This 7th Edition helps students unravel the mysteries of human behavior through its highly readable introduction to the ideas of the most significant personality theorists. Engaging biographical sketches begin each chapter, and unique capsule summaries help students review key concepts. Theories come alive through the inclusion of quotations from the theorists’ writings and numerous applications such as dream interpretation, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. Significant changes in the 7th edition include an extended discussion of the practical applications of personality theory, with an emphasis on guidelines that can help people increase their self-knowledge, make better decisions, and live more fulfilling lives. Fictionalized but true-to-life examples illustrating the perils of inadequate self-knowledge include college students, parents, terrorists, business executives, and politicians, while other examples show the positive outcomes that can result from a better understanding of one’s unconscious. This 7th edition also includes a more extensive discussion of how a lack of self-understanding caused difficulties for such noted theorists as Freud and Erikson, and a new section that explains how behavior can be strongly influenced by the situation as well as by one’s personality. Finally, a new interactive web site provides practice test questions and other topics of interest.

First published in 2009. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

`This is an impressive work... and will provide the advanced reader with a rich source of theory and evidence. There is a huge amount to be got from the book and I suspect it will become a key work' - J Gavin Bremner, Department of Psychology, Lancaster University The Handbook of Developmental Psychology is a comprehensive, authoritative yet frontier-pushing overview of the study of human development presented in a single-volume format. It is ideal for experienced individuals wishing for an up-to-date survey of the central themes prevalent to developmental psychology, both past and present, and for those seeking a reference work to help appreciate the subject for the first time. The insightful contributions from world-leading developmental psychologists successfully and usefully integrate different perspectives to studying the subject, following a systematic life-span structure, from pre-natal development through to old age in human beings. The Handbook then concludes with a substantive section on the methodological approaches to the study of development, focusing on both qualitative and quantitative techniques. This unique reference work will be hugely influential for anyone needing or wishing for a broad, yet enriched understanding of this fascinating subject. It will be a particularly invaluable resource for academics and researchers in the fields of developmental psychology, education, parenting, cultural and biological psychology and anthropology.

This Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment 2-Volume Set constitutes an essential resource for shaping the future of the scientific foundation of personality research, measurement, and practice. It reviews the major contemporary personality models (Volume 1) and associated psychometric measurement instruments (Volume 2) that underpin the scientific study of this important area of psychology. With contributions from internationally renowned academics, this work will be an important reference work for a host of researchers and practitioners in the fields of individual differences and personality assessment, clinical psychology, educational psychology, work and organizational psychology, health psychology and other applied fields as well. Volume 1: Personality Theories and Models. Deals with the major theoretical models underlying personality instruments and covers the following broad topics, listed by section heading: " Explanatory Models For Personality " Comprehensive Trait Models " Key Traits: Psychobiology " Key Traits: Self-Regulation And Stress " New Trait And Dynamic Trait Constructs " Applications

Comprehensive and authoritative this handbook pushes back the frontiers of the study of human development in one single volume. It makes an ideal reference for experienced individuals who wish to update their understanding and remain at the cutting edge of developmental psychology.