This volume brings together essays by a group of distinguished researchers that assess our progress in understanding the processes linking persons and contexts in the course of development. The contributors represent various disciplines, including developmental, personality, and clinical psychology; behavioral genetics; and sociology. They also are identified with a wide range of methodological approaches, including longitudinal studies, laboratory experiments, field observations, and the sequential analysis of social interactions.

A major development in psychological science is increased recognition that persons and environments constitute dynamically interacting systems. This book presents advances from internationally renowned researchers in personality, social, cognitive, developmental, and cultural psychology, and other fields, who construct a science of the individual by studying individuals in context. Contributors build on seminal work by Walter Mischel (especially his citation classic, "Toward a Cognitive Social Learning Reconceptualization of Personality," reprinted in the volume). A commentary from...