The Normal Personality: A New Way of Thinking About People

New
Illustrated
2009
$26.30

In The Normal Personality, Steven Reiss argues that human beings are naturally intolerant of people who express values significantly different from their own. Because of this intolerance, psychologists and psychiatrists sometimes confuse individuality with abnormality and thus over-diagnose disorders. Reiss shows how normal motives - not anxiety or traumatic childhood experiences - underlie many personality and relationship problems, such as divorce, infidelity, combativeness, workaholism, loneliness, authoritarianism, weak leadership style, perfectionism, underachievement, arrogance, extravagance, pompousness, disloyalty, disorganisation, and over-anxiety. Calling for greater understanding and tolerance of all kinds of personalities, Reiss applies his theory of motivation to leadership, human development, relationships, and counselling.

Synopsis

In The Normal Personality, Steven Reiss argues that human beings are naturally intolerant of people who express values significantly different from their own. Because of this intolerance, psychologists and psychiatrists sometimes confuse individuality with abnormality and thus over-diagnose disorders. Reiss shows how normal motives - not anxiety or traumatic childhood experiences - underlie many personality and relationship problems, such as divorce, infidelity, combativeness, workaholism, loneliness, authoritarianism, weak leadership style, perfectionism, underachievement, arrogance, extravagance, pompousness, disloyalty, disorganisation, and over-anxiety. Calling for greater understanding and tolerance of all kinds of personalities, Reiss applies his theory of motivation to leadership, human development, relationships, and counselling.

$26.30

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 212
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 27 Aug 2009
ISBN 10: 0521707447
ISBN 13: 9780521707442
Book Overview: In this book, Reiss shows how normal motives - not anxiety or traumatic experiences - underlie many personality and relationship problems.

Media Reviews

'... In a time when children, and even household pets, swallow Prozac, Reiss revives a neglected diagnosis for worrywarts, wallflowers, daydreamers, pessimists, and eccentrics alike: normal. He broadens normality by outlining how abnormal behaviors can arise when life motives are obstructed or personal values contradicted. Reiss lists how various combinations of 16 basic desires lead to dilemmas that eventually bring people to counseling. He offers a way to manage personal problems, without cracking the medicine cabinet or the skeleton closet.' Science News
...In a time when children, and even household pets, swallow Prozac, Reiss revives a neglected diagnosis for worrywarts, wallflowers, daydreamers, pessimists, and eccentrics alike: normal. He broadens normality by outlining how abnormal behaviors can arise when life motives are obstructed or personal values contradicted. Reiss lists how various combinations of 16 basic desires lead to dilemmas that eventually bring people to counseling. He offers a way to manage personal problems, without cracking the medicine cabinet or the skeleton closet. --Science News
...this book advances a scientific theory of psychological needs, values and personality traits. Reiss' research shows how the motivational spectrum produces different personality traits and values, and how that correlates to the way we handle/deal our personal relationships. --Lenore Skomal, divorce360.com
The Normal Personality: A New Way of Thinking About People, Steven Reiss (Cambridge University Press): Good news: You're normal. Despite the fact that every lesbian you know is on Prozac or in therapy, Reiss insists most of us aren't crazy. Instead, he contends that an over reliance on Freudian analysis led modern psychopathology to evaluate normal personal problems using constructs developed from studies of mental illness. Rather than unconscious mental forces originating in childhood, Reiss points to 16 basic human desires lead that lead to personal issues. Not immune from the natural human intolerance of people expressing significantly different values; Reiss argues, psychologists and psychiatrists often confuse individuality with abnormality and over-diagnose disorders. --Curve Magazine
...it offers a new view of the normal personality, one firmly ensconced in the study of values and motivations...an intriguing account of why human conflict, particularly the romantic variety, occurs with such regularity...Recommended... --D.S. Dunn, Moravian College, CHOICE

Author Bio

Professor Steven Reiss is the executive director of the World Society of Motivation Scientists and Professionals. He produced an influential scientific model of anxiety, called anxiety sensitivity (AS), that facilitated early identification of people at risk for various anxiety- and stress-related disorders. AS created new opportunities for ongoing large-scale NIH-funded research projects on prevention, military research on possible inoculation methods for post-traumatic stress disorder, and new psychological research on chronic pain and substance abuse. He constructed the Reiss Profile, an assessment instrument for determining what motivates someone, and published the first ever scientifically validated taxonomy of life motives (psychological needs). His motivation methods have been successfully used by major league professional teams, an Olympic gold medalist, a world champion team, and a growing clientele of human resource managers and executive job coaches.