psychology (personality/theories)

THE PERSON AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE

OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY Fifth Edition

DAN P. McADAMS Northwestern University

� WILEY

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ISBN-13: 978-0-470-12913-5

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

TO THE MEMORY OF MY TWO TEACHERS George W. Goethals

(1920-1995)

David C. McClelland (1917-1998)

About the Author

Dan P. McAdams received his PhD in personality and developmental psychology from Harvard University in 1979. He is a Professor of Psychology and of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University, where he also directs the Foley Center for the Study of Lives. Dr. McAdams has won numerous teaching awards at Northwestern, including the Charles Deering McCormick endowed chair in Teaching Excellence. A leading personality researcher, he has written over 150 scientific articles and chapters, as well as written or edited 13 books, on such topics as the nature of intimacy and identity in human lives, the development of generativity in adulthood, themes of redemption and contamination in American life stories, and other aspects of personality structure and process, human motivation, and psychological development across the human life course. Dr. McAdams’ s 2006 book, The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By, won the American Psychological Association’s William James Award for best general-interest book in psychology, across all subfields. Among the book’s other honors are the 2007 Association of American Publishers’ Award for top prize in Psychology and Cognitive Science. He is also the winner of the 1 989 Henry A. Murray Award for excellence in personality research and the study of lives and the 2006 Theodore Sar bin Award for contributions to theoretical and philosophical psychology. His work has been frequently featured in such media outlets as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, Newsweek, Self magazine, and Good Morning America.

v

Brief Contents

PREFACE xix

Part I THE BACKGROUND: PERSONS, HUMAN NATURE, AND CULTURE 1

Chapter 1

Part II

• STUDYING THE PERSON 2

Chapter2 • EVOLUTION AND HUMAN NATURE 31

Chapter3 • SOCIAL LEARNING AND CULTURE 67

SKETCHING THE OUTLINE: DISPOSITIONAL TRAITS AND THE PREDICTION

OF BEHAVIOR 105 Chapter4

• PERSONALITY TRAITS: FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS AND ISSUES 106

Chapters • FIVE BASIC TRAITS-IN THE BRAIN AND IN BEHAVIOR 155

Chapter6 CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN TRAITS: THE ROLES OF GENES,

• ENVIRONMENTS, AND TIME 205

vii

viii BRIEF CONTENTS

Part III FILLING IN THE DETAILS: CHARACTERISTIC ADAPTATIONS TO LIFE TASKS 253

Chapter 7

Part IV

• MOTIVES AND GOALS: WHAT Do WE WANT IN LIFE? 254

ChapterB • SELF AND OTHER: SOCIAL-COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF PERSONALITY 301

Chapter9 • DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES AND TASKS 345

MAKING A LIFE: THE STORIES WE LIVE BY 385

Chapter 10

• LIFE SCRIPTS, LIFE STORIES 386

Chapter 1 1

• THE INTERPRETATION OF STORIES: FROM FREUD TO TODAY 429

Chapter 12

• WRITING STORIES OF LIVES: BIOGRAPHY AND LIFE COURSE 475

GLOSSARY 511 REFERENCES 525 CREDITS 575 NAME INDEX 579 SUBJECT INDEX 588

Contents

PREFACE xix

Part I THE BACKGROUND: PERSONS, HUMAN NATURE, AND CULTURE 1

Chapter 1

• STUDYING THE PERSON 2

WHAT Do WE KNow WHEN WE KNow A PERSON? 3

SKETCHING AN OUTL INE: DISPOSITIONAL TRAITS 4 FILL ING I N THE DETAILS: CHARACTERISTIC ADAPTATIONS 6

CONSTRUCTING A STORY: INTEGRATIVE L IFE NARRATIVES 9

SCIENCE AND THE PERSON 1 1

STEP 1 : U NSYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 1 2

STEP 2 : BU I LDING THEORIES 1 3

STEP 3 : EVALUATING PROPOSITIONS 1 5

Setting Up an Empirical Study 1 6

The Correlational Design 1 8

The Experimental Design 2 0

PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY 2 1

T H E PAST A N D T H E PRESENT 22

Feature 1.A: Gordon Allport and the Origins of Personality Psychology 25

ORGANIZATION OF THIS BOOK 27

SUMMARY 2 8

Chapter2

• EVOLUTION AND HUMAN NATURE 31

ON HUMAN NATURE: OUR EVOLUTIONARY HERITAGE 32

PRINCIPLES OF EVOLUTION 32

ix

X CONTENTS

Part II

THE ENVIRONMENT OF EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTEDNESS 35 Feature 2.A: The Evolution of Religion 3 7

