
Individual Differences and Personality
Description
Key Features
- Presents a scientific approach to personality and related individual differences, as well as theory and research on the fundamental questions about human psychological variation
- New edition presents findings from dozens of new research studies of the past six years
- Includes new chapter on vocational interests and a revised chapter on personality disorders reflecting DSM-5 formulation
- Contains streamlined descriptions of measurement concepts and heritability research
- Includes various boxes containing interesting asides that help to maintain the student’s attention
Readership
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
The Study of Personality
The Universal, the Unique, and the In-Between
Idiographic Versus Nomothetic Approaches
Outline of this Book
Chapter 1. Basic Concepts in Psychological Measurement
1.1 Some Simple Statistical Ideas
1.2 Assessing Quality of Measurement: Reliability and Validity
1.3 Methods of Measurement: Self- and Observer Reports, Direct Observations, Biodata
1.4 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 2. Personality Traits and the Inventories that Measure Them
2.1 The Idea of a Personality Trait
2.2 Personality Traits and Other Psychological Characteristics
2.3 Do Personality Traits Exist?
2.4 Measuring Traits by Self- or Observer Report: Structured Personality Inventories
2.5 Strategies of Personality Inventory Construction
2.6 Self- and Observer Reports on Personality Inventory Scales
2.7 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 3. Personality Structure: Classifying Traits
3.1 Which Traits to Measure? Completeness without Redundancy
3.2 A Gentle Introduction to Factor Analysis
3.3 Factor Analysis of Personality Traits: How to Find a Representative Set of Traits?
3.4 Lexical Studies in the English Language: The Big Five Personality Factors
3.5 Lexical Studies in Many Languages: The HEXACO Personality Factors
3.6 What it all Means: A Few Dimensions, but Many Personalities
3.7 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 4. Developmental Change and Stability of Personality
4.1 Defining Change and Stability
4.2 Developmental Changes in Mean Levels of Personality Traits
4.3 Stability of Traits Across the Years (and the Life Span)
4.4 Personality in Childhood and Infancy: Measurement and Structure
4.5 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 5. Biological Bases of Personality
5.1 Early Ideas: The Four “Humors” and Personality
5.2 Neurotransmitters
5.3 Brain Structures
5.4 Hormones
5.5 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 6. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Personality
6.1 The Question: Nature versus Nurture
6.2 Examining the Similarity of Relatives
6.3 Separating Heredity and Environment
6.4 The Answers
6.5 Assumptions Underlying Heritability Studies in General
6.6 Assumptions Underlying Twin-Based Heritability Studies in Particular
6.7 Effects of the Unique Environment on Personality? Parental Treatment, Peer Groups, and Birth Order
6.8 Summary and Conclusions
6.9 Appendix: Difficulties in Separating the Effects of Heredity and Environment
Chapter 7. The Evolutionary Function of Personality
7.1 The Idea of Evolution by Natural Selection
7.2 Why Are We Not All the Same? Fluctuating Optimum and Frequency Dependence
7.3 Adaptive Trade-offs between High and Low Levels of the HEXACO Personality Factors
7.4 The Operation of the Fluctuating Optimum and Frequency Dependence: Some Examples
7.5 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 8. Personality Disorders
8.1 The Idea of a Personality Disorder
8.2 The DSM-5 Personality Disorders
8.3 An Alternative System for Personality Disorders
8.4 Origins of Personality Disorders: Developmental Change and Stability, Biological Bases, Heredity and Environment, and Evolution
8.5 Treatment of Personality Disorders
8.6 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 9. Personality and Life Outcomes
9.1 Does Personality Predict Features of One’s Life Story?
9.2 Relationships and Marriage
9.3 Friendships and Other Peer Relationships
9.4 Health-Related Outcomes
9.5 Academic Performance
9.6 Job Performance
9.7 Law-Abidingness versus Criminality
9.8 Life Satisfaction
9.9 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 10. Mental Ability
10.1 The Domain of Mental Ability
10.2 The Structure of Mental Ability: One Dimension or Many?
10.3 Developmental Change and Stability in Mental Abilities
10.4 Biological Bases of Mental Ability
10.5 Genetic and Environmental Influences on Mental Ability
10.6 Evolutionary Function of Mental Ability
10.7 Mental Ability and Life Outcomes
10.8 Not All g-Loaded Tasks are the Same
10.9 Alternative Ideas About Mental Abilities
10.10 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 11. Vocational Interests
11.1 How Vocational Interests are Measured
11.2 Score Reports from Vocational Interest Surveys
11.3 Constructing Vocational Interest Scales: Empirical and Rational Strategies
11.4 Major Dimensions of Vocational Interests
11.5 Vocational Interests and Personality
11.6 Vocational Interests and Mental Abilities
11.7 Validity of Vocational Interest Surveys
11.8 Origins of Vocational Interests: Developmental Change and Stability, Genetic and Environmental Influences, Biological Bases, and Evolution
11.9 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 12. Religion and Politics
12.1 Religion
12.2 Politics
12.3 Origins of Religious Beliefs and Political Attitudes: Biological Bases, Genetic and Environmental Influences, and Evolutionary Function
12.4 Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 13. Sexuality
13.1 Major Dimensions of Sexuality
13.2 Sexuality and Personality
13.3 Origins of Variation in Sexuality: Developmental Stability and Change, Genetic and Environmental Influences, Biological Bases, and Evolution
13.4 Sexual Arousal
13.5 Sexual Commitment (or Restricted versus Unrestricted Sociosexuality)
13.6 Sexual Orientation
13.7 Summary and Conclusions
Conclusions
What We Have Learned So Far
What We Have Yet to Learn
Final Remarks
References
Index
Product details
- No. of pages: 416
- Language: English
- Copyright: © Academic Press 2013
- Published: March 21, 2013
- Imprint: Academic Press
- eBook ISBN: 9780123914705
About the Author
Michael Ashton

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