Hans J. Eysenck

This is the original work on which Hans Eysenck's fifty years of research have been built. It introduced many new ideas about the nature and measurement of personality into the field, related personality to abnormal psychology, and demonstrated the possibility of testing personality theory experimentally. The book is the result of a concentrated and cooperative effort to discover the main dimensions of personality, and to define them operationally, that is, by means of strictly experimental, quantitative procedures. More than three dozen separate researches were carried out on some 10,000 normal and neurotic subjects by a research team of psychologists and psychiatrists. A special feature of this work is the close collaboration between psychologists and psychiatrists. Eysenck believes that the exploration of personality would have reached an advanced state much earlier had such a collaboration been the rule rather than the exception in studies of this kind. Both disciplines benefit by working together on the many problems they have in common. In his new introduction, Eysenck discusses the difficulty he had in conveying this belief to scientists from opposite ends of the psychology spectrum when he first began work on this book. He goes on to explain the basis from which Dimensions of Personality developed. Central to any concept of personality, he states, must be hierarchies of traits organized into a dimensional system. The two major dimensions he posited, neuroticism and extraversion, were in disfavor with most scientists of personality at the time. Now they form part of practically all descriptions of personality. Dimensions of Personality is a landmark study and should be read by both students and professionals in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and sociology.

Dimensions of Personality

Check your own IQ.

In writing The Psychology of Politics, Hans Eysenck had two aims in mind: to write a book about modern developments in the field of attitude studies which would be intelligible to the layman; and one that would integrate into one consistent theoretical system a large number of contributions on the topic from different fields. Eysenck believes that science has something to say about such problems as anti-Semitism, the origin and growth of fascist and communist ideologies, the causal determinants of voting behavior, the structure of opinions and attitudes, and the relationship between politics and personality. He seeks to rescue these factual findings from the obscurity of technical journals and present them in a more accessible form. The research presented in this book outlines the main principles of organization and structure in the field of attitudes. These principles account in a remarkably complete and detailed manner for the systems of political organization found in Great Britain, that is, the Conservative, Liberal, and Socialist parties, and the communist and fascist groups. Next, Eysenck relates these principles to the system of personality structure which for many years formed the main focus of research activity at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. The Psychology of Politics integrates attitude research with modern learning theory. In his new introduction, Eysenck writes that his research and personal experiences in Germany led him to believe that authoritarianism could appear equally well on the left as on the right. He saw Stalin as equally authoritarian as Hitler, and communism as equally totalitarian as Nazism. The Psychology of Politics contains the evidence and arguments Eysenck used to demonstrate his approach. This volume is of enduring significance for psychologists, political theorists, and historians. It is by indirection a major statement in modern liberalism.

The Psychology of Politics

Gisli H. Gudjonsson

The title that the authors have chosen for this book, The Causes and Cures of Criminality, suggests that it may be just another book specu lating on the sociological evils that need to be put right for "everything in the garden to be lovely." If this is the expectation, the reader could not be more mistaken. The recurrent theme, in fact, is a strong accent on psychological experiments. Both authors have tackled the theoretical and practical side of crime through an exhaustive literature review of past experi mental work. Hans J. Eysenck has concentrated on the constitutional and biological theory of criminality, whereas Gisli Gudjonsson has con cerned himself more with a review of ongoing research into therapy and possible prevention of antisocial behavior. Part I goes into considerable detail on the causes of criminality, stressing much of the strangely neglected area of individual differences in personality. Research studies point to a very heavy involvement of heredity in the causation of criminality, but the authors are careful to acknowledge that much can be done environmentally to discourage a life of crime once those persons who are at risk have been identified.

The Causes and Cures of Criminality

Sybil B.G. Eysenck

Originally published in 1969, this book deals extensively with the description and measurement of personality. Beginning with a statement of the principles of typological research in psychology, set against the background of general taxonomic principles in biology, the study discusses in detail results and generalisations from the Eysencks’ previous work. The second part of the book describes several large-scale studies using personality questionnaires prepared by the authors, as well as the standard ones of Cattell and Guilford. There is a comparative study of the Eysenck, Cattell and Guilford inventories, which analyses the degree to which similar factors can be found in these three instruments and discusses areas of agreement and disagreement between the three authors. The third part deals with personality studies in children, and includes a chapter on personality structure in subnormal subjects. These studies are concerned with discovering the extent to which personality structure changes with increasing age, and to what extent it is possible to measure personality in younger children. They also examine sex differences in personality structure, and show quite marked differences between the sexes on a number of primary personality traits. The results of the Eysencks’ work in this field directed new light on the structure of personality and cast doubt on many widely accepted findings of the time.

Personality Structure and Measurement (Psychology Revivals)

Glenn D. Wilson

Originally published in 1973 the editors of this book collected together those studies which had been considered at the time to yield the best evidence in support of Freudian theory, and found on close examination that they failed to provide any such proof. Each paper is printed in full and is followed by a critical discussion which raises questions of statistical treatment, sufficiency of controls and alternative interpretations. The particular usefulness of this format is that it allows readers to form their own opinions while providing helpful suggestions and guidelines on how to approach experimental studies with a critical mind.

