The new personality self-portrait : why you think, work, love, and act the way you do

637 Pages·2007·3.69 MB·English

by  Lois B

THE NEW PERSONALITY SELF-PORTRAIT
A Bantam Book / September 1995
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint excerpts from the following
copyrighted works: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. By
permission of the American Psychiatric Association; © 1994. “Of Weirdoes and Eccentrics” by
Pico Iyer. Reprinted by permission; copyright © 1988 Time, Inc. “Richard Harris.” Reprinted by
permission; © 1987 The New Yorker Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. “Back in the High Life”
by Ron Rosenbaum. Used by permission of the author, copyright © 1988. Abnormalities of
Personality; Within and Beyond the Realm of Treatment by Michael H. Stone. By permission of W.
W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copyright © 1993 by Michael H. Stone.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1995 by John M. Oldham, M.D., and Lois B. Morris
The New Personality Self-Portrait test copyright © 1995
by John M. Oldham, M.D., and Lois B. Morris Book design by MM Design 2000, Inc.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information address: Bantam
Books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Oldham, John M.
The new personality self-portrait : why you think, work, love, and act the way you do / John M.
Oldham and Lois B. Morris.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: The personality self-portrait. 1990.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-81869-0
1. Typology (Psychology) 2. Personality disorders. I. Morris, Lois B. II. Oldham, John M.
Personality self-portrait. III. Title. BF698.3043 1995
155.2’64—dc20
95-12233
CIP
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing
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is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada.
Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.
v3.1
For Karen
and
For Susan and Gene
Acknowledgments
Grateful thanks to all our test subjects. By volunteering their time and
allowing us to peer into their personalities, they helped us to develop the
test that serves as the basis for this book. To Michael First, M.D., and
Peggy Gallaher, Ph.D., we offer heartfelt appreciation for their assistance
in gathering and interpreting the data that helped us to refine the test
and thus to proceed with this new edition.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Preface to the Second Edition
Introduction The Newest Personality System
Chapter 1 WHO AM I?
Understanding Individual Differences
Chapter 2 YOUR UNIQUE LIFE PATTERN
Styles, Disorders, and Domains
Chapter 3 THE PERSONALITY SELF-PORTRAIT
Taking and Interpreting the Test and Reading the Book
Chapter 4 CONSCIENTIOUS
“The Right Stuff”
Chapter 5 SELF-CONFIDENT STYLE
“Star Quality”
Chapter 6 DEVOTED STYLE
“The Good Mate”
Chapter 7 DRAMATIC STYLE
“The Life of the Party”
Chapter 8 VIGILANT STYLE
“The Survivor”
Chapter 9 SENSITIVE STYLE
“The Homebody”
Chapter 10 LEISURELY STYLE
“California Dreaming”
Chapter 11 ADVENTUROUS STYLE
“The Challenger”
Chapter 12 IDIOSYNCRATIC STYLE
“The Different Drummer”
Chapter 13 SOLITARY STYLE
“The Loner”
Chapter 14 MERCURIAL STYLE
“Fire and Ice”
Chapter 15 SELF-SACRIFICING STYLE
“The Altruist”
Chapter 16 AGGRESSIVE STYLE
“Top Dog”
Chapter 17 SERIOUS STYLE
“The Realist”
Chapter 18 YOUR STYLE AND YOUR DESTINY
Where You’ve Come from and Where You’re Headed
Chapter 19 STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE
Finding the Right Help
Appendix TWO SELF-PORTRAITS
Graph Interpretations
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
About the Authors
Preface to the Second Edition
In 1984, it first occurred to us to devise a system of—and test for—
normal personality styles based on the new system for classifying
personality disorders that had recently been developed by the American
Psychiatric Association, which had never been attempted. We believed
then, as now, that the disorders of personality that psychiatrists have
identified can be seen as extremes along a continuum of normal,
adaptive, individual personality differences. Thus we set out to identify
and describe these normal personality styles. Six years later, in 1990,
The Personality Self-Portrait was published. Little did we imagine how
well it would be received and how eagerly it would be applied by
researchers, clinicians, human resources departments, teachers, students,
individuals wishing to know more about themselves, and even dating
services!
We have prepared this new edition of both the book and the test for
two principal reasons. For one, the system upon which we had based our
first edition has changed. The personality styles represented in our first
edition corresponded to the categories of personality disorder published
in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-III-R: the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition-Revised). The 1994
publication of the fourth edition of the manual, the DSM-IV, brought
with it some changes to the personality disorder classifications and
diagnostic criteria, which we have reflected in our own schema and
revised test in The New Personality Self-Portrait.
Changes in this edition also reflect the data we have collected since
the original publication. The earlier test was devised primarily as a
descriptive tool. Its almost immediate adoption into formal settings
necessitated information as to its scientific validity, which was begun at
several sites. This new test incorporates results of that initial work, and
the process of data collection continues. In addition, we have received
valuable feedback from researchers, readers, and mental health
professionals throughout the world, to whom we are extremely grateful.