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Baumeister, Roy F.

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences
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Roy F. Baumeister is a social and personality psychologist whose work spans a wide range of topics, including self and identity, motivation, emotion, social cognition, aggression, sexuality, self-regulation, self-esteem, and self-concept, thinking about the future, consciousness, free will, and how people find meaning in life. He has long sought a broad, integrative understanding, and toward that end he seeks to explore diverse topics. One theme of his career is an interest in understanding the human self. Toward that end, he has published research on self-concept, self-presentation, self-esteem, self-control and self-regulation, identity crisis, self-awareness, and defense mechanism, and this work has included everything from laboratory experiments to interdisciplinary syntheses.

Early Life and Educational Background

Baumeister was born in 1953, as the son of an immigrant businessman and a schoolteacher. His parents were strict, skeptical of letting their offspring spend too much time...

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Selected Bibliography

  • Baumeister, R. F., & Tice, D. M. (1988). Metatraits. Journal of Personality, 56, 571–598. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1988.tb00903.x.

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  • Tangney, J. P., Baumeister, R. F., & Boone, A. L. (2004). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. Journal of Personality, 72, 271–322. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00263.x.

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  • Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4, 1–44. doi:10.1111/1529-1006.01431.

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  • Baumeister, R. F., Smart, L., & Boden, J. M. (1996). Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem. Psychological Review, 103, 5–33. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.103.1.5.

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  • Wallace, H. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2002). The performance of narcissists rises and falls with perceived opportunity for glory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 819–834. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.5.819.

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  • Leary, M. R., & Baumeister, R. F. (2000). The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer theory. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 32, pp. 1–62). San Diego: Academic Press.

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  • De Ridder, D., Lensvelt-Mulders, G., Finkenauer, C., Stok, F. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2012). A meta-analysis of how trait self-control relates to a wide range of behaviors. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 16, 76–99. doi:10.1177/1088868311418749.

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  • Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., Aaker, J. L., & Garbinsky, E. N. (2013). Some key differences between a happy life and a meaningful life. Journal of Positive Psychology, 8, 505–516. doi:10.1080/17439760.2013.830764.

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  • Daly, M., Delaney, L., Egan, M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2015). Childhood self-control and unemployment throughout the lifespan: Evidence from two British cohort studies. Psychological Science, 26, 709–723. doi:10.1177/0956797615569001.

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Correspondence to Roy Baumeister .

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Baumeister, R. (2017). Baumeister, Roy F.. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_375-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_375-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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