Hans Eysenck

Trait Approach
Personal life
  He agreed with Cattell that personality is composed
of traits, or factors, derived by the factor-analytic
The method.
Dimensions of  Eysenck used factor analysis to uncover personality
Personality traits, he supplemented the method with personality
tests and experimental studies that considered a wide
range of variables.
 His Personality theory based on three
dimensions, defined as combinations of traits
or factors. We might think of the dimensions as
superfactors. The three personality dimensions
are as follows.
 E—Extraversion versus introversion
 N—Neuroticism versus emotional stability
 P—Psychoticism versus impulse control (or
superego functioning)
 Eysenck noted that the extraversion and
neuroticism have been recognized as basic
elements of personality since the time of the
ancient Greek philosophers.
 List of personality traits associated with
Eysenck’s three personality dimensions. People
who score high on the traits of the E dimension
would be classified as extraverts whereas
people who score low would be classified as
introverts. (Figure )
  To Eysenck, traits and dimensions are determined
primarily by heredity, although the research evidence
shows a stronger genetic component for extraversion
and neuroticism than for psychoticism.
 Eysenck did not rule out environmental and situational
The Primary influences on personality, such as family interactions in
childhood, but he believed their effects on personality
Role of were limited
Heredity  His research design involved comparisons of identical
(monozygotic) and fraternal (dizygotic) twins. The
studies showed that identical twins are more alike in
their personalities than are fraternal twins, even when
the identical twins were reared by different parents in
different environments during childhood.
 Studies of adopted children demonstrate that
their personalities bear a greater similarity to
the personalities of their biological parents
than of their adoptive parents, even when the
children had no contact with their biological
parents.
 This is additional support for Eysenck’s idea
that personality owes more to our genetic
inheritance than to our environment.
 The confirmation of the same three personality
dimensions in diverse cultures is evidence for
the primacy of inherited factors in the shaping
of personality.