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“The study of personality is the study of the person in context—and requires psychologists to integrate the contributions of disciplines as disparate as genetics, biology, mathematics, sociology, and economics. This handbook is a powerful example of the breadth of the field. The contributions of over 75 leading scholars are organized into one volume. This fourth edition will be required reading for graduate students and will help scholars continue to integrate the diverse approaches to personality.”

—William Revelle, PhD, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University


“This fourth edition is a tour de force! Chapters cover the gamut of contemporary personality theory and research, ranging from biological to cultural approaches. Several chapters unpack in great detail the biological underpinnings of personality. A particularly great addition to this volume is Carol Dweck’s chapter on her integrative theory of motivation, personality, and development. The writing is engaging and clear, at a level of detail suitable for graduate students and advanced undergraduates; instructors can pick and choose chapters and the order in which they appear in a syllabus. This is a terrific resource for any psychologist’s bookshelf.”

—Jennifer Crocker, PhD, Ohio Eminent Scholar in Social Psychology, The Ohio State University


“The contributors to this book are a stellar group of researchers and scholars. As a developmental scientist, I am particularly interested in the numerous chapters in the fourth edition that touch on developmental issues from a personality psychology perspective. I am also excited to see the fundamental topics of emotion and self-regulation addressed from so many different perspectives. The knowledgeable and nuanced discussions of important topics will provide graduate students, researchers, and instructors with a valuable overview of the field. This is an excellent volume for graduate classes on personality.”

—Nancy Eisenberg, PhD, Regents' Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University


“The Handbook of Personality has been the go-to reference for summaries of cutting-edge personality science for decades. The fourth edition brings together a range of researchers to cover all of the important topics. This edition has expanded coverage on personality development, a key sub-area that has witnessed dramatic growth during the last decade. It also addresses new questions, such as the efficacy of personality interventions and geographic differences in personality traits. This is an indispensable resource for students and scholars of personality psychology.”

—Christopher J. Hopwood, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis


“With the publication of its fourth edition, this handbook now enters its fourth decade of defining the state of the science in personality theory, research, and application. Balancing coverage of classically enduring themes with newly emerging directions, the editors and contributors have captured the field's conceptual sophistication and methodological rigor. Forty-two chapters—many of them new to this edition—are organized to capture both the breadth and depth of personality science, and written in an informed and informative style.”

—Mark Snyder, PhD, Professor and McKnight Presidential Chair in Psychology, University of Minnesota

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Table of Contents

I. Theoretical Perspectives and Conceptual Units

1. The Evolution of Human Personality, David M. G. Lewis & David M. Buss

2. History, Measurement, and Conceptual Elaboration of the Big-Five Trait Taxonomy: The Paradigm Matures, Oliver P. John & Christopher J. Soto

3. Toward an Integrative Theory of Motivation, Personality, and Development, Carol S. Dweck

4. Achievement Goal Complexes: Integrating the “What” and the “Why” of Achievement Motivation, Nicolas Sommet, Andrew J. Elliot, & Kennon M. Sheldon

5. Narrative Identity and the Life Story, Dan P. McAdams

II. Biological Foundations

6. Temperament: Theory and Research, Lee Anna Clark & David Watson

7. Personality in Animals: What Can We Learn from a Species-Comparative Approach?, Alexander Weiss

8. The Neurobiology of Personality, Colin G. DeYoung, Rachael G. Grazioplene, & Timothy A. Allen

9. Behavioral Genetics and Personality: Ongoing Efforts to Integrate Nature and Nurture, Robert F. Krueger & Wendy Johnson

10. Molecular Genetics of Personality, Marleen H. M. de Moor

III. Development

11. Personality Development across the Life Course: A Neo-Socioanalytic Perspective, Brent W. Roberts & Lauren B. Nickel

12. Personality Development in Middle Childhood, Rebecca L. Shiner

13. Personality in Adolescence, Filip De Fruyt & Evalill Bølstad Karevold

14. Personality and Life Transitions in Young Adulthood, Wiebke Bleidorn & Jaap J. A. Denissen

15. Personality Development in Adulthood and Later Life, Daniel K. Mroczek, Eileen K. Graham, Nicholas A. Turiano, & Mazeed Omotilewa Aro-Lambo

