Personality Psychology: Recent Trends and Emerging Directions

358 Pages·1989·5.99 MB·English

by  David M. Buss, Nancy Cantor (eds.)

Personality Psychology
David M. Buss Nancy Cantor
Editors
Personality Psychology
Recent Trends and Emerging
Directions
With 15 Illustrations
Springer-Verlag
New York Berlin Heidelberg
London Paris Tokyo
David M. Buss
Nancy Cantor
Department of Psychology
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Personality psychology: recent trends and emerging directions/
editors, David M. Buss, Nancy Cantor.
p. cm.
Papers from a conference held at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, April 15-17, 1998.
Includes bibliographies.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0636-8
1. Personality-Congresses. 1. Buss, David M. II. Cantor,
Nancy.
[DNLM: 1. Personality-congresses. 2. Personality Assessment-
trends-congresses. 3. Psychological Theory-congresses. BF 698
P4679 1988]
BF698.P3713 1989
155.2-dc20
DNLM/DLC
89-6442
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 1989 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1989
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Typeset by TCSystems, Inc., Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
987 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0636-8 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-0634-4
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-0634-4
Preface
Scientific disciplines sometimes reach critical junctures in their devel-
opment-points of departure that can radically alter their subsequent
course. We believe that the field of personality psychology has reached
such a juncture.
In the 1930s, the seminal books by Allport (1937) and Murray (1938) set
an agenda for decades to come. The 1940s and 1950s were marked by
talented researchers carrying out that broad agenda. The study of
personality flourished, and a basic textbook by Hall and Lindzey (1957)
established personality psychology as an essential part of psychology's
curriculum. During the 1960s, however, fundamental assumptions of the
field were questioned, and limitations in predictability from trait measures
were noted. The decade ofthe 1970s and the early years ofthe 1980s were
marked by internal debate consisting of defenses of the basic paradigm,
further attacks, and yet more defenses.
During the 1980s, however, the intense internal debate waned, and new
approaches to substantive issues in the field began to emerge: new
middle-level units of analysis were advanced; new forms of personality
coherence were proposed; advances in assessment yielded more powerful
methods. A dimensional structure began to receive consensual endorse-
ment, and the explanatory tools used by researchers expanded beyond
their earlier confines to include neighboring disciplines such as cognitive
psychology, evolutionary biology, and sociology.
In 1988, we decided to organize a conference to articulate these
emerging issues in personality psychology. Four goals were central to the
conference: (1) to identify interesting and promising emerging issues;
(2) to stimulate debate and intellectual exchange among active research-
ers in the field; (3) to begin to consolidate the otherwise scattered gains in
the field; (4) to reinforce our burgeoning group identity and shared sense
of purpose.
To accomplish these goals, we decided to invite only young personality
psychologists. Informally, the conference was referred to as "the small
fry conference." Unfortunately, financial constraints imposed a limit of
twenty-five participants. Clearly, there are many more outstanding young
personality psychologists, here and abroad, and we regret that our limited
resources forced this restriction.
The conference, which took place over three days (April 15-17, 1988),
provided several formats: (1) symposia with brief presentations; (2)
workshops and round table discussions; (3) free-wheeling coffee breaks,
lunches, dinners, and parties. We believe that the sense of excitement
shared by the participants augurs well for accomplishing our goals. Of
vi Preface
course, the true test of success can only be evaluated in the next decade
by accomplishments in the field.
To realize a conference ofthis scope requires dedicated teamwork. The
Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan,
Professor Al Cain, gave intellectual support to the conference from its
inception, and provided the financial support needed to make it a reality.
Judy Mackey, our Personality Area Secretary, provided the structural
core of the conference. Without her tireless efforts, organizational
expertise, social skills, and imperturbable good humor, the conference
could not have occurred.
Our personality area faculty functioned as a team in preparing this
conference, and deserve special recognition: Abigail Stewart worked
closely with us from the outset; David Winter and Warren Norman
transported people, as well as ideas throughout; Don Brown, Janet
Landman, Mel Manis, Hazel Markus, Dick Nisbett, Carolyn Phinney,
George Rosenwald, Mac Runyan, Claude Steele, and Joe Veroff added
valued support.
The nuts and bolts of the conference were assembled by the tireless
devotion of our graduate students. Their contributions, which spanned
many months, began in our graduate seminar, continued throughout the
