This 1990 volume was written to re-examine the long-standing controversy about consistency in personality from a social psychological perspective. Barbara Krahe reconsiders the concept of consistency in terms of the systematic coherence of situation cognition and behaviour across situations. In the first part of the volume she undertakes an examination of social psychological models of situation cognition for their ability to clarify the principles underlying the perception of situational similarities. She then advances an individual-centred methodology in which nomothetic hypotheses about cross-situational coherence are tested on the basis of idiographic measurement of situation cognition and behaviour. In the second part of the volume, a series of empirical studies is reported which apply the individual-centred framework to the analysis of cross-situational coherence in the domain of anxiety-provoking situations. These studies are distinctive in that they extend over several months and use free-response data.

This book is set against the background of the so-called 'justice gap' in sexual assault cases. It represents an interdisciplinary attempt to examine the attitudinal problems which bedevil this area of law and to offer possible strategies for addressing them. Written by a professor of law and a professor of psychology, Sexual Assault and the Justice Gap reviews evidence from both socio-legal and social cognition research examining the impact of rape-related attitudes on judgements about sexual offenses. It presents new qualitative data from interviews with judges and barristers, and includes new experimental studies that illustrate how stereotypic beliefs about rape affect perceptions of victim blame and perpetrator culpability. The final part of the book discusses strategies to suppress the impact of rape stereotypes and promote the data-driven appraisal of sexual assault complaints.