ABSTRACT
Acommonobservationaboutpeopleinemotionalsituationsisthegreatvariabilityoftheirreactions.Forexample,facedwithrudeserviceinarestaurant, onepersonmaygetextremelyupset,broodingabouttheepisodeforhours, anothermightgetmomentarilyfurious,whereasathirdmightjustbeslightly irritatedforaminuteortwo.Evenifthesepeopleconstruethesituationin essentiallysimilarterms,themagnitudeandthedurationoftheirreactionscan varysignificantly.Moreover,thestructureoftheirreactionsseemstotranscend anyparticularsituation.Thus,iftherestaurantincidenthadoccurredtoour friend,wecouldmakean"educatedguess"astohisprobablereaction.Inother words,itappearsthatthestructureofindividuals'responsestoemotion-inducing eventsistosomeextentaconsistentandcoherentfeatureofpersonality.
