Authors: Robert Frager, PhD, and James Fadiman, PhD
Publisher: Pearson Education – 456 pages
Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram

Through this book the authors help you – the student, psychologist or lay person – understand the approaches to personality and personal growth, taken by some of the world’s greatest psychologists, past and present; and their work and contributions to the study of personality psychology.

The authors discuss the major concepts developed and espoused by the psychologists and thought leaders. They also introduce you to three Eastern philosophies (Hinduism, Zen Buddhism and Islam) and their respective writings about personal responsibilities, and human thought and behavior.

These are the 15 chapters of this book. As you can see below, the list is quite varied.

  1. Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
  2. Carl Gustav Jung and Analytic Psychology
  3. Alfred Adler and Individual Psychology
  4. Karen Horney and Humanistic Psychoanalysis
  5. Feminist Approaches to Personality Theory
  6. Erik Erikson and the Life Cycle
  7. William James and the Psychology of Consciousness
  8. B.F. Skinner and Radical Behaviorism
  9. Albert Bandura and Social Cognitive Psychology;

Aaron Beck and Cognitive Therapy

  1. George Kelly and Personal Construct Psychology
  2. Carl Rogers and the Person-Centered Perspective
  3. Abraham Maslow and Transpersonal Psychology
  4. Yoga and the Hindu Tradition
  5. Zen and the Buddhist Tradition
  6. Sufism and the Islamic Tradition

In order to compare and contrast the ideas within the personality psychologies enumerated above, the authors employed numerous analytical tools, so each chapter is structured with the following qualitative measures:

  • Personal History
  • Intellectual Antecedents
  • Major Concepts
  • Dynamics
  1.  Psychological Growth
  2. Obstacles to Growth
  • Structure
  1. Body
  2. Social Relationships
  3. Will
  4. Emotions
  5. Intellect
  6. Self
  7. Therapist / Teacher
  • Evaluation
  • The Theory Firsthand
  • Chapter Highlights
  • Key Concepts
  • Annotated Bibliography
  • Websites
  • References

As shown in this review, the authors named below present students – and readers interested to learn – a much broader yet detailed approach to learning about personality psychology and the requirements for personal growth, than other books on the market.

Robert Frager, PhD is the founder and first president of Sofia University, formerly the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. He received his PhD in social psychology from Harvard University, where he was a teaching assistant to Erik Erikson and research assistant to Stanley Milgram. He has taught psychology at Harvard, University of California at Berkeley, and UC Santa Cruz. He is currently professor of psychology and director of the master’s program in spiritual guidance at Sofia University in Palo Alto, California.

James Fadiman, PhD has his own consulting firm and offers seminars to executives and educators worldwide. He received his PhD from Stanford University and has taught at San Francisco State University, Brandeis, Stanford, and Sofia University. He has written or edited books on holistic health, goal setting, and abnormal psychology. He is an editor for two journals and sits on the board of several nonprofit corporations.