Elements of Personality

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.

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

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.

This compact, brilliant text allows the reader to learn simultaneously about the subject matter and about the self. What more could be asked of an undergraduate text?
—Virginia Brabender, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Widener University, Chester, PA, United States

With the publication of this book, Dr. Bornstein has given the field of personality psychology a gift—a well-written, engaging, and accessible textbook that covers the four main perspectives on personality. This work will be considered a seminal textbook in personality theory for years to come, and one that students will remember long after their course is completed.
—Nicole Cain, PhD, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, United States

If there is such a thing as an irresistible textbook, this is it. In a few lively, wide-ranging, and often witty chapters, Robert Bornstein has made personality theory and research not only comprehensible, but entertaining. In addition to benefitting intellectually, readers will appreciate how this book deepens their personal understandings of self and others.
—Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP, Visiting Professor Emerita, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, United States

This tight and efficient text by one of the most accomplished and conversant scholars in the field covers all of the major perspectives and issues in personality psychology. An engaging resource that will be fun and easy to read for students interested in this fascinating topic.
—Christopher J. Hopwood, PhD, Professor of Personality Psychology, University Of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

Robert F. Bornstein, who has received multiple awards both for his teaching and personality research, has taken his nearly 40 years of experience teaching personality courses to produce Elements of Personality: Discovering Connections. This concise, lively, and engaging undergraduate text distills the field to its four primary perspectives, which Bornstein covers in-depth while enhancing their breadth with contemporary links to social, cognitive, developmental, and neurophysiological psychology. Students will appreciate this textbook for its clarity and organization, relatable daily life examples, and its value for understanding the personality of others and themselves.
—Gregory J. Meyer, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, United States

This book does a truly excellent job of introducing readers to what is known about personality. It was a really engaging book to read and I found myself finishing it much faster than I had anticipated. I strongly recommend it.
—Dr. Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester Hills, MI, United States

One can feel the love Bornstein has for the subject of personality, for teaching, and for his students. He not only introduces theoretical and clinical wisdom, but integrates it with personal vignettes of the “fathers and mothers” of personality theories as well as his own thinking, thus offering himself as a wonderful role model for those in training to become clinical psychologists and practicing clinicians. e connections of personality theories with research, culture, neuropsychology, and ethics are inspiring, and are examined with a critical eye. is book will contribute immensely to the dialogue between clinicians and researchers.
—Ety Berant, PhD, Director of Graduate Clinical Program, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel

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Welcome to the student resources for Elements of Personality: Discovering Connections. Authored by Dr. Karen E. Gill, Centre College, these documents are offered for your personal study. If you reprint or adapt them for publication, permission is required from the publisher. All material is ©2023 by the American Psychological Association.

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• Chapter summaries
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