Elements of Personality Discovering Connections

by Bornstein, Robert F.

• ISBN13: 9781433838903
• ISBN10: 1433838907
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-01-16
• Publisher: American Psychological Association

Summary

The fascinating field of personality psychology not only helps us understand human behavior and mental life, but also provides an important lens to understanding ourselves in ways we never did before.
 
In his concise and timely textbook, Dr. Robert F. Bornstein provides a fresh and appealing approach to personality theory and research that embeds personality in the broader intellectual landscape of psychology today. Elements of Personality focuses on the four major theoretical approaches to understanding personality: psychodynamic, behavioral and cognitive-behavioral, trait/interpersonal, and humanistic/existential. The author provides detailed coverage of these four major viewpoints and ignores the extraneous “mini-theories” covered in other textbooks. The result is a textbook that offers complex material in an accessible, student-friendly way. Chapters build upon one another, showing how these four perspectives differ alongside various points of convergence.
 
Further drawing on the theme of “connections,” Dr. Bornstein integrates feature boxes to illustrate how the study of personality intersects with work in related psychological subfields (social, cognitive, developmental, and neuropsychology), disciplines outside of psychology, and with aspects of students’ own lives. Rich and relevant examples cover contemporary topics such as social media and online self, personality and politics, friendship formation and maintenance, self-actualization and activism, and more.  The book closes by integrating ideas and findings into a holistic understanding of the psychology of personality, with an eye firmly aimed toward the future of personality theory and research.
 
To help with comprehension and retention of the material and provide flexibility for the professor, each chapter ends with a review of key concepts and principles, critical thinking and discussion questions, key terms, and additional readings and resources. For instructors: a companion website is available containing PowerPoint slides, a testbank with multiple-choice and essay questions, sample syllabi, tables and figures files, and more.

Author Biography

Robert F. Bornstein, PhD, is a professor at the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology at Adelphi University. He is an established researcher with national and international visibility and he has published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, along with about 60 book chapters, and written or edited more than a dozen books. Dr. Bornstein has received five federal grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and National Science Foundation. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, and Society for Personality Assessment, and served as the former president of SPA. 

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. What Is Personality?
Why Study Personality?
Four Perspectives on Personality
Culture and Personality
Personality Research Methods
Personality: Discovering Connections
Chapter Review
Critical Thinking and Discussion Questions
Key Terms
Additional Readings and Resources
Chapter 2. The Psychodynamic Perspective
Eels, Brains, Cocaine, and Hypnosis
Key Assumptions of the Psychodynamic Perspective
The Topographic Model
The Structural Model
The Psychosexual Stages
Psychoanalytic Treatment
Psychoanalysis Reimagined: Object Relations Theory
The Self-Representation and the Self–Other Dialectic
Integrating Representations of Self and Other People: Attachment Theory
Contemporary Psychoanalytic Treatments
Chapter Review
Critical Thinking and Discussion Questions
Key Terms
Additional Readings and Resources
Chapter 3. Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral Models
Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It
Key Assumptions of the Behavioral Perspective
Pavlov and Classical Conditioning
Skinner and Operant Conditioning
Conditioning and Personality
Conditioning and Psychopathology
Behavior Modification and the Token Economy
The Shift From Radical Behaviorism to an Integrative Behavioral Perspective
Cognitive Behavioral Treatments
Chapter Review
Critical Thinking and Discussion Questions
Key Terms
Additional Readings and Resources
Chapter 4. Trait and Interpersonal Frameworks
A Visit to Vienna and the Birth of Trait Theory
Trait Theory in Context
Key Assumptions of the Trait Perspective
Allport’s Lexical Approach
Cattell and Factor Analysis
A Consensus Emerges: The Five-Factor Model
Traits and Dynamics: The Interpersonal Perspective
Assessing Interpersonal Constructs
Interpersonal Dynamisms
Psychopathology and Psychotherapy
Chapter Review
Critical Thinking and Discussion Questions
Key Terms
Additional Readings and Resources
Chapter 5. Humanistic and Existential Approaches
Divergent Experiences, Converging Philosophies
Key Assumptions of the Humanistic Perspective
A Radical Departure
Maslow: A Hierarchy of Needs
Rogers: Self-Discrepancies
Existential Personality Theory
Existentialism Quantified: Terror Management Theory
Effects of Mortality Salience on Behavior
Chapter Review
Critical Thinking and Discussion Questions
Key Terms
Additional Readings and Resources
Chapter 6. The Future of Personality
Paradigms of Personality: Past, Present, and Future
Where Are We Now? Converging Themes
Where Are We Going? The Future of Personality
Why Are We Here?
Chapter Review
Critical Thinking and Discussion Questions
Key Terms
Additional Readings and Resources

References
Index
About the Author