Theories of Personality 9th Edition

Book Preface

Theories of Personality serves essentially the same primary purposes in its ninth edition as in the first, published 30 years ago. It reviews the basic concepts and principles of the major, grand theories of personality. These grand theories attempt to explain much of our behavior in a variety of life situations. The text is designed to assess how well each of these theories meets criteria for judging its scientific worth. It also introduces students to the many research studies that test the validity of the major concepts in the theories. In addition, this edition presents issues that currently challenge personality psychologists, and discusses some of the major theoretical and research areas and ideas in contemporary personality theory and research.

The material is accessible to undergraduates who have had little or no exposure to the field of personality psychology. In this edition, I have included the latest research studies that show, in general, support for the theories. There are also many more examples from everyday life, and unusual topics to stimulate interest among students of both traditional and nontraditional ages. Each major theoretical position is introduced by an overview of the theorist’s basic concepts and principles; comparisons of the theories thus follow easily.

Although the goals of the text remain intact, there have been two major changes in the discipline in the past 30 years. First, there has been an explosion of individual differences research around the world in the past 20 years or so; and second, many of these research efforts have been conducted using the current grand personality theories and their extensions as their guide. Such efforts have generally increased the theories’ validity and applicability to the solution of human problems. In this edition, I try to convey the intellectual excitement generated by the ongoing international work with these theories; in the final chapter, I also attempt to show how the grand theories of personality that are covered in this course continue to inspire the creative efforts of a new generation of personality psychologists, thus furthering our understanding of human personality.