Hans Eysenck

Objectives

• At the end of this lesson you should be able to:

• Know and expound on Hans Eysenck life.

• Understand & explain the meaning of personality ‘type’, ‘trait’ & ‘dimension’

• Describe & explain ‘extroversion’, ‘introversion’, ‘neuroticism’ & ‘normality’

• Understand the relation of dimensions to personality temperaments

• Describe & explain Eysenck’s biological explanation for personality differences

 About Hans Eysenck
• Hans Eysenck was born in Berlin, Germany on March 4, 1916.

• He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of London in

1940.

• He has written 75 books and some 700 articles. Eysenck retired in 1983
and continued to write until his death on September 4, 1997.

• Before his death in 1997, he was the most cited living psychologist, and
he is the third most cited psychologist of all time, after Freud and
Piaget.
What did Eysenck contribute to psychology?
He developed the concept of neuroticism, arguing that it was a
biological form of emotional instability. He frequently argued that
much of personality is genetically determined and published several
papers on this topic.
Personality Terms
• Personality: a person’s internally based characteristic way of acting and
thinking.
• Character: Personal characteristics that have been judged or evaluated
• Temperament: Hereditary aspects of personality, including sensitivity,
moods, irritability, and distractibility
• Personality Trait: Stable qualities that a person shows in most situations
• Personality Type: People who have several traits in common
 Hans J. Eysenck: Definition of Personality
• Personality is “the sum-total of the actual or potential behavior-patterns of
the organism, as determined by heredity and environment it originates and
develops through the functional interaction of the four main sectors into
which these behavior-patterns are organized. For Eysenck, personality
consists of acts and dispositions organized in a hierarchical fashion in terms
of their level of generality. The cognitive sector (intelligence), the conative
sector (character), the affective sector (temperament), and the somatic
sector (constitution).”
Three Dimensions of Personality
1.Extraversion 2. Neuroticism 3. Psychoticism
• Introversion versus Extroversion
• Emotionally Stable versus Unstable (neurotic)
• Impulse Control versus Psychotic
 Extraversion - Introversion:

• Extraversion: toughmindedness; impulsiveness; tendency to be

outgoing; desire for novelty; performance enhanced by
excitement; preference for vocations involving contact with other
people; tolerance for pain.

• Introversion: tendermindedness; introspectiveness; seriousness;

performance interfered with by excitement; easily aroused but
restrained, inhibited; preference for solitary vocations; sensitivity
to pain.
 Neuroticism- Psychoticism
• Neuroticism: Below-average emotional control, will-power, and
capacity to exert self; slowness in thought and action;
suggestibility; lack of persistence; tendency to repress unpleasant
facts; lack of sociability; below-average sensory acuity but high
level of activation.

• Psychoticism: Poor concentration, poor memory; insensitivity;

lack of caring for others; cruelty; disregard for danger and
convention; occasionally originality and/or creativity; liking for
unusual things; considered peculiar by others.
4 Basic Temperaments
The first two factors create 4 combinations, related to the four
basic temperaments recognized by ancient Greeks:
• Melancholic (introverted + unstable): sad, gloomy
• Choleric (extroverted + unstable): hot-tempered, irritable
• Phlegmatic (introverted + stable): sluggish, calm
• Sanguine (extroverted + stable): cheerful, hopeful
Superfactors
Eysenck Hierarchy

Super-
Factors

Traits

Habits

Specific Behaviors
Hierarchy of Behaviour Organization

Type Introversion

Trait Persistence Social Shyness

Keeps Persist Turns Works on

with Finishe Studie
Habits school down hobbies
work hobbies s a job s
invitatio alone
alone
ns
Specific behaviours
Activity
• http://youtu.be/hY5uL0sVxnM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Qs7cpixd0
Men vs. Women: Who is Higher on P???
Psychoticism vs. Tender mindedness
• High Psychoticism:
• Egocentric, Impulsive, Non-conforming.
• Suspicious, Sometimes antisocial.
• Low Psychoticism (Tender Minded)
• Warm, (Fuzzy?), Caring, Cooperative.
• Conforming to social norms.

Right! Males tend to show higher psychoticism than females:

 Biological Basis of Personality
• “Biological causes act in such a way as to predispose an individual in
certain ways to stimulation; this stimulation may or may not occur,
depending on circumstances which are entirely under environmental
control” – Eysenck 1997.
Biological Basis of Personality

Personality types result from differences in central nervous system

(CNS) functioning

Implications:
• Genetic basis of personality
• Relatively stable & unchanging
• However the environment interacts with biological predispositions
http://youtu.be/QCnfAzAIhVw
Biological Basis of Extroversion/Introversion

ARAS system:
• Ascending Reticular Activation System
• Cortical excitation & inhibition
High ARAS arousal:
• Predisposes to introversion
Low ARAS arousal:
• Predisposes to extroversion
Evidence: Introverts have higher sedation threshold than extroverts (cf.
ADHD)
Some empirical findings

• Introverts less tolerant of painful electric shocks (Bartol & Costello,

1976)
• Corr et al (1995): After high dose of caffeine: Introverts poorer
performance (over-stimulated?); Extroverts better performance
(stimulated?)
• Frontal lobes of introverts more active than extroverts (PET scan)
(Johnson et al, 1999)
Biological Basis of Neuroticism/Normality

Visceral Brain (VB) system

• Hypothalamus & limbic system
• Mediates emotional activation
High VB activation:
• Predisposed to neuroticism (emotionally reactive)
Low VB activation:
• Predisposed to normality (non-emotionally reactive)
Extroverts:Normal & Neurotic
Sanguine
Normal Extrovert
• Low ARAS arousal
• Low visceral brain activity
Choleric
Neurotic Extrovert
• Low ARAS arousal
• High visceral brain activity
Introverts: Normal & Neurotic
Phlegmatic
Normal Introvert
• High ARAS arousal
• Low visceral brain activity

Melancholic
Neurotic Introvert
• High ARAS arousal
• High visceral brain activity
Evaluation

• Twin studies: E & N: 50% genetic

• Adoption studies: Correlations b/w adoptive parents & adopted
children for E & N are around 0%
• E, N & P: highest validity of all traits (Kline, 1993)
Activity
• http://similarminds.com/eysenck.html
References
• Boeree, C. (2006, January 1). Hans Eysenck. Retrieved November 11, 2014,
from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/eysenck.html
• Feist, J., & Fiest, G. (2008). Dispositional Theories. In Theories of
Personality (Seventh ed., p. 627). McGraw-Hill Primis.
• Hergenhahn, B.R.&Olson, M.H. (2010). An Introduction to Theories of
Personality (8th ed.). UpperSaddleRiver, N.J: Pearson Education, Inc.
• Schultz, D., & Schultz, S. (2009). The Social-Learning Approach. In Theories
of Personality(Ninth ed., p. 539). Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
• Zuckerman, M., Eysenck, S. B. J., & Eysenck, H. J. (1978). Sensation seeking
in England and America: Cross-cultural, age, and sex comparisons. Journal
of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46(1), 139-149.