Personality and Personal Growth (5th Edition)

Unique in its cross-cultural, global, and gender-balanced perspectives--and emphasis on humanistic and transpersonal psychologists--this book explores the positive aspects of major personality theorists, stressing each ones relevance for personal understanding. Exceptionally well-written and accessible, it encourages and supports readers in using themselves as the primary touchstone for each theory. Each chapter gives them opportunities to validate their insights through direct experience, and, by observing their own reactions, come to their own conclusions about the utility and value of each theory. Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis. Anna Freud and the Post-Freudians: Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, Heinz Kohut, and the Gestalt Therapy of Fritz and Laura Perls. Carl Gustav Jung and Analytical Psychology. Alfred Adler and Individual Psychology. Karen Horney and Humanistic Psychoanalysis. The Psychology of Women: A Relational Approach. Erik Erikson and the Life Cycle. Wilhelm Reich and Somatic Psychology. William James and the Psychology of Consciousness. B. F. Skinner and Radical Behaviorism. Cognitive Psychology. The Personal Construct Theory of George Kelly. Carl Rogers and the Person-Centered Perspective. Abraham Maslow and Transpersonal Psychology. Yoga and the Hindu Tradition. Zen and the Buddhist Tradition. Sufism and the Islamic Tradition. For therapists, educators, social workers and anyone interested in personality and personal adjustment.