Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1956, Vol 1(10), 299-300. Reviews the book, Identity and Interpersonal Competence: A New Direction in Family Research by Nelson N. Foote and Leonard S. Cottrell, Jr. (see record 1956-02753-000). The bulk of the book is devoted to the development of three interrelated sets of criteria: (1) criteria for evaluating personality development in family members, (2) criteria for evaluating family agencies (and families) in terms of their readiness to undertake deliberate, planned programs designed to enhance personality development, and (3) criteria for evaluating research programs in terms of the likelihood that they will produce results that are generalizable and usable by families and agencies The desirability of democratic planning in the operations of individuals, agencies, and research programs is the common thread that runs through all three of these sets of criteria. The authors' central concept for personality development is interpersonal competence. They list six components of interpersonal competence-health, intelligence, empathy, autonomy, judgment, and creativity-all of which are viewed as capacities needed by the individual for effective handling of his interpersonal relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)