With characteristic humility Luciano L'Abate has entitled this groundbreaking volume simply A Theory of Personality Development. But the theories put forth in these pages are anything but humble, representing, as they do, a radical departure from tradition. Unlike traditional theories of personality which have tended to be somewhat metaphysical, seeking to understand personality in a vacuum, Dr.
L'Abate's theory is firmly rooted in the social and existential exigencies of everyday life as experienced within the five fundamental contexts of home, work, leisure, the marketplace (grocery shopping, barbershops, malls, etc.), and in transit.
At the heart of the theory is the conviction that the ability to love and to negotiate are the sine qua non of personal competence, with the family as the major determinant of both. Balancing a keen sense of humanity with unwavering scientific rigor, Dr. L'Abate replaces many of the shopworn abstractions of traditional personality theory with concepts rooted in the fluid realities of family and social interaction.
For instance, in place of self-esteem, which is a nonrelational and intrapsychic concept, are factors such as the attribution of importance to self and selected others and the ability to experience intimacy. He also integrates many social psychological models, such as social comparison, resource exchange, and ecological theories within a developmental, contextual framework
. Since, in Dr. L'Abate's theory, personality development is viewed as the interplay of fundamental abilities in basic relative settings, the differences between personality function and dysfunction become more easily distinguishable. Hence, while previous theories saw personality development as separate or distinct from psychopathology this theory shows how normal development and deviance are corollaries and extensions of one another.
In addition, Dr. L'Abate illustrates how, in light of the theory outlined in this book, humanistic and behavioral approaches to personality are quite compatible both conceptually and methodologically.
Offering much more than just a novel twist on traditional psychological theory, A Theory of Personality Development propounds a revolutionary new approach to the understanding of personality and personality development. As such, it is essential reading for personality researchers, students, and all psychologists in clinical, developmental, abnormal, and social psychology.
