Commentary Personality Reconsidered: A Considered Response

The article by Hooker and McAdams (2003) challenges psychologists to rethink some of the theoretical distinctions used in everyday research. Although their theory aims to integrate approaches to gathering and understanding data, such an integration may or may not be all encompassing, or indeed, desirable. Nonetheless, the six foci provide a framework as valid as any for the exploration of personality across a lifetime. T HE six-foci of personality model attempts to bridge thevarious divergences that fragment personality psycholo-gists. ‘‘Why can’t we all just get along?’ ’ is certainly an admirable battle cry, and, in their model, Hooker and McAdams make a laudable attempt to piece together an integrative theory including all of the facets that comprise the study of individual differences. To what degree are the authors successful in their attempt to ‘‘[encompass] the full complexity of personality,’ ’ and to what degree is such an attempt practical and desirable? Although the authors provide a well-organized framework within which to examine these complexities, the placement of conflicting paradigms at different levels of anal