Personality and Individual Differences

Personality and Individual Differences is a state-of-the-art undergraduate textbook that covers the salient and recent literature on personality, intellectual ability, motivation and other individual differences such as creativity, emotional intelligence, leadership and vocational interests.

This third edition has been completely revised and updated to include the most up-to-date and cutting-edge data and analysis. As well as introducing all topics related to individual differences, this book examines and discusses many important underlying issues, such as the psychodynamic approach to latent variables, validity, reliability and correlations between constructs.

An essential textbook for first-time as well as more advanced students of the discipline, Personality and Individual Differences provides grounding in all major aspects of differential psychology.

Preface to Third Edition xiii

Preface to Second Edition xiv

Preface to First Edition xv

Acknowledgments xvii

About the Author xviii

Chapter 1 Introducing Individual Differences – From Everyday to Psychological Questions 1

1.1 Introduction 2

1.2 Personality: A Commonsense Idea 3

1.3 Describing Individuals 5

1.4 Abnormality 7

1.5 Intelligence, Competition, and Adaptation 8

1.6 Predicting Success 10

1.7 Born Different? 12

1.8 Other Abilities 15

1.9 Variability and Change: Motivation and Mood States 16

1.10 Creativity 18

1.11 Leading the Way 20

1.12 Interests 21

Chapter 2 Personality, Part I 23

2.1 Introduction 24

2.2 Overview and Approaches 25

2.3 Definition of Personality Traits 27

2.4 History of Personality 29

2.5 Personality Traits and States: Dispositional vs. Situational Approaches 34

2.6 Eysenck’s Gigantic Three and the Biological Basis of Personality Traits 38

2.7 Self-Report Inventories 41

2.8 The Biological Basis of Personality 45

2.9 Gray’s Personality Theory 48

2.10 Cattell’s 16Pf and The Lexical Hypothesis 50

2.11 The Five Factor Model (Big Five) 53

2.12 Summary and Conclusions 58

Chapter 3 Personality, Part II – Validating Personality Traits 61

3.1 Introduction 62

3.2 Testing Personality Theories 63

3.3 Personality and Social Behavior 72

3.4 Personality and Romantic Relationships 75

3.5 Personality and Performance 79

3.6 Personality and Health 86

3.7 Personality and Happiness 89

3.8 The Dark Side of Personality 90

3.9 Current Developments Outside The Dispositional Paradigm 93

3.10 Summary and Conclusions 106

Chapter 4 Psychopathology 109

4.1 Introduction 110

4.2 Defining Abnormality 111

4.3 Historical Roots of Psychopathology 113

4.4 Modern Approaches to Psychopathology 115

4.5 Integrative Approaches to Psychopathology: The Biopsychosocial Model 122

4.6 Diagnosis: Classifying Psychological Disorders 124

4.7 Major Psychological Disorders 126

4.8 Criticisms of The Diagnostic Approach 138

4.9 Dimensional View of Psychopathology and Personality Disorders 139

4.10 Summary and Conclusions 142

Chapter 5 Intelligence, Part I 145

5.1 Introduction 146

5.2 Defining Intelligence 147

5.3 History of Intelligence Testing 150

5.4 Cattell’s Theory of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence 164

5.5 Genetic vs. Environmental Causes of Intelligence 166

5.6 Piaget and The Developmental Theory of Cognitive Ability 168

5.7 The Great Debate: gvs. Multiple Abilities 170

5.8 Summary and Conclusions 173

Chapter 6 Intelligence, Part II – Validating Intelligence and Correlates of Iq (Causes and Consequences) 175

6.1 Introduction 176

6.2 Wechsler’s IQ Scale 176

6.3 Intelligence at School and University: Educational Outcomes 179

6.4 In The Job: Occupational Outcomes of Intelligence 182

6.5 Intelligence, Longevity, and Health 185

6.6 Intelligence and Social Class 189

6.7 Race and Sex Differences in IQ: Facts, Controversies, and Implications 193

6.8 Sex Differences in IQ 195

6.9 Even More Basic: Decomposing Intelligence 200

6.10 Summary and Conclusions 203

Chapter 7 Behavioral Genetics 205

7.1 Introduction 206

7.2 Early Foundations of Behavioral Genetics 207

7.3 Dna: Some Background 208

7.4 The Power of Genes: Recent Evidence for the Heritability of Intelligence 211

7.5 Intelligence and Assortative Mating 213

7.6 The Importance of the Environment 214

7.7 Biological Effects on Intelligence: Why Do They Increase Across the Lifespan? 216

7.8 Genetic Causes of Personality Traits 221

7.9 Genetic Basis of Maladaptive Behaviors 225

7.10 Personality and Intelligence: Interplay Between Environment and Genes? 227

7.11 Implications for Upbringing and Education 228

7.12 Contradicting Genetics: The Flynn Effect 229

7.13 Evolutionary Psychology 234

7.14 Summary and Conclusions 237

Chapter 8 Beyond Iq – Theories of Hot Intelligence 239

8.1 Introduction 240

8.2 Streetwise Rather than Book Smart 241

8.3 Early Beginnings: Thorndike’s Social Intelligence 243

8.4 Theoretical Importance of Social Intelligence 248

8.5 Early Problems 249

8.6 Recent Approaches: From Multidimensionality to Implicit Theories 253

8.7 Emotional Intelligence 255

8.8 Debate and Controversy Surrounding Emotional Intelligence 258

8.9 Origins and Measurement Problems of EQ 260

8.10 Trait Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Self-Efficacy 261

8.11 Practical Intelligence 265

8.12 Summary and Conclusions 266

Chapter 9 Mood and Motivation 269

9.1 Introduction 270

9.2 Beyond or Underneath Traits 271

9.3 Defining Motivation 272

9.4 From Biological Reflexes to Psychological Self-Realization 277

9.5 Mood States 294

9.6 Structure of Mood 295

9.7 Situational Determinants of Mood 296

9.8 Dispositional Influences on Mood States 297

9.9 Integrative and Recent Approaches to Mood States 298

9.10 Summary and Conclusions 299

Chapter 10 Creativity 303

10.1 Introduction 304

10.2 Definitions and Conceptualizations of Creativity 305

10.3 Creativity Across Different Psychological Paradigms 308

10.4 Differential Approaches to Creativity 312

10.5 Creativity and Intelligence 314

10.6 Creativity and Personality Traits 322

10.7 Testing Creativity 330

10.8 Creativity In Different Fields (From Arts to Science) 333

10.9 Summary and Conclusions 334

Chapter 11 Leadership 337

11.1 Introduction 338

11.2 Approaches to Leadership 339

11.3 Behavioral Approaches: Leadership Styles 355

11.4 Leadership and Gender 364

11.5 Summary and Conclusions 366

Chapter 12 Vocational Interests 369

12.1 Introduction 370

12.2 Approaches to Vocational Interests 371

12.3 Linking Theory and Practice 373

12.4 Stability of Interests: Evidence for Dispositional Nature 374

12.5 Gender Differences in Vocational Interests 376

12.6 Person–Environment Fit 380

12.7 Holland’s Riasec Typology 380

12.8 Prediger’s Three-Factor Model 384

12.9 Holland and The Big Five 385

12.10 Circumscription and Compromise: Gottfredson’s Theory 386

12.11 Trait Complexes and Interests 387

12.12 Summary and Conclusions 389

Glossary 391

References 399

Index 451

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