The Experimental Study of Freudian Theories (Psychology Revivals)

Here Hans Eysenck applies the principles of modern learning theory to account for the observed phenomena of hysteria and anxiety. Such principles were initially developed through the experiments and theories of Pavlov, Hull, and Tolman. When The Dynamics of Anxiety and Hysteria initially appeared, these were considered the most advanced, relevant, and applicable to the subject matter. They have not been superseded by later work. The Dynamics of Anxiety and Hysteria has never been published in the United States. It was the fifth book Eysenck authored as part of a series of experimental studies and theoretical work carried out under the auspices of the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London. Two of the first four books-Dimensions of Personality and The Psychology of Politics, have been reissued with new introductions. These focus on dimensional analysis of personality based on experimental and empirical studies. The present work, on the other hand, goes beyond classification to a study of dynamics; from nosology to aetiology; from description to causation. Eysenck scientifically explores such topics as learning theory and human behavior, personality and learning theory; personality and perceptual processes, socialization and personality, drugs and personality, and psychological theory and psychiatric practice. This volume, which complements Transaction's other new editions of Eysenck's groundbreaking work, will be of lasting significance to psychologists, psychiatrists, behavioralists, and students of personality disorders. He provided for modern psychology the empirical foundations of themes that previosly were the monopoly of psychoanalysis. Hans J. Eysenck (1916-1997), a professor of psychology at the University of London and the director of its psychological department at the Institute of Psychiatry, was best known for his experimental researches in the field of personality. He was a prolific author and wrote, among others, Rebel with a Cause, Dimensions of Personality, and Intelligence, all available from Transaction.

An Experimental Application of Modern Learning Theory to Psychiatry

The Dynamics of Anxiety and Hysteria

Jan Strelau

Personality Dimensions and Arousal

It is often suggested that the incidence of cancer and coronary heart disease could be much reduced or even eliminated if only people would stop smoking cigarettes and eat fewer high-cholesterol foods. The evidence, however, shows that such views are simplistic and unrealistic and that, instead, cancer and CHD are the product of many risk factors acting synergistically. Psychosocial factors (stress, personality) are six times as predictive as smoking, cholesterol level or blood pressure and much more responsive to prophylactic treatment. This book admits that, while smoking is a risk factor for cancer and CHD, its effects have been exaggerated. A more realistic appraisal of a very complex chain of events incorporating many diverse factors is given, and appropriate action to prevent cancer and coronary heart disease is discussed.

Psychosocial Factors in the Prevention of Cancer and Coronary Heart Disease

Smoking, Personality, and Stress

Robert Rosenthal

Vladimir A. Gheorghiu

Petra Netter

This book contains the proceedings of the First International Sym posium on Suggestion and Suggestibility, held at the University of Giessen in the Federal Republic of Germany, July 7-111987, upon the initiative of and organized by Dr. V. A. Gheorghiu and Dr. P. Netter. I regret that for personal reasons I was unable to accept his kind invita tion to attend, for Dr. Gheorghiu and I are old friends. I am pleased, however, to have this opportunity to call attention to the significance of this volume. Most of the chapters were presented in approximately their present form at the symposium, though some have been extensi vely revised for publication. It was a wise choice to divide the papers into four major sections. - I. Theoretical and Historical Perspectives, II. Assessment and Indivi dual Differences of Suggestibility, III. Psychophysiological Aspects of Suggestibility, and IV. Social and Cognitive Aspects of Suggestive Processes - each with a summarizing commentary. In view of the variety and difficulty of the individual papers, it is a help to have the integration provided by these commentaries - on Part I by Sheehan (Chap. 7), on Part II by Lundy (Chap. 13), on Part III by Edmonston (Chap. 19), and on Part IV by Fiedler (Chap. 30).

Theory and Research

Suggestion and Suggestibility

G.D. Wilson

There are so many good textbooks in the field of this sense the book is more comparable to modern human psychology that anyone producing a new one textbooks of 'harder' sciences such as physics and must have a good excuse, ready to explain his physiology. Theories are considered important, but temerity. Our reason for bringing together the various only theories that are scientific in the sense that they authors who have contributed the chapters of this continuously interact with empirically derived facts. book is a very simple one. Most textbooks are written Theories which seldom make contact with facts (e. g. just for future professional psychologists, i. e. for Jung's theory of archetypes) are generally ignored. students who are going to adopt psychology as their There is one other point about which we would like to be explicit. Textbooks often state different theories life's work, and whose main area of concentration is psychology. These students are, of course, a very im regarding a particular phenomenon, or set of phenom portant group, yet psychology is becoming more and ena, without giving any opinion as to which of these more important to professionals in other fields as well theories might be judged superior to the others.

A Textbook of Human Psychology

This is the original work on which Hans Eysenck's fifty years of research have been built. It introduced many new ideas about the nature and measurement of personality into the field, related personality to abnormal psychology, and demonstrated the possibility of testing personality theory experimentally. The book is the result of a concentrated and cooperative effort to discover the main dimensions of personality, and to define them operationally, that is, by means of strictly experimental, quantitative procedures. More than three dozen separate researches were carried out on some 10,000 normal and neurotic subjects by a research team of psychologists and psychiatrists. A special feature of this work is the close collaboration between psychologists and psychiatrists. Eysenck believes that the exploration of personality would have reached an advanced state much earlier had such a collaboration been the rule rather than the exception in studies of this kind. Both disciplines benefit by working together on the many problems they have in common. In his new introduction, Eysenck discusses the difficulty he had in conveying this belief to scientists from opposite ends of the psychology spectrum when he first began work on this book. He goes on to explain the basis from which "Dimensions of Personality "developed. Central to any concept of personality, he states, must be hierarchies of traits organized into a dimensional system. The two major dimensions he posited, neuroticism and extraversion, were in disfavor with most scientists of personality at the time. Now they form part of practically all descriptions of personality. "Dimensions of Personality "is a landmark study and should be read by both students and professionals in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and sociology.

Hans J. Eysenck

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