When is an inconsistency not an inconsistency? Trait reconciliation in personality description and impression formation

Descriptions of the self and others include inconsistent traits. Two accounts of the process by which coherence is maintained in the face of trait inconsistency were compared. The descriptive overlap account predicts that, regardless of evaluation, traits are more likely to be reconciled when they refer to overlapping content domains. The evaluative balance account predicts that, regardless of descriptive content, traits are more likely to be reconciled when they are evaluatively consistent. Support for evaluative balance was found in a personality description task, whereas support for descriptive overlap was found in an impression formation task. Participants explained their use of inconsistent traits in personality descriptions in terms of situational constraints on behavior. Trait reconciliation processes are flexible, depending on the nature of the task.