Chaplin & Goldberg, 1984;Hofstee & Smid, 1986), and still other studies have yielded inconsistent results across moderators (Chaplin, 1991;Lanning, 1988).…”

“…The moderator variable strategy has sparked considerable re-consistency in behavior across situations, relevance of personality dimensions to behavior, and the uniqueness of how a personality dimension is behaviorally expressed are able to moderate self-other agreement (Bem and Allen, 1974;Cheek, 1982;Kenrick & Stringfield, 1980;Mischel & Peake, 1982;Zuckerman, Bernieri, Koestner, & Rosenthal, 1989;Zuckerman et al, 1988;Zuckerman, Miyake, Koestner, Baldwin, & Osborne, 1991; but see Chaplin & Goldberg, 1984, for a failure to replicate). Research has focused on self-other agreement as ratings by knowledgeable informant reflect an implicit pooling of observations of an individual's behavior across different situations and time (Epstein, 1983;Graziano, Jensen-Campbell, & Finch, 1997;Kenrick & Braver, 1982).…”

Sympathy in the context of mother-child and teacher-child relationships

“…Effect sizes were not very high and especially the number of girls studied was quite small. Whether moderational effects are replicable or not is an issue of discussion (Bem, 1972;Borkenau, 1985;Chaplin & Goldberg, 1984;Wallach & Leggett, 1972), but only further research with bigger samples will be able to give an answer to this question. Still, the results of this study underline the importance of considering the child in contexts and relationships.…”

On the accuracy of personality judgment: A realistic approach.

“…In a related vein, Bern and Allen (1974) discussed differences between people who were and were not consistent in their behavior across situations and showed that those people who described themselves as consistent on a given trait were judged on that trait with better agreement by others. Although the initially demonstrated effect has not always been successfully replicated by others (Chaplin & Goldberg, 1984), the central claim that individual differences in predictability can be identified has held up reasonably well (Zuckerman, Bernieri, Koestner, & Rosenthal, 1989). …”