Personality coherence: Moderating self-other profile agreement and profileconsensus

Traditional research on moderator variables in personality has focused on m easures of relative consistency. In contrast, using Goldberg's (1992) adjec tives representing the Big Five personality traits, the authors examined th e applicability of moderator variables to measures of personality coherence . The authors considered 3 traditional moderator variables (interitem varia bility, construct similarity, and scalability) and one new moderator variab le: the temporal stability of response patterns. Across 2 studies, individu als with temporally stable response patterns had higher levels of personali ty coherence, as measured by self-other profile agreement and informant pro file consensus. than did individuals with less temporally stable patterns. By comparison, the normatively based moderator Variables did not moderate s elf-other profile agreement and informant profile consensus. The implicatio ns for personality structure and coherence are discussed.