Personality theories

[copperpenny189]

Hi there. IM bound rising pgy1 with long interest in psych. Wish I had done med psych but not ruling out doing a psych residency after medicine. Am very interested in theories of personality (like Jung, Myers Briggs) and would like to learn more. Does anyone have any good book suggestions that might fit the bill? Thanks so much!

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[splik]

hate to disappoint you but the myers briggs is not a personality theory (or if it is, it is not one to take seriously- there is no validity to the MBTI). it is widely derided as pseudoscience within psychology

If you are actually interested in reading about different personality theories - I really like this undergraduate textbook (it is a textbook but highly readable)
If you are looking for a book for general readers - Daniel Nettle's book is good but only talks about the 5-factor model

Otherwise these are 3 articles on personality that I recommend to my residents:

McAdams DP. What do we know when we know a person? J Personality 1995; 63:365-396

McCrae RR, John OP. An introduction to the five-factor model and its applications. J Pers 1992; 60:175-215

Mischel W. Toward an integrative science of the person. Annu Rev Psychol 2004; 55:1-22

 

[smalltownpsych]

I always recommend reading Daniel Stern's The Interpersonal World of the Infant to get a good basic understanding of human emotional development.

Amazon product
It's not really considered personality theory, but in my experience it explains a lot more of what is going on with people than many of the theories. The big 5, for example, is more of a psychometric construct that is well researched than a useful tool for clinical practice.

 

[HarryMTieboutMD]

The authority on personality structure and disorders is Bob Cloninger at Wash U (he has written more on the subject than anyone alive today, and his papers on temperament and character are among the most cited in psychiatry). His book "Feeling Good: The Science of Well Being" encapsulates much of his theory of the psychobiological model of personality. Amazon product.

Or, you can just pubmed cloninger CR.

 

[copperpenny189]

Wow! Thanks so much for the quick replies. @splik @HarryMTieboutMD @smalltownpsych I will definitely be looking into all of the papers and suggestions given above. This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks again!