Two-polarities models of personality propose that personality development evolves through a dialectic synergistic interaction between two fundamental developmental psychological processes across the life span--the development of interpersonal relatedness on the one hand and of self-definition on the other. This article offers a broad review of…

Personality psychology studies how psychological systems work together. Consequently, the field can act as a unifying resource for the broader discipline of psychology. Yet personality's current fieldwide organization promotes a fragmented view of the person, seen through such competing theories as the psychodynamic, trait, and humanistic. There…