Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces the reader to a variety of traditional and contemporary psychological theories and studies, which play a key role in informing our understanding of the individual. It provides personality development, gender development and adolescence. The book focuses on the key approaches to the study of personality, including the ideas of theorists such as Hans Eysenck and Gordon Allport, who see personality as continually influenced by permanent traits that may or may not be unique to the individual. It draws on the various ways that teenagers react and interact at home, at school or work, and with friends and family as they strive towards adulthood. The arrival of adulthood, promotion at work, a term of imprisonment, the birth of a child: all of the occurrences can change our outlook on life and so affect our personalities.