The Dynamic Perspective In Personality And Social Psychology

Recent years have witnessed the ascendance of a new way to conceptualize and investigate the nature of dynamism at different levels of psychological reality. Areas of inquiry as diverse as cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, organizational behavior, and political sociology are being reframed in terms that allow rigorous and precise insight into basic dynamic processes. There are signs that this new approach to dynamics is emerging as a potentially integrative paradigm for personality and social psychology as well. This special issue highlights this new paradigm and illustrates its relevance to a broad spectrum of topics in personality and social psychology.

Recent years have witnessed the ascendance of a new way to conceptualize and investigate the nature of dynamism at different levels of psychological reality. Areas of inquiry as diverse as cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, organizational behavior, and political sociology are being reframed in terms that allow rigorous and precise insight into basic dynamic processes. There are signs that this new approach to dynamics is emerging as a potentially integrative paradigm for personality and social psychology as well. This special issue highlights this new paradigm and illustrates its relevance to a broad spectrum of topics in personality and social psychology.

This special issue features papers that offer deeply felt, valuable perspectives on diverse aspects of theory construction in social-personality psychology. The goal is to furnish a basis for starting a discussion about the considerable challenges of theorizing, the ways of meeting those challenges, and the great rewards that successful theorizing offers to the discipline as a whole.

Personality can be understood from at least two perspectives. One focuses on stable, between-person differences, or traits. The other perspective focuses on within-person differences and dynamics, i.e., fluctuations in personality in response to situations and across time. This Research Topic reflects recent developments in personality research to integrate both trait and dynamic perspectives. An integrated view on personality recognizes both stability in between-person differences and within-person change. Contributors are drawn from research teams across Europe, North America and Australasia, and from basic and applied fields, including organizational, educational, and clinical. The studies reported provide new evidence in support of an integrative approach, highlight currently active areas of research and propose new directions of research. Current streams of research include the study of contingent units of personality and within-person processes underlying traits, the comparisons of findings based on within- vs. between-person data, the conceptualisation and operationalization of perceived and objective change in situation variables, the malleability of personality and the potential for personality interventions. Integrative approaches using within-person designs provide new, bottom-up insights into general principles of personality that explain differences between people while reflecting the complexities of within-person personality dynamics at the level of the individual.

Personality and social psychology : moving toward a more perfect union / Mark Snyder and Kay Deaux -- Foundations of personality and social psychology -- The intertwined histories of personality and social psychology / Thomas F. Pettigrew -- Perspectives on the person: rapid growth and opportunities for integration / William Fleeson and Eranda Jayawickreme -- Perspectives on the situation / Harry T. Reis and John G. Holmes -- Neuroscience approaches in social and personality psychology / David M. Amodio, Eddie Harmon-Jones, and Elliot T. Berkman -- Evolutionary perspectives / Steven W. Gangestad -- Context in person, person in context : a cultural psychology approach to social-personality psychology / Glenn Adams and Tugçe Kurtis -- Behavior and behavior assessment / Janice R. Kelly and Christopher R. Agnew -- Conceptual and methodological issues in the analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal dyadic data / Deborah A. Kashy and M. Brent Donellan -- Multilevel modeling in personality and social psychology / Oliver Christ, Christopher G. Sibley, and Ulrich Wagner -- Basic processes of personality and social psychology -- The self : dynamics of persons and their situations / Jennifer Crocker and Eddie Brummelman -- Identity : personal and social / Vivian L. Vignoles -- Morality / Jesse Graham and Piercarlo Valdesolo -- Motivation and goal pursuit : integration across the social/personality divide / Julie K. Norem -- Five questions about emotion: implications for social-personality psychology / Gerald L. Clore and Michael D. Robinson -- Cybernetic approaches to personality and social behavior / Colin G. DeYoung and Yanna J. Weisberg -- Initial impressions of others / James S. Uleman and S. Adil Saribay -- Attitudes and attitude change : social and personality considerations about specific and general patterns of behavior / Dolores Albarracin, Man-pui Sally Chan, and Duo Jiang -- From help-giving to helping relations : belongingness and independence in social interactions / Arie Nadler -- Antisocial behavior in individuals and groups : an empathy-focused approach / Emanuele Castano and David C. Kidd -- Personality and social interaction : interpenetrating processes / Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, Jordan B. Leitner, and Ozlem Ayduk -- Attachment theory expanded : a behavioral systems approach to personality and social behavior / Mario Mikulincer and Phillip R. Shaver -- Person-by-situation perspectives on close relationships / Jeffry A. Simpson and Heike A. Winterheld -- Personality influences on group processes : the past, present, and future / Craig D. Parks -- Intergroup processes : from prejudice to positive relations between groups / Linda R.Tropp and Ludwin E. Molina -- Power as active self : from acquisition to the expression and use of power / Ana Guinote and Serena Chen -- Personality and social psychology in key life domains -- Personality, social psychology, and psychopathology : reflections on a lewinian vsion / Philip R. Costanzo, Rick H. Hoyle, and Mark R. Leary -- Individual and societal well-being / Shigehiro Oishi and Samantha J. Heintzelman -- Multicultural identity and experiences : cultural, social, and personality processes / Verónica Benet-Martínez and Angela-MinhTu D. Nguyen -- Personality and social contexts as sources of change and continuity across the life span / Abigail J. Stewart and Kay Deaux -- The social psychology of personality and leadership : a person-in-situation perspective / Daan van Knippenberg -- Work and organizations: contextualizing personality and social psychology / Deidra J. Schleicher and David V. Day -- A person x intervention strategy approach to understanding health behavior / Alexander J. Rothman and Austin S. Baldwin -- Forensic personality and social psychology / Saul Kassin and Margaret Bull Kovera -- The psychology of collective action / Lauren E. Duncan -- Social policy: barriers and opportunities for personality and social psychology / Allen M. Omoto -- Conclusion -- Personality and social psychology : the evolving state of the union / Kay Deaux and Mark Snyder

Traditional approaches to social psychology have proven highly successful in identifying causal mechanisms underlying human thought and behavior. With the recent advent of the dynamical approach, it is now possible to assemble sets of such mechanisms into coherent systems. This book uses innovative concepts and tools to illuminate the processes by which individuals, groups, and societies evolve and change in a systemic, self-sustaining manner, at times seemingly independent of external influences. Readers learn how the dynamical approach facilitates novel predictions and insights into such social psychological phenomena as attitudes, social judgment, goal-directed behavior, attraction, and relationships. Featuring a wealth of charts and figures derived from original research and computer simulations, the volume is grounded in classic and contemporary theories of social psychology.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The Handbook of Personality Dynamics and Processes is a primer to the basic and most important concepts, theories, methods, empirical findings, and applications of personality dynamics and processes. This book details how personality psychology has evolved from descriptive research to a more explanatory and dynamic science of personality, thus bridging structure- and process-based approaches, and it also reflects personality psychology’s interest in the dynamic organization and interplay of thoughts, feelings, desires, and actions within persons who are always embedded into social, cultural and historic contexts. The Handbook of Personality Dynamics and Processes tackles each topic with a range of methods geared towards assessing and analyzing their dynamic nature, such as ecological momentary sampling of personality manifestations in real-life; dynamic modeling of time-series or longitudinal personality data; network modeling and simulation; and systems-theoretical models of dynamic processes. Ties topics and methods together for a more dynamic understanding of personality Summarizes existing knowledge and insights of personality dynamics and processes Covers a broad compilation of cutting-edge insights Addresses the biophysiological and social mechanisms underlying the expression and effects of personality Examines within-person consistency and variability