This proven text fuses the best of theory-based and research-based instruction to give readers an illuminating introduction to personality that is accessible and understandable. The author pairs "theory, application, and assessment" chapters with chapters that describe the research programs aligned with every major theoretical approach. Biographical sketches of theorists and accounts of the stories behind influential research programs help readers gain an understanding of how classic and contemporary findings relate to each other, and reinforce the idea that theory and research perpetuate one...

This book is a cumulation of a research program that began in the sum- mer of 1978, when I was a doctoral student at the University of Missouri. What started as a graduate student' s curiosity about individual differ- ences in need for personal control led to a personality scale, a few pub- lications, some additional questions, and additional research. For reasons I no longer recall, I named this personality trait desire for control. One study led to another, and questions by students and colleagues often spurred me to apply desire for control to new areas and new questions. At the same time,...