actual conference, and beyond. We would like to extend special thanks
to: Scott Bunce, Armen Asherian, Mike Botwin, Rose Pacini, Bill
Peterson, Richard Doty, Kaz Kato, Ethel Moore, Jeanne Oggins, Chris
Langston, Sabrina Zirkel, Will Fleeson, Avonne Mason, Liisa Kyl-Heku,
Doug Leber, Dave Ametrano, Cheryl Peck, Rob Sellers, Steve Byers,
Eric Stone, and Mike Morris.
Finally, we thank the twenty-five participants who provided the
intellectual core of the conference. This book is the product of their
efforts.
David M. Buss
Nancy Cantor
Contents
Preface .................................................................................. v
Contributors .......................................................................... xi
Introduction............................................................................ 1
DAVID M. Buss and NANCY CANTOR
Part I New Middle-Level Units in PersonaUty Psychology
Chapter 1 Personal Projects Analysis: Trivial Pursuits,
Magnificent Obsessions, and the Search for
Coherence.......................................................... 15
BRIAN R. LITTLE
Chapter 2 Exploring the Relations Between Motives and
Traits: The Case of Narcissism............................... 32
ROBERT A. EMMONS
Chapter 3 Cognitive Strategies as Personality:
Effectiveness, Specificity, Flexibility, and
Change ............................................................... 45
JULIE K. NOREM
Chapter 4 An Alternative Paradigm for Studying the
Accuracy of Person Perception: Simulated
Personalities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
JACK C. WRIGHT
viii Contents
Part D New Forms of Personality Coherence
Chapter 5 On the Continuities and Consequences of
Personality: A Life-Course Perspective.................... 85
AVSHALOM CASPI
Chapter 6 Life Paths of Aggressive and Withdrawn
Children............................................................. 99
DEBBIE S. MOSKOWITZ and ALEX E. SCHWARTZMAN
Chapter 7 Emotional Adaptation to Life Transitions:
Early Impact on Integrative Cognitive
Processes ............. ......... ...... ...... ......... ............... 115
JOSEPH M. HEALY, JR.
Chapter 8 Performance Evaluation and Intrinsic Motivation
Processes: The Effects of Achievement
Orientation and Rewards...................................... 128
JUDITH M. HARACKIEWICZ
Chapter 9 The Problem of Life's Meaning ............................. 138
Roy F. BAUMEISTER
Chapter 10 Conditional Patterns, Transference, and the
Coherence of Personality Across Time ................... 149
AVRIL THORNE
Chapter 11 The Development of a Narrative Identity................ 160
DAN P. McADAMS
Part ID Advances in Assessment
Chapter 12 A Process Approach to Personality Psychology:
Utilizing Time as a Facet of Data .......................... 177
RANDY J. LARSEN
Chapter 13 Metatraits: Interitem Variance as Personality
Assessment ....................................................... 194
DIANNE M. TICE
Chapter 14 Socially Desirable Responding: Some New
Solutions to Old Problems ...... ...... ...... .................. 201
DELROY L. PAULHUS
Contents ix
Chapter 15 Accuracy in Personality Judgment and the Dancing
Bear ................................................................. 210
DAVID C. FUNDER
Chapter 16 Construct Validity in Personality Assessment .......... 224
DANIEL J. OZER
Part IV Advances in Identifying the Structure of Personality
Chapter 17 Why I Advocate the Five-Factor Model: Joint
Factor Analyses of the NEO-PI with Other
Instruments....................................................... 237
ROBERT R. MCCRAE
Chapter 18 The Optimal Level of Measurement for
Personality Constructs......................................... 246
STEPHEN R. BRIGGS
Chapter 19 Towards a Taxonomy of Personality Descriptors...... 261
OLIVER P. JOHN
Part V Expansion of Levels of Explanation in Personality
Chapter 20 Identity Orientations and Self-Interpretation............ 275
JONATHAN M. CHEEK
Chapter 21 Using Traits to Construct Personality..................... 286
SARAH E. HAMPSON
Chapter 22 Personality Theory and Behavioral Genetics:
Contributions and Issues...................................... 294
DAVID C. ROWE
Chapter 23 A Biosocial Perspective on Mates and Traits:
Reuniting Personality and Social Psychology........... 308
DOUGLAS T. KENRICK
Chapter 24 The Evolutionary History of Genetic Variation:
An Emerging Issue in the Behavioral Genetic
Study of Personality............................................ 320
STEVEN W. GANGESTAD
x Contents
Chapter 25 Levels of Explanation in Personality Theory........... 333
JEROME C. WAKEFIELD
Subject Index..................................................... 347
Contributors
Roy F. BAUMEISTER
Department of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA
STEPHEN R. BRIGGS
Department of Psychology, University of Tulsa,
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104, USA
DAVID M. Buss
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
NANCY CANTOR
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
A VSHALOM CASPI
Department of Psychology, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
JONATHAN M. CHEEK
Department of Psychology, Wellesley College,
Wellesley, Massachusetts 02181, USA
ROBERT A. EMMONS
Psychology Department, University of California, Davis,
Davis, California 95616, USA