Evolutionary Personality Psychology
Personality psychology might be the broadest and the most encompassing branch of psychology. Historically, all “grand” theories of personality have hypotheses about the contents of human nature at their core, such as motives for sex and aggression (Sigmund Freud), self-actualization (Abraham Maslow), striving for superiority (Adler), or striving for status and intimacy (David McClelland, Henry Murray, & Jerry Wiggins). Hypothesized psychological features of human nature have provided much of the “core” around which these grand theories of personality have been constructed.
On the other hand, personality psychology has also been centrally concerned with individual differences: What are the most important ways individuals differ? What are the origins of individual differences? What are the psychological and physiological correlates of individual differences? What are the consequences of individual differences for social interaction, psychopathology, well-being, and the life course?
