Personality: A Systems Approach

The Rationale for a New Direction

Examining Personality * Personality's Parts

* Personality Organization * Personality Development
Textbooks
The Rationale for this Textbook What is a Fieldwide-Framework?
What is the Systems Framework? The Framework in the Classroom
Personality Psychology -- An On-Line Resource. (personality organized by the Systems Framework Approach) A Vision for Our Field (an early version of the book's Instructor's Preface)
Reprints on the Systems Framework

What Is the Systems Framework?

The Systems Framework for Personality is a framework designed to present the discipline of personality -- and the study of the personality system -- in a powerful new way. This new approach more clearly communicates the goals, pursuits, findings, and significance of the discipline of personality psychology.

The Systems Framework divides the discipline into four areas of study:

    1. Identifying the personality system
    2. Understanding the parts of personality
    3. How personality is organized, and
    4. How personality develops

    If you would like to see a copy of the recent American Psychologist article on the framework, you can click here.

For more articles on the systems framework, follow this link, or to transfer to a web site focussed on the systems framework, click here.

Some of the advantages of the framework relative to a theoretical perspective are these:

  1. The focus shifts from personality theories to the personality system itself
  2. One integrated view of the personality system is presented rather than many fragmented views
  3. Research and findings concerning the system can be highlighted
  4. The still-current and still useful areas of traditional personality theories are emphasized; out-of-date portions can be dropped.