Eysenck's Theory Of Personality

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The concept of personality has fascinated psychologists for years. Allport proposed the hierarchy of traits – cardinal, central, and secondary traits (Allport, 1945). Cattell also proposed his theory, the sixteen dimensions of human personality (Cattell, 1944). Jung developed a type-based theory of personality, with different dichotomous personality categories, which was further developed by Myers and Briggs in 1962 to produce the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Ford, 2013). Some psychologists have even argued that personality does not exist; that people change behaviour over time and across various situations. The counter-argument to this is that individuals will adapt their behaviour to fit the situation, and generally demonstrate some pare of their personality in a given situation (Coaley, 2014). However, personality is a broad and rather ambiguous concept, meaning that is it difficult to define succinctly; and yet how we define it plays a crucial part in how we investigate it. Eysenck’s theory of personality concluded that there were 3 dimensions: extraverted-introverted, neuroticism-stability, psychoticism-socialisation (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1964). With the broadening field of psychometrics, the Eysencks were the first to make their approach more quantifiable and legitimate than others had been in the past. Eysenck published the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) in 1964 – a uni-dimensional self-report questionnaire consisting of 57 items. The Eysencks firmly believed