The Systems Framework for Personality Psychology is a framework designed to present the personality system in a powerful new way that more clearly communicates the goals, pursuits, findings, and significance of the discipline of personality psychology (Mayer, 1998).
The Systems Framework divides the discipline into four areas of study:
- Identifying the personality system
- Understanding the parts of personality
- How personality is organized, and
- How personality develops
If you would like to see a copy of the article that introduced the Systems Framework, you can click here.
A full overview of the Systems Framework appeared as a target article in 1998, in the journal Psychological Inquiry. Since then, the model has been improved and simplified a bit. Nonetheless, that statement remains the most complete description and rationale of the framework to-date. To see a copy, click here.
(For more articles on the Systems Framework, follow this link.)
Some of the advantages of the framework relative to a theoretical perspective are these:
- The focus shifts from theories to the personality system itself
- Research and findings concerning the system can be highlighted
- The still-current and still-useful areas of traditional personality theories are emphasized; out-of-date portions can be dropped
- One integrated view of the personality system is presented rather than many fragmented views
Mayer, J. D. (1993-1994). A System-Topics Framework for the study of personality. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 13, 99-123.
Mayer, J. D. (1998). A systems framework for the field of personality psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 118-144.