The discipline of Personality Psychology is undergoing a renaissance.  The new textbook, Personality: A Systems Approach,  has been designed to help students keep up.  The book is constructed according to an exciting new roadmap that draws on the field’s best and most  longstanding intellectual traditions.  By examining personality according to its defining qualities, parts, organization, and development, students understand human personality, including their own personalities, and the influence of personality on an individual’s life.

Table of Contents:
BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:   I. EXAMINING PERSONALITY 1. What is Personality? A. What Are the Fundamental Questions Addressed by Personality Psychology? B. What Is the Personality System? C. What Is the Field of Personality Psychology D. Why Study Personality Psychology? E. How Is This Book Organized -- And What Will You Learn?  2. Research in Personality Psychology A. Where Do the Data Come From? B. What Research Designs are Used in Personality? C. What Does it Mean to Measure Personality? D. How Do Psychologists Study Many Personality Variables Together? 3. Perspectives on Personality A. What are Perspectives on Personality? B. What is the Biological Perspective? C. What is the Intrapsychic Perspective? D. What is the Sociocultural Perspective? E. What is the Temporal-Developmental Perspective? F. How Does One Cope with Multiple Theories? II. PARTS OF PERSONALITY 4. Motivation and Emotion A. What Are Motives? B. How Are Motives Expressed?  C. What Are Emotions and Why Are They Important? D. What Are the Emotional Traits and How Are They Expressed? E. What Are Happy People Like? 5. Interior Selves; Interior Worlds A. What are Mental Models? B. What Are Our Models of Ourselves?  C. What Are Our Models of the World?  D. What Are Our Models of Relationships?  E. How Good Are Our Models?  6. Mental Abilities and Navigating the World A. What Is A Mental Ability? B. What Are Some Major Intelligences and Mental Abilities? C. Are There Additional Intelligences and Mental Abilities?  D. What Is The Relation Between Personality and Intelligence? E. How Does Personality Express its Abilities? 7. The Conscious Self A. What Is the Conscious Self?  B. What Does it Mean for the Self to Be Conscious? C. Does the Self Possess Free Will? D. Are There Alternatives to the Conscious Self? E. How Is the Conscious Self Expressed? III. PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION 8. How the Parts of Personality Fit Together A. What Is Personality Structure? B. How Are Personality Traits Structured? C. What Are Structural Models of Awareness and Why Do They Matter? D. Can Identifying Key Functional Areas Help Develop Structural Models of Personality?  E. What Are the Structural Connections from Personality to the Environment?  F. Do Structures Matter?  9. Dynamics of Action A. What Are Dynamics of Action? B. Which Need Will Begin Action? C. How Does Action Develop in the Mind? D. How Are Acts Performed?  10. Dynamics of Self-Control A. What Are Dynamics of Self-Control? B. How Does Self-Control Occur? C. Is Self-Control Always Conscious? D. How Do We Deal with the Pain of Falling Short? E. How is Self Control (Or its Absence) Expressed? IV. PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT 11. Personality Development in Childhood and Adolescence A. What is Personality Development? B. Do Infants Have a Personality?  C. How Does the Young Child’s Personality Develop?  D. What Are the Challenges of Middle Childhood? E. What Are Adolescents Doing? 12. Personality Development in Adulthood A. What Is the Nature of Adult Development? B. What Are Young Adults Like?  C. How Does the Individual Traverse Middle Adulthood? D. Where Is Personality Headed In the Concluding Parts of Life? Concluding Materials     FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS:   Prefatory Materials Contents in Brief Contents Preface for Students Preface for Instructors Acknowledgements About the Author   I. EXAMINING PERSONALITY 1. What is Personality? A. What Are the Fundamental Questions Addressed by Personality Psychology? Big Questions and Science Questions and Inquiry Who Am I? How and Why Are People Different? What Will My Future Be? Different Kinds of Answers B. What Is the Personality System? A System of Systems Defining Personality Locating the Personality System C. What Is the Field of Personality Psychology? What Is a Field of Science? The Emergence of Modern Personality Psychology (1890-1949) Evolving Viewpoints on the Field (1950 to the Present) Training and Research in Personality Psychology  D. Why Study Personality Psychology? The “Who Am I” Question – A Part of Scientific Inquiry The “How and Why Are People Different?” Question -- Asked in Personality Assessment The “What Is My Future” Question -- Prediction, Selection, and Change E. How Is This Book Organized -- And What Will You Learn?  