The Personality Puzzle

by David C. Funder

The Personality Puzzle offers everything students need to gain a sure understanding of personality psychology―balanced coverage of classic and contemporary theories, accessible organization and pedagogy―and the lively, often humorous prose of experienced teacher David Funder. Organized around the field's major domains/paradigms―trait, biological, psychoanalytic, humanistic and crosscultural, and cognitive and learning―the text outlines the foundations of personality psychology and emphasizes the significance of contemporary research. A new capstone chapter on personality disorders synthesizes these domains/paradigms.

The Fourth Edition adds a new chapter on cognition and the self, new coverage of the "Big Five" personality traits and of personality in a developmental context, and a new Student Website to enable effective study and review.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference, Read For School, Science, School

550 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 1996

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of it was good - but there was a lot that Funder is missing (both unintentionally and intentionally). He is a very biased author.

[Jurij Fedorov · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read it all. But I know psychology textbooks so I feel like I can leave a review anyhow.

It's biased for sure. It's left leaning bias in the text, but more of the "I want to be young"-kind and not so much full blown propaganda. But a lot of these books use a ton of explanations and too few studies so they become just politics. This is actually like 80% science. You can open it and read findings about this or that. But why pick this book over any other intro book? There are unbiased psychology books out there and no matter what you feel politically an unbiased book is always better than a biased book in science, right? I feel like this would be the book to get for far-left leaning readers who just cannot accept direct science without the humanity and opinions on top making it an easier pill to swallow. For this group this intro book would actually help them ease into the real science while maintaining the moral doctrine intact as the author apologizes for the findings and studies along the way. For that it's actually great as there is a group of social scientists who don't really read many of the new findings as they go against their biases. For me personally? I see so many different moral opinions in the world that I don't need to see another one in such a book. When the author calls a quote sexist because it uses the word "man" instead of "person" my brain kinda gets stuck on that and I try to figure out why it was important to include and if I can trust him to present science directly or if he will pick and choose studies based on them being sexist or not. It reads like one of those "paid by the word" type of books. Basically it's good science surrounded by biased understandings and personal comments. I cannot disagree with the moral doctrines with any objective opinion. But that's kinda the problem. If you get it for free or cheap then read it. But if you need to buy a new book there are better options out there.

This one is unbiased as it can be. And it's basically the same science presented, but without the personal narration to it:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Nika Zed · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for Funder's great sense of humor, engaging examples, and default female pronouns!

[C. Finn Siepser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most enjoyable, readable, and informative textbooks I've ever read.

[Jess Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a psych textbook I that I had read most of the way through for a class I took. As textbooks go, this one is an enjoyable read, so I finished it just for the heck of it, and I definitely learned a few things along the way.

[Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am using this as the textbook for a third-year Psychology course I teach. Covers most topics in Personality in a thorough and open-minded manner. As a course instructor, I found the best aspect of the book to be the accessibility - it is very well written, explains complex concepts in an easily digestible fashion using lots of examples and personal relevance. As a researcher, I would have liked to see more scientific references and more discussion of specific studies. Some topics include a lot of that and others barely any. That said, I still think it deserves top rating because good textbooks are hard to come by!! (And likely including more research would make it dryer and less appealing to students and the general public.)
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Personality Psychology. If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, at least read the wrap-up of each chapter and the final chapter which summarizes the whole book. It will give you the take-away messages that I believe everyone should be aware of.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This textbook was required for my class that I took a couple of years ago (I can't remember the year) and I read most of it during that class but decided to pick it up again and read the book cover to cover.

It was a good read. The first personality of psychology book that I read. It engaged with the students to do a thing like answering little questionaries that were just a sample of where you lean on certain behavior things or traits.

I liked how it went into personality disorders but I wish I could have learned about all the personality disorders even if the DSM is changing fast. WHy? Cause that is what current information and the author could have explained why it is being considered to be removed.

