Main description:

Personality pathology, which is characterized by a pervasive, maladaptive, and inflexible pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, has long been considered a set of categories that are distinct from each other and from "normal" personality. Research over the past three decades, however, has challenged that assumed separation, and instead suggests that abnormal personality is merely a maladaptive extension of the same features that describe the personalities of
all humans.

Using Basic Personality Research to Inform the Personality Disorders will present the work of prominent thinkers at the intersections of social, personality, developmental, and clinical psychology to consider theoretical and empirical issues relevant to how basic personality research can inform the scientific understanding of personality pathology. Surveying cutting-edge research on the science of basic personality and demonstrating how these ideas and methods can be applied to the
conceptualization of pathology, the book first provides a historical overview, followed by an account of the current state of the personality disorder literature. Ensuing chapters highlight critical issues in the assessment and conceptualization of personality, its development across the life course, and
biological underpinnings. These chapters are valuable primers on the basic science of personality, from specific genes to complex social interactions. Furthermore, each chapter aims not only to elucidate current understandings of personality, but to demonstrate its direct application to clinical diagnosis and conceptualization. Using Basic Personality Research to Inform the Personality Disorders is the first edited volume to present such diverse perspectives across biological,
developmental, clinical, and social psychology from leading researchers in basic and disordered personality, and will be of interest to a broad range of students, scientists, and practitioners.

Contents:

About the Editors
Contributors

Section I: Introduction to Personality Disorders

Chapter 1. Historical Overview of Personality Disorders
Thomas A. Widiger

Chapter 2. The Current State of Personality Disorders through the Lens of PDTRT
Carl W. Lejuez, Alexis Matusiewicz, Nadia Bounoua, & James Soldinger

Chapter 3. Personality Disorders as Collections of Traits
Joshua D. Miller

Section II: Assessment Methods and Issues

Chapter 4. Using Basic Personality Process Models to Inform the Personality Disorders: Core Momentary Stressor-Symptom Contingencies as Basic Etiology
William Fleeson, R. Michael Furr, Malek Mneimne, & Elizabeth Mayfield Arnold

Chapter 5. The Interpersonal Situation: Integrating Personality Assessment, Case Formulation, and Intervention
Christopher J. Hopwood, Aaron L. Pincus, Aidan G. C. Wright

Chapter 6. Personality Dysfunction and Trait Extremity: Conceptually, but not Empirically Distinct?
Lee Anna Clark, Elizabeth J. Daly, Stephanie Larew, Hallie Nuzum, Thomas Kingsbury, Jaime L. Shapiro, Xia Allen, & Eunyoe Ro

Section III: Development Across the Life Course

Chapter 7. The Principles of Personality Trait Development and their Relation to Psychopathology
Brent W. Roberts & Rodica I. Damian

Chapter 8. Advances in Child Personality Research and Relevance for Personality Pathology
Jennifer L. Tackett, Kathleen W. Reardon, Kathrin Herzhoff, & Shauna C. Kushner

Chapter 9. The Prevalence, Stability, and Impact of Personality Pathology in Later Life: Preliminary Findings from the SPAN Study.
Thomas F. Oltmanns & Steve Balsis

Section IV: Biological Bases of Personality

Chapter 10. Personality as Adaptation: Perspectives from Nonhuman Primates
John P. Capitanio & William A. Mason

Chapter 11. Molecular Trait Psychology: Advancing the Field by Moving from Gene-Hunting to Tool-Making
Turhan Canli

Index