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Title details for Me, Myself, and Us by Brian R Little - Available

Me, Myself, and Us

The Science of Personality and the Art of Well-Being

by Brian R Little
ebook
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How does your personality shape your life and what, if anything, can you do about it?
Are you hardwired for happiness, or born to brood? Do you think you're in charge of your future, or do you surf the waves of unknowable fate? Would you be happier, or just less socially adept, if you were less concerned about what other people thought of you? And what about your "Type A" spouse: is he or she destined to have a heart attack, or just drive you to drink?
In the past few decades, new scientific research has transformed old ideas about the nature of human personality. Neuroscientists, biologists, and psychological scientists have reexamined the theories of Freud and Jung as well as the humanistic psychologies of the 1960s, upending the simplistic categorizations of personality "types," and developing new tools and methods for exploring who we are. Renowned professor and pioneering research psychologist Brian R. Little has been at the leading edge of this new science. In this wise and witty book he shares a wealth of new data and provocative insights about who we are, why we act the way we do, what we can — and can't — change, and how we can best thrive in light of our "nature."
Me, Myself, and Us explores questions that are rooted in the origins of human consciousness but are as commonplace as yesterday's breakfast conversation, such as whether our personality traits are "set" by age thirty or whether our brains and selves are more plastic. He considers what our personalities portend for our health and success, and the extent to which our well-being depends on the personal projects we pursue.
Through stories, studies, personal experiences, and entertaining interactive assessments, Me, Myself, and Us provides a lively, thought-provoking, and ultimately optimistic look at the possibilities and perils of being uniquely ourselves, while illuminating the selves of the familiar strangers we encounter, work with, and love.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 14, 2014

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781586489687

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781586489687
      • File size: 2486 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      September 1, 2014
      A researcher who is both a scholar and an experienced motivational speaker makes the subject of personality psychology come to life. Little (Psychology and Business/Cambridge Univ.; co-editor: Personal Project Pursuit: Goals, Action, and Human Flourishing, 2006) explains the factors that constitute one's personality and how those personality traits affect one's outlook on life. Personality psychology is broad in scope, looking not just at the major traits or dimensions of personality-conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness and extraversion (the author's preferred spelling)-but also at their biological, social and cultural influences ("personality is more complex than the simple acting out of our biological dispositions"). In addition to these relatively stable traits, Little introduces the concept of free traits, behaviors that arise from pursuit of core personal projects that give one's life meaning and emotional richness. To explore this concept, he not only describes experiments and cites research, but he also entertains with anecdotes featuring himself, former students and clients. In the early chapters, the author opens with choice quotes from assorted sources-William James, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Federico Fellini, T.S. Eliot, Erasmus, Aldous Huxley and even Lady Gaga-but he inexplicably abandons this pattern in the second half of the book. Scattered throughout the text are a number of personality inventories, scales and quizzes that Little invites readers to take-but not too seriously. Their purpose here is not to diagnose but to promote self-reflection. The book could be considered a self-help book, but it is by no means a do-it-yourself instruction manual. Rather, the author introduces concepts in personality psychology that may be relevant to readers' personal situations and invites readers to reflect on them and perhaps apply them. Entertaining, enlightening and refreshingly light on psychobabble.

      COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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