Hans Eysenck may be a somewhat controversial figure in the world of psychology, but no one doubts the value of his scientific approach to psychological research.
Hans Eysenck is one of the most respected names in the history of psychology. Many people credit him for bringing psychology into the scientific world. As a result, he’s often referred to as “the father of psychology”.
Hans Eysenck was born in Berlin, Germany in 1916. When Hitler rose to power, Eysenck decided not to join the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (the Nazi Party), so he fled to England. There, he studied psychology at the University of Exeter. Later, he worked at Mill Hill Emergency Hospital of London, where he provided psychiatric treatment to military personnel.
“Personality is the more or less stable and enduring organization of a person’s character temperament, intellect, and physique which determine his unique adjustment to the environment.”
-Hans Eysenck-
Eysenck later became a professor at University College London, where he started formulating his theory. Classic behaviorists such as Ivan Pavlov and John Watson inspired Eysenck’s work. Eysenck’s theory highlights the genetic and physiological factors of personality. He was also very interested in how to measure behavior.
Many people believe that Hans Eysenck’s theory is more closely related to the study of temperament than personality. Nevertheless, it became known as a personality theory. Interestingly, Eysenck initially based it on Galen’s four temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic.
Basically, Hans Eysenck proposed that each human being has certain characteristics that stay stable over time. The configuration of each person’s nervous system is a determining factor. Each individual has a nervous system with a unique genetic and physiological makeup. Consequently, each individual is different.
Hans Eysenck also took sociocultural influences on personality into account. Nevertheless, he always believed that biological factors were more relevant to personality differences. One thing that distinguished him from other psychologists was his interest in having an empirical basis for his theory. Consequently, he ran a series of experiments to test his theory. These tests contributed a lot to psychometrics.
Eysenck claimed that there are three primary dimensions of personality that are determined by heritage and manifest themselves physiologically. He believed you could measure them by observing the reaction of the autonomous nervous system. Then, Eysenck defined the three basic dimensions of personality and their structure and traits.
For Hans Eysenck, the development of these traits depends on the excitation or inhibition of the cortex. In other words, basic personality traits are determined by biological factors.
Hans Eysenck’s radical behavioralist posture makes him a controversial author. Nevertheless, no one dares to question his theory’s validity. His experiments were impeccable, so everything he proposed has an empirical foundation. What’s more, his personality measurement systems are still used and recognized all over the world.
Eysenck was a tough critic of the popular therapies of his time. In general, he believed the psychodynamic and psychoanalytic focus was basically ineffective. As a result, he dedicated his life to creating a theory that would translate into measurable and effective therapeutic interventions. His main contribution was that he provided an empirical basis for behavior-based therapy.
Some of Eysenck’s most famous works are The Biological Basis of Personality (1967), Sex and Personality (1976), and Intelligence: The Battle for the Mind (1981). He also designed numerous questionnaires and tests to evaluate personality traits. The most famous one is the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Eysenck died of a brain tumor in London in 1997, but his legacy lives on.
Constant lateness can become infuriating. There’s nothing more annoying than arranging to meet someone at a certain time and then watch the minutes go by without that person appearing. Some don’t even arrive within minutes, it can even be hours or they…
No parent will admit they don’t love their child. But it happens more often than it should. Just by looking at an unloved child sometimes we can immediately detect the scars. The difference between a child who’s loved and accepted and…
Learning to prioritize goes beyond knowing how to manage time well. To prioritize is to organize your own life and to clarify your values. It’s to remember what’s important and what’s better postponed or even left undone. Our priorities should always be…
It may be the years or perhaps maturity, but there always comes a moment when we finally “wake up” to our conscience, when we raise our voice against the noise and make our position clear. Because there is nothing more comforting than…
Chaos addicts are more common than you can imagine. They are always at least fifteen minutes behind and that’s why they arrive late, running and panting. They apologize and blame the traffic. They are also desperate at the end of the…
p>There are many ways to explain what social relations mean. George C. Homans did so through his Social Exchange Theory. This theory, born from concepts of economics and exchange, tells us how social interaction happens, and shows which are the key…