I liked the comics, it was a nice add on to reading a textbook. Overall a good read.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is well-written psychology textbook. I found it a highly enjoyable read. Funder has a penchant for being both informative and humorous (including hilariously appropriate comics scattered throughout and some clever footnotes). It's a rather dense read, and a lot of information is contained within. Most pages are full text compared to other textbooks that include plenty of images and asides. One thing I particularly appreciated was the inclusion of philosophy and its historical impact on modern psychology. Funder was not shy about stating the shortcomings of various schools of psychology, but he also clearly laid out the progress that has been made in better understanding human personality. It is certainly a puzzle that is still being solved (if ever it can be).

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engagingly written for the most part. Some chapters are highly repetitive and long. At times goes on long tangents that don't seem to be personality but tangential subjects. Still not convinced that personality has the ability to explain anything about human behavior, why it is that individuals do what they do, and is anything other than useful ways to describe individuals at a very high level as the aggregation of the things we do (this is especially true of the trait approach, less so of others such as the biological or cognitive approaches).

[Alice Wardle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not read the entirety of this book, given that it is a textbook. However, I think there is a very good range of information, spanning from different types of personality models and how they were created, personality research methods, traits, biological underpinning of personality, and the stability of personality across a lifetime. I haven't read other personality textbooks, so I can't compare it to any others, but this textbook seems like a great starting point to anyone interested in personality research in Psychology.

[Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many interest research results. I can look at my life and find people that can match these studies. :) It's also fun to read with stories from the author's personal anecdotes. The author introduced many different schools of thoughts and does not make any judgment call on which is the correct one. I appreciate the author's high openness.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't particularly like personality psychology as a discipline, but the author is engaging (and pleasantly arrogant) enough to make the inherent flaws seem like fun little quirks. Teaching this book over the course of the semester, I appreciated that greatly. Add in all the teaching notes, pre-constructed slide decks, quiz questions, and video links, and it was a wonderful teaching companion.

[Zarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok freud really grinds my gears but the chapter on him was really good and the chapter on neo-freudian psychology was also really good.

also i ended my undergrad with this book so im kind of attached to it now i guess :')

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thorough, but bowed.

[Brian Garber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this one for a college psych class on personality. Pretty good overview of different personality types and disorders. Fairly dry.

[Mousa Aldaas · Rating 3 out of 5]

well written and have great ideas, but still it was long and sometimes boring.

[Indira Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huh, I thought I had a shelf that said 'for school'...oh well, might be too late to make one but later someone remind me to do that..

[Victoria]

I had to read this for a class. It wasn't a bad read, but it was dry at times. Very informative, but not really something I would've picked to read for fun.

[haniya :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the funniest textbook i have ever had to read for a class

[꧁ k e l s e y ꧂]

Read for Personality Psychology.

[Teri Temme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and the class I am taking that is using it at Santa Monica College - Psychology 3 - great and fun class!

I think this quote sums it up: "Other construals are always possible, and you have the ability, the right, and perhaps the duty to choose your own. How you choose to the see the world will affect everything in your life."

[Izlinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, the comics helped reading it. The chapters ranged from seeming easy to read to looong. This is an older edition; I don't know how the newer edition is suppose to be better. As a textbook went, it was tolerable. :)

[Kel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the textbook for one of the classes I teach. I love the author's writing style. I have students tell me that they save this book though they normally sell all of their books back at the end of a semester.

[V · Rating 3 out of 5]

The information is okay but the author seems really arrogant. He's thinks he's so self important that he makes up his own little "founder's laws" and only uses ~sophisticated~ comics for illustrations.

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

The textbook is very conversational, I find; and this makes it a more enjoyable read. However, it does, as someone already pointed out on goodreads, feel like a biased book. That is, the author often talks about his personal opinions and uses informal language.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not my favorite. It's treatment of Freud and Trait theory are somewhat unconventional. I like the brief chapters. It makes it easy for students to read.

[Allison Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. It was one of the more enjoyable textbooks I've had to read in university.

[marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, I like that its opinionated and gives different theories about personality.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the way this book was written. I found it just as interesting as a novel and the cartoons helped a lot!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easier to read then most textbooks