Some Cautions, and a Beginning Personality Psychology’s Answers Identifying Personality Parts of Personality Personality Organization Personality Development Boxes: Casual Thinking and Scientific Thinking about Personality Does Becoming a Personality Psychologist Influence How You View Others? Careers of Two Psychologists What Does Personality Psychology Offer Other Fields? 2. Research in Personality Psychology A. Where Do the Data Come From? Olympian Issues The Life Sphere and External (Life) Data Observer Data Test, Questionnaire, and Interview Data B. What Research Designs are Used in Personality? Types of Research Designs The Case Study Method The Method of Observationism The Correlational Research Design Natural Experiments True Experimental Designs C. What Does it Mean to Measure Personality? The Psychometric Approach Reliability Validity D. How Do Psychologists Study Many Personality Variables Together? Multiple Variables and Multivariate Techniques The Logic of Factor Analysis Reading the Results of a Factor Analysis A Critique of Factor Analysis Boxes: Are Self-Judgments or an Observers’ Judgments more Accurate? Freud’s Case of Emmy Von N. Funder’s Laws The Measurement of Length in the Physical Sciences 3. Perspectives on Personality A. What are Perspectives on Personality? Frameworks, Perspectives, Theories Perspectives on Personality       Personality Theories Micro-Theories and Research B. What is the Biological Perspective? Evolutionary Theory Views the Person Natural and Sexual Selection A Micro-Theory about Jealousy and Evolution Biopsychology Views the Person The Nervous System and Its Influences on Psychology A Micro-Theory that Traits are Inherited C. What is the Intrapsychic Perspective? The Trait Psychologist Views the Person The Nature of Traits and their Role in Personality A Micro-Theory about Central Personality Traits Psychodynamic Theory Views the Person Defenses, Mental  Models, and the Role of Dynamics A Micro-Theory of Hidden Sexual Desire D. What is the Sociocultural Perspective? The Social-Cognitive View of the Person The Person and Environment in Interaction A Micro-Theory of Conditional Aggression The Cross-Cultural View of the Person A Micro-Theory of Collectivism Versus Individualism E. What is the Temporal-Developmental Perspective? A Psychosocial Stage Theory and Development A Micro-Theory of the Emergence of Traits The Humanistic and Positive Psychology Views of the Person A Micro-Theory of Empathy and Psychotherapy F. How Does One Cope with Multiple Theories? Which Theory is Right? The Systems Approach Boxes: The Use of Psychiatric Drugs to Improve Personality The Case of the Mathematician in the Guestroom Smith and Glass’s Comparison of Psychotherapies Using Different Perspectives Translating One Perspective Into Another II. PARTS OF PERSONALITY 4. Motivation and Emotion A. What Are Motives? Motives, Instincts and Needs Projective Measures of Motives Types of Motives Self-Report of Motives B. How Are Motives Expressed?  The Achievement Motive and its Relation to Personality The Power Motive and Personality The Affiliation Motive and Personality The Sex Drive and Related Motives Personal Strivings and Goals C. What Are Emotions and Why Are They Important? The Motivation-Emotion Connection Emotions as an Evolved Signal System Cross-Cultural Issues Emotional States, Moods, and Emotion- Related Traits D. What Are the Emotional Traits and How Are They Expressed? The Two-Factor Approach to Measuring Emotion Affect Intensity From Emotional States to Emotion-Related Traits How Are Emotional Traits Expressed? E. What Are Happy People Like? Natural Happiness Demographic Influences The Most Happy Students Boxes: Jon Krakauer and the Uneasy Fulfillment of a Boyhood Dream The Projective Hypothesis of Shakespeare Achievement Motivation and Economic Progress Replicating Ekman’s Results Positioning the Emotional Dimensions of Inner Space 5. Interior Selves; Interior Worlds A. What are Mental Models?  