The Coherence of Personality

Reviews / Votes

In this important contribution, leaders in personality psychology and related disciplines address the phenomenon of the coherence of personality; that is, how the parts of the person fit into an organized, dynamic whole. No question is more fundamental to the field of personality! In returning to historical issues, new insights are offered that promise to advance the field. --Lawrence A. Pervin, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University

This milestone volume is a 'must-read' for anyone seriously interested in personality psychology. It reports cutting-edge conceptualizations and research that cast new and exciting light on the very core of personality. From leading theorists and researchers, chapters show how personality can be 'genotypically' coherent despite seemingly endless 'phenotypic' inconsistencies across situations. The volume demonstrates, furthermore, how context, culture, and cognition interact in shaping 'the way we are' as individuals and as members of society. --Arie Kruglanski, PhD, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California

This volume offers a masterly overview of the social-cognitive approach to the study of personality. Creatively treating such topics as life tasks and the ontogeny of coherence, chapters forge a new union between personality and developmental psychology. Truly a treasure. --Paul B. Baltes, PhD, Director, Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

Do people have coherent personalities? Although to the layperson such a question might seem absurd--isn't there an obvious difference between extroverted Aunt Estelle and shy Uncle Larry?--scientific investigation does not reveal a stable set of attributes representing an individual's character in all social settings. Nonetheless, there is something unique about individuals, and Cervone and Shoda have gathered together an all-star cast to address just what it might be. This volume contains the wisdom of the leading personality psychologists and what they view as the essential elements of human uniqueness: mental representations of the self and others, strategies for processing information, personal goals and strivings, and the embodiment of a cultural context. --Peter Salovey, PhD, Professor of Psychology and of Epidemiology and Public Health, Director of Graduate Studies in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
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