Chapter 18 - Capturing interactions, correlations, fits, and transactions: A Person-Environment Relations Model

Abstract

To understand personality dynamics, processes, and functioning better, knowledge on the relations between persons and environments needs to advance. First, this chapter outlines basic elements of persons (short-term ▪ as states and long-term ▪ as traits) and environments (short-term ▪ for situations and long-term ▪ for niches) along with their respective properties in a respecified and extended Lewinian formula. Second, a generic Person-Environment Relations Model (PERM) is presented that specifies the different relations and important effect paths between person, environment, and outcome variables. Within the PERM, four central types of person-environment relations are distinguished and subsequently discussed in detail: interactions (person and environment variables moderate each other's effects on outcomes), correlations (person and environment variables are concurrently associated), fits (person and environment variables match with each other), and transactions (person and environment variables affect each other across time). Here, person-environment fit is distinguished as either a special effect pattern (involving an interaction) or a correlation, respectively. Third, focusing on the different ways in which persons and environments calibrate themselves toward each other, different navigation mechanisms are systematized, with a special emphasis on how persons navigate environments. Lastly, suggestions and recommendations for future lines of theory, methodology, and empirical research are provided.