The Scientific Study of Personality

London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,. Very Good/Fair. 1958. Second Impression. Hard Cover. 8vo Dust jacket large tears with chunks missing, price clipped. Blue cloth with silver titling on spine. Neat name on f. paste down. xiii, 320 pages clean and tight. The Scientific Study of Personality contains an account of experiments carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry (University of London) during the five years which have elapsed since the publication of Dimensions of Personality. These experiments are integrated into a consistent conceptual scheme of personality, description and development, covering neurotic and psychotic as well as normal people. The first chapters give an introduction to the principles of dimensional analysis as a scientific method; the central part of the book makes use of these principles in attempting to answer some of the main problems of personality analysis; the last part presents the application of the findings to a variety of practical problems. Among the fundamental problems submitted to experiment are the relation between neurosis and psychosis, the inheritance of emotional instability, the relative usefulness of `atomistic' and `gestalt' methods of approach, the verification of typological schemes, such as those of Kretschmer and Jung, the possibility of exact measurement of dimensions of personality, and the validity and reliability of the statistical method as compared with techniques using `insight' and interpretation. Among the practical problems to which the results of these researches have been applied are the psychological after-effects of leucotomy, the prediction of work-efficiency of paroled mental defectives, the selection of students and nurses, and the work adjustment of factory workers. `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 With 30 half-tone illustrations and many diagrams. Second impression .