The concept of passion is one we regularly use to describe our interests, and yet there is no broad theory that can explain the development and consequences of passion for activities across people's lives. In The Psychology of Passion, Robert J. Vallerand presents the first such theory, providing a complete presentation of the Dualistic Model of Passion and the empirical evidence that supports it. Vallerand conceives of two types of passion: harmonious passion, which remains under the person's control, and obsessive passion, which controls the person. While the first typically leads to adaptive behaviors, the obsessive form of passion leads to less adaptive and, at times, maladaptive behaviors. Vallerand highlights the effects of these two types of passion on a number of psychological phenomena, such as cognition, emotions, performance, relationships, aggression, and violence. He also discusses the development of passion and reviews a range of literature on passion for activities.

Robert J. Vallerand's profile page

Robert J. Vallerand is Professor of Social Psychology and Director of the Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Comportement Social at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and Fellow of the Institute of Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University. He is recognized as one of the leading experts on motivational processes and is the author of seven books and over three hundred scientific publications. Professor Vallerand has served as president of the Quebec Society for Research in Psychology, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the International Positive Psychology Association. He is a fellow of over a dozen learned societies, including the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He also is the recipient of numerous awards, among them the Donald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Science from the Canadian Psychological Association and the Sport Science Award from the International Olympic Committee.