approaches such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Freudian psychology, or.
Murray's needs, none of which has been the focus of serious consumer research.
during the last three decades and most of which, according to Mendelsohn.
(1993), are "at the periphery, not the core, of the contemporary field of.
personality as it is practiced by professionals and . for good reason" (p.
107).
The sorry state of personality research in the consumer context is somewhat.
surprising because the last two decades have been exciting times for.
personality research in psychology. Not only have trait approaches experienced.
a veritable rebirth (Wiggins 1996), but researchers have also adopted fresh.
new perspectives for studying the individual by investigating what people are.
trying to accomplish in their daily lives (Cantor 1990) and by analyzing.
people's narrative accounts of their lives (McAdams 1993). My objective in.
this essay is to discuss some recent research in personality psychology that.
might guide research in our field, with a view toward stimulating the.
development of a personology of the consumer.
MCADAMS'S THREE-TIERED FRAMEWORK FOR STUDYING PERSONS.
What do we need to know in order to understand what kind of consumer a person.
is? McAdams (1996, 2001) suggests that personality psychology should study the.
person in terms of a three-tiered framework involving three separate but.
overlapping levels of analysis: personality traits, personal concerns, and.
life stories. The first level, personality traits, deals with temporally and.
situationally invariant personal characteristics (i.e., dispositions) that.
distinguish different individuals and lead to consistencies in behavior across.
situations and over time. The second level, personal concerns, deals with the.
goals that people pursue and the strategies that they use to achieve these.
goals. Following Little (1996), this level is here defined more narrowly in.
terms of personal action constructs such as personal strivings (Emmons 1989),.