For decades, the relationship between personality psychology and social psychology has been defined by its contrasts: sometimes highly overlapping and intertwined, at other times conflicting and even competing. This contradiction has been ultimately counterproductive, as it has precluded the understanding of people as both individuals and social beings.

The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology captures the history, current status, and future prospects of personality and social psychology - presented not as a set of parallel accounts, but as an integrated perspective on the behavior of persons in social contexts. The contributors to this handbook were charged not only with presenting examples of work that crosses the boundaries of personality and social psychology, but also with thinking deeply and generatively about
the ways in which a unified social-personality perspective can provide a greater understanding of the phenomena that concern psychological investigators.

The chapters of this handbook weave together work from personality and social psychology, addressing both distinctive contributions and common ground. In so doing, the authors offer compelling evidence for the power and the potential of an integrated approach, as well as new suggestions and directions for research. This volume is a groundbreaking achievement for the field of psychology, one which promises to set the agenda for future generations of scholars.