ABSTRACT
Just as there has been a tremendous variety of ways of understanding and investigating ‘personality’ itself, there have been many different approaches to its development. Developmental studies have encountered all the conceptual and methodological problems of general personality theories, plus difficulties associated with the interpretation of continuity of character or behaviour over time. Theories of personality development differ in their basic ideas about the origin of personality, about its consistency, and about the importance of life events and possible series of developmental stages. This chapter looks first at theories which place more emphasis on permanent ‘dispositions’, next at some ‘stage’ or ‘life-event’ approaches, and finally at the developmental evidence for certain aspects of ‘personality’.
