This essential textbook examines what personality traits are, how they influence human behaviour and the applications of personality assessment.

Gerald Matthews is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati and has previously held faculty positions at the Universities of Aston and Dundee. He has co-authored several volumes, including Attention and Emotion: a Clinical Perspective (1994) which won the 1998 British Psychological Society Book Award, and has published many articles in the area of personality research.

Part I. The Nature of Personality Traits: 1. The trait concept and personality theory; 2. Persons, situations and interactionism; 3. Personality across the life span; 4. Stable traits and transient states; 5. Alternative views of personality: challenges to trait theory; Part II. Causes of Personality Traits: 6. Genes, environments and personality traits; 7. The psychobiology of traits; 8. The social psychology of traits; Part III. Consequences and Applications: 9. Stress; 10. Traits and health; 11. Abnormal personality traits?; 12. Personality, performance and information-processing; 13. Applications of personality assessment; 14. Conclusions.