A major development in psychological science is increased recognition that persons and environments constitute dynamically interacting systems. This book presents advances from internationally renowned researchers in personality, social, cognitive, developmental, and cultural psychology, and other fields, who construct a science of the individual by studying individuals in context. Contributors build on seminal work by Walter Mischel (especially his citation classic, ""Toward a Cognitive Social Learning Reconceptualization of Personality,"" reprinted in the volume). A commentary from Mischel himself places the contributions in historical perspective and articulates the novel portrait of human nature that they yield.
I. Introduction 1. Construing Persons in Context: On Building a Science of the Individual, Daniel Cervone, Yuichi Shoda, and Geraldine Downey II. Conceptualizing the Person 2. The Trait versus Situation Debate: A Minimalist View, Gordon H. Bower 3. The Power of Context, Jerome Kagan 4. Eastern and Western Ways of Perceiving the World, Richard E. Nisbett 5. From Persons and Situations to Preferences and Constraints, Richard A. Shweder III. Self-Regulation: From Willpower to a System 6. Delay of Gratification in Children: Contributions to Social-Personality Psychology, Ozlem Ayduk 7. In Search of Generative Mechanisms: The Case of Value from Engagement Strength, E. Tory Higgins 8. Positive Affect, Cognitive Flexibility, and Self-Control, Alice M. Isen 9. Expectancy and the Perception of Aversive Events, Edward E. Smith IV. Incorporating Situations into a Science of the Individual 10. Character in Context: The Relational Self and Transference, Susan M. Andersen, Jennifer S. Thorpe, and Christina S. Kooij 11. Integrating Personality Traits and Processes: Framework, Method, Analysis, Results, Niall Bolger and Rainer Romero-Canyas 12. Toward a Science of the Social Perceiver, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, Sang Hee Park, and Alexander O'Connor 13. Toward a Science of the Individual: A Molecular View of Personalized Medicine, Paul S. Mischel 14. Intelligence as a Person-Situation Interaction, Robert J. Sternberg V. Paradigm Change in Psychological Models of Human Nature (1950-2000-2050?) 15. Toward a Science of the Individual: Past, Present, Future?, Walter Mischel 16. Toward a Cognitive Social Learning Reconceptualization of Personality, Walter Mischel 17. From Homunculus to a System: Toward a Science of the Person, Yuichi Shoda
