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Personal Project Pursuit

Goals, Action, and Human Flourishing

• Edited by Brian R. Little, Katariina Salmela-Aro, Susan D. Phillips

• Price: $39.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 488
• Published by: Psychology Press
• Publication Date: 15th August 2006
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-5486-2

About the Book

Personal Project Pursuit is the first book to feature Brian Little's highly respected personal projects analysis (PPA), one of the pioneering theories in contemporary personality and motivational psychology. The book examines both the internal and external dynamics of personal goals and projects and clearly demonstrates that human flourishing is enhanced when individuals are engaged in the pursuit of personal projects.

The book opens with the theory and methodologies of personal projects research. The historical perspective on the development of the two dominant research perspectives from personality and developmental psychology is explored. Section II examines the internal dynamics and competing demands of goal formulation and project inception. The third part accentuates the role that social ecologies play in shaping the nature and outcomes of personal projects. These chapters highlight the importance of interpersonal relationships, organizational contexts, and the societal and cultural expectations in affecting the pursuit of personal projects. Ideas for orchestrating the environment to enhance human flourishing are explored. Section IV demonstrates how personal projects can illuminate and enhance human flourishing, from psychological well being to physical health. The book concludes with applications for enhancing human flourishing from individual counseling to public policy.

Personal Project Pursuit is intended for advanced students, researchers, and practitioners in personality, social, developmental, industrial/organizational, health, environmental, clinical and counseling psychology interested in motivation and well being. An excellent supplemental text for courses on personality, motivation, positive psychology, well being, personal and life span development, the book's applied focus will appeal to counselors and rehabilitation/occupational therapists.

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface. Part I: Personal Project Pursuit: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations. B.R. Little, Prompt and Circumstance: The Generative Contexts of Personal Projects Analysis. B.R. Little, T.L. Gee, The Methodology of Personal Projects Analysis: Four Modules and a Funnel. Part II: Basic Processes of Project Pursuit: Internal Regulatory Functions. A.J. Elliott, R. Friedman, Approach-Avoidance: A Central Characteristic of Personal Goals. M. Riediger, Interference and Facilitation Among Personal Goals: Age Differences and Associations With Well-Being and Behavior. N.C. Chambers, Just Doing It: Affective Implications of Project Phrasing. I. McGregor, Personal Projects as Compensatory Convictions: Passionate Pursuit and the Fugitive Self. Part III: Basic Processes of Project Pursuit: External-Contextual Functions. K. Salmela-Aro, B.R. Little, Relational Aspects of Project Pursuit. A.M. Grant, B.R. Little, S.D. Phillips, Personal Projects and Organizational Lives. A.M. Freund, Differentiating and Integrating Levels of Goal Representation: A Life-Span Perspective. M. Brandstätter, C.E. Lalonde, Personal Persistence and Personal Projects: Creating Personal and Cultural Continuity. Part IV: Projects, Goals, and the Varieties of Well-Being. B.S. Wiese, Successful Pursuit of Personal Goals and Subjective Well-Being. A.H. Peterman, L. Lecci, Personal Projects in Health and Illness. K.M. Sheldon, Considering "the Optimality of Personality": Goals, Self-Concordance, and Multilevel Personality Integration. B.R. Little, M.F. Joseph, Personal Projects and Free Traits: Mutable Selves and Well Beings. Part V: The Continuing Pursuit: Conclusion and Future Directions. B.R. Little, A.M. Grant, The Sustainable Pursuit of Core Projects: Retrospect and Prospects.