16. Personality and Parenting, Olivia E. Atherton & Thomas J. Schofield

IV. Cognitive and Motivational Processes

17. Cognitive Approaches to Personality, Michael D. Robinson

18. Implicit Motives, Oliver C. Schultheiss & Martin G. Köllner

19. A Cognitive–Affective Processing System Approach to Personality Dispositions: Rejection Sensitivity as an Illustrative Case Study, Ozlem Ayduk & Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton

20. Creativity and Genius, Dean Keith Simonton

V. Affective Processes

21. Emotion and Personality: A Social Functionalist Approach, Dacher Keltner & Michelle N. Shiota

22. The Approach System as a Component of Personality, Sheri L. Johnson, Benjamin Swerdlow, Jennifer Pearlstein, Manon Ironside, & Charles S. Carver

23. The Self-Conscious and Social Emotions: A Personality and Social Functionalist Account, Jessica L. Tracy & Aaron C. Weidman

24. Emotion Regulation: Basic Processes and Individual Differences, Tammy English, Lameese Eldesouky, & James J. Gross

25. Self-Regulatory Processes, Stress, and Coping, Charles S. Carver & Michael F. Scheier

VI. Self- and Social Processes: Relationships, Culture, Environment

26. Naturalizing the Self, Richard W. Robins

27. Identity Negotiation: A Theory of Self and Social Interaction, William B. Swann, Jr. & Jennifer K. Bosson

28. Self-Regulation and Personality, Rick H. Hoyle & Erin K. Davisson

29. Narcissism in Contemporary Personality Psychology, M. Brent Donnellan, Robert A. Ackerman, & Aidan G. C. Wright

30. Attachment Theory and Its Place in Contemporary Personality Theory and Research, R. Chris Fraley & Phillip R. Shaver

31. Persons, Situations, and Person–Situation Interactions, R. Michael Furr & David C. Funder

32. Culture and Personality: Current Directions, Shigehiro Oishi, Kostadin Kushlev, & Verónica Benet-Martinez

VII. Applications and Implications

33. Personality and Religion, Sarah A. Schnitker & Robert A. Emmons

34. Personality and Subjective Well-Being, Richard E. Lucas & Ed Diener

35. Personality and Psychopathology, Jennifer L. Tackett & Stephanie Mullins-Sweatt

36. Personality and Personality Disorder, Thomas A. Widiger & Joshua R. Oltmanns

37. Personality and Health: A Lifespan Perspective, Howard S. Friedman & Sarah E. Hampson

VIII. Emerging Issues and New Directions

38. Personality Interventions, Joshua J. Jackson, Emorie D. Beck, & Anissa Mike

39. Ecological Sampling Methods for Studying Personality in Daily Life, Matthias R. Mehl & Cornelia Wrzus

40. Putting Personality in Its Place: A Geographical Perspective on Personality Traits, Peter J. Rentfrow & Samuel D. Gosling

41. What Do We Know When We Know Ourselves?, Simine Vazire & Erika Carlson

42. Some Contributions of Economics to the Study of Personality, James J. Heckman, Tomáš Jagelka, & Tim Kautz

Author Index

Subject Index

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About the Editors

Oliver P. John, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Research Psychologist at the Institute of Personality and Social Research at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served as Associate Editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and has contributed nationally and internationally to the application of psychological research to economic and education policy. Dr. John is a recipient of the Jack Block Award for Senior Career Contributions to Personality Psychology from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the Best Paper of the Year Award from the Journal of Research in Personality, among numerous other honors. His research focuses on personality structure and development, emotion expression and regulation, self and self-perception processes, and research methods; his Big Five Inventory and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire have been translated into more than 20 languages.

• Author's website

Richard W. Robins, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, where he is Director of the Personality, Self, and Emotions Laboratory; Director of the California Families Project; and a member of the core faculty for the National Institute of Mental Health Training Program in Affective Science. Dr. Robins is Associate Editor of Personality and Social Psychology Review and past Associate Editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association and both the Theoretical Innovation Prize and the Diener Award for Outstanding Mid-Career Contributions to Personality Psychology from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. His research focuses on personality, emotion, the self, and ethnic-minority youth development.

