The phrase 'definition of the situation' was coined by:

• A. William Isaac Thomas
• B. George Herbert Mead
• C. Charles Cooley
• D. Herbert Blumer

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that how people interpret a situation guides their actions and the outcomes that follow. The phrase “definition of the situation” names that process and was coined by William Isaac Thomas (often with Dorothy Swaine Thomas) in early work on how social meaning arises from people’s interpretations. This idea leads to the Thomas theorem: when people define a situation as real, its consequences become real. So the term captures how subjective meanings shape behavior and social reality. While other theorists like George Herbert Mead, Charles Cooley, and Herbert Blumer are central to symbolic interactionism and related concepts, they did not coin this particular phrase.