Personality psychology is a locally developed textbook for students taking an introductory course in personality psychology either at undergraduate level as part of a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Social Sciences or a Bachelor of Psychology (B.Psych) degree, or as a Psychology Honours module. Theory is presented with application to research and therapy, and with specific relevance to the South African context. Pedagogical features such as case studies, 'in your own experience' activities, 'research issue' boxes, 'controversy' boxes, 'end-of-chapter review' questions, and an end-book glossary support student learning.
Features
- A rewritten, streamlined, Chapter 1 What is personality psychology, providing an overview of the structure of the
- book and its cohesive logic.
- Chapter 2 A historical context for South African personality psychology research has been revised to introduce greater reflexivity and a more critical lens on personality theorists and their socio-cultural contexts.
- Chapter 3 African perspectives of personality psychology includes new research and a table on personality traits as viewed from the individualist, transitional and collectivist perspectives.
- New developments in personality psychology research methods including the gamification of assessment and the call to decolonise research.
- New content on brain-imaging, personality and disorders, alcoholism and borderline personality disorder, and neurotransmitters, personality, and psychological disorders in the biological basis of personality chapter.
- A section on the personality profiling of President Mandela while in prison in the person ality assessment chapter.
- New developments, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health, updated research referenced throughout the book, as well as greater (critical) reference to the development of personality psychology in South Africa in all chapters.
Part 1: The context of personality psychology
1What is personality psychology?
2A historical context for South African personality psychology research
3African perspectives of personality psychology
4Research methods in personality psychology
Part 2: Theories of personality psychology
5Psychoanalysis and personality
6Neo-analytic thinkers
7Behavioural and learning theory perspectives of personality
8Cognitive- based theories of personality
9A humanistic and existential-phenomenological view of personality psychology
10Personality trait psychology
11Evolutionary psychology and personality
12Biological basis of personality
Part 3: The practice of personality psychology
13Neuropsychological correlates of personality
14Personality assessment
15Personality and psychotherapy