Personality
Taken together, the structure and style variables may be used to pro-
duce an overall description of P, which PEC theory terms the per-
sonalityof P. For lack of a comparable term, we might call the
structure and style of E the environment personality(“environmen-
tality” won’t do!). For precision, one might say “P-personality” and
“E-personality,” but for the most part in this chapter, unless other-
wise indicated, the term personalitywill refer to P-personality.
PEC theory draws a distinction between personalityandself.To
begin with, P can be seen from either P’s point of view or E’s point
of view. In PEC theory, personality is P seen from E’s point of view,
that is, P seen from an external point of view. Personality may be a
consensus view or an average view but, however viewed, it is the
view from the outside, that is, from E’s vantage point. It is the view
of P as seen by other persons who constitute E. As such, personal-
ity might be considered a social construct (dependent on people),
and, in principle, it can be measured objectively (independently of
P and the observer). As mentioned earlier, personality is described
in PEC theory in terms of the structure and style variables discussed
previously, measured objectively.
In contrast, self,in PEC theory, is P seen from P’s point of view.
The awareness of self is P’s awareness alone; no one else has immedi-
ate access to self. Self may be inferred from P’s behavior and back-
ground (including the biological, especially the genetic), but the only
direct channel to self from the outside is through P’s self-disclosure.
In other words, the only direct way to find out about self is through
what P tells us: the self-disclosed or self-reported self. But even the
self-disclosed self is not necessarily a faithful rendering of the true
or actual self because such disclosure is affected by P’s ability to self-
disclose and P’s motivation to self-disclose, among other factors.
In PEC theory, self is also described in terms of the structure and
style variables previously discussed, as these are disclosed by P. In this
case, self is P as revealed by P. Incidentally, the various “self ” con-
structs proposed in psychology (self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy,
PERSON-ENVIRONMENT-CORRESPONDENCE THEORY 441