This sound, scholarly book continues to organize the diverse content of personality psychology in a meaningful way, taking care to present complex concepts in highly readable, accessible language. Using a single, overarching framework, the authors capture the flavor of each of four important conceptual strategies (psychoanalytic, dispositional, behavioral, and representational) and four fundamental issues (theory, assessment, research, and personality change) underlying contemporary personality psychology.

The presentation of each strategy begins with an overview chapter that describes the strategy's basic assumptions and principles, as well as its respective intellectual school of thought. Then, after a more detailed presentation of the approaches that fall within the strategy, the authors conclude with a single chapter on the strategy's practical applications and limitations.