2008 Handbooks

The study of personality addresses the individual differences that make a difference in terms of creative adaptation to and resilience in the face of changing life demands. This course covers theories and research addressing shared features of personality, and also what is unique to a single person. Both our temperament and our cultural experiences, beginning with our earliest relationships to others, shape the underpinnings of personality and contribute to having a particular personality style. To explore how being unusual in one domain that underpins personality (like ways of handling emotion) can have knock-on effects in later development -- we look at case study personality styles (such as narcissistic, Machiavellian and psychopathic personalities) who handle emotion in unusual ways and explore how that influences morality, relationships to others and personal memory. Personality emerges as a dynamic system of adaptation. We consider optimal ways of researching and working with particular personality styles, including exploring the possibilities for personal change.