Explorations in Personality, published by Oxford University Press in 1938, set forth a provocative and comprehensive agenda for the scientific study of human personality. Blending no-nonsense empiricism with the humanistic desire to understand the whole person, the book is as relevant to students of personality psychology today as it was to its many readers 70 years ago. Assisted by such eminent colleagues as Erik Erikson and Robert White, Henry Murray set forth a full theory of human personality, illustrated a bevy of creative methods for personality assessment, and presented the results of a landmark study of fifty Harvard men. The book is one of the great classics in 20th century psychology. This reissue, enhanced by Dan McAdams' foreword, which provides a contemporary evaluation of Murray's achievement, will be of great interest to students and researchers in personality psychology and to many other behavioral scientists, scholars, and general readers who wish to understand the psychology of the whole person.
First published in 1938, this book established an elaborate agenda for understanding our subjective human nature that is as relevant to students of personality today as it was to its audience then. This reissue, enhanced by Dan McAdams' foreword, will provide a contemporary evaluation of this work.
A re-issue of the classic Explorations by Murray and his associates-now with McAdams' excellent introductory map of the personal, intellectual, and institutional landscape-is welcome and useful. In the seventy years since its first appearance, many of the book's path-breaking concepts and methods, especially those related to motivation, have become established and well-charted landmarks in the field of personality. Nevertheless, 21st century students of the person will still find many worthwhile uncharted topics that merit continued exploration: concepts such as 'need-integrate', 'gratuities', 'fusion and subsidization of needs', 'time-binding', and 'regnant processes', among others. At the same time, historians of the social sciences will welcome access to this sprawling archive of interdisciplinary excitement, created by an extraordinary group of pioneers who worked in a unique historical time and place.
