Hans J. Eysenck

Hans J. Eysenck (1916 -1997)

Biological Typology

            Eysenck’s research studies ranged from personality and intelligence to behavioral genetics, from social attitudes to behavior therapy. He also worked on such topics as the health hazards of smoking, the prophylactic effects of behavior therapy on cancer and coronary heart disease and parapsychology, among others. He wrote 75 books and some 700 articles, making him one of the most prolific writers in psychology.

                He focused on personality types. He used factor analysis to determine the basic structure of human personality. He believed that psychology has two major orientations, namely: personality psychology and experimental psychology.

                Eysenck’s followed a hierarchial model of personality: the type/super traits; trait level; habitual responses and specific response level. He defined personality as more or less stable and enduring organization of a person’s character (will), temperament (emotion), intellect(enduring system of cognitive behavior), and physique(enduring system of bodily configuration and neuroendocrine endowment), which determines his or her unique adjustment to the environment.

                He created the basic dimensions of temperament. These are:extroversion-introversion, stability-instability and psychoticism.

                Eysenck believed that extroversion-introversion that this is a matter of balance of inhibition and exertion in the brain itself. Extrovert characteristics manifest impulsive,  outgoing behavior, tendency to seek out highly arousal state while introvert characteristics include reserved, introspective, generally avoids highly arousing situation.

               Neuroticism ranges from normal, fairly calm but tends to be quite nervous; high scores in this dimension are indicative of emotional over-reaction and have difficulties adjusting to normal state after emotional experiences.

                Psychoticism has been called the opposite of Freudian “super ego strength.” An individual at the extreme end of his dimension would be solitary, troublesome, insensitive, hostile and aggressive. The high psychoticism person has a certain degree of recklessness, disregard for social convention, and a high degree of inappropriate emotional expression.

His theory of personality compares two central factors, extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N), from which four basic personality types flow. His personality types are based on Hippocrates's personality formulation:

• High N, High E results in a choleric personality—an assertive, leader-like person.
• High N, Low E results in a melancholic personality—a cautious and introverted type.
• Low N, High E results in a sanguine personality—the sociable and charismatic type.
• Low N, Low E results in a phlegmatic personality—a consistent, calm person.

Eysenck held controversial views on the nature of intelligence, arguing that intelligence was at least partially genetic and that different racial groups had different levels of intelligence. These views remained controversial for his entire life, and he was once punched in the nose by a protester while giving a lecture. Eysenck did not shy away from controversy, and several interviews with him were published in the far-right press, leading to claims of racism and bigotry. He also published a piece in Penthouse. 

Eysenck responded to many of his critics by arguing that there is a distinction between biological equality and equality of treatment under the law. The former, he emphasized, was impossible, while the latter was an important goal.

He worked on behalf of tobacco companies to conduct research on the effects of smoking. When asked about the ethics of this practice, he argued that what mattered was that the research was done correctly, not that the research was funded by the right, or wrong, group.