Identifying the Situationally Variable Subject: Correspondence among Different Self-Report Formats

The present study compared the results obtained from three different procedures for obtaining self- reports of behavioral consistency versus inconsis tency : (1) the traditional bipolar rating scale; (2) the Nisbett, Caputo, Legant, and Maracek (1973) pro cedure whereby subjects check the term, its antonym or the phrase "it depends on the situ ation"; and (3) subject-generated lists of self- descriptive traits. Results showed a moderate asso ciation between self-reports of situational variability and central responses on the scaled format; how ever, omission of a term in self-generated lists was not strongly associated with either central responses on the scale format or situational responses on the inventory formulated according to Nisbett et al.