a type of dualism that claims that the mind and body, though different, causally interact with one another

(Descartes) The mind and body interact, yet remain separate and distinct from each other by the mysterious function of the pineal gland. (pin-e-al) Substances interact; they oppose each other; they logically and ontologically exclude each other. The can be conceived and exist without each other. It is contradictory to say that thinking occurs but there is nothing doing the thinking. It is contradictory to say that spatial dimension exists but there is nothing that is extended or that has that dimension.

A form of dualism (q.v.) according to which mental events can cause physical events, and vice versa.

The notion that behaviour is a joint function of personal characteristics and the properties of the situations that are experienced.

An important perspective in social psychology that emphasizes the combined effects of both the person and the situation on human behavior.

(a) Within personality-development theory, a framework in which personality is seen as resulting from the interaction between the child?s genotype (inherited characteristics) and the environment in which he or she is raised. (b) In personality theory, a framework in which behavior is seen as resulting from the interaction between consistent personality dispositions or traits and the situations in which people find themselves. See also evocative interaction, proactive interaction, reactive interaction.