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Abstract

Previous theories of personality have introduced the concepts of ego states, complexes, subsystems, subpersonalities, and subselves. A series of postulates and corollaries are proposed in the present paper that form the skeleton of a formal theory of personality based on the concept of subselves. Structural, developmental, psychopathological, and psychotherapeutic implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. These include scholars such as Horowitz (1988), Mair (1977), Ogilvy (1977), Rowan (1990), Shapiro and Elliott (1976), and Vargiu (1974).

  2. “membership in recognizable social group... personal characteristics ...[and] attributes of personality shared with a large number of other people” (Deaux 1991, p. 78). Examples are professor, spouse, friend, woman, Roman Catholic, Hispanic, among others.

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Acknowledgment

I should like to note my indebtedness to my teachers, Abraham Maslow and George Kelly, and to Andras Angyal of whom Abraham Maslow spoke highly but whom I never met.

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Correspondence to David Lester.

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Lester, D. A Subself Theory of Personality. Curr Psychol 26, 1–15 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-007-9002-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-007-9002-x

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