Mental Models and their Structure Mental Models are (Usually) Learned  and Applied Differences in Models across People B. What Are Our Models of Ourselves?  The Self and Self-Models Possible, Actual, and… Perhaps… Unconscious Selves Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy Stories of the Self C. What Are Our Models of the World?  Formal Models and Implicit Models Implicit Knowledge Learning Personality Types Implicit Theories of Personality The Concept of the Archetype D. What Are Our Models of Relationships?  Significant Other Models Core Conflictual Relationship Themes Roles and Role Playing Morals and Values E. How Good Are Our Models?  Developing Constructive Models Avoiding Irrational Models Expressing Better Models Boxes: The International Society for Self and Identity (ISSI) Markus and Nurius: Possible Selves in College Students World Knowledge in the Field of Artificial Intelligence Playing a Role While Playing Basketball? 6. Mental Abilities and Navigating the World A. What Is A Mental Ability? Questions about Mental Ability Mental Abilities and Society The Range of Mental Abilities: Three Examples B. What Are Some Major Intelligences and Mental Abilities? Verbal-Propositional Intelligence and Mental Development Uncovering More Cognitive Intelligences   C. Are There Additional Intelligences and Mental Abilities?  Social Abilities and Related Intelligences Practical Intelligence Emotional Intelligence Measuring Creativity The Theory of “g” D. What Is The Relation Between Personality and Intelligence? Personality Calls on Abilities The Relations among Mental Ability Traits and Other Traits Personality, Mental Abilities, and the Construction of Mental Models  E. How Does Personality Express its Abilities? Intelligence in the Expression of Thought Intelligences at School Intelligences and Mental Abilities at Work Intelligences in Relationships Personality and Mental Abilities: The Big Picture Boxes: Francis Galton’s Own Intelligence Alfred Binet’s Rough Start Emotional Intelligence Valued Qualities and Social Meritocracies  7. The Conscious Self A. What Is the Conscious Self?  The Appearance of the Conscious Self James’ Self-as-Knower Freud’s Concept of the Ego The Dialogical Self  B. What Does it Mean for the Self to Be Conscious? What Is Consciousness? Scientific Accounting for the Feeling of Consciousness Is Consciousness of Recent Origin? The Brain and Consciousness C. Does the Self Possess Free Will? The Appearance of Will The Free-Will – Determinism Debate Freedom from the Free-Will Debate Voluntary Cause and Control D. Are There Alternatives to the Conscious Self? Agencies Alters The Unconscious, Id, and Superego E. How Is the Conscious Self Expressed? Contents of Consciousness The Structure of Consciousness and Flow Levels of Consciousness Self-Determination Theory Self-Control: A First Look Boxes: The Idea of Free Will: Origins in Western Religious Thought Some Personality Psychologists Don’t Like the Denial of Free Will Is There a Biophysics of Free Will? An Example of Flow in Adolescence Brain Correlates of Higher Consciousness III. PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION 8. How the Parts of Personality Fit Together A. What Is Personality Structure? Personality Structure Described Why Is Personality Structure Important? There Exist Multiple Personality Structures Personality Structure Provides Organization B. How Are Personality Traits Structured? The Big Two and the Big Three The Big Five The Big Six and Other Considerations C. What Are Structural Models of Awareness and Why Do They Matter? Rationale for Structural Models of Awareness Consciousness and How Things Become Conscious The No Access Unconscious, or Unconscious  Proper The Implicit or Automatic Unconscious The Unnoticed Unconscious The Dynamic Unconscious  D. Can Identifying Key Functional Areas Help Develop Structural Models of Personality?  The Id, Ego, and Superego as a Processing-Area Model The Trilogy and Quaternity of Mind A Brain to Match? Integration in the Systems Set E. What Are the Structural Connections from Personality to the Environment?  Structures of Social Interaction Using Structural Dimensions to Fill in Personality Extending Personality to the Life Space F. Do Structures Matter?  