Two recurrent themes underlie research in this area (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2007; Swann & Bosson, this volume). The first involves the tendency for actors to see themselves as coherent, consistent, and rational, despite behavioral evidence that seemingly challenges that view—that is, when their behavior shows changes across time and circumstances and especially when it varies as a function of subtle situational forces and constraints whose determinative role is not apparent to them