Humans as Self-Constructing Living Systems
A Developmental Perspective on Behavior and Personality
Psychology Library Editions: Personality Series

Originally published in 1987, the purpose of this title was to develop a conceptual framework for understanding individual humans as complex, functional entities. It was felt that a sound developmental theory of human personality and behaviour would help synthesize existing scientific and clinical information into a coherent representation of a person as a functional unit, guide future research, and facilitate the work of the health and human services professions. The volume is aimed at a multidisciplinary-multiprofessional audience.

Preface. Part 1: The Conceptual Framework 1. The Nature of Humans 2. Organized Complexity and the Concept of System 3. The Person as a Self-Constructing Living System 4. Processes of Change in Living Systems 5. Principles of Human Development and Change Part 2: Human Personality and the Content and Organization of Behavior 6. Biological Bases of Self-Organization and Self-Construction 7. Information-Consciousness-Attention (ICA) Arousal 8. Information Transactions and Perception 9. Cognition, Information Processing, and Remembering 10. The Directive Function: Intentions and Personal Goals 11. Control Functions: Problem Solving and Behavior Organization 12. Regulatory Functions: Biochemical, Affective, and Cognitive 13. Energizing Selective Action and Emotional Arousal 14. Transactional Functions: Organization of Actions 15. Transactional Functions: Communication 16. The Person and Personality Development. Epilogue: Social Implications of the Living Systems Framework. References. Author Index. Subject Index.