Revisiting the Organization of Traits Traits of the Life Space Structure and the Description of the Person From Structures to Dynamics Boxes: More on Christopher Langan and his Life Does the Big Five Count as a Personality Structure? If There Are Structural Areas, What Are the Boundaries Between them Like? Was that Octopus You Saw Last Night Shy? 9. Dynamics of Action A. What Are Dynamics of Action? Approaching Dynamics Dynamic Traits and Micro Dynamics Mid-Level (Meso-) and Macro-Level Dynamics Dynamics and their Change B. Which Need Will Begin Action? Urges, Needs, and Presses Needs and their Relative Strengths Determinant Needs and Subsidiary Needs Needs and Need Conflicts Need Fusion C. How Does Action Develop in the Mind? Motivation, Emotion, and Mood-Congruent Thought The Dynamic Lattice From Thought to Action Partial Expressions and Slips of the Tongue D. How Are Acts Performed?  The Communication Channels Conscious and Automatic Forms of Action Latent Versus Manifest Content Stagecraft and Self-Presentation Symbolic Interactionism and Social Alignment The Urge and the Situation Boxes: The Mysterious Social Activities of Robert Leuci Computer Models of Personality Dynamics Greenwald’s Studies of Subliminal Perception and Motivation Deception in Myth and Literature  10. Dynamics of Self-Control A. What Are Dynamics of Self-Control? How Dynamics of Self-Control are Distinctive The Need for Self-Control Aims of Self-Control B. How Does Self-Control Occur? The Self in Self Control The Problem of the Egotistical Ego Feedback and the Feedback Loop Personal Control as a Hierarchy of Feedback Loops Kelly’s Circumspection-Preemption-Control Cycle The Search For – and Effect of –  Feedback Levels of Action and Behavioral Identification Bottom-Up Control? C. Is Self-Control Always Conscious? Automatic Control and Dissociation Dissociation and the Unconscious Divided Consciousness and Hypnosis Dissociation and the Hypnotic State Individual Differences in Dissociation Positive Affirmations   D. How Do We Deal with the Pain of Falling Short? Falling Short and Mental Defense Suppression Repression  Specific Defense Mechanisms E. How is Self Control (Or its Absence) Expressed? The Search for Self Control Control versus Impulsiveness Implications of Self-Control Boxes: An Example of Divided Consciousness A Brief History of Hypnosis Cybernetics, Personality, and Robots The New Research on Developing Self-Control IV. PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT 11. Personality Development in Childhood and Adolescence A. What is Personality Development? Questions of Personality Development Dividing the Life Span Research Designs in Developmental Studies B. Do Infants Have a Personality?  The Infant’s Challenge Infant Temperament Attachment Patterns C. How Does the Young Child’s Personality Develop?  The Young Child’s Self-Concept Self-Control as a Part of Temperament Parents and the Family Context Family Size and Birth Order The Gendered World D. What Are the Challenges of Middle Childhood? Middle Childhood’s Challenges and Self Concept From Temperament to Traits Overcontrolled, Undercontrolled, and Flexible  Children Friendship Patterns  E. What Are Adolescents Doing? Puberty and the Changing Self-Concept Sexual and Sex-Role Development Establishing Identity in Adolescence Boxes: Jay’s Self Understanding Cultural Influences on Child Personality Does What Parents Do Matter? Childhood Patterns and Experimentation with Drugs 12. Personality Development in Adulthood A. What Is the Nature of Adult Development? Questions of Adult Development The Transition to Adulthood Temperament and Traits: From Childhood through Adulthood Models of the Self and World  B. What Are Young Adults Like?  The Tasks of Young Adulthood Finding a Desirable Partner In Search of Good Work C. How Does the Individual Traverse Middle Adulthood? Staying Married Finding Occupational Success Personality and Health Who Adjusts Course? No Regrets? Helson’s Typology of  Growth     D. Where Is Personality Headed In the Concluding Parts of Life? Optimal Personality and Values Good Functioning Adding Strengths: Positive Psychology Strengths in Context Optimal Types A Final Life Review Boxes: How Consistent is Steven Reid’s Personality? Identical Twins Reared Apart Personality and the Future Abraham Maslow’s Early Life and his Theory of Self-Actualization Concluding Materials Postscript References