Extant theoretical models of personality coherence/incoherence do not sufficiently address the challenge of explaining personality coherence dynamics and the role of psychological mechanisms, including temperament and attention. To overcome these limitations, the Complex-System Approach to Personality (C-SAP) postulates that personality coherence is a within-person structure that arises from the functional consistency/inconsistency between personality traits/types, underlain by specific attentional and temperament mechanisms that have integrative and regulatory potential. The dominant (reactive, regulative) function of stimulation processing in temperament types is the foundation for assessing personality coherence. This paper presents a revised, fine-grained model of personality coherence-originally arising from the C-SAP-that is enriched by a focus on personality coherence dynamics in relation to behavioral consistency. The methodological principles necessary for studying personality coherence dynamics are outlined in detail. This paper also addresses: (a) research methods for relating personality coherence/incoherence to behavioral consistency/inconsistency, and (b) situational contexts that are important to these personality dynamics. In addition, personality coherence dynamics in relation to the self and character and the impact of the C-SAP assumption that behaviors are more stable than traits/types on the relation between personality coherence and behavioral consistency are discussed.
Keywords: attentional mechanisms; behavioral consistency; character; self; taxonomy and dynamics of personality coherence; temperament.
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