Review of Paradigms of personality assessment.

Abstract

JERRY S. WIGGINS Paradigms of Personality Assessment New York: Guilford Press, 2003, 385 pages (ISBN 1-57230-913-X, US$45.00 Hardcover) I must begin with some full disclosure: If this book was an equity stock then I would own shares in the company. As a Jerry Wiggins student in the 1980s at UBC, I collaborated with this distinguished author and scholar on projects involving his interpersonal model of personality assessment. We became close friends almost from the beginning, and remained so until, tragically, a stroke recently stole this all away. Yet, as often inexplicably happens, our lives had slowly drifted apart, geographically and professionally, for the past almost 20 years, a period in which I only saw him once, briefly. So although the reviewer/author relationship in this review may not be quite as arms-length as it should be, I am convinced an editor would be hard pressed to find anyone in the diverse field of Personality Psychology who would not consider Jerry Wiggins to be at least a friendly ally. is because his own interpersonal networks have warmly and graciously touched not only all of the in the field, but amazingly most of the persons as well. Wiggins' latest, and sadly last, work is very much a must-read book for personality assessment specialists and their students, as is his more technical 1973 Principles of Personality Assessment classic (still in print). I believe the new book is destined to become another classic and a want-to-read book for many psychologists, ranging from those with a stake in the unity of scientific psychology to others who just like a good human-interest story. Afterall, when was the last time you read a book that brought together representatives from less-than-complementary scientific perspectives to cordially discuss the past, present, and future of one (particularly colourful) person? The book is unique, and important, for two reasons. First, it attempts to deliver on Personality Psychology's longstanding quest to integrate the many disparate perspectives in the field. Second, this is a multidisciplinary case study (a multitrait/multi-method analysis) of one person that combines theory and practice in a way not done before. is a collaborative project involving eight additional contributors representing five major traditions in personality assessment. The book begins with a discussion of the field of personality, measurement, and clinical assessment and the idea of how influential personality assessment communities can serve as the precursors (preparadigms) of Kuhn's notion of scientific paradigms. Although not the same as Kuhnian paradigms, Wiggins' assessment paradigms often operate in an analogous fashion, where, for example, likeminded scientists band together and develop a common modus operandi to help understand and explore their chosen world (focus of convenience). The insular nature of these assessment paradigms is often (perhaps unavoidably) at odds with the necessary integration of facts. Cross-pollenization between paradigms is not a priority, and is not very easy. This intense level of specialization, in turn, creates a community of scientists whose journal articles are largely unintelligible to those who are not members of their professional group (p. 6). The task of bringing the paradigms together is not an easy one, for it requires someone who is equally fluent in all of them. Wiggins manages to pull this off beautifully, as perhaps only he, and maybe a few other elder statespersons, could. The five paradigms considered in this book are referred to as psychodynamic, interpersonal, personological, multivariate, and empirical. They are each related, but not equivalent, to certain theories of personality and associated with certain personality tests. Each paradigm has carved out its own niche, sometimes under the influence of a single theorist (e.g., Freud's instincts and Sullivan's interpersonal relations), and reflects a different and potentially useful way of viewing the entire psychodiagnostic enterprise (p. …