The Normal Personality
A New Way of Thinking about People
Published on 28. January 2008
Book
Hardback
212 pages
978-0-521-88106-7 (ISBN)
Description
In The Normal Personality, Steven Reiss argues that human beings are naturally intolerant of people who express values significantly different from their own. Because of this intolerance, psychologists and psychiatrists sometimes confuse individuality with abnormality and thus over-diagnose disorders. Reiss shows how normal motives - not anxiety or traumatic childhood experiences - underlie many personality and relationship problems, such as divorce, infidelity, combativeness, workaholism, loneliness, authoritarianism, weak leadership style, perfectionism, underachievement, arrogance, extravagance, pompousness, disloyalty, disorganisation, and over-anxiety. Calling for greater understanding and tolerance of all kinds of personalities, Reiss applies his theory of motivation to leadership, human development, relationships, and counselling.
Reviews / Votes
'... In a time when children, and even household pets, swallow Prozac, Reiss revives a neglected diagnosis for worrywarts, wallflowers, daydreamers, pessimists, and eccentrics alike: normal. He broadens normality by outlining how abnormal behaviors can arise when life motives are obstructed or personal values contradicted. Reiss lists how various combinations of 16 basic desires lead to dilemmas that eventually bring people to counseling. He offers a way to manage personal problems, without cracking the medicine cabinet or the skeleton closet.' Science NewsMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
29 Tables, unspecified; 2 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
526 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-88106-7 (9780521881067)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2009
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€23.49
Available for download
Person
Professor Steven Reiss is the executive director of the World Society of Motivation Scientists and Professionals. He produced an influential scientific model of anxiety, called anxiety sensitivity (AS), that facilitated early identification of people at risk for various anxiety- and stress-related disorders. AS created new opportunities for ongoing large-scale NIH-funded research projects on prevention, military research on possible inoculation methods for post-traumatic stress disorder, and new psychological research on chronic pain and substance abuse. He constructed the Reiss Profile, an assessment instrument for determining what motivates someone, and published the first ever scientifically validated taxonomy of life motives (psychological needs). His motivation methods have been successfully used by major league professional teams, an Olympic gold medalist, a world champion team, and a growing clientele of human resource managers and executive job coaches.
Content
1. My wife thinks something is wrong with me; 2. The sixteen basic desires; 3. Intensity of basic motivation; 4. Normal personality types; 5. Overcoming personal troubles; 6. Six reasons for adolescent underachievement; 7. Self-hugging and personal blind spots; 8. Relationships; 9. Reinterpretation of Myers-Briggs personality types; 10. The sixteen principles of motivation; Appendix A. Dictionary of normal personality traits; Appendix B. Reiss Motivation Profile Estimator; Appendix C. The sixteen basic desires at a glance.