Bringing together prominent scholars, this authoritative volume considers the development of personality at multiple levels--from the neuroscience of dispositional traits to the cultural shaping of life stories. Illustrated with case studies and concrete examples, the Handbook integrates areas of research that have often remained disparate. It offers a lifespan perspective on the many factors that influence each individual's psychological makeup and examines the interface of personality development with health, psychopathology, relationships, and the family. Contributors provide broad-based, up-to-date reviews of theories, empirical findings, methodological innovations, and emerging trends.
 
See also the authored volume The Art and Science of Personality Development, by Dan P. McAdams.
 
 

Dan P. McAdams, PhD, is the Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology and Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Past president of the Association for Research in Personality, he is a recipient of the Henry A. Murray Award for the study of lives and the Jack Block Award for career contributions from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Division 8 of the American Psychological Association (APA); the Theodore Sarbin Award from APA Division 24 (Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology); and the William James Book Award from APA Division 1 (General Psychology). Dr. McAdams's research focuses on concepts of self and identity in contemporary American society and on themes of power, intimacy, redemption, and generativity across the adult life course. He has published nearly 300 scientific articles and chapters and numerous books, including, most recently, Handbook of Personality Development and The Art and Science of Personality Development.
 
Rebecca L. Shiner, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Colgate University. Her research centers on temperament and personality trait development in children, adolescents, and young adults, including structure, stability and change, and links to positive life outcomes and the emergence of psychopathology. She was a consultant to the DSM-5 Personality Disorders Work Group, served as Executive Officer of the Association for Research in Personality, and is a past associate editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the Journal of Personality. Dr. Shiner has held many leadership roles at Colgate University, including Psychology Department Chair and Director of the Residential Commons.
 
Jennifer L. Tackett, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on child and adolescent personality and externalizing and disinhibitory psychopathology in youth. Much of her work emphasizes assessment, measurement, and construct validation approaches. Dr. Tackett is the recipient of early career awards from the Society for Personality Assessment, the Society for Research in Psychopathology, and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. She is currently a senior editor of the journal Collabra: Psychology and an associate editor of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science.
 

I. Personality Development and Human Nature
1. The Emergence of Personality, Dan P. McAdams
2. The Evolutionary Context of Personality Development, Marco Del Giudice
3. Theoretical Concepts in the Genetics of Personality Development, Elliot M. Tucker-Drob & Daniel A. Briley
4. The Development of a Person: A Relational–Developmental Systems Perspective, Richard M. Lerner & Jacqueline V. Lerner
II. Social Actors: From Temperament to Personality Traits
5. Personality Neuroscience: A Developmental Perspective, Colin G. DeYoung & Timothy A. Allen
6. Emotion Reactivity and Regulation: A Developmental Model of Links between Temperament and Personality, Kristin A. Buss, Koraly Pérez-Edgar, Alicia Vallorani, & Berenice Anaya
7. Extraversion: Description, Development, and Mechanisms, Luke D. Smillie, Margaret L. Kern, & Mirko Uljarevic
8. Negative Emotionality and Neuroticism from Childhood through Adulthood: A Lifespan Perspective, Rebecca L. Shiner
9. Lifespan Development of Conscientiousness, Joshua J. Jackson & Patrick Hill
10. Agreeableness, Jennifer L. Tackett, Maciel Hernández, & Nancy Eisenberg
11. The Structure, Measurement, and Development of Openness to Experience across Adulthood, Ted Schwaba
12. Temperament and Personality Trait Development in the Family: Interactions and Transactions with Parenting from Infancy through Adolescence, Liliana J. Lengua, Maria A. Gartstein, & Peter Prinzie
13. Culture, Context, and the Development of Traits, Helena R. Slobodskaya
14. Stability and Change in Personality Traits over the Lifespan, Wiebke Bleidorn & Christopher J. Hopwood
III. Motivated Agents: The Development of Goals and Values
15. Attachment and Social Development within a Life-History Perspective, Jeffry A. Simpson & Rachel E. Jones
16. Needs, Motives, and Personality Development: Unanswered Questions and Exciting Potentials, Kennon M. Sheldon & Julia Schüler
17. Achievement Strivings: Motives and Goals that Promote Competence, Amanda M. Durik & K. Ann Renninger
18. Personality Development in Adulthood: A Goal Perspective, Alexandra M. Freund, Christopher M. Napolitano, & Joshua L. Rutt
19. Development of Self-Esteem across the Lifespan, Ulrich Orth & Richard W. Robins
20. Moral Development and Moral Values: Evolutionary and Neurobiological Influences, Darcia Narvaez
21. Religion, Spirituality, and the Agential Self, Paul Wink, Michele Dillon, & Dan Farina
22. Culture and the Development of Motives, Values, and Social Selves, Gary S. Gregg
IV. Autobiographical Authors: Life Stories and the Search for Meaning
23. Developmental Foundations of the Narrative Author in Early Mother–Child Reminiscing, Robyn Fivush, Elaine Reese, & Jordan A. Booker
24. Narrative Identity in Adolescence and Adulthood: Pathways of Development, Kate C. McLean & Jennifer P. Lilgendahl
25. Narrative Identity Development across the Lifespan and Psychological Well-Being, Jonathan M. Adler
26. Narrative, Identity, and Identity Statuses: Reflections on the Kaleidoscopic Self, Ruthellen Josselson
27. The Dialogic Development of Personality: Narrative, Culture, and the Study of Lives, Phillip L. Hammack & Erin E. Toolis
V. Applications and Integrations
28. Personality Development and Health, Sarah E. Hampson
29. The Development of Subjective Well-Being across the Lifespan, Nathan Hudson, Richard E. Lucas, & M. Brent Donnellan
30. Personality Development and Internalizing Psychopathology, C. Emily Durbin
31. Personality Development and Externalizing Psychopathology, Michelle M. Martel, Tess E. Smith, & Christine A. Lee
32. The Development of Personality Disorders, Andrew M. Chanen & Katherine M. Thompson
33. Personality Development and Relationships in Adulthood, Jennifer M. Senia & M. Brent Donnellan