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Personal Projects Analysis: Trivial Pursuits, Magnificent Obsessions, and the Search for Coherence

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Personality Psychology

Abstract

Personal projects are extended sets of personally relevant action, which can range from the trivial pursuits of a typical Tuesday (e.g., “cleaning up my room”) to the magnificent obsessions of a lifetime (e.g., “liberate my people”). They may be self-initiated or thrust upon us. They may be solitary concerns or shared commitments. They may be isolated and peripheral aspects of our lives or may cut to our very core. Personal projects may sustain us through perplexity or serve as vehicles for our own obliteration. In short, personal projects are natural units of analysis for a personality psychology that chooses to deal with the serious business of how people muddle through complex lives (Little, 1987a).

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Authors
  1. Brian R. Little
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    David M. Buss  & Nancy Cantor  & 

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Little, B.R. (1989). Personal Projects Analysis: Trivial Pursuits, Magnificent Obsessions, and the Search for Coherence. In: Buss, D.M., Cantor, N. (eds) Personality Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0634-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0634-4_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-0636-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-0634-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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