THE ADAPTED MIND 39 MATING 42 G ETTING ALONG AND G ETTING AHEAD 47

Feature 2.B: Some Women (and Men) Are Choosier Than

Others: Sociosexuality 48

HURTING, HELPING, AND LOVING: THREE FACES

OF HuMAN NATURE 50 AGGRESSION 51 ALTRUISM 54 ATTACHMENT 57

SUMMARY 65

Chapter3

• SOCIAL LEARNING AND CULTURE 67

BEHAVIORISM AND SOCIAL-LEARNING THEORY 68 AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTALISM: THE BEHAVIORIST TRADITION 68 EXPECTANCIES AND VALUES 74 BANDURA’S SOCIAL-LEARNING THEORY 76

Observational Learning 76 Self-Efficacy 78

THE SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR 80 Feature 3.A: How Should Parents Raise Their Children? 81

MICROCONTEXTS: THE SOCIAL SITUATION 83 MACROCONTEXTS: SOCIAL STRUCTURE 85 GENDER AS A MACROCONTEXT 87 CULTURE 90

Individualism and Collectivism 92 Modernity 96 Feature 3.B: Race and Personality in the United States 97

HISTORY 99

SUMMARY 102

SKETCHING THE OUTLINE: DISPOSITIONAL TRAITS

AND THE PREDICTION OF BEHAVIOR 105

CONTENTS xi

Chapter4

PERSONALITY TRAITS: FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

B AND ISSUES 106

THE IDEA OF TRAIT 1 08

WHAT IS A TRAIT? 1 08

A BR IEF H ISTORY OF TRAITS 1 1 1

Gordon Allport 1 1 3

Raymond B. Cattell 1 1 5

Hans Eysenck 1 1 6

THE B IG FIVE AND RELATED MODELS 1 1 9

Feature 4.A: What is Your Type? The Scientific Status of the

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 1 24

MEASURING TRAITS 1 25

CONSTRUCTING A TRAIT MEASURE 1 25

CRITERIA OF A GOOD MEASURE 1 2 8

TRAIT I NVENTORIES 1 30

Feature 4.B: Narcissism: The Trait of Excessive Self-Love 1 3 1

PERSONALITY TRAITS AND PERSONALITY DISORDERS 1 36

THE CONTROVERSY OVER TRAITS 1 42

MISCHEL’S CRITIQUE 1 43

AGGREGATING BEHAVIORS 1 45

INTERACTIONISM 1 48

Persons versus Situations versus Interactions 1 48

Reciprocal Interactionism 1 49

Traits as Conditional Statements 1 50

CONCLUSION 1 52

SUMMARY 1 53

Chapter 5

FIVE BASIC TRAITS-IN THE BRAIN

B AND IN BEHAVIOR 155

E: EXTRAVERSION 1 57

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE 1 57

FEELING GOOD 1 59

N: NEUROTICISM 1 63

Feature 5.A: Extreme Sports and the Sensation-Seeking Trait 1 64

THE MANY WAYS TO FEEL BAD 1 66

xii CONTENTS

STRESS AND COPING 1 69

Feature 5.B: Are We Living in the Age of Anxiety? 1 70

EXTRAVERSION AND NEUROTICISM IN THE BRAIN 1 72

EYSENCK AND THE THEORY OF AROUSAL 1 72

THE BEHAVIORAL APPROACH SYSTEM 1 75

THE B EHAVIORAL INH I BITION SYSTEM 1 77

LEFT AND RIGHT 1 81

0: OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE 1 83

CORRELATES OF 0 1 85

THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY 1 90

C AND A: CONSCIENTIOUSNESS AND AGREEABLENESS 1 92

WORK 1 93

LOVE 1 95