Fleeson

Fleeson, in personality psychology, refers to an approach to understanding personality that emphasizes the importance of variability in behavior across situations and over time. It challenges the traditional view of personality as a set of stable, consistent traits that dictate behavior. Instead, the Fleeson approach highlights the role of situational factors and within-person variability, suggesting that individuals exhibit a range of behaviors depending on the context.

This perspective is often associated with the term "whole trait theory" or "density distributions of states." It posits that personality traits are best understood not as fixed entities, but as probability distributions of states. In other words, an individual high on extraversion is not always extraverted, but rather has a higher probability of behaving in an extraverted manner than someone low on extraversion.

Key aspects of the Fleeson approach include:

• State-level analysis: Focus on momentary experiences, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (states) as building blocks of personality.
• Within-person variability: Acknowledging and measuring the extent to which an individual's behavior varies across different situations.
• Density distributions: Using statistical distributions to represent the range of states an individual experiences and their frequency.
• Integration of traits and states: Emphasizing the interplay between stable trait tendencies and situational influences on behavior.

The Fleeson approach offers a more nuanced and dynamic understanding of personality, acknowledging the complexity of human behavior and the influence of both individual differences and contextual factors. It has significant implications for personality assessment, intervention, and research.