Scientific Study of Personality

Hans J. Eysenck (1916–1997) was born in Berlin of an old liberal family, and left Germany in 1934 as a protest against the Nazis. He studied at University College, London, where he obtained his B. A. and Ph.D degrees. During the war years he was research psychologist at the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital, and until 1947 was Senior Clinical Psychologist at Maudsley Hospital. The result of his war research was a book which gained a considerable reputation for him, Dimensions of Personality. At the time of original publication he was a lecturer in psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry (Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals) and Director of the Psychological Department. During 1949–1950 he was visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Foreword by Aubrey Lewis. Introduction. 1. Science and Personality 2. The Dimensional Approach 3. The Neurotic Dimension: Operational Definition 4. The Neurotic Dimension: Objective Measurement 5. Heredity and Environment 6. The Psychotic Dimension 7. Applications of Dimensional Analysis 8. The Organization of Personality. Bibliography. Index.

Reviews for the original edition:‘In this reviewer’s opinion, Eysenck’s book was easily the most important publication in the entire field of psychology during the past year. It presents important experimental findings on a large number of controversial issues in personality theory and psychopathology; furthermore, the findings point to conclusions considerably at variance with current teaching. … Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with the interpretations, he simply cannot afford to overlook Eysenck’s results.’ – E. Lowell Kelly in Annual Review of Psychology‘He has organized a large programme of research, consistently related to his aim; and the results are woven, with those of other psychologists working in the same institute, into an intricate yet distinct and coherent pattern. In many passages the exposition is provocative, and to some readers provoking; but in a field of knowledge dappled and sometimes wholly darkened by clouds of vagueness and compromising evasion, it is refreshing to have an author’s standpoint and intention made quite plain.’ – The Lancet