ABSTRACT
The essential features of modern interactionism have been summarized as follows (Endler & Magnusson, 1976a);
Actual behavior is a function of a continuous process or multidirectional interaction (feedback) between the individual and the situation that he or she encounters.
The individual is an intentional active agent in this interaction process.
On the person side of the interaction, cognitive factors are the essential determinants of behavior, although emotional factors do play a role.
On the situation side, the psychological meaning of the situation for the individual is the important determining factor [p. 968].
Because “meanings” of situations are generated by “reciprocal causation “in multidirectional interaction, moreover, they are to some extent ideographic. Apparent behavioral inconsistency across situations hence at times may be due primarily to unwarranted monistic presuppositions embedded in traditional research paradigms, i.e., to the misfortune that, according to Bern and Allen [1974]: “… behaviors do not sort into the equivalence class which the investigator imposes by his choice of behaviors and situations to sample [p. 509].” As Bowers (1973) puts it: “… interactionism argues that situations are as much a function of the person as the person's behavior is a function of the situation[p. 327].” And meanings of situations are thus, according to modern interactionism, engendered by persons interacting in those situations (Wachtel, 1973).