This theorist-by-theorist approach to personality theories explores how the personal histories, conflicts, and intentions of each theorist contributed to his or her portraits of people. The book presents the "sequence of thinking" for more than 20 theorists and the changes embodied in the streams of their ideas over time. Charles Monte emphasizes each theorist's life history as the basis for the ideas that constitute his or her theories, making them easier to understand as "pictures of human nature." Theories are introduced with scrupulous attention to historical, experimental, and clinical research.