W. W. Norton & Company | The Personality Puzzle, 4th ed.

CHOOSE A CHAPTER

Chapter 19: Conclusion: Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Each approach to personality explains some aspects of individuals well, while it does not explain other aspects or ignores them entirely. Thus, the choice between approaches depends not on which one is right, but on what we wish to know, and we should try to stay open to alternatives.

It is unreasonable to expect to remember the details in a long book such as this, but certain recurring themes are important to retain. These include:
- the nature of behavioral consistency;
- the biological roots of personality;
- the workings of the unconscious mind;
- the issues of free will and responsibility;
- the sources of behavior change, especially the effects of choosing and changing one's environment;
- the importance of construals;
- the nature of psychological differences within as well as across cultures; and
- the inevitable connection between the difficult aspects of our personalities (especially at the extreme), and those that make up the best and most important parts of our character.
In the final analysis, personality psychology attempts to turn our observations of ourselves and each other into mutual understanding.