CAPTURING THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF PERSONALITY

In this paper, I argue that the most important task confronting the fi eld of personality is the task of capturing the dynamic, process-orien ted nature of personality in a parsimonious fashion. I propose that th is may best be accomplished by understanding people's predominant goal s and their strategies for pursuing those goals. Such a motivational a nalysis allows us to express coherent cognition-affect-behavior patter ns that distinguish individuals from each other. However, because it a lso illuminates the underpinnings of important psychological phenomena in all individuals (e.g., helplessness, aggression), this analysis wo uld be of interest even if everyone had the same personality. I illust rate these points by identifying major classes of goals and the cognit ion-affect-behavior patterns that are associated with them. I dose by proposing that goals can provide a common language for those who take a process-oriented approach to personality, as well as common ground b etween personality and other fields of psychology. (C) 1996 Academic P ress, Inc.