Now in a revised and expanded fourth edition, this definitive reference and text has more than 50% new material, reflecting a decade of theoretical and empirical advances. Prominent researchers describe major theories and review cutting-edge findings. The volume explores how personality emerges from and interacts with biological, developmental, cognitive, affective, and social processes, and the implications for well-being and health. Innovative research programs and methods are presented throughout. The concluding section showcases emerging issues and new directions in the field.

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.

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.

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.

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