• Author's website
• All titles by Richard W. Robins

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Contributors

Robert A. Ackerman, PhD, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Texas, Dallas, TX

Timothy A. Allen, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA

Mazeed Omotilewa Aro-Lambo, BA, PhD student, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Rochester, MN

Olivia E. Atherton, PhD, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Özlem Ayduk, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Emorie D. Beck, BA, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

Verónica Benet-Martinez, PhD, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

Wiebke Bleidorn, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA

Jennifer K. Bosson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Southern Florida, Tampa, FL

David M. Buss, PhD, Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Erika N. Carlson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Charles S. Carver, PhD (deceased), Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, FL

Lee Anna Clark, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

Erin K. Davisson, PhD, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC

Filip De Fruyt, PhD, Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Marleen H. M. de Moor, PhD, Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies, Vrije University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Jaap J. A. Denissen, PhD, Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Colin G. DeYoung, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Ed Diener, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

M. Brent Donnellan, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Carol S. Dweck, PhD, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Lameese Eldesouky, PhD, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

Andrew J. Elliot, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

Robert A. Emmons, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA

Tammy English, PhD, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

R. Chris Fraley, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

Howard S. Friedman, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA

David C. Funder, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA

R. Michael Furr, PhD, Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC

Samuel D. Gosling, PhD, Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Eileen K. Graham, PhD, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Rachael G. Grazioplene, PhD, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT

James J. Gross, PhD, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Sarah E. Hampson, PhD, Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR

James J. Heckman, PhD, Center for the Economics of Human Development, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Rick H. Hoyle, PhD, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC

Manon L. Ironside, BS, PhD student, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Joshua J. Jackson, PhD, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

Tomáš Jagelka, PhD, Institute for Applied Microeconomics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Oliver P. John, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Sheri L. Johnson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Wendy Johnson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Evalill Bølstad Karevold, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Tim Kautz, PhD, Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ

Dacher Keltner, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Martin G. Köllner, PhD, Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany

Robert F. Krueger, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Kostadin Kushlev, PhD, Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

David M. G. Lewis, PhD, School of Psychology and Exercise Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Australia

Richard E. Lucas, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Dan P. McAdams, PhD, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Matthias R. Mehl, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Anissa Mike, PhD, Data Science Engineer, When I Work, Minneapolis, MN

Daniel K. Mroczek, PhD, Department of Psychology and Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Stephanie N. Mullins-Sweatt, PhD, Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK

Lauren B. Nickel, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

Shigehiro Oishi, PhD, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY

Joshua R. Oltmanns, MS, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Jennifer G. Pearlstein, BS, PhD student, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Peter J. Rentfrow, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, UK

Brent W. Roberts, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

Richard W. Robins, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA

Michael D. Robinson, PhD, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND

Michael F. Scheier, PhD, Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Sarah A. Schnitker, PhD, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX

Thomas J. Schofield, PhD, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, Ames, IA; and the Los Angeles County Department of Probation, Juvenile Division, Los Angeles, CA

Oliver C. Schultheiss, PhD, Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany

Phillip R. Shaver, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA

Kennon M. Sheldon, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO

Rebecca L. Shiner, PhD, Department of Psychology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY

Michelle N. Shiota, PhD, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Dean Keith Simonton, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA

Nicolas Sommet, PhD, LINES Life Course and Inequality Research Centre, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

William B. Swann, Jr., PhD, Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Benjamin A. Swerdlow, BA, PhD student, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Jennifer L. Tackett, PhD, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Jessica L. Tracy, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, CA

Nicholas A. Turiano, PhD, Department of Psychology, Eberly College, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West VA

Simine Vazire, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA

David Watson, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

Aaron C. Weidman, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Alexander Weiss, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Thomas A. Widiger, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Aidan G. C. Wright, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, PA

Cornelia Wrzus, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Germany

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Audience

Researchers and students in personality and social psychology; also of interest to clinical psychologists.

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Course Use

Serves as a text in graduate-level courses on personality.

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New to this edition:

• Expanded coverage of personality development, with chapters on the overall life course, middle childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood.
• Three new chapters on affective processes, plus chapters on neurobiology, achievement motivation, cognitive approaches, narcissism, and other new topics.
• Section on cutting-edge issues: personality interventions, personality manifestations in everyday life, geographical variation in personality, self-knowledge, and the links between personality and economics.
• Added breadth and accessibility—42 more concise chapters, compared to 32 in the prior edition.