Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research

by Friedman, Howard S.; Schustack, Miriam W.

• ISBN13: 9780205324231
• ISBN10: 0205324231
• Edition: 2ND
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon

Summary

This successful text puts "personality" back into the personality course. Integrating the classic insights of personality theorists with the modern research of investigators in the field, Personality will fascinate students and encourage deeper thought.

Table of Contents

Each concludes with “Summary and Conclusion.”

I. INTRODUCTION.

1. What Is Personality?
Personality and Science.
Preview of the Perspectives.
A Brief History of Personality Psychology.
Some Basic Issues: The Unconscious, the Self, Uniqueness, Gender, Situations, Culture.
Personality in Context.

2. How Is Personality Studied and Assessed?
Measuring Personality.
Bias.
Varieties of Personality Measures.
How Not to Test Personality.
The Design of Research.
The Ethics of Personality Testing.

II. EIGHT BASIC ASPECTS OF PERSONALITY.

3. Psychoanalytic Aspects of Personality.
Basic Psychoanalytic Concepts.
Psychosexual Development.
Male versus Female.
Defense Mechanisms.
Cross-Cultural Issues.
Major Contributions and Limitations of Freudian Psychoanalysis.
Modern Developments from Experimental Psychology.

4. Neo-Analytic and Ego Aspects of Personality: Identity.
Carl G. Jung and Selfhood.
Alfred Adler, the Inferiority Complex, and the Importance of Society.
Karen Horney, Culture, and Feminism.
Bridges from Freud to More Modern Conceptions.
Object Relations Theories: A Conceptual Link between Self-Identity and Social Identity.
Erik Erikson, Life-Span Identity, and Identity Crises.
Some Modern Approaches to Identity.

5. Biological Aspects of Personality.
Direct Genetic Effects.
Genetic Effects through Temperament.
Twins as a Source of Data.
Sexual Identity and Homosexuality.
Mediated Effects of Biology.
Effects from Creation of Environments.
Effects from Reactions of Others.
Sociobiology and Evolutionary Personality.
Personality and Public Policy.

6. Behaviorist and Learning Aspects of Personality.
The Classical Conditioning of Personality.
The Origins of Behaviorist Approaches: Watson's Behaviorism.
The Radical Behaviorism of B. F. Skinner.
Applying Behaviorism: Personality Change and Individual Differences.
Other Learning Approaches to Personality.
Key Behaviorist Terms and Concepts.
Evaluation.

7. Cognitive and Social-Cognitive Aspects of Personality.
Roots of Cognitive Approaches.
Cognitive and Perceptual Mechanisms.
Humans as Scientists: George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory.
Social Intelligence.
Explanatory Style as a Personality Variable.
Julian Rotter's Locus of Control Approach.
Albert Bandura's Social-Cognitive Learning Theory.
Humans as Computers.

8. Trait and Skill Aspects of Personality.
The History of Trait Approaches.
Gordon Allport's Trait Psychology.
A Contemporary Trait Approach: The Big Five.
Personality Judgments.
Types.
Motives.
Expressive Style.
Skills.

9. Humanistic and Existential Aspects of Personality.
Existentialism.
Humanism.
Love as a Central Focus of Life: Erich Fromm.
Responsibility: Carl Rogers.
Anxiety and Dread.
Self-Actualization.
Happiness and Positive Psychology.
Further Evaluation of Existential-Humanistic Approaches.

10. Person-Situation Interactionist Aspects of Personality.
Harry Stack Sullivan: Interpersonal Psychiatry.
Motivation and Goals: Henry Murray.
Modern Interactionist Approaches Begin.
Implicit Personality Theory.
The Power of Situations.
Time: The Importance of Longitudinal Study.
Interactions, Emotions, and Development.

III. APPLICATIONS TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.

11. Male-Female Differences.
Do Males and Females Differ?
A Brief History of Gender Difference in Personality.
Biological Influences on Gender Differences.
Gender Differences in Personality from the Eight Perspectives.
Cross-Cultural Studies of Gender Differences.
Love and Sexual Behavior.

12. Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences.
Disease-Prone Personalities.
Personality and Coronary-Proneness.
The Human Termites.
Blaming the Victim.
The Self-Healing Personality.
The Influence of Humanistic and Existential Aspects on Understanding Self-Healing.

13. Cultural and Ethnic Differences.
Group Influence.
History of Research on Personality and Culture.
Collectivist versus Individualistic.
Errors of Scientific Inference: The Case of Race.
Socioeconomic Influences on Personality.
Language as a Cultural Influence.
Culture and Testing.
A More General Model of Personality and Culture.
Some Current Research Developments.

14. Love and Hate.
The Personality of Hate.
Evaluation: Hate.
The Personality of Love.
Love Gone Wrong: Violent or Risky Sexual Behavior.

IV. CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE.

15. Where Will We Find Personality?
The Brave New World of Personality.
The Eight Perspectives Revisited.

Glossary.

References.

Name Index.

Subject Index.