Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research

by Lawrence A. Pervin (editor), Oliver P. John (editor)

The fully revised second edition of this classic text ushers the study of personality into the 21st century. Chapters from foremost authorities provide a historical overview of modern personality theory, bring major theoretical perspectives into focus, and report on the current state of the science in a range of key domains. Documenting the ongoing evolution of psychoanalytic, trait, social cognitive, and interactional approaches, the volume explores the dynamic interface between personality psychology and other disciplines. In particular, the recent explosion of knowledge about biological aspects of personality is reflected in chapters on evolutionary psychology, behavioral genetics, neuroscience, and temperament. Major research is also presented on such defining topics as the self; the psychological unconscious; motivational processes; emotion and emotion regulation; stress, coping, and health; interpersonal behavior; personality assessment; and more.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Academic

738 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 1990

About the author

Lawrence A. Pervin was professor emeritus of psychology at Rutgers University. Author of nine books on the subject of personality psychology, he was a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and lifetime Giants fan.

Reviews

[Synne Sylibris]

Finally done with this stupid book.
Ok, "stupid" might be a little unfair. Once I got over the initial "I don't understand anything" thoughts, I was able to find my footing a little. I even enjoyed a few chapters (especially the chapter about "the self").
Overall, a decent reference book, if a little dense and long-winded.

Fingers crossed I passed my exam, so I don't have to pick up this book ever again🥰🥰

[Jurij Fedorov]

Just wanted to write a short review.

Chapter 5 is curiously; "The Five-­Factor Theory of Personality" by Robert R. McCrae and Paul T. Costa, Jr.

This chapter is really great! It's a great intro to personality overall and they construct a deep and detailed argument about personality and how it's structured into 5 traits universally. It's not dry or boring, but can get a bit to the point at times. I do wish they had explained how personality changes over time of how each trait predicts behavior in life like who people vote for, how much they sleep around or what they work with. It's very good at illustrating the basics, but via overall ideas. I suggest people get the book and read this chapter. It's a very clear idea.

Chapter 12 "Personality in Animals"

Now I can see the dryness of the book. This chapter absolutely does not work at all without photos, charts, tables and other guides. It becomes a weird thing where a single chart would have done a better job at conveying info than some of the pages and it actually becomes a mistake that they didn't use any sort of tools like that to convey their message. It's a fine chapter if you study this stuff and need a dry and boring intro, but that just doesn't apply to 95% of readers. We do want to understand this more easily and have some fun with it, which is not found here. The chapter overall still does have that very good understanding of personality though. It's nice to see a high level of understanding and a strong collection of studies. But overall it's not as groundbreaking or convincing as it could have been. I think the issue here is that the level of info is high, but it's for experts ready to nerd out with the chapter for half a day and not for people just needing fast info.

[Ada · Rating 3 out of 5]

UGH. Not even a single picture.

[Kristena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book when I took the class in graduate school. It is extremely dry. However, I did find it useful when it came time for my comprehensive exams.